Normal ?!?! for MES 30 digital

[sarge1947]

I'm guessing normal is different for each individual machine but this seems out of the box to me..

Having read that all internal smoker temp probes and thermostats are not accurate, I bought a maverick. Now I'm trying to maintain 180 degrees for some jerky. My MES remote says 185 and heating. My Mav fluctuates between 169 and 181. Is that much travel normal? I do understand how they work,..go to set temp stop heating until you drop to xxx and start heating again. And I understand that accuracy is not really expected but is this within a tolerable window?? And as long as it never goes "cool" does it matter?

 

[wild west]

I find with mine the coasting gets less after an hour or so as the box becomes more heat saturated. But if you open the door and loose alot of heat the cycle gets worse again. If you move the maverick probe around to different areas inside you will likely find 20 to 30 degree differences. Bearcarver has a good post on minimizeing the temp coast and there are tweeks you can do to help even out the hot spots. With jerky it wont matter much as you are dehydrateing rather than needing to maintain a specific temp. With big cuts of meat its not an issue because you are cooking to IT. With sausage its an issue because you risk a fat out. Ive given up on finnishing sausage in the mes. I get it to around 145*IT then finish in a water bath. On the temp swings i look at the middle as the temp im wanting to cook at.

 

[sarge1947]

Cool thanks. Also i seem to have stopped making smoke. Is the temp too low? I go out and add chips every 35 mins out of habit and I just noticed that the chip tray has become full and is not scorched on top, at all.  ???

 

[chef jimmyj]

The MES will not make smoke under 200, especially during the summer. The coil is not on long enough to get the chips to smoke consistently. That was the whole reason Todd Johnson developed the first Maze...JJ

 

[sarge1947]

Guess I need one a those too eh?

 

[Bearcarver]

 
Guess I need one a those too eh?

Everything you've been told above is pretty much right on.

I had one MES that would start making smoke at 68° in the Winter, but shortly after it hit my set temp the smoking would stop.

So I used to turn my heat up & down 10° or 20° just to get the heating element to come on to make it smoke awhile.

Then Todd invented the AMNS & then the AMNPS, I I've been a Happy Smoking Camper for 6 years now!!!

Bear

 

[sarge1947]

Gotta update my Christmas/Birthday/Fathers day/good husband.....wish list. 

 

[chef jimmyj]

 
Gotta update my Christmas/Birthday/Fathers day/good husband.....wish list. 

Hope you have Good luck with that...I was giving my Wife a bit of razzing. I told her....My Amazon Wish list is so big they had to add a another server!

...JJ

 

[sarge1947]

Yep, I tend to "borrow" against the next upcoming gift event. Right now I'm working on Christmas of 2022.