The fat on the outside is clear fat-out. So I'm positive you had an issue with temping being too high.
After all the work of landing an animal, processing, seasoning, and cooking it.... it is so disappointing to not get a good product due to equipment limitations. The rewire for me was a mandatory thing once I had some fat out trying summer sausage in the oven before I ever owned a smoker. The sausage seasoning instructions were horrible on cooking and cause me to have fat out. I vowed never to allow that to happen once I got a smoker lol.
I just brought back 4 meat animals from a weekend hunt. My brother brought back 3 (2 giant pigs and 1 doe). We save some money processing ourselves but honestly the quality we produce is where things shine. Time is money and we spend a lot of time processing so that = money BUT we get everything exactly how we want it.
Here is the model I always recommend for MES owners. It will work without issue for both MES40 and MES30 models and wont overheat on you (choose the multi-purpose probe):
Auber Instruments, Inc. Multi Purpose Controller [WS-1510ELPM] - Thanksgiving sale ends on 12/1/2024!The WS-1510ELPM is a versatile temperature controller to have in your home. It can be used for various applications such as Sous Vide cooking, controlling an electric smoker, making yogurt, dough...
www.auberins.com
You simply have to do a simple rewire on your MES (cut ends off 4 wires and wire nut/splice to make 2 whole wires) and then you can just plug the MES cord directly into the Auber PID.
The Auber PID will be plugged into the wall to get power and feed it to the MES.
The Auber PID has a temp probe you drop down into the smoker and clip to the bottom of the lowest smoker rack and it will read the smoker temps.
Now the Auber PID cuts power on/off to hit and hold the temperature that you enter into the Auber PID. Simple.
Yep its $160 before shipping HOWEVER think of this as buying the best performing smoker you can buy for $160 rather than paying more for a brand new smoker that could never hold a candle to how your rewired smoker could work with a PID.
We all sweat a little over the cost and the conversion then we use the thing and always think "MAN! WHY DIDNT I DO THIS SOONER!!!" hahaha.
I think
@KJNDIVER can attest to this being the newest member of the PID club :D