Excessive cook time

[cutigerjam]

I have a Masterbuilt 710 WIFI smoker. Had one, contacted Masterbuilt about excessively long cook time and tried everything they asked me to do. Didn't fix the problem. What am I doing wrong? Put a butt in this morning at 7 AM (240 degree cook temp) thinking it would be done by 9 PM. It's 10:30 and the butt has only reached 179 degrees. I've turned the temp up 3 times and have been at 275 (max temp) for the last 2.5 hours. I do have the butt in an aluminum pan per Jeff's recommendation to catch the jus. HELP PLEASE!

 

[Timber II]

The first thing I would do is get another temp probe in there and see if the actual smoker temp is what the masterbuilt says it is.

 

[cutigerjam]

The first thing I would do is get another temp probe in there and see if the actual smoker temp is what the masterbuilt says it is.

Thanks, and I have done that. They are within 2 degrees and an instant read thermometer was in exact agreement with the smoker.

 

[normanaj]

What Timber II said and then you can proceed from there. Lots of MES owners here that can help diagnose and solve your issue(s).

Meantime it might not be a bad idea to finish in the oven.

 

[zwiller]

Few years ago I cooked PP for daughter's grad party in my MES. I ran 1 like each weekend until I had about about 50lbs. Was 10 butts IIRC. I kept notes and @275F took 15hrs on average. IMO nothing wrong just takes that long. Best way to fix that is to break it down in to 2 hunks. About 8hrs cook time AND 2x more bark. No other way for me.

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/butt-halved-success.298552/

 

[cutigerjam]

Few years ago I cooked PP for daughter's grad party in my MES. I ran 1 like each weekend until I had about about 50lbs. Was 10 butts IIRC. I kept notes and @275F took 15hrs on average. IMO nothing wrong just takes that long. Best way to fix that is to break it down in to 2 hunks. About 8hrs cook time AND 2x more bark. No other way for me.

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/butt-halved-success.298552/

Thank you! I guess I was expecting the same results a friend has with their MES. They cook at 240 and are done in 14 hours. It's an older model, but I thought I should see the same results.

 

[zwiller]

Thank you! I guess I was expecting the same results a friend has with their MES. They cook at 240 and are done in 14 hours. It's an older model, but I thought I should see the same results.

Welcome. FYI that 15hrs is no peaking AT ALL. That's a big deal. "If you're looking it ain't cooking". You and your buddy's results are basically the same to me. Smoking takes MUCH more time than you'd expect especially when you start. Variances of a few hours are typical.