Last night about 7:30 I put a small (7lb) Boston butt in the smoker that I had preheated to about 225. Kept checking it every hour and at about 12:30 turned off the smoke generator and went to bed. Got up a 6:30 to check it and the thermo on the door showed about 150 and the meat is at the same temp. My question is , I turned up the heat, but is the meat safe to eat? Thanks for the help.....Mark
You should be fine. Keep the butt going until you reach and IT of 195-200 on the butt. It may stay at 150 for several hours but don't worry. It eventually start going up. It sounds to me like you'll have at least six more hours, if not more. Go by your thermometer if you're using one.
IMHO you need a temp probe inside to monitor the cabinet temp. The door gauge can really be off. You may want to consider investing in a Maverick. Until I added a PID, I was never comfortable leaving the house or going to sleep on the overnight smokes. You should be exposing your butt to cabinet temps of 190 or higher.
It sounds like to me your in the "stall" part of the smoke.
That's when the magic starts to happen.
Your doing fine...keep the tower temp @ 220* and keep going until the IT hits 195*.
after sitting at 150 for so long, will it be safe to eat?
It should be fine. Keep the heat in the box between 200-225 and continue to cook until the IT gets up to around 190 or so. If this is your first butt, don't panic. Butts hit a "plateau" where the IT stalls on the climb. That's when the magic is happening. Some butts just take longer than others. I've had them take 24 hours before. If your smoker is having trouble keeping the heat up, turn your smoke generator back on with no pucks. It will help a little.
Another alternative is to move the butt into the house and finish it in your house oven. Set the oven at 225. You may be able to control the heat better.
KyNola
I've had butts stall at 150* and stall again at 170*.
Each time was a several hour wait for the butt to move on.
Like everyone said Keep a cabinet temp of 210 to 230
and wait for an IT of 195 to 200.
Sometimes you just have to wait on a good Butt to get there.
I leave my smoke generator on... Gives the Bradley a 125 watt boost to keep the cabinet temps up.
My 2ยข.