- Jul 22, 2017
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So I'm smoking my first brisket using my MES30. Started with a small 4 LBer I'm now at 14 hours and just got to 190F so I imagine another hour to get to 195F IT to pull. It's about a 2.5" thick flat. Reading through older posts, this seems like a realllllly long time. I had a 3lb butt take 10 hours a few weeks ago starting at 225F and had to nudge it up to 275F to finish in that time. I'm just concerned how long it's taking for these smaller pieces of meat, and in this case, that I may have dried out my brisket.
I smoke with vent full open. Am I loosing too much heat? MES30 seems to maintain heat output but I did notice on my last smoke, the built in probe measures about 10F off (hotter) than an analog and even the Maverick ET-733 probe. Also at set point, the air temp seems like it can fluctuate +5F/-15F from setpoint with heater cycling.
Timeline for this current brisket smoke:
8:00pm preheat 225F built in probe. Mav reads 218F (dropped as low as 210F) air temp
8:45pm 4lb brisket in
1:45am 5 hours open smoker and insert Mav probe into middle of flat. Reading 160F. Refill wood chips in SSK (slow smoke kit). Bumped MES30 set point to 230F. Mav reading 216-222F.
8:00am Mav probe reads 178F. Refill wood chips. Bumped set point on MES30 to 235F. Mav reading air 223-230F
10:45am Just hit 190F
I get that thickness is better time estimate than weight, but has anyone else experienced these really long time to reach IT in smaller/thicker meats with the MES30?
I smoke with vent full open. Am I loosing too much heat? MES30 seems to maintain heat output but I did notice on my last smoke, the built in probe measures about 10F off (hotter) than an analog and even the Maverick ET-733 probe. Also at set point, the air temp seems like it can fluctuate +5F/-15F from setpoint with heater cycling.
Timeline for this current brisket smoke:
8:00pm preheat 225F built in probe. Mav reads 218F (dropped as low as 210F) air temp
8:45pm 4lb brisket in
1:45am 5 hours open smoker and insert Mav probe into middle of flat. Reading 160F. Refill wood chips in SSK (slow smoke kit). Bumped MES30 set point to 230F. Mav reading 216-222F.
8:00am Mav probe reads 178F. Refill wood chips. Bumped set point on MES30 to 235F. Mav reading air 223-230F
10:45am Just hit 190F
I get that thickness is better time estimate than weight, but has anyone else experienced these really long time to reach IT in smaller/thicker meats with the MES30?
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