Smoker turned off while smoking a brisket

[RAY_RAYS_BBQ]

First off guys, the 40-140 in 4 rule only applies to Ground, Injected and BRT meat. I spoke to Ajax and the Brisket was Intact. The " Rule " does Not apply. Next the beef was well seasoned with a Rub containing Salt. This goes a long way toward inhibiting Bacterial growth. While the USDA " guideline " recommends smoking at 225, that temp offers a wide margin of safety taking the above non-intact meats and mishandled meat by inexperienced cooks into consideration. Bacteria is also killed at lower temps. Look at Sous Vide cooking where Chicken can be cooked at 149°F for as little as 1 Hour...https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/sous-vide-time-and-temperature-guide ...In an Oxygen Free Bag! The most dangerous Bacteria are Anerobic and only grow or only grow well in low Oxygen. For Decades, it has been common, in Restaurants, to Roast Beef at the desired finished IT. A temp controled oven that holds moisture is set to the desired IT, say 130°F, and the Beef is roasted for 3-4 hours per pound until the IT hits 130°F and the meat is done. Here is a published example using a Combi Oven but 25 years ago I spoke to a Chef that did his in an Alto-Shaam, which is basically a Holding Oven...http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/08/AR2008010801295.html

Ajax Smoked the intact brisket for several hours at 150-160, the IT reached 122 and Bacteria was killed. Now the Smoker dies. Did every Bad Bacteria known to man see this and make a mad dash to recontaminate the meat? No, not likely...Ajax caught the failure and put the meat in a 225° Oven to finish the cook. In the event that some bacteria made their way into the smoker, they were killed in the oven. Yeah Chef but what about Botulinum TOXINS!?! From the CDC... http://emergency.cdc.gov/agent/Botulism/clinicians/control.asp

• Despite its extreme potency, botulinum toxin is easily destroyed. Heating to an internal temperature of 85°C (185°F) for at least 5 minutes will decontaminate affected food or drink.

Should you smoke at 225? Yes, SMF recommends it because it covers a variety of errors, including smoker failures and mishandled meat anywhere from slaughter to smoker, and offers a broad margin of Safety. If you cook Intact Meat, covered with a Salty Rub, at lower temps or the smoker dies for a couple hours will you create the next EPA Super Site in your Smoker? Not Likely! Each situation is VERY different and ALL the criteria and circumstances has to be taken into consideration before a recommendation of " TOSS IT! " is automatically made. There is a lot more to learn about Safe Cooking than just what the USDA Fact Sheets for Home Cooks recommends. The more I study the more I learn...There is no need to Toss the meat...IN THIS SITUATION...JJ

I am a new member here and realize this is a very old thread but wanted to thank you ALL for the information within ... I had this very scenario happen to me last weekend with a rainstorm and power outage.

I placed a 12lb brisket that was dry-rubbed in the afternoon with 16 mesh Pepper, Minced Garlic & Hardcore Carnivore (NO INJECTIONS OR PROBES) on the smoker/grill at 8:45pm @ 200°.

I woke up just before 4am to check things out ... that was when I noticed all the 'flashing clocks' on all of my appliances. I immediately knew the grill was off for just under four hours and went into a bit of a panic mode.
Power outage occurred at 12:45AM and was restored around 1:30AM, so it got a good 4 hours of smoke @ 200° and had a decent bark at that point ... but as I mentioned I didn't wake up until 3:45ish to check on things, so the grill was off for about 3 hours.

I found this thread while in panic mode and it helped ease my mind a great deal, so I simply powered the grill back on and set it to 350° to "catch-up" after the outage. It took about 2 hours to get to 150° ... once I hit that mark, I turned it back down to 225° until I wrapped in butcher paper at 180° IT and then bumped the temp to 250°. From there the cook finished by around 2pm with a probe tender brisket throughout.

I rested in the butcher paper in a foil pan covered with aluminum foil with a cooler full of towels over it until 7pm .... the brisket turned out GREAT and no one got sick or died.

To prevent sleeping through these incidents, I am thinkning of investing in a BT thermometer that has the ability alert me to these extreme temp changes during the cook. Anyone have recommendations on a reasonably priced/reliable BT themometer with audible temp alerts?

Thanks again for the information on this thread ... !

 

[schlotz]

chef jimmyj (RIP) was our guru when it came to things like this. Glad you found his post, it's the bible.

Beware that the 'newer' models supporting a higher BT version and therefore longer range may not actually give you the increased range unless your phone supports the higher BT version. Most phones do not support the higher BT version. I currently use Thermoworks' Signals which is both BT & Wifi. They have a new product coming out shortly called RFX. I've pre-ordered it.

 

[RAY_RAYS_BBQ]

chef jimmyj (RIP) was our guru when it came to things like this. Glad you found his post, it's the bible.

Beware that the 'newer' models supporting a higher BT version and therefore longer range may not actually give you the increased range unless your phone supports the higher BT version. Most phones do not support the higher BT version. I currently use Thermoworks' Signals which is both BT & Wifi. They have a new product coming out shortly called RFX. I've pre-ordered it.

I have good bluetooth range to my grill as is out back from my bedroom window. :)

Sorry to hear about chef jimmyj ... :(

 

[normanaj]

I recommend the ThermoPro TP829,excellent range and no phone involved,I keep the receiver bed side or wherever I'm sleeping. But these days I've given up on overnight cooks and just go hotter and fast.

 

[RAY_RAYS_BBQ]

I recommend the ThermoPro TP829,excellent range and no phone involved,I keep the receiver bed side or wherever I'm sleeping. But these days I've given up on overnight cooks and just go hotter and fast.

Thanks! normanaj .... with my weekend brisket debacle, I may have talked myself into smoking at 200° for the first few hours to build the bark and then ramping the temps to 300-350° to finish out the cook quicker. This one turned out fine ...

 

[Fueling Around]

...
I currently use Thermoworks' Signals which is both BT & Wifi.
...

I love my Signals. Not inexpensive but a fine quality unit.
The phone app is priceless. Set the temps correctly and it would have alerted you within an hour of the power outage.

chef jimmyj (RIP) was our guru when it came to things like this. Glad you found his post, it's the bible.

I miss that man so much. We had great conversations about everything.

 

[BosqueSmoke]

Glad you were able to salvage the brisket!

I use the Thermoworks Smoke, hight recommend it.

 

[oregonrider]

The Thermoworks Signals uses WiFi. Set its ambient probe to alarm at a low temp of 180° and you’ll know if your fire went out.
I have an iPad that I plug in bedside & leave it on. That way I can hear an alarm, but mostly, during my nervous sleep, when I wake up I can see what the meat & smoker temps are.