I have had nothing but problems with temperature control of my Sams Club MES40. Masterbuilt has sent me two control panels and a meat probe and I'm still having problems. I smoked a 7 pound bone-in pork butt yesterday and it took much longer than it should have.
I used my Maverick ET-732 thermometer (which I have verified to be accurate) to measure meat and smoker temperatures. I left the MES40 meat probe in its holder on the side of the box to also read smoker temperature. With the MES40 set for 275 degrees, I found that the ET-732 smoker sensor and the MES40 meat sensor tracked within 2 degrees of each other. The bad part is that these two readings were about 40 degrees less than what the MES40 control sensor thought the smoker temperature was! I guess it's time to get back on the phone with Masterbuilt tech support. Since this problem has extended out over a couple of years, I'm not sure they are going to be willing to help me.
In hindsight, I wish I purchased a Weber Smokey Mountain. At least with WSM's, there are no electronics to screw things up!
On a side note - Even though it took way too long to cook the butt, it turned out to be the best that I have ever had. I don't have any of Todd's pitmasters blend yet so I used the pellets that I had on hand to make my own. I used 50% hickory, 25% maple & 25% cherry and it came out great. I smoked the butt on a rack in a foil pan and used a 3:1 apple juice & spiced rum spritz. I dumped the remainder of the spritz (maybe 2 oz) into the pan when I foiled at 160 degrees. Took it out at 205 degrees and let it rest for about 1/2 hour prior to pulling. I defatted the pan juice and added it back into the pork with the addition of some Saflaquer's finishing sauce. The wife & kids agreed that it was the best PP they have ever had. Sorry no QVIEW but it was too late by the time my crappy MES40 finished cooking the butt.
I used my Maverick ET-732 thermometer (which I have verified to be accurate) to measure meat and smoker temperatures. I left the MES40 meat probe in its holder on the side of the box to also read smoker temperature. With the MES40 set for 275 degrees, I found that the ET-732 smoker sensor and the MES40 meat sensor tracked within 2 degrees of each other. The bad part is that these two readings were about 40 degrees less than what the MES40 control sensor thought the smoker temperature was! I guess it's time to get back on the phone with Masterbuilt tech support. Since this problem has extended out over a couple of years, I'm not sure they are going to be willing to help me.
In hindsight, I wish I purchased a Weber Smokey Mountain. At least with WSM's, there are no electronics to screw things up!
On a side note - Even though it took way too long to cook the butt, it turned out to be the best that I have ever had. I don't have any of Todd's pitmasters blend yet so I used the pellets that I had on hand to make my own. I used 50% hickory, 25% maple & 25% cherry and it came out great. I smoked the butt on a rack in a foil pan and used a 3:1 apple juice & spiced rum spritz. I dumped the remainder of the spritz (maybe 2 oz) into the pan when I foiled at 160 degrees. Took it out at 205 degrees and let it rest for about 1/2 hour prior to pulling. I defatted the pan juice and added it back into the pork with the addition of some Saflaquer's finishing sauce. The wife & kids agreed that it was the best PP they have ever had. Sorry no QVIEW but it was too late by the time my crappy MES40 finished cooking the butt.
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