MES 30, how well do they hold cooking temps?

[jds22]

Sorry if this has been answered before.

I'm looking at an MES30 and was wondering how well they maintain cooking temps in the 250-275 range?

Thanks again,

Jerry

 

[chef jimmyj]

You can expect temp swings of 5-10 degrees either side of the set point from the coil cycling. As long as you keep the door closed there are no issues...JJ

 

[smokinhusker]

I can't answer for the MES30, but I have an MES40 which is runs 5-10* cooler than the set temp. Mine is also in a homemade cabinet which protects it from the wind, etc. All in all mine holds the set temp pretty good and I smoke year round.

Hope this helps.

 

[jds22]

Yeah those are the answers I was looking for. A 5-10 swing is not really that big of a deal.

 

[deltadude]

Some MES digital control/temp probes are fairly accurate +/- 5º others are not.  Get a Maverick ET732 as a cross check, before I had a Maverick I used two taylor digital probes, and a analog oven dial type inside the smoker to verify temp.  My MES 40 is off 15-20º, but it doesn't matter to me I use the Maverick, I set the cook temp to 210º and my MES temp floats between 225-230º

 

[chef jimmyj]

I have not used my MES meat probe in awhile so I put it in a Pork Butt next to the MAV probe. Mav read 38*, MES read 90*...?...As the cook progressed they got closer. At 5 hours the Mav read 150* and the MES was at 167. After 11 hours the MAV read 183* and the MES read 180*F. Pretty strange...JJ

 

[smokinhusker]

That is weird. The meat probe in my MES is only off 2* from my other therms.

 

[maverickmay]

Meat probe has been fairly accurate for me in my MES 40 and does a great job holding heat.  Much better than the Bradley's

+/- 2-3 degrees