I was going to be ambitious and go straight to a brisket but decided against it. Instead I got a boston butt for my first time in the MES 30. Got it rubbed down last night and into the smoker about 4 hours ago. I'm really glad I picked up a separate thermometer though since the MES 30 is reading a good 20+ degrees low (checked the independent one versus a thermometer I had for the oven to make sure I knew which was correct).
Here's the pork with the rub on it:
First thing I noticed (besides the known temp issue with the built in MES sensor) was that the temp sensor that is built in "lags" behind pretty good. When starting the MES 30 up I set it for 225 to start with but had both temp probes in. The MES 30 was actually about there while the built in sensor was still reading under 200F. So I turned the set temp down until I could slowly raise it to get the temp where I wanted it without overshooting too far. Once it settled out I put the pork in with a pan under it to catch drippings off the meat.
I'll update later with how things are going inside the smoker :)
Here's the pork with the rub on it:
First thing I noticed (besides the known temp issue with the built in MES sensor) was that the temp sensor that is built in "lags" behind pretty good. When starting the MES 30 up I set it for 225 to start with but had both temp probes in. The MES 30 was actually about there while the built in sensor was still reading under 200F. So I turned the set temp down until I could slowly raise it to get the temp where I wanted it without overshooting too far. Once it settled out I put the pork in with a pan under it to catch drippings off the meat.
I'll update later with how things are going inside the smoker :)