4 pork butts please help

[moses]

hey guys im doing 4 pork buts totaling about 30 pounds. my problem is i started them last night at 6:00pm and now its 6:45am (12hours later) and the cabinet temp has only gotten up to 175, meat IT is 145. is the meat going to be ok? or am i going to poison 35 people? i think it should be ok being that i take the meat to 195degs. or am i mistaken cause its been to low for to long? PLEASE HELP!!! parts tommarow

[NePaSmoKer]

When you have a large amount of meat in your smoker like this its going to take a while to get to the temp. If i were you i would take 2 of them out and put in your oven to finish. Leave the other 2 in your smoker and bump the heat up some.

I'm sure others will chime in soon.

nepas

[moses]

my wife hates the smell of smoked meat in the oven its to over powering for her. so i turned the smoke generator on and closed the top vent (im not smoking) to try and hold some heat in. but you think the meat still should be ok

[NePaSmoKer]

my wife hates the smell of smoked meat in the oven its to over powering for her. so i turned the smoke generator on and closed the top vent (im not smoking) to try and hold some heat in. but you think the meat still should be ok

Dont close the vent off completly or moisture will back up into the smoke genertor and cause a short on the board, also drip down on the front plate where the slide is and mess that circut board up too. You need to get the IT of the meat higher right now, 145* for pork is close to the unsafe zone.

nepas

[Bradley (Head Office)]

Hi Moses

Like Nepas has said do not close the damper all the way leave it at least 1/4 open

What temperature do you have the smoker set at?

Brian

[moses]

the vent is 1/3 open and i have the slider all the way to the right and i also turned the smoke generator on with out wood to help in the heating process. the cabinet temp is now at 195.

[moses]

should i toss the 4 butts and start over?

[Bradley (Head Office)]

Hi Moses

I will let someone with more knowledge answer that but!
I would seriously look at moving those butts to the house oven with it set at 240 to get some heat into them.

I know you said the wife hates the smell mine does also but the smell will go away.

Brian

[NePaSmoKer]

should i toss the 4 butts and start over?

Whats the IT of the meat now. And do you know how long they have been this low.

nepas

[moses]

ok 2 butts are in the oven and 2 in the bradley the IT is now 150 at the coldest point. i put them in 13 hours ago and the temp is now 150 what do ya think

[NePaSmoKer]

ok 2 butts are in the oven and 2 in the bradley the IT is now 150 at the coldest point. i put them in 13 hours ago and the temp is now 150 what do ya think

I think you will be ok. Did you bump the heat on the smoker any.

nepas

[Wildcat]

You may also want to open the vent to at least 2/3 open.  If there is enough moisture in the cabinet and the vent is not open enough, the resulting effect on the cabinet temperature will be to not let it rise and possibly to fall.

Hopefully Habs will be along shortly regarding the safety of the low meat temps for that long.  There is also information regarding this on the recipe site.

[moses]

well i pulled out 2 butts so the smoker is now at 210 with 2 butts and the oven is at 215 with 2 butts

[NePaSmoKer]

well i pulled out 2 butts so the smoker is now at 210 with 2 butts and the oven is at 215 with 2 butts

I would put the temp at 225*. Leave an empty rack space between the butts.

nepas

[Wildcat]

I think the biggest issue regarding the food safety is how long at what cabinet temperature that the meat was exposed to.  If the cabinet temp was 175 for the majority of the time, then your meat will probably be fine.