Enough of the DMP/McMinnville drama, back to comp BBQ.....

[Buckshot Malone]

At comps, do you guys/galsinject with cold, warm, or hot liquid? I talked with a few teams at my last comp (McMinnville) and it was about 50/50. I have always used cold liquid. Just curious on pros/cons of each.

Jeff
_______________________
Buckshot Malone's Pig Shack
www.GodsofSmoke.com
Nashville, Tennessee

[Smoke'n Ice]

The moment you inject warm or hot liquid, the clock starts ticking on the danger zone time. Depending on how the protein was handled prior to the injection, the cleanliness of the prep area, etc, you can probably get it back below 40 in time but it is not a good idea because the time is cumulative and when it goes on the cooker, it may not reach safe temps in time.

I would say, if you inject with warm or hot liquids, it should go on the cooker immediately and insure that the internal gets and staysabove 140 within 4 hours and it must reach a minimum of 165 degrees to be somewhat safe.

[Brew-B-Q]

I inject with cold liquid, but not ice cold.

[Ron_L]

Below 40 degrees. I normally inject 4 hours before cooking so I don't want anything inside the danger zone.

[bbqbrad]

Cold. Safety Reasons.

[Ford]

Food safety. It partly depends on temp of liquid, 110 or boiling. I regularly inject turkey with a butter mixture. It's been brought to a boil then partly cooled but needs to be hot enough to stay liquid. The mass of the meat instantly solidifies the mixture. I know many who use the same recipe and have never had a problem. The meat also usually tightens up as the needle is removed unless maybe using a huge hog pump. Bacteria requires oxygen to grow after 4 hours so using a smaller needle means room temp for pork and brisket should be fine. I personally use room temp liquids.

If you spend 20 minutes then trim a butt or brisket then inject and immediately refrigerate I'd wager that within an hour it's back to temp everywhere. The outside where there's an abundant supply of oxygen takes much less time to cool. That's because the surface temp quickly reaches 200 and the air temp is higher so bacteria can't grow

Now if hot means 150 or more then I'd put it on the pit right away.

Final comment. Cooking low and slow can mean 6 to 8 hours before the middle of a butt is really in the safe zone. It probably hit 40 within the first 2 hours and probably less. Maybe somebody here will do an experiment next time they cook a butt and post internal temps at start and then every hour to see what the numbers look like. I know on a lot of the old style brick pits that a butt can take 20 hours and I've never heard of problems.

[swamprb]

I've heard of people double injecting, night before, then again before foiling with warmed liquid.

[Ford]

Even just before turnin with boiling broth. I don't do it but know some do.