Smoking Pork Butt & Danger Zone

J_Bird

Hi everyone, 

I need some quick advice.  I was doing a pork shoulder and as it was about 10 lbs. I wanted to start it overnight.  I started it at 11 PM and it was about 250.  I got up at 3-3:30 to let the dog out and it was holding well at 225 dome and 141 internal (right where I wanted).  I went to bed and woke up to get dog out at 6:30.  I went out and the meat was at 143 but the dome had dropped substantially 140-16 area.  My question is, is the meat in trouble since the ambient air dropped?  I'm not sure of the exact temp the dome got down to but as I said, I'm guessing it was 140/150 about 3 to 3.5 hours after it was 225.  The interior probe still was at 143, but will I need to cut the exterior off when pulling and loose the bark or since the dome was still around the 140ish area should I still be ok?  It wasn't all night, as it dropped from 225 to ? in about a 3 to 3.5 hour span.  

I immediately opened up the vents and am trying to get it back up to 225-250.  Any questions or food science would be helpful!  Thanks.

-JT

DMW

You are fine.

Foghorn

DMW said:

You are fine.

Yep.  Above 140 is the safe zone and you are just going up from there.

J_Bird

What if the dome was lower?  My lowest marking is 200, so I'm only guessing when I said 140-160, but it might have been 120 or something?  It's back up to 225-250.  I don't know how long if at all the ambient (chamber) temp was below 140, or is it the interior (which was still 143) I need to be more worried about?  Thanks!

lousubcap

First up welcome aboard and enjoy the journey.  And as above-no worries.
The gubmint guidelines are no more than 4 hours in the 40-140*F "danger zone".  Lots of science about the conservatism of those parameters but independent of all that, you are fine.
An an observation, holding 225*F on the dome can be a bit of a challenge.  Most BGE's seem to have "sweet spot" somewhere in the 240-260*F area where they settle in.  FWIW-

J_Bird

Lastly, any ideas as to why I lost my good heat that was going for 4+ hours?  My vents were just cracked, but were still open.

Golfguy77

You're fine.  Keep on cooking and enjoy the end result.

Gamecockeggman

What was your weather like?  Humidity may have played a role if your vents where to closed

J_Bird

Thanks it was probably 30-33 and seems like the winds picked up overnight.  I don't know humidity, late winter early spring in Minneapolis.

Mikee

The temp went from 250 down to 225. That would have indicated that the fire was not keeping up. Opening the vents a little more may have kept it burning. Even if it climbed to 280, a 10lb butt takes a long time to cook.

gdenby

J_Bird said:

Lastly, any ideas as to why I lost my good heat that was going for 4+ hours?  My vents were just cracked, but were still open.

Did you take a peak at the lump, and/or stir it before opening the vents wider? While temps tend to creep up over a long cook, when they go down there appear to be 2 common reasons. 1, the small fire concentrated at the center, and was burning straight down thru the lump in an ever smaller area. 2, somewhat related to 1, there was an ash build up under the lump that was inhibiting the air flow. Its a good idea to have a wiggle stick at hand that can be slid down the side of the fire bowl to jiggle the lump around. Some people also have a bent rod to push up thru the grate to clear ash and push aside small bits of lump that might have clogged some holes.

At around 126 F, the death rate of the pathogens about equals the birth rate. Above the low 130's, they are definitely fading away. At 140, after a few hours, they are eradicated.

If the food is in a big mass, and not ground up like burger, within seconds of reaching 180, the surface is sterile. Cooking at 250-ish means the outside of the meat is clean pretty quickly.