Avoid Temp Swings in MES (By Bear)

[dr k]

I don't know about others, but I don't put the juice in to add moisture to the roast.
My mixture is designed to add to the meat juices for a final Au Jus. I don't add anything later, like some do. All I do is remove the fat, and it's already an Au Jus mixture.

I also put the roast on a cooling rack so it doesn't sit in the juice, just like it would be if it was on a rack below.

Hope that helps.

Bear

I like the fat separating measuring cups that pour from the bottom of the cup to get the Au Jus and keep the fat on top.
-Kurt

 

[Bearcarver]

  I always thought foiled meat with added juice would wash off rub on the bottom of the meat. 
-Kurt

If you put a cooling rack in the pan, under the meat, it won't be sitting in the juice, and won't wash anything off.

Bear

 

[dr k]

So foiling = softer, juicer meat but less bark?  Man who doesnt like both?

Foiling=powering through a stall and a lot of people are done smoking their meat and building bark at 160*F or so.
-Kurt

 

[Bearcarver]

I like the fat separating measuring cups that pour from the bottom of the cup to get the Au Jus and keep the fat on top.
-Kurt

I bought a small one, and it didn't work, so I bought a bigger one, and it still didn't work as good as when I put it in a round sided container.

Then into the fridge until the next day. Then the fat hardens & comes off real easy, sometimes in one piece, leaving nothing but an Awesome Au Jus.

I never need it until the next day anyway, to add when I reheat leftovers.

Bear

 

[daricksta]

 
I don't know about others, but I don't put the juice in to add moisture to the roast.

My mixture is designed to add to the meat juices for a final Au Jus. I don't add anything later, like some do. All I do is remove the fat, and it's already an Au Jus mixture.

I also put the roast on a cooling rack so it doesn't sit in the juice, just like it would be if it was on a rack below.

Hope that helps.

Bear

My mixture is designed to add to the meat juices for a final Au Jus. I don't add anything later, like some do. All I do is remove the fat, and it's already an Au Jus mixture. I think that's brilliant. I'm smoking two chuckies today and in about 20 minutes I'm going to foil them. I tried a wet rub on both, the first wet rub I've done. I think I'll just add some dry herbs or something to the foil and let the juices make the Au Jus for me.

 

[Bearcarver]

 
My mixture is designed to add to the meat juices for a final Au Jus. I don't add anything later, like some do. All I do is remove the fat, and it's already an Au Jus mixture. I think that's brilliant. I'm smoking two chuckies today and in about 20 minutes I'm going to foil them. I tried a wet rub on both, the first wet rub I've done. I think I'll just add some dry herbs or something to the foil and let the juices make the Au Jus for me.

LOL---Thanks Rick!!

I wouldn't say Brilliant----I keep my mixture simple.

With a Butt, maybe 4 to 6 ounces of Apple Juice, and sometimes a couple ounces of BBQ sauce.

Then I stir & Nuke that mix just before I add it and Foil it. The Meat Juices do the rest.

Bear

 

[daricksta]

 
LOL---Thanks Rick!!

I wouldn't say Brilliant----I keep my mixture simple.

With a Butt, maybe 4 to 6 ounces of Apple Juice, and sometimes a couple ounces of BBQ sauce.

Then I stir & Nuke that mix just before I add it and Foil it. The Meat Juices do the rest.

Bear

Darn it all. Looks like I gotta get off my butt if I want to make butt au jus like yours. My problem with smoking during the week is that I've got daycare chores to do, sometimes online classes to complete, and email and stuff to catch up on so I do the least amount of work I can get away with before I pull the meat. I've typically poured in about the same amount of apple juice you do and added a bit of the dry rub I applied to the meat.

Oh, to keep this on topic and keeping in mind I'm lazy, I didn't follow your avoid temp swings step by step but...while the controller overshot my set point it settled back down in about an hour to where I wanted it. I then decided I wanted a lower one and the controller had no problem lowering down to and staying on it. I decided to increase the set point 10° to 240° and once the controller boosted the temp it's been staying at 239° for about 2 hours. I don't know if I just lucked out in getting a good MES 30 Gen 1 or not. All I know is it's doing exactly what it was designed to do.

 

[daricksta]

 
Interesting point about the juice.  Doesnt it also soften the bark and wash off some of the spices?

In the past few weeks I've smoked both baby backs and a pork shoulder. I cooked them both unfoiled for a length of time and then foiled. I remove the foil from the baby backs during the last 30 minutes to an hour. My experience has been there was plenty of bark, that it hadn't been softened by the juice. But my family doesn't like thick bark anyway so I also foil to minimize its formation.

 

[daricksta]

I don't want to come across like I think I'm a hotshot smoker or better than anyone else. The truth is I don't experience all the problems with my MES 30 that others post about with theirs. Now that Bear and a couple of other guys have clarified how the MES controller works, I think my previous temp swing issues were due to my not keeping my hand off the temp adjust buttons. I didn't know that it was normal for the controller to overshoot my set point and that it would come down. So I was continually raising and lowering temps and the controller was responding accordingly. Today in 9-hour smoke where I cooked two chuck roasts (less than 3 lbs each) I adjusted the temp twice. After the controller finished its first cycle or two it stayed on one temp--within a degree or two--until I changed it. So, for the most part I either sat in my chair in front of my computer or did other things while letting my ET-733 monitor the smoker and the meat temps. The most work I had to do was to foil both chuckies when they stalled at 162°. Well, I know the one with the inserted probe did so I figured that the one on the rack above did the same.

Some pro BBQ Pitmasters believe you've got to be at your rig at all times tending to the fire, woodsmoke, and meat or it's just not real BBQ. I disagree. I bought an electric smoker because I wanted smoking to be easy and enjoyable. Either I've gotten to be pretty good at what I do or I lucked out with the smoker I bought, or both. In any case, I thank Bear, Jted, Dr. K, and Chef JimmyJ for demystifying the MES controller so that I can now kick back and for the most part let it do its thing.

 

[mummel]

Guys in camping under the stars sitting around a campfire :) I'm with you Re: set it and forget it. MES all the way!

 

[Bearcarver]

That's Great Rick!!

Sounds like you got one of the better Temp holding MES units. That's one of the reasons I always say, "They're all different".

I might be imagining it, but it seemed mine was acting a little funny for quite awhile before the Heating element quit on me last week.

I'm hoping once I get that connector & get it in there, maybe my MES will work smoother than it has in a long time.  We'll See!!

Bear

 

[dr k]

I don't want to come across like I think I'm a hotshot smoker or better than anyone else. The truth is I don't experience all the problems with my MES 30 that others post about with theirs. Now that Bear and a couple of other guys have clarified how the MES controller works, I think my previous temp swing issues were due to my not keeping my hand off the temp adjust buttons. I didn't know that it was normal for the controller to overshoot my set point and that it would come down. So I was continually raising and lowering temps and the controller was responding accordingly. Today in 9-hour smoke where I cooked two chuck roasts (less than 3 lbs each) I adjusted the temp twice. After the controller finished its first cycle or two it stayed on one temp--within a degree or two--until I changed it. So, for the most part I either sat in my chair in front of my computer or did other things while letting my ET-733 monitor the smoker and the meat temps. The most work I had to do was to foil both chuckies when they stalled at 162°. Well, I know the one with the inserted probe did so I figured that the one on the rack above did the same.

Some pro BBQ Pitmasters believe you've got to be at your rig at all times tending to the fire, woodsmoke, and meat or it's just not real BBQ. I disagree. I bought an electric smoker because I wanted smoking to be easy and enjoyable. Either I've gotten to be pretty good at what I do or I lucked out with the smoker I bought, or both. In any case, I thank Bear, Jted, Dr. K, and Chef JimmyJ for demystifying the MES controller so that I can now kick back and for the most part let it do its thing.

Those were kind words. Ive been waiting over a month and MB said my new MES Gen 1 40" 20070311 with the free leg kit ships Monday. With the delay they said i can have a free assessory of my choice so chose the leg extension. I hope it doesn't come by covered wagon like the first one.
-Kurt

 

[mtm29575]

Great advise once again Bear. All us MES owners thank you.

 

[Bearcarver]

 
Great advise once again Bear. All us MES owners thank you.

Thank You Mark!!

I Appreciate That !!

Bear

 

[daricksta]

Those were kind words. Ive been waiting over a month and MB said my new MES Gen 1 40" 20070311 with the free leg kit ships Monday. With the delay they said i can have a free assessory of my choice so chose the leg extension. I hope it doesn't come by covered wagon like the first one.
-Kurt

Maybe MB spent money on them new-fangled turbocharged covered wagons. They go through a lot of horses with them turbochargers shoved up their heines but the packages are sure delivered fast!

 

[mummel]

Found this pic in another thread.  This is essentially what the MES does at startup.  It's a good 2 hours before things settle down.  Huge design flaw IMO.

900x900px-LL-0a666574_image.jpeg

• mummel
• Jul 22, 2015

 

[will75]

Must be nice to not have a MES 40.. gen 2.. We are always under temp vs controller temp.  Just bought the new top vent BT... I hope it has a good temp controller

 

[brickguy221]

 
Must be nice to not have a MES 40.. gen 2.. We are always under temp vs controller temp.  Just bought the new top vent BT... I hope it has a good temp controller

My former Gen 2.0 was always under temp on controller vs actual temp. For example, the controller temp would say 195-200 while the actual shelf temp was 235-240.

 

[daricksta]

 
Found this pic in another thread.  This is essentially what the MES does at startup.  It's a good 2 hours before things settle down.  Huge design flaw IMO.

900x900px-LL-0a666574_image.jpeg

• mummel
• Jul 22, 2015

I went to a pro/am BBQ competition yesterday. One of the amateurs had a Traeger showing the cook temp on a red LED display screen. I think he was cooking brisket. Guess what? First time I looked the temp was 243F° and I thought "OK, he likes to cook at that temp." A few minutes later I looked again and the temp was down to 204F°. Talk about a temp swing! No different from some of the Masterbuilts. 

With my MES 30 Gen 1 once I get past the initial warm up cycle I'm no longer getting those wide temp swings. Even if it takes a couple of hours for the controller to stabilize that doesn't bother me. I make my minor temp adjustments. It's how it all comes out at the end which matters. 

 

[electriclouie]

I have a 30 inch signature mes smoker should I purchase a maverick or could I be safe and stay with what I have