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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2014 17:37
by sawhorseray
redzed wrote:
And my wife is a fitness nut who eats salad by the bushel an excercises 3 hours a day. While she loves sausage she is determined, has strong will power, and she restricts how much meat she eats. So, I give away at least half of what I make. For me, the pleasure is in the process, studying, experimenting, selecting meat and getting up at 5 AM to heat the smoker.


Very similar to how I go about things Chris! My wife lives on bunny food and loves the occasional sausage, but I give away maybe half what I make to family and friends. I've also found that thanking someone who performs a service for me by giving them a pack of sausage or two stays in their memory. Our HVAC and pest control guys have given me great reductions in billing over the years due to their appreciation of what I give them. The man I'm bringing my new boat to on Tuesday morning to get a bunch of stuff installed remembered me from a few years back due to being greased with a couple packs of wild hog Italian after he worked on my old boat. He'll do all the work for a max of $600, the outfit who I bought the new boat from the price was going to be at least a grand. It's all good! RAY

Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 05:21
by redzed
sawhorseray wrote:remembered me from a few years back due to being greased with a couple packs of wild hog Italian after he worked on my old boat
Ray, that's bribery! And you're too old to do time!Image

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2014 21:16
by cogboy
I'm going to need more tips on this smoker,it has finally arrived and I'm having troubles getting it past 150 to smoke some ABTs. Seems like it would take hours to reach 225 ?

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2014 21:35
by redzed
Congratulations!

Should not take hours. but probably a bit longer than an hour or an hour and a half. And, to be honest, I've never had it that high, that is to 225. I always preheat it when smoking sausage to 150. Did you switch to the higher wattage? Make sure you first season it before using. And I'm a little slow when it comes to acronyms, what the heck is an ABT?

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2014 22:48
by cogboy
Redzed, I will have to preheat longer and yes I set to the high wattage but turned down for the smoking. I only had a few hours to fool around w/ it so I did the ABTs (atomic buffalo turds) . Sliced jalepenos with cream cheese, cheddar cheese, homemade hot Italian sausage and then wrapped in bacon. Its' time to eat them with a cold beverage. They came out well !

Ribs tomorrow with the proper preheat time !

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2014 22:58
by el Ducko
cogboy wrote:I'm going to need more tips on this smoker,it has finally arrived and I'm having troubles getting it past 150 to smoke some ABTs. Seems like it would take hours to reach 225 ?
I would be interested in seeing if the indicated temperature is anywhere close to the actual temperature. I have a Masterbuilt (the cheap model) and have discovered a couple of problems which may be related.

I placed a couple of thermocouple temperature probes on two different racks inside (that's plain ol' "electric temperature gauges" to you and me) and found that the built-in sensor is WAY off. It controls, but there's a 25 degF offset and it swings about -5 to +10 degrees around the set point. I can work around the offset by watching my own temperature gauges to see what's REALLY the temperature, but the swing causes problems. The swing is so wide that I can't get to the desired IMT without breaking the fat by overshooting.

Mine has an "on/off" (or what's called a "bang-bang") controller. If the Pro model has a proportional or PID controller, you'll have an offset, but it won't swing quite as wildly, so you won't have as bad a problem. It will swing some if you change the set point, but should settle in. Is this the case?

Another problem: the temperature in the lower part of the smoker is nowhere near the temperature of the upper part, so I can't hang and smoke sausages vertically.

The vertical variation tells me that circulation inside the thing is practically nil. If I hang sausages from a rack positioned at the top level, they are smoked black on the top end and are still raw on the bottom, so I always lay 'em down on one rack. If I move 'em at least once during the smoking period, they even out, but if I'm doing more than about 5 pounds of sausage, I have to use two racks and switch the rack positions between top and bottom to even things out.

...and, of course, I can't go beyond about 150 degrees oven temperature, or I'll risk breaking the fat due to the wide temperature swing, so I have to bring 'em inside to a 170 degF oven (which controls better) in order to get the IMT to 150.

Does your "Pro" have the same problems? Do you think I need to pull out the controller's stubby little thermocouple and re-position it further inside the smoke box cavity, so it will read a more representative temperature? And should I install some sort of high temperater fan to stir the smoke box air/smoke a bit? (I'm working on one now, but don't have very good metalworking capabilities.)

The problems, of course, come from the fact that it was designed to do what most people use it for- - to barbecue pork butts or briskets at 250 degF or so, whereas we sausage guys are trying to smoke at low temperature (150 or less). That requires "tinkering."

Thanks.
Duk
:mrgreen:

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2014 23:54
by sawhorseray
I've never had a problem getting mine up to temp in a half hour at most. If you are going over 170° flip the switch to 1250 watts. When smoking sausage I just place the stix a couple racks down from the top so the sausage is pretty much at mid-height. Your going to preheat at 100° - 110° to let the sausage dry for a hour before raising the temp to 130° for starters, and after that you raise the temp 2-3 degrees every 15 - 20 minutes till you reach a smoker temp of 165°. If you get in a rush to smoke sausage you end up with a mess on the bottom of the smoker and sawdust inside the casing. Chris is absolutely correct, as always, be sure to season the Pro 100 for a few hours before sticking any meat in there. Good luck and congrats Cogboy, just take it slow. :wink: RAY

Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 11:59
by cogboy
I seasoned my smoker according to the instructions and have added the mineral oil to the door as you two said. Today I want to try some ribs at 225. Yesterday I had the smoker on high wattage for over 1/2 hour and couldn't get past 155.Seems like I'll be able to dry and smoke sausages just fine BUT I want the high temps for BBQ items. today will be the test ,hopefully I don't have a lemon ! El Ducko has high temps and no low as I have low and no high ! :grin:

Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 17:40
by sawhorseray
Boy howdy Cog, I sure hope that thing comes up to temp for you. Be sure to keep the vents closed and just follow the instructions from the PS site for six hour ribs. Fact is last night I took a rack of ribs out of the freezer to throw on the weber after the Niner game. I've got enough time to change my game plan right now and wheel the Pro 100 into my backyard. I'll pay attention to how long things take to heat up and report back on the entire process, that way we'll be able to compare notes and see if that's just the way things are of if there might be a problem with your element. Good luck, more calls later! RAY

Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 18:01
by cogboy
Ray,The temp came up perfectly after I changed extension cords. The faulty cord was a 12-3 BUT I used a different 12-3 cord and temps are purring along at 225. The ribs are going on soon. Thanks for the help all ! :mrgreen:

Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 18:34
by sawhorseray
That's great! I'm up to temp in about 20 minutes, faster than I could whip out a quick rub and flop the rack in my roasting pan. I'll have to wait also, don't want to eat till at least after the Niner game is over. Good luck! RAY

Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2014 02:12
by sawhorseray
Cogboy, how'd those ribs turn out for ya? Seven hours at 220°, we were real darned happy over here.
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My wife not being a rib eater I'll have all the leftovers to myself out on the lake tomorrow.
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She'll be dining on smoked chicken on a Ross' scalded flour roll. Life is tough! RAY

Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2014 10:49
by cogboy
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Ray, the ribs came out well ! Nice boat !!!! :grin: