Cold Weather Climate and Looking for a MES

[Bearcarver]

Can't blame you for liking them---They look real good!

Bear

 

[tjohnson]

Great Job Sluggo!

Broke it in good my friend

Todd

 

[sluggo]

Well, the bug has bitten hard...the wife and I made a late night trip to WalMart for a pork shoulder, came home, rubbed and wrapped it. Got the smoker out this morning and got the EAAF message, so grabbed the hair dryer and warmed it up. Now, there is a batch of mustard BBQ sauce on the stove, a shoulder in the smoker (heavy on the hickory, lighter on the apple).

I learned my first lesson with smoking in a cool environment; it becomes hard to tell if there is TBS or steam coming out of the stack if you have a water pan. This morning, I ditched the water and now I am getting wisps of beautiful TBS...

I have a spray bottle of apple cider vinegar, dark rum, and a little sugar waiting to be sprayed once IT hits 100*.

 

[mossymo]

Sluggo

One thing I have found in the cool weather environment we live in is when the display module gets too cold while using the smoker it will shut down. To remedy this I lay a folded up towel over the module to insulate it from the cold and so far this has worked. If it is too cold for this to work I plan on trying an electric heating pad. This may not be the case with newer models but thought I would give you a heads up in case it ever does happen to you.

 

[Bearcarver]

Well, the bug has bitten hard...the wife and I made a late night trip to WalMart for a pork shoulder, came home, rubbed and wrapped it. Got the smoker out this morning and got the EAAF message, so grabbed the hair dryer and warmed it up. Now, there is a batch of mustard BBQ sauce on the stove, a shoulder in the smoker (heavy on the hickory, lighter on the apple).

I learned my first lesson with smoking in a cool environment; it becomes hard to tell if there is TBS or steam coming out of the stack if you have a water pan. This morning, I ditched the water and now I am getting wisps of beautiful TBS...

I have a spray bottle of apple cider vinegar, dark rum, and a little sugar waiting to be sprayed once IT hits 100*.

Sounds great Sluggo!

If you don't mind I'd like to make a suggestion to you and any other Newbies who might happen to read this. I figure it's good to mention this now & then:

I notice you said you are going to spray the shoulder when it hits 100˚ IT.

That tells me you already inserted your meat probe, and you probably did it when you started.

If you either inject the meat, or insert a probe into it before you start, you must get the internal temp from 40˚ to 140˚ within 4 hours, so that bacteria doesn't grow in the meat. 

If you do not inject or probe the meat, you only have to get the outer 1/2" to 140˚ in 4 hours. You can't really tell when the outer 1/2" gets to 140˚ without inserting a probe to measure it, so I just keep the smoker temp at 225˚ or better for 3 hours. That is plenty. Then sterilize the meat probe & insert it into the center of the meat. Then I'm safe & good to go for the rest of my smoke, without having to worry about anyone getting sick.

These rules are for "whole meat muscle", such as Briskets, Pork Butts & shoulders, Chuck Roasts, etc, etc.

Thank,

Bear

 

[sluggo]

Sounds great Sluggo!

If you don't mind I'd like to make a suggestion to you and any other Newbies who might happen to read this. I figure it's good to mention this now & then:

I notice you said you are going to spray the shoulder when it hits 100˚ IT.

That tells me you already inserted your meat probe, and you probably did it when you started.

If you either inject the meat, or insert a probe into it before you start, you must get the internal temp from 40˚ to 140˚ within 4 hours, so that bacteria doesn't grow in the meat. 

If you do not inject or probe the meat, you only have to get the outer 1/2" to 140˚ in 4 hours. You can't really tell when the outer 1/2" gets to 140˚ without inserting a probe to measure it, so I just keep the smoker temp at 225˚ or better for 3 hours. That is plenty. Then sterilize the meat probe & insert it into the center of the meat. Then I'm safe & good to go for the rest of my smoke, without having to worry about anyone getting sick.

These rules are for "whole meat muscle", such as Briskets, Pork Butts & shoulders, Chuck Roasts, etc, etc.

Thank,

Bear

Thanks for the heads up Bear. My smoker is set at 225* and the temp is already in the 110s after being in for 2 hours so I think I should be good to go. My wife is in the hospitality industry so I can't go a week without hearing about the "food danger zone".
 

 

[Bearcarver]

Thanks for the heads up Bear. My smoker is set at 225* and the temp is already in the 110s after being in for 2 hours so I think I should be good to go. My wife is in the hospitality industry so I can't go a week without hearing about the "food danger zone".
 

Slugs,

Just so you know, I didn't mean you did anything wrong.

My main point is to say to anyone who didn't know, if you don't inject or probe (breaking the surface), you don't have to worry about the internal "Danger Zone".

Ever since I learned that, I have never probed before 3 hours into a smoke. It's nice to know. Before that I used to "sweat out" those 4 hours.

Of course it also helped going from my MES 30 to my MES 40 (1200 watts).

Bear

 

[sluggo]

Oh, I see! Thanks for clearing that up for me (and other newbies) :)

 

[bilder]

I have smoked some chickens when the temps were minus 5 with my MES 40.

Runs like a champ in freezing temps.    Doing some butts this weekend although the temps are forecast to be in the mid to high 20's.