I ordered an Amerique in November and have had an interesting time of it. I hesitated to write about this, but perhaps other people might like to know.
Chapter 1: Large holes in shipping container, The shipping box did a good job of protecting the unit, despite it having several large holes in the cardboard upon arrival. My initial fright turned to glee when I unpackaged the unit..nothing was damaged.
Chapter 2: When I assembled the unit, one of the captive nuts for the casters was not "pressed" well enough and the caster bolt just spun in the threads and got stuck half way down. I got the caster out and then drilled out the hole to remove the "captive", pressed on nut. If you have ever drilled out something like this, it is very difficult because the nut spins in the hole with the drill bit. I perserved and won the day. Fortunately, I was able to secure the caster in the enlarged hole with a nut above and below the original mounting location. I called CookShack and they were very nice. They could not do anything about the nut, but I asked them to be aware of it and increase the pressure they use to mount the nut.
Chapter 3: I then stood the unit up and tried to put the drip pan in the rails on the bottom. The rails were too far apart so the pan fell out. I called CookShack, Tony told me to take a board and beat the rails together and adjust the fit. This actually worked, but I wound up bending the bottom of the unit to accomplish this. Beating did not work, the metal is too springy. I think the issue here is that the pan rails are welded on the bottom and then the bottom is probably welded to the box. The heat probably distorts the fit. Bending seemed to realign everything well. I was concerned about putting that much pressure on the metal, but there was not an issue. Tony assured me that there would not be a problem; he was correct.
Chapter 4: Then I started smoking......I started my first pork butt at midnight and for some reason woke up at 3:00AM in the morning to check it. (The BBQ angels must have woke me.) The display was off and the unit was not cooking. I jiggled things and started troubleshooting and finally got it working. It turns out later, that the new house that I have has an issue with a loose neutral wire in the GFCI. Easy to fix, but this points out an issue......if the smoker loses power even momentarily, the controller resets on power up and the unit shuts down. I live in the Boulder, Colorado area and unfortunately, we have power outages all of the time. I called CookShack (Tony) and suggested that they change the firmware in the controller. I would really like to see them emulate the dumb controllers in the other models after a power outage. Digital ain't lookin real good right now! I finally went to the web and found an inexpensive power monitor; I now plug it into the same circuit and run an extension cord with the monitor on it to a place where I can hear it when I am sleeping. I would rather an alarm wake me in the middle of the night than lose an expensive bunch of meat.
Chapter 5: Everything that I have smoked (butts and brisket) takes at least 17 hours at 225 to reach 190 degrees. Some have taken longer. Altitude...maybe? Yep, I have checked temps with independent thermometers. Suggestions? Called Tony, he suggested checking temps,thermostat... I did, looked good. My conclusion is that it's done when it is done and whoever is cooking pork butt in 12 hours is just blessed with faster karma. Mine does not seem to work that fast. I am considering cooking at 250 to bring the cook time down, but I have not seen anyone recommend 250 on this forum. (No. I do not open the door)
Chapter 6: I smoked a packer brisket and 2 pork butts last weekend. Again 225 cooking temp, probe set at 190; 3 other probes inserted in the meat also. Put it in at 10:40PM the night before..somewhere around 2:00 PM the next day, I happened to be checking the cooker and the probe temp went from 170 to 200 in about 1 minute, as I watched. Cooker shut off and went to hold as I watched, YIKES!!!!. All of the other probes registered 160 to 170. I started the cooker manually agin...reset the power..jiggled stuff...pulled the probe out of the jack..nothing..it still registered 200. I got a cup of hot water from the tap and put the cookshack probe in it in conjunction with another independent probe. The cookshack probe was 20 degrees higher; no amount of power off, jiggling, wiping, nothing would change this.. I finished the cooking in "Time" mode without the probe. Took over 18 hours to get to 190. I called Tony the next day...he told me to wipe off the probe. I did and restarted the cooker while he was on the phone. Everything was fine. This did not make sense, I had done much the same thing the day before. Went to the forum and read that having an Amerique in the sun while it is cooking can cause the electronics to go haywire. Mine seemed to work except for the probe...I am puzzled.....and I ain't impressed with the digital thingy. I should say that I have a Master's Degree In Electrical Engineering so I tend to take an engineering approach to problem solving.
I love the cooker, I love the product it produces, I love the ease of use.
I think mine might have been made on a Monday..or a Friday afternoon..or somehow I have offended the BBQ goddess.
I do not want to discourage any buyers, CookShack is great, Tony is great, but this has been challenging.
A final thought: Cook times are longer than anything in the book. 20 hours is not unusual for a butt or a brisket.
The End of the Story: I have come to some conclusions for my problems: I an going to crank up the temp to 250 , get a generator, build a covered porch and put my bed next to the cooker.
And they all lived happily ever after!
Any comments/suggestions?
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