Large cuts of meat cooling the smoker?

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chef boyarista

Fire Starter
Original poster
Jul 15, 2015
30
14
Bay Area, CA
Hey everyone! So I started what is a large smoke for me, two 5lb. picnics and some spare ribs on my MES 30. I have it plugged into one of my industrial outlets so power shouldn't be a problem, there is a small cross breeze in my town as well with the temp at around 60. Always blowing day and night! So here's my problem, my temp will not stay constant! I get that there are fluctuations when the element cycles, but as soon as it gets to temp it drops FAST. Could this be caused by the volume of meat? I'm an hour and a half in and it feels like it won't hold temp for more than five minutes vent closed and no smoke going because I don't want my chips to be on constant heat. Any experience with this? I have my pan full of hot water and the meat spaced out pretty good. Thanks in advance
 
Larger cuts can create cooler temps. Ten pounds though isn't that much. My WSM would drop 5-10 degrees for maybe 30 minutes tops then it would be back up. Water in your water pan can be an issue too. For more consistent temps don't fill the pan with water, or fill it with sand. Cover with foil for easy clean up.
 
Thanks for the heads up. If it keeps going like this for another hour then I'll dump my water pan and maybe make a trip to Home Depot for that sand. Is the water a problem because it carries heat away when it evaporates?
 
Also remember, it takes time to heat up water or sand. I do as dirtsalor does.......wrap pan with foil and use it to catch drippings. Then just throw the foil away.......pan cleanup is done.
 
I do foil my pan. I saw Malcom Reed do it a few times on youtube and figured that it was a good idea. I usually do it with cookie sheets if I'm baking something that could possibly be sticky. Thanks again guys. I think what happened was I had one of the cuts too close to the MES thermometer and that was playing tricks with it since my potato was a little on the chill side my therm wasn't what I was going by. It's working fine now that it's been running a few hours. I work nights so waking up early to prep everything just fried my brains, haha. Maybe a dry run tomorrow with some sand and write everything down as I go.
 
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