masterbuilt question

[realdeam]

I'm new to he forum. I stopped by the roll call place before I came here. Let's get right in to it. I have a 40" masterbuilt that my wife got me for Christmas from academy sports. It has the window and the stainless steel look. Let's address the Boston butt first.

I've smoked two Boston butts so far. One was about 4lbs and the other was a little over 7 lbs. I used hickory chips and set the temp at 235. This thing took about 18 hrs to complete. Yes you read that right.
I wrapped the butt at 165 and took it off at 195. It was amazing taste and tenderness. Great bark. That's outrageous though. The butts were done on different days. My friend just bought one without the window and he had his 7lb butt done in 10 hours today.

Thursday of last week, I put on some baby back ribs. It was about lunch time when I put them on. At 7pm they were ok. Not tough but just ok ribs. I wrapped them for 3 hours after they were on for almost 3 hours. I've done ribs before on my grill and they were amazing. The meat was not drawn up on the bones this go round. I'll try to post up a few pics.

 

[realdeam]

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j198/uthnkunome27/20141228_083518_zpso73blpy2.jpg

 

[realdeam]

And the link to the ribs. You can see they aren't drawn up. This is after 7 or 7.5 hrs.

 

[realdeam]

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j198/uthnkunome27/20150116_192312_zpsefkaxuqp.jpg

 

[dave from mesa]

What temp are you cooking at? You aren't trusting the therm on the controller are you? Need a real temp gauge.

I cooked 2 butts last year at the same time. Pretty close to the same weight. One was done at 5 pm and I got tired at 10 pm and pulled the other. Internal temp on the second one was 185. Both still came out good.

My MEC runs about 20-25 deg lower than it shows on the controller. I adjust temp according to my Maverick. 

Good luck.

 

[bmaddox]

I have found that weight is not everything. Every piece of meat will go for different times based on weight and shape. I have pulled butts off hours before I thought they would be done and had to let them go hours longer.

I agree with Dave about checking the MES temp with another thermo.

 

[inkjunkie]

In one of my threads someone explained to me about the apparent temperature issues on my MSE40. Will see if I can copy/paste a link to it using my phone...
Can't find it. But I do remember Bearcarver was the member that explained it to me. Perhaps it was in a pm. Might want to contact him about this. Sort of have to put logical thiking aside when it comes to using a thermometer to verify chamber temperature on the MSE.
Found it...
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/74198/mes-control-panel-problems/30#post_1292452

 

[wolfman1955]

realdeam,
Until you can verify the temp. of your cook chamber there is not much we can do to help you, but here is something Brooksy said for you to ponder, "You are kidding yourself trying to figure out a time frame! It's gonna take how long it takes. Could take 15 hours could take 25 could be the 33 your coming up with. That piece of pork doesn't have a watch and doesn't care that your going to lose hours of sleeping smoking it to deliciousness! You just have to put it in and cook it till its done." That statement will remain true even if you know all of your temps.
Keep Smokin!!!
Wolf

 

[daricksta]

I'm new to he forum. I stopped by the roll call place before I came here. Let's get right in to it. I have a 40" masterbuilt that my wife got me for Christmas from academy sports. It has the window and the stainless steel look. Let's address the Boston butt first.

I've smoked two Boston butts so far. One was about 4lbs and the other was a little over 7 lbs. I used hickory chips and set the temp at 235. This thing took about 18 hrs to complete. Yes you read that right.
I wrapped the butt at 165 and took it off at 195. It was amazing taste and tenderness. Great bark. That's outrageous though. The butts were done on different days. My friend just bought one without the window and he had his 7lb butt done in 10 hours today.

Thursday of last week, I put on some baby back ribs. It was about lunch time when I put them on. At 7pm they were ok. Not tough but just ok ribs. I wrapped them for 3 hours after they were on for almost 3 hours. I've done ribs before on my grill and they were amazing. The meat was not drawn up on the bones this go round. I'll try to post up a few pics.

Where do you live and how cold has it been outside while you were smoking? You also never stated if you're used a therm with a probe to monitor the internal temp of the pork butts. You also didn't state what temp you cooked the ribs at. I also cook at about 235 and the ribs I smoke always turn out great within 6 hours. The only thing I've had to cook for hours and hours was a boneless chuck roast last year that stalled at 160 degrees IT for 8 hours or so.

 

[realdeam]

Ok I'm here. Sorry.
Yes I'm trusting the gauges and probe that come from the factory on this unit. I will get another kind and try that.
It's in the high 30s for the low and during the day we may see low 50s.

The ribs I cooked at 235. Kept them on for 3 hours, wrapped them with a little brown sugar, parkay, and little honey. Put them back on for probably 2.5 hours or so. Unwrapped them and put them back on with bbq sauce on the top for 30 mins or so.

 

[realdeam]

Another thing I read while searching things on here is leaving the damper or vent open. I had it closed maybe 70% of the way. I guess I need to open it up 100% next time from what I'm reading

 

[dave from mesa]

Damper all the way open.

So how did the ribs taste?

dave

 

[realdeam]

They were decent. Nothing to brag about. I'm gonna try doing them again. I need to get me an aftermarket thermometer and probe. When I slow cooked them on my grill for 6 or so hours, they were excellent, however, I had nearly perfected them on a grill.

 

[daricksta]

A couple of years ago for a brother-in law's birthday, I staged a Ribfest where I cooked St. Louis style ribs on my Weber charcoal grill since my wife had bought me a Steve Raichlen rib rack over charcoal with hickory wood chips. At the same time I cooked two racks of baby backs in my MES 30 over hickory wood pellets. All ribs got the same rub; I didn't foil the baby backs because it was enough just to cook two sets of ribs two different ways. Both sets turned out great, and my bro-in-law dubbed me King of Ribs.

I don't know if you foil your ribs when you cook them on your grill but try to cook them as similarly as possible in your smoker; same rub, same sauce if you apply one. If you don't foil them on the grill, don't foil them in the smoker. If you use a propane grill, approximate the heat you cooked the ribs at there inside the smoker. I know the indirect heat was higher on my Weber charcoal grill which is why, to me, the St. Louis ribs were a little overdone although everyone else loved them.

You definitely need a good therm with a probe. There's a difference of opinion as to whether or not you can use a probe with ribs; I've seen comments both ways. I personally don't. But with any MES you need an accurate therm to tell you what the true ambient temp is because you can't trust the control panel display.

 

[realdeam]

Ok I just put a 7lb butt on. 7:25pm georgia time. I haven't got the maverick yet but the wife has a meat thermometer so I just put it on the top rack. I pre heated the unit to 235. Meat thermometer is showing it dead on. I did stick the units probe in meat but I'm gonna check it with the wife's as well.

 

[realdeam]

Put on a second butt 20 or 30 minute after mine went on. Borrowed by friends aftermarket thermometer probe to go in second butt. Both factor probe and his are within 5 degrees Now and mine should be showing warmer because it's been on there longer. I guess it is working fine. It is almost 1am and the first butt is showing 146 degrees. Almost 6 hours in to it

 

[timberjet]

Butts never cease to amaze me. I had a 6 pounder take 16 hours the other day. You just never know. Ribs can be like that too to a lesser degree but if you get loin backs they can take up to an hour longer than usual if they are really fat. So you are saying that the built in smoker probe temp. is correct? Did you check it with the digital probe you borrowed as well? It is really good to know that you are in the ballpark in there. If the leave in probe you are using for smoker temp. is touching the rack it will not read right. by the way....

 

[realdeam]

5am and the first butt read 163 degrees so I wrapped it in foil. checked it with my wife's meat thermometer and my factory probe was correct. The second butt is sitting at 143. I need to correct the time frame. Second butt went on at 8:15pm so that is close to an hour after mine went On.

 

[timberjet]

Butts are all different and you cannot cook by time. You just have to let it do it's thing. I can't tell you how many times I have had my Butt kicked. Pun intended.

 

[realdeam]

Lol.

Well, the butt that got put on at 7:30ish was ready to take off about 12 noon the next day. 16.5 hours.

The butt that got put on at 8:30ish was ready about 5pm the next day. 20.5hrs.
Crazy.