Temp on a MES30

[jimp75]

Smoked a 3# point using a 2012 thread that said 220 degrees for 2 hrs per pound to a final temp of 193 degrees. After 10+ hours of smoking (11:00pm) meat temp had reach 175 and I quit the smoke. Pastrami turned out pretty good with quite a bit of bark on small end. Smoker set-up was point on the 2nd from top rack, a pan under that to catch the drippings and a new pellet smoke maker (?) on the bottom side where the water pan sits. Checked temp of smoker the next day without anything in it and and the thermometer recorded 220 just like the setting on the MES30. Don’t know where the sensor is located on the MES. Worried about cooking something like a brisket going forward. Any thoughts???

 

[sm0kin]

Something sounds off about this, like the box temp. I have owned 3 mes30 and an mes40 and not a single one was within 15 degrees of actual temp. With that said, a 3 lb. piece of meat shouldn’t take anywhere near that long. Is your meat thermometer calibrated accurately?

 

[smokerjim]

don't trust the factory thermometer, they are not accurate, they can be off quite a bit, get your self a probe or two and check them in some boiling water to make sure they are accurate and go by them, my mes30 sensor is on the back wall of the smoker about 3/4 up from bottom, also my mes30 temps vary inside smoker some spots are hotter then others

 

[tallbm]

Smoked a 3# point using a 2012 thread that said 220 degrees for 2 hrs per pound to a final temp of 193 degrees. After 10+ hours of smoking (11:00pm) meat temp had reach 175 and I quit the smoke. Pastrami turned out pretty good with quite a bit of bark on small end. Smoker set-up was point on the 2nd from top rack, a pan under that to catch the drippings and a new pellet smoke maker (?) on the bottom side where the water pan sits. Checked temp of smoker the next day without anything in it and and the thermometer recorded 220 just like the setting on the MES30. Don’t know where the sensor is located on the MES. Worried about cooking something like a brisket going forward. Any thoughts???

Hi there and welcome!

I second everything the other guys have said. Don't trust the MES probe they are always off.
Like the first thing every MES owner must buy is a good thermometer to really measure the temp of the smoker at rack/meat level. AND the Internal Temp (IT) of the meat because the MES meat probes are off as well.

I always recommend people buy a Wireless dual probe (or more probes) Thermometer like the ThermoPro Tp-20 but there are a number out that that work well. I'm a fan of more probes and like a minimum of 4 probes (2 on the smoker rack left/right side, 2 in the meat, meat on left side, meat on right side of rack).
Every smoker is different and will be hotter in some areas than others so it is good to know what your system is doing hence 2 rack level probes and then 2 meat probes for meat along the rack.

My MES40 was never able to hit max temp of 275F and if I was lucky I could get 250F. I like smoking briskets and pork butts at 275F (almost 1hr per pound at this temp) but couldn't because of my MES max temp limit never getting to 275F.

If things become unbearable then there is an option to rewire the MES and use a 3rd party controller like an Auber PID controller and then you will be able to precisely hit and hold the temps. Again this is if things become unbearable or too frustrating with the way the MES currently works OR the MES dies on you :)

I hope this info helps!

 

[jimp75]

I have a ThermoPro single probe thermometer which I will use to monitor temps at cooking levels. I am wondering if the drip pan under the meat or the new pellet smoke device on the bottom right could have affected a long smoke like this one. I have not experienced this problem previously.