Cabela's 40" Black Smoker by Masterbuilt

[Thundamonkey]

I called in and asked about the control module, but said they'll only send me a new high temp sensor first and see if that resolves it. The rep was nice to deal with, although did say that it was unlikely the element would still be on at 403 degrees, so my probe may be off. When I asked why it'd be on at 310 (like the smoker showed) she then offered the sensor.

Fingers crossed that this solves it and I won't need to call back and get a control module sent too.

 

[Thundamonkey]

Update:

I received the high temp sensor yesterday and installed it, but had to wait until today to do a long test run. 3 hours in and it has held temp and hasn't tried to burn my house down.

MES thermometer set to 275, element goes off at 274 with overshoot to 288-290, and then goes back on again as it cascades down to 270.

Using my wireless probes, my temps have hit as high as 302 on the hot side (2 racks above the element) with a range of 284-302. Cool side, same height but other side, ranges from 269-276.

Hard to avoid the temp spikes on the hot side, especially given the size of the element, but pretty pleased the sensor was the issue. I will do a lower temp run tomorrow and see how it fairs maintaining 225ish.

Thanks all for your help and support, cheers

 

[Bearcarver]

Update:

I received the high temp sensor yesterday and installed it, but had to wait until today to do a long test run. 3 hours in and it has held temp and hasn't tried to burn my house down.

MES thermometer set to 275, element goes off at 274 with overshoot to 288-290, and then goes back on again as it cascades down to 270.

Using my wireless probes, my temps have hit as high as 302 on the hot side (2 racks above the element) with a range of 284-302. Cool side, same height but other side, ranges from 269-276.

Hard to avoid the temp spikes on the hot side, especially given the size of the element, but pretty pleased the sensor was the issue. I will do a lower temp run tomorrow and see how it fairs maintaining 225ish.

Thanks all for your help and support, cheers

That's Great, Thunda!!
Those numbers are a lot better!!
Set at 225° should give you even better results.
The normal thing when set at 275° is to shut off at 275°. Then overshoot some, then fall back down until coming back on at 274°.
The amount of overshoot depends on things like Ambient Temp, how long an upward run it just had, what you have in the Smoker, etc, etc.

Bear

 

[zwiller]

I am still in awe of how well the MES does temps from my gasser but I am noticing the overshoot (delta?) as well. Interesting others noticed this too and might be compensating. Thermal mass (foiled paver) really helped my gasser stabilize, same for my pizza stone in the oven, so that is something I plan to try.

 

[Thundamonkey]

That's Great, Thunda!!
Those numbers are a lot better!!
Set at 225° should give you even better results.
The normal thing when set at 275° is to shut off at 275°. Then overshoot some, then fall back down until coming back on at 274°.
The amount of overshoot depends on things like Ambient Temp, how long an upward run it just had, what you have in the Smoker, etc, etc.

Bear

Thanks Bear,

I will do my 225 run today and see how that fluctuates. I am looking forward to putting this in action.

I am still in awe of how well the MES does temps from my gasser but I am noticing the overshoot (delta?) as well. Interesting others noticed this too and might be compensating. Thermal mass (foiled paver) really helped my gasser stabilize, same for my pizza stone in the oven, so that is something I plan to try.

Zwiller, I was using a firebrick in my bradley before, although I didn't really think to use it in this given the 1200W element in this machine compared to the 500 in the bradley (granted, this one is a fair bit larger). I wonder if there would be any benefit leaving one or two in the MES too. Hmmm

 

[Bearcarver]

Thanks Bear,

I will do my 225 run today and see how that fluctuates. I am looking forward to putting this in action.



Zwiller, I was using a firebrick in my bradley before, although I didn't really think to use it in this given the 1200W element in this machine compared to the 500 in the bradley (granted, this one is a fair bit larger). I wonder if there would be any benefit leaving one or two in the MES too. Hmmm

I can tell you I never got into any of that, because when you live in a cold climate, it takes too long to thaw out the frozen Bricks at the start of heating the smoker, and I wasn't going to take them inside between smokes just to keep them warm.
All that steel inside the MES holds plenty of heat too.

Bear

 

[Thundamonkey]

I can tell you I never got into any of that, because when you live in a cold climate, it takes too long to thaw out the frozen Bricks at the start of heating the smoker, and I wasn't going to take them inside between smokes just to keep them warm.
All that steel inside the MES holds plenty of heat too.

Bear

True,

Although, I don't live in very cold place, and it all lives in my garage (which is warmer than ambient) so do you think it would help or more of a nuisance? Given the fact the smoker/bricks will never get below 35-40 degrees (at the very lowest) there wouldn't be as much "work" to get them heated.

 

[Bearcarver]

True,

Although, I don't live in very cold place, and it all lives in my garage (which is warmer than ambient) so do you think it would help or more of a nuisance? Given the fact the smoker/bricks will never get below 35-40 degrees (at the very lowest) there wouldn't be as much "work" to get them heated.

Well, you would have a better reason than I, but I'm a "KISS" kind of a Bear, and to me this is just an extra PITA, kinda like a Mailbox Mod for an MES, when my AMNPS burns fine in my Smoker.

I guess it should depend how often you open your door. For me it's when I put the meat in & when I take it out.

Bear

 

[Thundamonkey]

Well, you would have a better reason than I, but I'm a "KISS" kind of a Bear, and to me this is just an extra PITA, kinda like a Mailbox Mod for an MES, when my AMNPS burns fine in my Smoker.

I guess it should depend how often you open your door. For me it's when I put the meat in & when I take it out.

Bear

Good point Bear,

I only usually open it once during the cook (at least with the bradley) to rotate the food. I don't know if I'll do that with the MES as I haven't cooked in it yet, so I suppose it's less relevant if the "recovery phase" is shortened if I don't actually need it. I look forward to a number of trials on this and see how it works out. Cheers

 

[zwiller]

Thanks Bear. I trust your insight here. KISS here too and if ain't broken... How do you know if the MES is cycling too often? I take a peak now and then and don't see it running constantly. Seems fine to me.

 

[Bearcarver]

Good point Bear,

I only usually open it once during the cook (at least with the bradley) to rotate the food. I don't know if I'll do that with the MES as I haven't cooked in it yet, so I suppose it's less relevant if the "recovery phase" is shortened if I don't actually need it. I look forward to a number of trials on this and see how it works out. Cheers

I usually only use the top racks, and the top 2 on a 4 rack unit, and the top 3 on a 6 rack unit are close enough in heat to not need any rotating. You'll feel better about it once you have a few MES smokes under your belt. They're Great Smokers.

Bear

 

[Bearcarver]

Thanks Bear. I trust your insight here. KISS here too and if ain't broken... How do you know if the MES is cycling too often? I take a peak now and then and don't see it running constantly. Seems fine to me.

It will cycle when it needs to, and as long as you don't have a problem, it won't be recycling too often.

I keep my Maverick on the coffee table near my recliner & glance over there now & then, and once every half hour or so I walk out & check things like Smoke Density & make sure nothing bad is going on.

Only problems I ever ran into were strange ones, like the Sun hitting the MES sensor & confusing the Temp control, or the time I had two 9 X 11 pans on one rack & blocked the heat flow.
If you don't check the Maverick now & then, you'd never know about those things until too late.

Bear

 

[zwiller]

I have been enjoying "ignorance is bliss". Time to throw the Maverick cue probe in there on next run and see what's going on.

Only running 2 racks with my 4 rack too. That pretty much cinches it... I will move waterpan NKA drip tray to the 3rd and keep AMNPS on the far left of the 4th.

 

[Bearcarver]

I have been enjoying "ignorance is bliss". Time to throw the Maverick cue probe in there on next run and see what's going on.

Only running 2 racks with my 4 rack too. That pretty much cinches it... I will move waterpan NKA drip tray to the 3rd and keep AMNPS on the far left of the 4th.

If the AMNPS works good for you there, do it, but if you have a problem with it going out, I found the right side of the bottom rack works better because it's just above the chip dumper hole. Then I can pull the dumper out a few inches if it needs more air or push it in if it needs less air.

And Keep your Maverick smoker probe about 3" from the main meat. That's close enough to measure the temp in the area of the meat, yet far enough away from the meat to keep the cold meat from screwing up your Temp readings.

Bear

 

[meatsweats86]

I did ribs on mine this past weekend in 15° temps. I had it at 250° and it held temps very well. Had my maverick inside and didn't see much in fluctuations. I did notice a 15° difference from 2nd from top to 3rd from top rack. Might of been because the bottom prob was near the meat.

Used the mailbox mod Bear recommended. Used Aluminum mailbox with a aluminum vent elbow. Cut hole in the mail box and cut some tabs on the vent tube. Used 3 SS screws to attach it to the mailbox and sealed it with high temp food grade sealant. Raised my 5x8 AMNPS with 2" screws and cut 3 holes in the mail box door.

I remove the chip loader and snugged the vent tube in the side hole. In order for the tube to go all the way inside, you would need to remove the 3 screws and the whole chip tray. I didn't want to do that so I just snugged it in as far as it would go and it didn't leak at all. AMNPS stayed lit perfectly this way compared to when I had it inside on the bottom

 

[Bearcarver]

I did ribs on mine this past weekend in 15° temps. I had it at 250° and it held temps very well. Had my maverick inside and didn't see much in fluctuations. I did notice a 15° difference from 2nd from top to 3rd from top rack. Might of been because the bottom prob was near the meat.

Used the mailbox mod Bear recommended. Used Aluminum mailbox with a aluminum vent elbow. Cut hole in the mail box and cut some tabs on the vent tube. Used 3 SS screws to attach it to the mailbox and sealed it with high temp food grade sealant. Raised my 5x8 AMNPS with 2" screws and cut 3 holes in the mail box door.

I remove the chip loader and snugged the vent tube in the side hole. In order for the tube to go all the way inside, you would need to remove the 3 screws and the whole chip tray. I didn't want to do that so I just snugged it in as far as it would go and it didn't leak at all. AMNPS stayed lit perfectly this way compared to when I had it inside on the bottom

Sounds like you're in good shape & ready to go!! (I'd put a "Thumbs Up" Right here, but we don't have any).

Bear

 

[Thundamonkey]

Very nice MeatSweats.

I have done 2 temp runs, one at 225 and the other at 200, and I am still swinging up to 45 degrees over at the top of the upswing. The bottom of the upswing is still 15-20 above goal temp, so it never really gets down to set temp (even-though the MES says it does). Even my 200 temp only got down to 216 at the lowest.

Is this something I contact Masterbuilt for as see if it's a component issue (? low sensor as the control module is still clicking on/off at the right times and I just replaced the high temp shut off sensor) or so I just adjust knowing this range for future food runs?

 

[dr k]

Is it the first few cycles then everything smoothes out? If you preheat to 180*, will it coast to 225*, then set the smoker to 225* to eliminate the first big over shoot? Or preheat 45* lower than your cooking temp then reset smoker to that temp when it coast up to it.

 

[Bearcarver]

Very nice MeatSweats.

I have done 2 temp runs, one at 225 and the other at 200, and I am still swinging up to 45 degrees over at the top of the upswing. The bottom of the upswing is still 15-20 above goal temp, so it never really gets down to set temp (even-though the MES says it does). Even my 200 temp only got down to 216 at the lowest.

Is this something I contact Masterbuilt for as see if it's a component issue (? low sensor as the control module is still clicking on/off at the right times and I just replaced the high temp shut off sensor) or so I just adjust knowing this range for future food runs?

Question: Are these 45° overshoots over the top of the setting happening after the Heating element shuts off, and I'm talking about the MES read-out.
It should shut off when it gets up to your setting, and it should restart when it gets down to a degree below your setting. Anything that happens while the element is off has nothing to do with your MES, and can be remedied.

Here's how:
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/208552/avoid-temp-swings-in-mes-by-bear

Bear

 

[THW]

Something I found useful when testing my MES 30" was of course to monitor the highs and lows but also and just as important as far as letting you know what is going on is to document when the heating element (red light) goes on and off. Then you know what is heat and what is coast.

I found on mine that the first heating cycle after the unit was turned on and after the door had been open was the most extreme. So, I would close the door and then let it go through two cycles before I checked the temperature swing. The highs and lows that just last a minute or two after the door has been open is a very small percentage of time when doing a 5 hour or more smoke. Now the title under my name should be NEW Newbie but that is the way I view the swings.