Sous Vide

[RandyForRubio]

Oh **** help me please @LogGrad98 @Bulletproof

I had brisket going for a while. It had been in for about 13 hours when I went to bed.

Woke up and the water level had dropped, motor turned off and the water was at 88 degrees. I gotta throw it away now, right?

 

[RandyForRubio]

Oh and just for more information...

I had been cooking it at 155 degrees. It's right next to a fan blowing cold air in (stupid in retrospect), so I can't imagine it had been off for more than 2 hours...but I don't know for sure. I still have another 8 hours of cooking it, at least. And once it's done I'll sear each side for a few minutes and then smoke for 30-1 hour. Will that save it?

Somebody please help me bc I don't want to throw this thing away and start over, but I will if I gotta.

 

[Keefe]

Oof.

 

[Keefe]

Reading online, it sounds like you def have to throw it out.

 

[Keefe]

“Here's the problem, as I understand it. Any pathogens on the surface reached a growth rate of zero around 126. At 130, they are dying off, but the rate is quite slow. Hours are needed to pasteurize the meat. The problem is how much toxin was produced by that point.”

And you were way below 126.

 

[bigb]

Finish it and give some to the hired help. If it doesn’t kill them, you’re good.

 

[Gameface]

I'm not an expert in micro biology.

But what I'm thinking is that the meat is in a vacuum sealed bag, you brought it up to a temp where the microbes were being killed and kept it there for a really long time, then it cooled slowly (bad) to a temp that food shouldn't be stored at, but it was in a sealed bag, so no new microbes got in to possibly infect the meat.

I mean throwing it out is an inconvenience and waste of a fairly trivial amount of money. Even if it's like 80%+ likely to be safe, getting food poisoning is not fun.

I'd regretfully throw it out, but I'd assume you wouldn't get sick eating it.

 

[Gameface]

I've started using this setup with the addition of a neoprene sleeve around the lexan container. You lose almost no water, holds temp better, uses a little less electricity.

 

[RandyForRubio]

I'm not an expert in micro biology.

But what I'm thinking is that the meat is in a vacuum sealed bag, you brought it up to a temp where the microbes were being killed and kept it there for a really long time, then it cooled slowly (bad) to a temp that food shouldn't be stored at, but it was in a sealed bag, so no new microbes got in to possibly infect the meat.

I mean throwing it out is an inconvenience and waste of a fairly trivial amount of money. Even if it's like 80%+ likely to be safe, getting food poisoning is not fun.

I'd regretfully throw it out, but I'd assume you wouldn't get sick eating it.

Yeah...if it was actually vacuum sealed, I'd feel better...but I just got this thing, don't have a vacuum sealer so I used a ziploc with the water displacement. It got all the air out, but I just didn't trust it after it dropped temperature.

I threw it out. I feel dumb. Maybe eventually I'll get a cooking setup like you have below, that looks nice. Gotta get a vacuum sealer someday too, but I'm trying not to spend too much money on stuff I don't really need. I guess for now I'll just do shorter cooks...pork chops, steaks, etc.

 

[Gameface]

I used my sous vide every day. During the week I drop 2 eggs and a frozen piece of salmon into 147f water for 45min and that's my breakfast.

 

[LogGrad98]

Ping pong balls on top of the water, like a lot if them, help keep the water in and the temp steady.

 

[LogGrad98]

And yes the brisket is dead. Chuck it.

 

[LogGrad98]

Also are you cooking a whole brisket or a point or flat? I have cooked a couple of point cuts and they turned out great. I cooked them at 155 or 160 for 36 to 48 hours. I lightly smoked it before the sous vide (an hour with a light rub on a 200 degree smoker with oak and hickory) let it cool then sealed it and put it in the water. I just use a very large pot with ping pong balls in a layer on top of the water. After I sear it on a rocket hot cast iron griddle on my grill with some more wood chips. You won't get the smoke ring and, imo, my normal smoker brisket recipe produces deeper, richer, and more complex flavors, and nearly equals the sous vide for tenderness. But I have done the sous vide a few times mostly to be able to time it better for the meal. And have had great results. On the smoker you have far less control over when it is done. Normally a brisket on the smoker takes a good 14 hours (full packer brisket), but I have seem them go anywhere from 10 to 18 hours until it hut and held the temp I was looking for.

 

[idestroyedthetoilet]

I'm not an expert in micro biology.

But what I'm thinking is that the meat is in a vacuum sealed bag, you brought it up to a temp where the microbes were being killed and kept it there for a really long time, then it cooled slowly (bad) to a temp that food shouldn't be stored at, but it was in a sealed bag, so no new microbes got in to possibly infect the meat.

I mean throwing it out is an inconvenience and waste of a fairly trivial amount of money. Even if it's like 80%+ likely to be safe, getting food poisoning is not fun.

I'd regretfully throw it out, but I'd assume you wouldn't get sick eating it.

I'm not a microbiologist expert either but i have plenty of classroom experience, including a course that was designed after med school 101. I would assume that a temp high enough and long enough in a vaccum sealed container or even a ziplock would kill all the bacterial pathogens and avoid endo and exotoxins from forming.

It would be interesting to test a vaccum sealed steak after it sits on the counter for months. Now you're looking at mycotoxins from mold spores germinating. They are much harder to kill and I think there is a wide range of time and temp to kill. Get to 212 and you're good (100 C for our foreigners). I think cured ham doesnt permit bacterial growth (no water) but mold does grow.