Potential Disaster Avoided - suggestions?

fishrman · February 23, 2012, 10:01:12 AM

Doing another load of Jerky as the larder is empty and the family is impatiently tapping their feet awaiting a refill. Really looking forward to this smoke as it'll be the first Jerky since I put in the second element. Loved the way the smoker came up to preheat in no time and put the 8 racks in (no frogmats this time to allow for better circulation) at 140F to dry them out with Guru probe on the front of the bottom rack. An hour later, rotated racks, upped the temp to 160F and added smoke. Chamber was open for all this stuff, so temp dropped down but I really didn't pay attention as that was expected. Came back 10 minutes later and was disappointed to see that there really had not yet been any recovery, chamber temp was still 69F, figured 8 racks, OK, taking a little time. Came back 10 minutes later and STILL 69F. Crap - what is going on? Broke out the Maverick to drop the probe in the vent to see if the Guru probe had crapped out now. AS I'm getting ready to drop the probe in the vent, I look at the Maverick display and it says 69F. Sudden realization hits at that point - I had forgotten to attach the Guru probe back on the lower rack! Fortunately, I caught this as quickly as I did, otherwise those elements would have just been going full bore and could have resulted in disaster.

OK - here's the advice I'm after. What tips/tricks do you use to ensure you remember to put that chamber temp probe in every time you rotate racks, etc.

Wildcat · February 23, 2012, 10:06:09 AM

I have been told that brain exercises helps to ward off alzheimers. ;D

JZ · February 23, 2012, 10:40:21 AM

I can think of a couple of suggestions;

1) get a wall mount probe or make a bracket to mount the one you have to the inside wall of the smoker.
2) do the fan mod and if it works like others have said you will not have to rotate the racks. I can't speak to this for sure since I have not yet done that mod, but it is going to happen in the next few days.

Also thanks for pointing out this issue. Something for me and others to watch for.

That certainly could have been ugly if the smoker was left unattended.

viper125 · February 23, 2012, 11:09:38 AM

I did the fan mod and it helps. But still find its not completely even. Did those 3 lbs of chicken sticks and switched them once. When the bottoms were done I removed the two lower racks and the top was still in for about 15 minutes. But still a lot better. Not much you can do for forgetting unless your memory is as bad as mine. I have a check list for loading and unloading. Also one for when I rotate. Simply because i do forget so much. One question though did you re-calibrate your PID.

fishrman · February 23, 2012, 11:22:45 AM

JZ - thanks for the reply. I'm not sure I like the wall mount option as I've seen a number of posts that speak to it getting in the way when sliding in racks and inaccuracies as it then would be where the heat would slide up the walls with full racks. I have done the fan mod but find I still have to rotate when doing things like jerky. For example, today when I did the 140F jerky drying for the first hour, I could see a marked difference between the meat on the front of the bottom rack and the back of it. Right now, after 2 hours of smoking at a set temp of 160F, the bottom of the smoker is right on, but with a probe down the vent I get only 125F at the top of the smoker. It is much better than when I didn't have the fan, and I really do think the fan helps.

Wildcat - brain exercises are great but I just can't seem to get the left lobe to lift those dumbells! I see you are in Pace. Man, you guys used to kick our butts in high school football back in the day.

fishrman · February 23, 2012, 11:25:05 AM

Quote from: viper125 on February 23, 2012, 11:09:38 AM
I did the fan mod and it helps. But still find its not completely even. Did those 3 lbs of chicken sticks and switched them once. When the bottoms were done I removed the two lower racks and the top was still in for about 15 minutes. But still a lot better. Not much you can do for forgetting unless your memory is as bad as mine. I have a check list for loading and unloading. Also one for when I rotate. Simply because i do forget so much. One question though did you re-calibrate your PID.

Checked the calibration after the last smoke since my Maverick probe failed on me. Was spot on.

CoreyMac · February 23, 2012, 11:38:54 AM

When i get a weird temp like that I break down and plain look in the oven to see if the element is red, then go from there. I tried to use my old dual probe Maverick with new probes and the temp was way off, I kept cranking up the temp in the oven almost had a melt down.

car54 · February 23, 2012, 11:56:49 AM

1. Do not drink and smoke at the same time. That is what bars are for.
2. Make a big sign and put it on the outside(not inside) of your door.

Brad

Wildcat · February 23, 2012, 03:49:29 PM

Quote from: fishrman on February 23, 2012, 11:22:45 AM
Wildcat - brain exercises are great but I just can't seem to get the left lobe to lift those dumbells! I see you are in Pace. Man, you guys used to kick our butts in high school football back in the day.

:D Yeppers - neither of my lobes work anymore. ;D

Where did you go to high school? I migrated here in 1979. My daughter went to Pace High though and my wife taught at Pace Middle before they devided into two separate middle schools. Wife attended Pine Forest.

Sailor · February 23, 2012, 04:46:29 PM

fishrman, I have done the same thing several times. Pull the cabinet temp probe out and rotated and forgot to put it back. What I do now when I do a rotation. I pull the probe and drape it over the top so it is dangling in front. Rotate the racks and it is staring me right in the face to remind me to put it back where it belongs.

fishrman · February 23, 2012, 07:43:49 PM

Wildcat - went to Pensacola School of Liberal Arts. My graduating class had a total of like 90 people, so the pool of kids from which we could form a football team was, er, a bit limited :). This was back in '74-'76.

Sailor - great suggestion. I had to rotate the jerky a few more times today and actually clipped the probe to my shirt so I wouldn't walk away without putting it back! Clipping to body parts won't be far behind if that doesn't fix it!

Wildcat · February 24, 2012, 05:33:35 AM

Fishrman - That was long ago. Pace High is a much larger school now. It pretty much equals any of the other high schools in size in the Pensacola region. If you have not lived here since that time, you would not recognize the area.