ran out of pellets during the night. It was my first time trying the Scout and didn't expect that to happen.
Welcome to SMF.
We are truly sorry to hear about your unfortunate experience and know how frustrating it is when something unexpected happens.
You have received excellent advice from everyone above.
I would like to point out a couple more observations.
First, never attempt an overnight cook as your first cook on a new smoker.
Get a few short day time smokes under your belt to learn the characteristics of your new smoker.
There is no such thing as a 'set and forget' smoker. They all require interaction because stuff happens such as running out of pellets, power outages, etc.
Secondly, your particular smoker has a four pound hopper capacity. On average, a pellet smoker will consume one pound of pellets per hour dependent on temperature set point, oustide ambient temperature, wind conditions, the amount of meat in the smoker, etc.
So, you probably won't be doing many if any overnight smokes while having an uninterrupted sleep. You will need to get up and refill the hopper with more pellets if you plan on getting more than fours of shut-eye.
I frequently do overnight PB and brisket smokes. However, I have a large uncovered brick patio addition that allows me to keep my electric smoker a safe distance from the house during all smokes so that if my smoker ever goes Chernobyl it is far enough away from the house as to not burn it down. Then again, my remote digital thermometer is programmed to alert me to under and over temp conditions.
For an electric smoker, mine is a solid performer. Do I absolutely trust it? NOPE!
P.S. Good call in putting the pork butt in the oven. You should have kept going and crossed the finish line. We love Q vues here. Post up some your next cooks.
