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  1. sigmo

    Thermometer Probe

    Something I learned when setting up precise temperature control and monitoring for laboratory incubators and ovens is that the temperature inside of any oven will vary WILDLY from place to place. With no active air stirring, the variations can be absolutely appalling. And even with a...
  2. sigmo

    Cooking & Smashing Steel….. ah such a rewarding feeling!!!

    Thank you for that detailed explanation! It's fascinating, and I appreciate the time you took to write that up for us.
  3. sigmo

    Granulated Garlic/garlic powder and onion powder

    The fact that these spices are absorbing enough moisture to form into hard bricks suggests that they may also be damaged by the moisture. So regardless of the brick problem, we probably need to be storing these spices and any herbs in truly moisture tight containers and using a desiccant with...
  4. sigmo

    Resting Smoked Cheese

    I'm reading through this thread, and my question is: Do you do your "drying rest" at room temperature, or is it better to do that in a refrigerator? It seems like you'd get better drying at room temp than in a fridge.
  5. sigmo

    Anyone smoked any jalapenos?

    You guys are the best! I went ahead and tried this: I cut about eight jalapenos into quarters long-ways. I removed the seeds and most of the membranes. I then placed the jalapeno strips face down on a rack and put that on the next-to-top shelf/rack of my old MES-40. I used a mixture of...
  6. sigmo

    Smoked Steak Stuffed Poblanos (Pics)

    excellent recipe and instructions. I need to try this.
  7. sigmo

    Anyone smoked any jalapenos?

    I want to make jalapeno infused tequila. Obviously all you need to do is put some jalapenos into a bottle of tequila and wait. But I figured it would be even tastier if you first smoked the jalapenos. So I'm ready to give it a try. Have any of you smoked jalapenos or other peppers before...
  8. sigmo

    Refrigerated Mashed Potatoes

    Those look great, and being able to do them ahead of time is great for a big family meal when time is always short. Just always be careful with food safety when it comes to cooked potatoes. While raw taters can be stored for a very long time, cooking them destroys some enzyme in them that...
  9. sigmo

    Disposable aluminum tray for MES 40"?

    Me, too. Around 8 or 9 bucks for a pack of 36 if I recall correctly. Most excellent! :)
  10. sigmo

    PID TO HEATING ELEMENT

    I'll bet they didn't check for leakage with a "megger" (high voltage megohmmeter). They probably just ohmed the elements to see if they were "open". What I'm concerned about is that your GFCI tripped when you had the mounting bracket tied to ground. Unless you had something connected wrong...
  11. sigmo

    PID TO HEATING ELEMENT

    This tells me that the reason your GFCI is not tripping is because you don't have the defective heating element grounded to the case of your smoker. So having the smoker grounded doesn't complete the path from the leaking heating element to ground. This is dangerous because the case or "outer...
  12. sigmo

    PID TO HEATING ELEMENT

    Current NEC requires all outdoor outlets as well as all outlets in garages to be GFCI protected. Thus, anyone with a deck or garage that is wired to meet current code will likely be plugging their smoker into a GFCI protected outlet. And most folks won't want to rewire an outlet to eliminate...
  13. sigmo

    PID TO HEATING ELEMENT

    Connecting the ground wire to the bracket for the heating element should NOT cause a GFCI to trip. The fact that it did shows that the element is bad. The fact that it didn't with the element mounted in the smoker shows that there is some fault in the wiring of the grounding system in the...
  14. sigmo

    PID TO HEATING ELEMENT

    if the heating element, removed from the smoker, with the ground wire of the power cord connected to the case of the element trips the GFCI, it indicates that there is leakage current flowing from the actual heating wire (NiCr) element within the heating element's casing to the grounded casing...
  15. sigmo

    Opinions

    I got a different Inkbird unit that has only two probes a while back. This one. Currently unavailable at Amazon, I see: But when I tested its probes at a number of points with my dry block temperature calibrator, it was right on at every point I tested. So that's pretty darned good! I'm...
  16. sigmo

    Opinions

    Bear: It sounds like you've been involved with a lot of this sort of thing yourself. :) Those large heliax cables are expensive, so when someone has to replace a long stretch of it, it makes them very unhappy! ;) Cell phone coverage isn't very common out in the boonies. So there are a lot of...
  17. sigmo

    Opinions

    First, Bear: The window in your smoker is way too clean! ;) Next: You can design and build a radio frequency remote system any way you want. So the frequency used, data signaling method, power levels, antennas, RF sensitivity of the receivers, and modulation modes can be whatever you want...
  18. sigmo

    New Smoker / New Member

    As the others have said: Welcome! I haven't studied the new Masterbuilt units, but I've had an older model MES40 for years. There's a lot to all of this. And folks with expertise with the new models will chime in shortly. If you haven't already, you should consider an aftermarket smoke...
  19. sigmo

    Masterbuilt Glass Door or Not?

    That is what I've observed, too. Sometimes the smoke residue is fairly difficult to clean off of the window and the glass cover over the interior light. So I like the idea of covering the light unless it's being used at night. But, to me, it's worthwhile to have the window because as @dr k...
  20. sigmo

    How to load a bag to vacuum seal it?

    For very runny stuff, I stuff the bag into a big drinking container that's actually an old Tupperware gadget. Just find something the right size. Then fold the opening down over the container if you wish (or not depending on the way things fit). This holds the bag upright so I can do this on...
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