Inconsistent meat smoking

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joel11230

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Mar 21, 2016
133
16
Hi, I have a masterbuilt 30" smoker. I smoked some snack sticks Saturday with very inconsistent results. Some were done well before others. Can too much water mixing with the meat cause this? I started the smoker at 140 for 1 hour, then 160 for an hour. Then went to 180 for the duration which ended up being 10 hours. Should I just set the temp to 200? Thanks for any help.
 
I can't speak to the water question, but i have the MES 30 also and it does have major hot spots. Luckily I got mine for cold smoking so it's less of an issue. When using it to cook I have to rotate the items around to try and keep the cooking process even. It sucks but I don't know any other solution.

*Edit... the right side of my smoker is the hot spot.
 
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Hey Joel,
I hope they turned out edible! I'm sure that water in meat/fat etc could have an affect. However, Most smokers have hot and cold spots. If you have temp probes lay them around different parts of you smoker to see where one side is hotter than the other. Bear did a great deal of research on MES. I recommend looking through this thread.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/235820/masterbuilt-smokers-bear-s-thoughts-findings

It covers hot spot issue Darwin mentioned.
Good luck!
 
Water cools the sticks as it evaporates but is a necessary evil to stuff thin casing. Temps will vary, top to bottom, left to right. Pull what is done and wait out the rest. Higher heat is Never the answer with Cured sausage. Above 175° the Fat will melt out and separate from the meat resulting in dry grainy sticks...JJ
 
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Thanks guys, I'll just have to instill some more patience it sounds like.
 
That has been the hardest thing for 

me to learn.

Patience, since I've started smoking I 

have learned a lot about that.

  Not enough yet, but I am starting to get the idea.

That's why there's beer.  
biggrin.gif


Keep on smokin'                Ed
 
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Joel, morning....  Don't trust the built in therm....    Get a wired therm to measure the smoker temp...  find the hot spots....  rotate the meat...   and you might think of making modifications, to the smoker, to try and get even temps across the smoker....
 
That's a good idea, I'll get a wired temp probe. They did turn out good but I had to constantly keep an eye on it. Oh well, good excuse to sit there and drink beer!
 
Hi, I have a masterbuilt 30" smoker. I smoked some snack sticks Saturday with very inconsistent results. Some were done well before others. Can too much water mixing with the meat cause this? I started the smoker at 140 for 1 hour, then 160 for an hour. Then went to 180 for the duration which ended up being 10 hours. Should I just set the temp to 200? Thanks for any help.
Yep,,, 10hrs sounds about right,,, I get my sticks done anywhere from 8-10hrs depending on the day and conditions,,, 

On sticks or summer sausage I do not go over 170/180 and take the IT to 152*

I have seen somewhere on this forum where someone put in a small CPU fan and circulated the air better and didn't have a hot spot,, been thinking about doing the same.

Good luck and let us know.

A full smoker is a happy smoker

DS
 
I had a mes 40 and the rack holders had an indent that would hold a dowel. I used that to hang my sausage and avoided the hot spots. It depends on how much sausage you ha e to do.
 
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