Smoker went out over night

[TexasGriller]

I put a 7 lb brisket on the green egg last night. Dome temperature was about 250 and probe at the grid was about 220. Meat was cooking for about an hour when I fell asleep.

I have two temperature probes in the meat, one on each side. I think internal temperature was ~110-120 when I fell asleep around 1am. Alarm went off in middle of night to tell me that grid temp fell below 180. Not sure what the internal temp was at this time. I *think* this was around 2am (2 hours into cook, 1 hour after falling asleep). Not sure what happened but next thing I knew it was 6am and the grill was out.

The grid probe was not registering a temp at that time. These are new therma pro probes so I am not sure if that means the temp was so low it wasn’t registering or if it stopped measuring because it was out of range for so long. The green egg some thermometer was showing a temp of ~ 120-150. Internal temp was in the 130s which got to a low of 130 before I got the fire going again.

From what I read, this sounds borderline on whether it will be safe to eat or not. What do y’all think? I am assuming the meat got to 140 if it was just below that 4 hours after alarm went off?

 

[JIMSMOKES]

If you didn't inject I'd think you're fine.

 

[JLeonard]

Agree with JIMSMOKES cook on.

 

[thirdeye]

Bacteria that lives and multiplies on the meat's surface is the main issue. And keep in mind that if you heavily injected the brisket you could have introduced surface bacteria into the muscle itself, meaning that now the 4-hour clock starts ticking on the internal temperature.

At 220° grate temp, the meat's surface temp likely got above 140° after an hour or so. The next couple of hours should have driven the internal temp up, we just don't know how high it got. From your description, and the fact you confirmed internal temps in the 130°'s at 6am would lead me to believe it was likely the internal had risen above 140°. Ceramic cookers hold heat very well, so this is also in your favor.

The best response when your fire dies is to get the meat into the oven while you get your smoker back up and running. An Egg specific tool that comes in handy is called a "wiggle rod" and the photo below explains how to make one. I wiggle my fire a few minutes after lighting, and anytime the fire is sluggish, and always before catching a few ZZZ's. The back and forth wiggle action is very gentle. Just watch the vent and you should see an increase in smoke after you find 3 or 4 holes in the charcoal grate.

 

[TexasGriller]

Thanks guys. I did not inject. Just had the two temp probes in. I’m gonna let it roll