Oh No my Egg Went out!!

Slowcooker

We are cooking our 1st Boston Butt. We started at 7 last night. about 1 my husband checked and it had gone down to 150. He opend the slots a little bit and went to bed. At 7 this morning i checked it and the egg had completely gone out. The meat was wrapped in foil and still felt a little warm but is under 140 on my themometer. Is there any reason we could not restart it and keep cooking?

Rascal

I'd toss it.

Slowcooker

how can you make sure your charcoal does not burn out? did we not have enough in there?

Nature Boy

G'Mornin, and sorry to hear you had problems. It does sound like it got cooking again, since it was nearly 140 6 hours later.

You probably would have had a better outcome if hubby had waited (after he adjusted the vents) until the temp stabilized back at 250 (or whatever he was aiming for). Would also be a good idea to have set his alarm for 3 or 4 am to get up and check again. While the egg is fantastic at holding steady temps, it is still just a fire in there, and there are many variables that can affect the temp.

Hope it's salvagable, and good luck with this AND your next attempt! Have a great day.
Chris

Slowcooker

All our charcoal is gone. how do you make sure the charcoal does not burn out on an 18 hour cook?

Rascal

What size Egg are you cookin' in and how much charcoal did you start with? Assume you're using lump and not briquettes...

Slowcooker

Rascal wrote:

What size Egg are you cookin' in and how much charcoal did you start with? Assume you're using lump and not briquettes...

We are using lump. We filled to normal level above the holes on a large egg.
would you toss it?

Nature Boy

For long cooks, fill that baby up with charcoal until the top of the pile is up into the area of the fire ring. That way you'll have plenty.

If you ever find you are running out of fuel(your temps keep going down while you keep opening the vents) it pays to take off the meat and drip pan and add more fuel. Then put the meat back on. The short time the meat is off the cooker shouldn't affect your final product.

Better luck next time!
Chris

Slowcooker

So you would throw it out and not try to salvage it?

Nature Boy

Well, yeah, probably.
By your description, sounds like the meat could have been under 140 for as long as 12 hours based on what you are saying. Too risky for a 10 or 12 dollar piece of meat.

It hurts, but I'd chuck it.
Enjoy the steaks!
Chris

Rascal

If you're saying that you woke up with the fire out and the meat just warm (well below 140) it sounds like it may have hung out in the danger zone too long (40-140). I would try it again another day with a fresh piece of meat. The possibility of food poisoning should not be taken lightly.

Rascal

Rascal

Put another way, the only thing worse than throwing out a nice piece of meat is wishing you had....

stike

sounds like you took the plungs and did one of the more advanced (not 'difficult' though) cooks on the egg right off the bat.

for most short cooks, the "lump to the top of the holes" dictum is ok. but you gotta think, if that's good for a one hour chicken, what would an 18 hour cook need?

most of us have enough lump in there from the last cook, that when we stir it and add new lump for our next cook, we are filled up to the top of the firebox. for an overnight cook, we'd be above that line most likely. not all of it will burn, but you want planty, so the fire can move around.

here's the definitive way to approach a butt.

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/elder.htm

i'm a bit surprised your husband would just fiddle with the vents and go to bed. for one thing, ten degrees off your desired dome temp is no biggie, but 100 degrees means there's a problem. and it also implies that you need to at least open the dome and scope it, or at least hang out and see what happens after you fiddle with the vents.

it's a weird thing. you shouldn't have to hang over the egg and worry, and stay up all night, but at the same time, you do need to give it a bit more thought than it seems you did on your first try. you get decent points for trying, though. lots of folks here have had an egg for years and haven't gotten up the nerve to try one.

here's my recommendation about keeping or tossing. toss it.
i am the most lax dude here about keeping a butt after the fire goes out, and even this one is out of my safe zone, haha.

so, what to do? you are hankering for pork, and now you need to toss it. RIBS. do some ribs. if the butt were still on, it prob'ly wouldn't be ready til 2 or 3 anyway. so go get some ribs and refill the egg, and get back on that pork horse.

sorry for the loss of yer butt. but i think if you scope the elder ward method (the link), you'll never worry again.

Hammer

Like Stike said; click on the Elder Wards method and peruse his method for keeping a long fire. I've used it ever since my first fire went out. It's been great.
Hammer

BENTE

on an overnighter like everyone else said you have to watch it. my boston butt went on at 10pm est and is still on now my fire did not go out and my tempraturechanged only 10-12 deg all night. i went to bed at 2 and got up at 4 went back to bed after checking temp got back up at 6 went back to sleep. so i checked it 2 times in 6 hours (got up at 8). here is a pic of how high i filled my fire box



if i were you i would plan for something diffrent than that butt :( sorry but i would rather eat a dominos pizza rather than counting bathroom tiles for the next 18 hours

SalmonBelly

I had a similar experience last night. Checked on things at 1am (Pacific) and it looked good. Butt was at 170 and the pit was at 240. Woke up at 6am (Pacific) and the fire was out and the Butts were at 135. Got them restarted immediately but am now getting a little worried about them being any good. Any thoughts?

oestes

Is this a stock photo that you keep using? The egg in this picture has never been used. Not a bit of blackening on the porcelain. I assume that you are using this in your posts as an example rather than an actual photo of YOUR egg.

BENTE

no it is mine that is just the picture i took yesterday. i had a incident with my egg Click Here for more info. in fact that verry charcoal is still burning now still waiting on this but to come out of the plateau

Mike in Abita

Very well said.