phathead69,
131°F will give you the medium rare, closer to medium, that you're looking for.
You say you're cooking "thick" steaks but you didn't say how thick they are, and that plays a role in the cooking time for pasteurization. For example, at 131°F, a 1" steak requires 2.75 hours. At 1.5" and 2" the times are 3 and 4.5 hours, respectively.
The times given are taken from D. Baldwin's tables which are admittedly more conservative to the extreme than most. Most pasteurization tables only take salmonella into consideration. In addition to salmonella, Baldwin's tables also consider E. Coli and listeria. In reality, you could probably cut your cook times back a bit without the possibly of any ill effect