Avoid Temp Swings in MES (By Bear)

[electriclouie]

As far as the temperature gauge goes

 

[daricksta]

I have a 30 inch signature mes smoker should I purchase a maverick or could I be safe and stay with what I have

Don't know which generation MES 30 you have but I swear by my Maverick ET-733. It can be a bear to set up but you can use it without choosing meat types and temps. I set it up including the alarm every time I use it. You can't trust the older controller temp displays. That may have changed with the Gen 2.5 smokers.

 

[balcy]

I know this thread has been dormant for a couple of months but thought I could add more information for anyone interested. My recently seasoned MES is an analog 30 with a stainless steel door purchased by someone else from QVC a couple of years ago and never unpacked. Yesterday, in its maiden voyage, I smoked 3 large marinated bone-in chicken breasts inside my garage (with the overhead door open). The temp outside was 30F with a constant breeze toward the smoker. I used a Maverick 733 and a new Amazen tray smoker with their hickory pellets. I didn't have a propane torch yet so I used my kitchen gas stove to light the pellets after warming them up first in the microwave like others suggested here too. Worked great!

My MES controller has no temps on it but a color scale. Mine was set to just below half way My BBQ probe was placed on the center of the 3rd rack down inside a potato (great tip I read here). When I turned it on it went up to 252F when the light went out and it coasted to around 270F. I watched it go down to 252F when the light came on again and it continued to drop until it was at 242F when it started going up again. I lowered the controller a little as I wanted it around 240F. After about 30 min, I put the chicken on a cookie tray on the second rack with a temp probe in the biggest breast. I placed the Amazen tray inside that was smoking away. The smoker temps swung between 228F to 256F for about an hour when it went up to over 265F. I watched it for a couple of cycles at the higher temp so I lowered the controller a little again and it settled back to a range of 226-256 for another hour or so, At 2 hrs total it suddenly went to a much narrower swing of 255-260F. Since it was way too high I lowered the controller again a little and the wide swings returned. The chicken steadlily climbed to 160F and then stalled for probably 20 minutes.Now at 2 1/2 hrs, I raised the smoker controller a little to add more heat. The chicken got to 164F and stalled again so I stopped it cooking. By this time it had been smoking for about 3 hrs with constant TBS from the Amazen (which is amazing). I had loaded it with about 4 inches of pellets knowing I was only going to smoke for a couple of hours.BTW, I placed it on top of the MES chip tray. The water tray was foiled over and not used for moisture. I could see a little TBS leaking around the top of the door the entire time.  

The results? The chicken skin was dark brown but very rubbery. Once the skin was removed, the meat was very moist and full of hickory smoke flavor. Success! As for the temp swings I don't understand why it takes 2 hrs to settle down but it does. I went with the average of the swings to be around 240F for my smoke temp but when it did finally go to a narrow 5 degree swing it was near the top of the range and not the middle. Weird! It was sure nice watching the smoker do its little temperature dance from my warm living room too!  

Balcy

 

[Bearcarver]

 
I know this thread has been dormant for a couple of months but thought I could add more information for anyone interested. My recently seasoned MES is an analog 30 with a stainless steel door purchased by someone else from QVC a couple of years ago and never unpacked. Yesterday, in its maiden voyage, I smoked 3 large marinated bone-in chicken breasts inside my garage (with the overhead door open). The temp outside was 30F with a constant breeze toward the smoker. I used a Maverick 733 and a new Amazen tray smoker with their hickory pellets. I didn't have a propane torch yet so I used my kitchen gas stove to light the pellets after warming them up first in the microwave like others suggested here too. Worked great!

My MES controller has no temps on it but a color scale. Mine was set to just below half way My BBQ probe was placed on the center of the 3rd rack down inside a potato (great tip I read here). When I turned it on it went up to 252F when the light went out and it coasted to around 270F. I watched it go down to 252F when the light came on again and it continued to drop until it was at 242F when it started going up again. I lowered the controller a little as I wanted it around 240F. After about 30 min, I put the chicken on a cookie tray on the second rack with a temp probe in the biggest breast. I placed the Amazen tray inside that was smoking away. The smoker temps swung between 228F to 256F for about an hour when it went up to over 265F. I watched it for a couple of cycles at the higher temp so I lowered the controller a little again and it settled back to a range of 226-256 for another hour or so, At 2 hrs total it suddenly went to a much narrower swing of 255-260F. Since it was way too high I lowered the controller again a little and the wide swings returned. The chicken steadlily climbed to 160F and then stalled for probably 20 minutes.Now at 2 1/2 hrs, I raised the smoker controller a little to add more heat. The chicken got to 164F and stalled again so I stopped it cooking. By this time it had been smoking for about 3 hrs with constant TBS from the Amazen (which is amazing). I had loaded it with about 4 inches of pellets knowing I was only going to smoke for a couple of hours.BTW, I placed it on top of the MES chip tray. The water tray was foiled over and not used for moisture. I could see a little TBS leaking around the top of the door the entire time.  

The results? The chicken skin was dark brown but very rubbery. Once the skin was removed, the meat was very moist and full of hickory smoke flavor. Success! As for the temp swings I don't understand why it takes 2 hrs to settle down but it does. I went with the average of the swings to be around 240F for my smoke temp but when it did finally go to a narrow 5 degree swing it was near the top of the range and not the middle. Weird! It was sure nice watching the smoker do its little temperature dance from my warm living room too!  

Balcy

I can't help you with the analog, as all of my experience is with the Digital MES units. (different venting)

I would say you did the right thing by adjusting your MES to get to the temp you want it to average on your 733.

I finish my chicken with a 275° smoker temp, because that's my Max heat. If you can get yours there or higher at the end, you can crisp up that skin.

Hope this helps,

Bear

 

[balcy]

Thanks Bear I will try that next time. I am sure I can go over 300F since it is the 1500 watt model. I think ~300F is what I used to season it. The chicken skin may have been because of the marinade used (some liquid lemon pepper in a bottle) as it sat in it for a couple of hrs inside the fridge. It sure came out really thick and rubbery. The door thermometer must be for show. It never got above 200F on the dial. I may remove it and insert a Maverick type probe using a grommet to keep it from touching the steel door. The MES is stored inside my garage so rain/snow isn't an issue. I just cleaned the Amazen tray. No apparent air flow flow issues as every single pellet turned to ash even the few loose ones at the end. I never opened the MES door once the chicken was inside. I am impressed! 

Balcy   

 

[Bearcarver]

 
Thanks Bear I will try that next time. I am sure I can go over 300F since it is the 1500 watt model. I think ~300F is what I used to season it. The chicken skin may have been because of the marinade used (some liquid lemon pepper in a bottle) as it sat in it for a couple of hrs inside the fridge. It sure came out really thick and rubbery. The door thermometer must be for show. It never got above 200F on the dial. I may remove it and insert a Maverick type probe using a grommet to keep it from touching the steel door. The MES is stored inside my garage so rain/snow isn't an issue. I just cleaned the Amazen tray. No apparent air flow flow issues as every single pellet turned to ash even the few loose ones at the end. I never opened the MES door once the chicken was inside. I am impressed! 

Balcy   

Yeah---Those door therms aren't usually too good !!

I'm glad to hear your Amazing is working good in it---So many MES Analogs have to drill extra holes to get it to work good.

Keep on Smoking!

Bear

 

[daricksta]

 
I can't help you with the analog, as all of my experience is with the Digital MES units. (different venting)

I would say you did the right thing by adjusting your MES to get to the temp you want it to average on your 733.

I finish my chicken with a 275° smoker temp, because that's my Max heat. If you can get yours there or higher at the end, you can crisp up that skin.

Hope this helps,

Bear

Do you find that 275° is hot enough to crisp the chicken skin? I know a lot of guys finish it up in the oven at around 350-400° for about 20 minutes or so or toss it on a hot grill over indirect heat for about the same amount of time, more or less, depending on how hot the grill is. I don't recall what I did when I smoked a boneless turkey breast last year.

 

[Bearcarver]

 
Do you find that 275° is hot enough to crisp the chicken skin? I know a lot of guys finish it up in the oven at around 350-400° for about 20 minutes or so or toss it on a hot grill over indirect heat for about the same amount of time, more or less, depending on how hot the grill is. I don't recall what I did when I smoked a boneless turkey breast last year.

Hi Rick!!

I don't do a lot of Chicken, but the ones I did with a finishing temp of 275° (my Max), came out with Great Skin---Not rubbery at all.

Here's two of them:

Chicken Thighs (Hickory Smoked)

Chicken Things (MES 40 Smoked)

Bear

 

[daricksta]

 
Hi Rick!!

I don't do a lot of Chicken, but the ones I did with a finishing temp of 275° (my Max), came out with Great Skin---Not rubbery at all.

Here's two of them:

Chicken Thighs (Hickory Smoked)

Chicken Things (MES 40 Smoked)

Bear

Foist of all, why aren't both of these titled "MES 40 Smoked" when they were both smoked in your MES 40?

 
Hi Rick!!

I don't do a lot of Chicken, but the ones I did with a finishing temp of 275° (my Max), came out with Great Skin---Not rubbery at all.

Here's two of them:

Chicken Thighs (Hickory Smoked)

Chicken Things (MES 40 Smoked)

Bear

Foist of all, both chicken thighs were hickory smoked in your MES 40 so why aren't they both titled as such? And thank you for stoking the pain that cries out its name, Bear! I would love to make your smoked chicken thighs except for one problem: the wife doesn't like chicken thighs; she prefers chicken breasts. Here are chicken thighs chockfull of deep dark-meaty goodness but she prefers the milder taste of chicken (and turkey) white meat. It's very lonely for me being the only one with a gourmet palate in the house...

But on another note, I've got a frozen 12 lb. whole turkey that's fixin' to be smoked later this year. I'm going to try finishing it at 275° and let you know how it turns out with Qview.

 

[kjolly]

Great advice, makes sense he way controllers  work.

 

[Bearcarver]

 
Foist of all, why aren't both of these titled "MES 40 Smoked" when they were both smoked in your MES 40?

LOL---I don't like to name 2 threads exactly the same name. That would make it harder to find the one I'm looking for.

Bear

 

[daricksta]

 
LOL---I don't like to name 2 threads exactly the same name. That would make it harder to find the one I'm looking for.

Bear

I'll accept that. And now it's time for you and I to do our dance routine.

 

[Bearcarver]

A Andy A ---Thank You for the Like.

Bear

 

[PapaRed]

With the realization that this is an old thread, be advised that it provides much information for this new member. I'm reading each entry with interest, gleaning much info. Some history:

Started using a Weber kettle and WSM 5-6 years ago after spending many years with a gas grill. Have had good luck cooking, and started making sausage. After finally creating an edible recipe, I am at steps 2 and 3 - that being getting the casing right, and maintaining the proper temperature without going over the magic 180 degrees F.

So, I purchased a new MES because I was informed the MES would maintain temperature. My experience cooking sausage today has not been what I consider a success.

Started this morning drying the links and applying smoke using my WSM. Transferred the links to the MES and set the temperature to the prescribed 140 degrees. Here are my temp settings and temp readings. I'm using both my ET-732 and my Meater+ to validate temperatures.
Temperature Fluctuations
Temp Set 140°F Temp: 138°F - 153°F (-2 to +13) 15°F Swing (11%)
Temp Set 150°F Temp: 147°F - 162°F (-3 to +12) 15°F Swing (10%)
Temp Set 155°F Temp: 146°F - 169°F (-9 to +15) 24°F Swing (15%)
Temp Set 165°F Temp: 156°F - 172°F (-9 to +7) 16°F Swing (10%)

The sausage has been cooking 10 hours at this point, and the internal temperature is 134 degrees, with my target of 152 degrees.
Being new at this, I am open to suggestions, since I am not impressed with the results of my efforts thus far.

 

[Bearcarver]

PapaRed,
I would have to say, those swings aren't really that bad.
Discounting your swing at the setting of 155°, the rest are a total of 15° from top to bottom.
If I really wanted to smoke at 140° with that smoker, I would suggest setting it @ 134°.
That would bring your average smoker temp to about 140° throughout the length of time of your smoke. With swings as small as that, the most important thing is the average Temp.
To get that setting, I just take your total swing (15°), and find the center of that swing (146°). Now since 146° is 6° higher than the 140° you wanted, lower your setting by 6° to bring your swing Temp to an average of 140°.

I don't know how long your smoker held these temps & swings, but I found that the longer I held the same temp, the smaller the swing amount would be.
Also, once the meat warms up, the swing gets a bit less.
Also colder ambient temps tend to add to the swing temp width.
Hope this helps.

Bear

 

[Winterrider]

^^^^^ good info ^^^^ home ovens are the same principal. Heavy swings either direction until food warms.

 

[PapaRed]

From a USAF Viet Nam veteran to an Army brother, THANK YOU BearCarver!

 

[Bearcarver]

From a USAF Viet Nam veteran to an Army brother, THANK YOU BearCarver!

Glad to help!!
And Welcome Home, Brother!!
"Tan Son Nhut" ???

Bear

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

Yep, 20° temp swings are normal for almost all consumer grade electric smokers.
It is just the nature of the beast.
When the smoker temp stays above or continues to climb in temp above set point and stays there, then you know you have a problem with either the controller or the the thermocouple.
Of course, when adding meat to the smoker, the swings even out as now the meat is acting as a heat sink to absorb the flow of thermal energy.
Short of wiring in an aftermarket PID that is capable of holding a +/- 3° delta, most of us electric users will do just as Bearcarver suggested by adjusting the controller temp setpoint based on the readings from the remote probe in the smoker.
My particular smoker will swing +/- 7° to 10° from what my chamber probe indicates.
That's pretty tight for a mid grade electric smoker.