Greenhorn

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mn rusty

Newbie
Original poster
May 22, 2013
8
10
MN
I'm from MN. Just bought a MES 30 at Cabela's yesterday. Found this site when learning how to season the new smoker. I have never smoked meat before. I look forward to learning this art form. I will be reading the e-course and relying on the seasoned vets for info and advice.
 
Hi Rusty! :welcome1: to SMF!!! We're happy you found us! You've come to the right place, we have over 45,000 members who just love to share their experience and over 900,000 posts describing it!

The search bar at the top can be your best friend when you are trying to find answers to your questions but you can still ask too if you want!

Would you do us a favor and add your location to your profile, it helps others to know where you are when they offer advice, Thanks!
 
welcome1.gif
to SMF!  We are so glad you joined us!

Jeff offers a free 5 day E-Course.  It's packed with great information to use...no matter what your experience level might be!  http://www.smoking-meat.com/smoking-basics-ecourse

If you didn't read the "Terms of Service" notes.....please do.  There are a few things that everyone should know about those pesky little rules before plunging into the forums. http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/a/terms-of-service

If you need any help roaming around the forums....just holler!  Happy to help out!

Kat
 
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Welcome to the forums, Rusty! Glad you've joined us. You've found a great place to learn and share ideas on our favorite pastime...grilling and smoking great food! There are lots of friendly and knowledgeable people here who really enjoy helping one another. Just ask when you need help and you'll get plenty.

Red
 
Did my first smoke two days ago. I learned how to spatchcock a chicken and cooked 2 - 3.5 lbs birds. Cooked them for a little over 3 hours at around 225-240 degrees. Used hickory. The chicken was moist and had nice skin. The thing I was disappointed in was the seasoning/ rub I decided to go with ( Grill Mates chicken rub). The rub had more of a lemon/citrus taste and I wanted more of a salty and Cajun taste. I read on this site to buy Jeff's rub a million times, but not sure if I want to spend $10 and not like it. At least with the grill mates I'm out $2.50. On another note I had a problem with the meat thermometer that is inside my brand new MES 30. It was reading high. I thought the birds were done and cut into one bird and it clearly needed to be cooked longer ( at least another hour). Is this a problem with this smoker. I know that I will need to purchase an instant thermometer. What is the best one to go with?
 
First off welcome from a fellow Minnesotan....I just recently got a mes 40 and there are a couple good ways to check your meat probe accuracy mine was pretty close to spot on within a degree or two....you can either stick it in ice water and look for 32 33 degrees or boiling water looking for 212... Mine checked out with the ice water test was off by one or two and I got the same outcome running it side by side with my maverick on a pork butt I did fri..as for as instant read thermo... I don't own one yet but from the research I have done thermapen seems to be the cats meow and what I will be purchasing in the near future!!' Hope this helps
 
I will try that out. I know that the meat thermometer is incorrect because I smoked spare ribs today and it is way off. I will be contacting Masterbuilt and see what they can do since I bought it less than a week ago and I 've used it 3 times.
 
I will try that out. I know that the meat thermometer is incorrect because I smoked spare ribs today and it is way off. I will be contacting Masterbuilt and see what they can do since I bought it less than a week ago and I 've used it 3 times.

They will probably send you another therm but it will probably be incorrect too. If you think you are serious about smoking I would suggest getting a therm you know you can trust like the Maverick ET-732. It has 2 probes, 1 for smoker temp and 1 for food temp. It also has a programmable remote so you can monitor temps from 100 feet away and set up many different alarms to let you know if something isn't right or your food is done!
 
I just checked the Maverick out. Looks like that will be a purchase in the near future. Any need for an instant therm, like a Thermapen for smoking ?
 
Dave has you covered on the therm.  I've had one for years.  Its been through rain and snow and hasn't failed me yet.

Welcome to the forum.  
 
I don't have a Thermapen...Yet....but I do have a couple of instant reads that I use a lot. Though the Mav has a food probe I still like to probe in multiple places in the food when it is getting close to be done so I know what is going on everywhere and not just one place. Also I usually cook more than one thing at a time so being able to check multiple meats in multiple places sure helps a lot.
 
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