Put 15 lb brisket on Big Green Egg at 8 last night. Temperature at 230. Went to bed at 11. Temp still 230. Woke up at 4:30. Egg temp 100. Internal brisket temp 136.

Opened vents and Egg temps went up to 250 in 10 minutes.

Is it going to be safe to eat or did I lose it?

Thanks!

Ear up

That exact thing happened to me on me on my BGE, I feel your pain. While you might be ok, do you know the internal temp of the brisket at bed time and when you got up? My guess, you were in what's called the "danger zone" too long and that is where the bacteria can start to spoil the meat (if I remember right). I chose not to risk it, however there more people here that have more experience than I do and may have better input.

After my debacle I went ahead and bought the Egg Genius to prevent this from happening again on over night burns. Although, you can get the non EGG branded version, the Flame Boss, they make it for the BGE, exactly the same thing, it's just not green.

Good luck.

Thanks. Didn't check the internal temp at 11. Should have.

I still have it going. Internal temp at 145 now about an hour later.

Meat Science major at A&M and Quality Assurance professional here.

In my opinion you are OK. The temperature danger zone in meat is reached at 140 degrees and lasts for four hours. Given the internal temp is 136, it seems unlikely the meat took several hours to decline from 140 to 136. Even if you factor in the time it took to get the raw brisket up to 140 degrees, I strongly believe the brisket will be fine.

For what it's worth, I did the same thing on my Weber Smoky Mountain this past fall. Went to bed at 11 p.m. with a temp of 225. Woke up at 6 and the smoker temp was 120. Re-stoked the Weber and finished the brisket 9 hours later.

Let us know the results!

Thanks! Internal temp is at 165 after two hours of restart. Makes me think the fire temp had not been low for very long.

I imagine you are ok... I would eat it, but wouldn't give to others... this used to happen to me all the time.

I know it's cheating, but this is why I love my traeger. Helps crutch someone like me

Are you running your egg manually or do you have a digital temp gauge for the grate w remote monitoring and low/high alarm abilities? Also, do you use a fan control unit to maintain heat?

I just picked up a signals and billows for my Primo on a recommendation from someone on this board - Htown Ag maybe. It is a game changer. Makes these scenarios almost impossible. Might check one of these systems out.

Yes, I would agree with you.

Manually for temperature control. Will purchase a fan control unit now!

I have remote thermometers with alarms. I've always used them until last night. Just used the one outside and did not set inside remote alarm. I have no excuse!

I was hesitant about buying a digiQ or egggenius etc for personal shame of cheating. But after finally being convinced it's fantastic. It's nice to be able to see the metrics and see everything in graph format. The best is being able to leave the house for extended periods and track the progress or just wake up in the middle of the night and look at the phone.

Finish it and eat it. You'll be fine. Hell, you're taking the damn thing to near 200 degrees.

Spend the money and get a Flame Boss. Go to bed and never worry about temp all night.

I put one on my BGE last night at midnight with a DigiQ set for 230. Got up at 7:30, made a coffee and started pulling paper to wrap it. The wife comes in panicking. "It only reads 100!" So I wander out and look. The dome reads about 200 on the egg gauge, the digiQ reads 230 on the grate, I probe the meat ands it's a happy 165. I wrap it up, bumped the digiQ up to 250 as planned and went back to my coffee.

Women.

Fan control is the way to go. I bought a BBQ guru. Truly a game changer for overnight cooks.

Cooking this morning: 25 briskets, 26 slabs of spare ribs, ten mini pit hams, 9 bone-in hams, and 35 pounds of sausage. Bought a new cooker at the beginning of the year, and COVID cancelled all of our March and April nonprofit cook events. Needed to get this beast broke-in and learn its behavior. Cold beer is very near in our future, social distancing be damned!

That happened to me a couple times too. Fan control is essential for overnight

If you have the internal temp at 145 or better before you go to bed, finish it in the oven at 225. It's a wonderful smell in the house when you wake up and you will not taste the difference. Plus no chance for errors either way.

You're fine. Bacteria is on the outside of the meat, not inside. That's why you can eat a rare steak, but not a rare hamburger, unless you ground it yourself from a steak. You lost some cooking time, so it will be on longer than the usual 10-12. Do advise you get smoker fan, though.

Thanks everyone! Just pulled it. 199 internal temperature. Got it wrapped and in the cooler. I'll slice it in a couple of hours and provide an update.

Sliced and good! Thanks everyone!

Come on. No pics?

Here you go!

https://imgur.com/a/6G6VtHW

Nice bark!

That's a fantastic smoke ring. Nice job!