Fatties taking FOREVER!!

[swelland]

Put a brisket on this morning and decided to throw 3 fatties on (first time ever) as a trial.  Fatties hit smoker (MES w/ AMNS) at 2:30pm at 230 degrees.  I am now approaching 5 hours and still internal is only 143 in 2 and 144 in third.  Thought these were 2-3 hours normal.  I made them using the 1 gal bags and 1 - 1.5 lbs meat each.  Is this WAY off track for time or am I just missing something.  Hate missing dinner time by so much, even though I know it is cook to temp not time. 

On another note, just made first batch of Jeff's sauce and all I can say is WOW!  Beats any and all sauces I have made before, and I may just stop trying to make new ones now!  Thanks Jeff!!

Steven

 

[fire in the hole]

The internal temps sound odd to me. Your thermometer may be faulty. Check your probe in boiling water to see if it reaches 212 degrees.

gary

 

[swelland]

Using 3 different probes and all have been checked withing the last 3 weeks.  Both built in probe and my 2 others are reading within 1 degree of each other.  I believe them to be correct (and we are now at 145 on all fatties at 5 hours and 15 minutes!

So confused......

Steven

 

[vision]

My guess is the temp in your smoker is off. They shouldn't be taking that long.

 

[swelland]

Ok, after many test and a very long day, the answer is the MES temperature unit sensor (not temp probe) is off by 23 - 28 degrees.  My meat thermometers were all reading correctly and the MES temp probe is correct, but the main unit temp sensor is way off.  Instead of cooking at 220, I was actually at 197.  Makes it really hard to get meat to temp at that level.  I just tested a range of 100 degrees at it seems the variance increases as the temp is set higher.  At 250 set temp, I get an actually temp at center of unit of 222 degrees.  Any way to fix this or is this just another part of the MES that you replace with something else that actually works?

Finally got the fatties done... One Hamburger/Potato/Corn/Cheese...One Brat, Onion/Mustard/Potato/Cheddar and One Italian Sausage/Pepperoni/Pizza Sauce and Cheese.  Guess they were ok, but cooking for 6 hours may have impacted them...

I am real open to suggestion about the temp control for this unit...

Steven

 

[venture]

We have all been there, not necessarily with the MES.  I run multiple therms all over the place.  Then I still stick things with an instant read.  Maybe I am anal, but I need to know what is going on everywhere.  Backup therms can save you.  Also, on fatties, like other stuffed meat, you can get different readings all over the place.

Good luck and good smoking.

 

[SmokinAl]

The MES controllers are almost always off. Some read higher than they are and some read lower. In your case I would contact Masterbuilt & request a new controller. The reason being that if you set your controller to 275 you will only be cooking in the 250-260 range. If your controller was off in the other direction ie. set at 275 & cooking at 300. I would keep it.

 

[beer-b-q]

The Fatties Look Great..

If I were you I would do what Al suggested...