I figured out what the" item" is. It's a thumb drive that contains the owners manual for the P.I. D.. It's also on there website so not sure why it comes with the P.I.D...
Ordered the TSM Country-Style Digital
- Thread starter LoydB
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Nice!!! I'm guessing the rewiring of the MES went off without a hitch aye?
Looking forward to seeing what you make 1st :)
I did get it all put together, thanks for asking. The wiring was pretty strait forward, just 2 wires and a ground. I used a 4” shallow junction box and romex cover to give more room inside for the connections.
I also installed the optional cold smoker attachment. My thinking on this is, no hot coals burning in the smoker to generate smoke and heat. That should help the P.I.D. control the temperature inside the smoker more accurately. I did however run into a problem installing this MBS accessary. As it turns out, the hole on the 30” MES smoker is set to low to accept the cold smoker inlet. The 30” digital is the only model with this problem (MES knows about the issue). It was an easy fix though; I just ran down to the hardware store and bought 4 longer bolts for legs.
Today, I did a test run without any sausages inside. The ambient temperature was 15*F and the smoker came right up to temperature and held with no problems (Unlike any Bradley smoker ever). I introduced smoke at 120*F and the smoker temp did jump about 5 degrees. But, after about 5 min. settled right back down to set temperature.
All and all, I’m very happy with what I see. I’ll smoke up some sausages over the weekend to see how it preforms and let you know,
Happy Smoking!!
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I started some sticks this morning, it was 3*F outside when I put them in. The smoker came right up to temp and held with no problems.
The P.I.D. is working great!! Right now the temp is set to 170*F (Letting the sticks dry a bit) with no problems. I'll pull them at 155*.
The cold smoke attachment is working great as well. It pumps out smoke like crazy without messing with the internal temperature.
I'm wondering if I can run it up to 180*, with no fat-out, now that I have consistent temps?
Thanks for your help Tallbm!
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Glad to hear the news!
It is still a good idea to ramp the temp up to avoid fat out.
So first hour at like 100-115F to dry.
After that like every 45-60 min or so up 130-135F.
After that up to like 150-155F and if the sausage Internal Temp (IT) isn't within 12-15 degrees of the smoker I would wait for it to come up to temp so it gently rises.
Then you can ramp to like 165-170F. Again, I wouldn't go above this smoker temp if you are wanting to hit 155F. I like the texture of my smoked sausage around 152F and I pull when the sausage is in the 149F-155F ball. Why this range?
Well they all don't heat as evenly. I often have the ones on the left side of my smoker at a slightly higher temp than the ones right side. Same goes for sausages that are a little lower and closer to the burner compared to the sausage that is higher in the smoker.
I wouldn't push the smoker to 180F unless you need to worry about micro-parasites in the meat. Like if you were making bear meat sausage of the wild game in your area has such a risk.
I've smoked sausage with little to no issue where I walked the smoker up to 180F but only do that once the IT of the sausage is stalled around 158F and then keep an eye on it because fat out will happen if you don't pull the second it hits 165F IT.
Anyhow, I'm rambling now. Off to bed with me! :D
Thanks for the rambling Tallbm this rookie needs it :)
I started the first batch using the Auber control , just 1 kilogram, at 125F for 1 hr and bumped temperature up every hour 15F until I reached 170. I left it there for a couple hours to dry and get the texture I like. I then pushed it to 175F and sausage temp stalled at 153F. I wanted the sticks to reach 155F so bumped smoker temp up to 177F. Almost immediately sausage temp jumped to 157F.
I didn't notice any fat-out but I'm sure I was close. It's nice to have that kind of control over my smoker without any temp fluctuation. Before using the Auber control it was just a guess.
Ps: I used my jerky shooter to make this small batch so the stuff job isn't that great Ha Ha!!
Thanks for all the help, much appreciated!!
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Nice work!!! Yeah the PID control is amazing and the smoker performance is night and way compared to the stock MES controller :)
Don't worry about sausages being stuffed a little loose. I actually dont mind if they aren't stuffed to the max.
Sausages that aren't maxed out will keep from splitting and bursting open when you grill them. This is because they can expand as needed and the casing doesn't overstretch and break :)
Let us know how they taste! :D
- May 31, 2022
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So, in spite of the assurances about temperature control, the chamber is consistently 15-25 degrees higher than the set point on the controller (confirmed with two different probes).
Anyone have a good diagram for wiring an Auber into it? The chassis is great...
Anyone have a good diagram for wiring an Auber into it? The chassis is great...
Hopefully I'll see mine in another week or so. I spoke to TSM today and they told me that they were being build and should be ready to start shipping soon. They actually called me to update me about another order and when they found out I bought a smoke pistol also offered to drill the opening for the smoke pistol. Pretty good service in my opinion.
I believe
BGKYSmoker
has a post (somewhere) where we walked him through the rewire of the TSM as he provided a ton of pics on what he was seeing. That thread would be the closest walk through for it.With enough pics we can get you walked through to bypass the stock controller so the plug feeds power to the heating element and can be controlled by a PID controller.
Don't fret :)
Before you pull the trigger rewiring and buying a PID controller, you may want to take a look at this manual. It seems your controller is somewhat configurable with it's HYS value.
I think you can tweak the HYS value to tighten up your temp swings.
If you turn OFT, ONT, and DLY to a value of zero (0) that should make it to where your HYS value is not interfered with by those settings.
In short I THINK if you set your HYS to something like a value of something like 3 it should mean that it will heat up full power and once it hits set temp will cut power on/off within 3 degrees of your SET TEMP to try and hold the temp.
This seems to be the same as an Auber PID controller only using the "P" value.
It's easy to tweak the HYS value (Set the others to 0) and after initial smoker heat up and overshoot it may be good to go or just need a little tweaking of the HYS value.
It cost nothing to try and you already have the option at your finger tips.
Here's the Novus manual for your controller (according to their website) I hope it helps :)
https://cdn.novusautomation.com/downloads/manual_n321_v18x_o_en.pdf
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Sticks were great loving that PID control, not sure how I went it without one. To be able to control the temp with such precision is a huge plus!! Photos are 2 batches from last couple days. They are, Spicy Cheddar Cheese sticks and Romanian Ham sticks. They turned out great!
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