New Smokette - First Smoke

Welcome to the forum.

Keep in mind, the smoker will try to "ramp up" to get to temp. Because of that it's trying to rise the temp and it WILL overshoot.

You don't need to do anything, it will settle in at temp.

Set it at the temp you want and just let it go, don't try to monitor the temps on a close basis is what I normally recommend

You can look through the owners section for "temp fluctuations" and you'll see similar.

If you're worried it's too high, when it gets higher than you want, just open the door and dump some heat.

Don't know why the temp swung so high initially unless the PB wasn't in the smoker yet when it happened. An empty smoker could swing that much. Either way, looks like it straightened out.

What was the meat temperature when you took out the PB? 2.33 hrs/lb is longer than typical for a butt. May have been a little over cooked if the meat temp was higher than 205*. Butts are usually ready to pull between 195-205*.

thanks for the quick response....

Reply to Pags
The internal meat temperature was 190 (per the cookshack meat probe). I wrapped in foil and I let it sit for approx. 45 minutes. I am going to use another meat themometer as well this weekend. Round 2 & 3 will be this weekend.
Practice Practice Practice....

Yep,check the freeze/boil point on your NEW THERM,place it at the ACTUAL COOK POINT ON THE RACK!!

190* ACTUAL internal,may be undercooked

That way we are apples to apples.

When I first recieved my smokette 009 three years ago being an Engineer I had the two remote probes one in the PB and one to monitor the oven temp. I have learned to always set my 009 to 250 max since the average temp actually turned out to 235 deg..at least back then.. I don't monitor the oven temp anymore. The temp would go up to 260 then back down in the 220's. I did get a few sonic booms which instantly shot the temp up to 300 deg. I usually opened the door the few times (Only three times and usually the first 30 minute this occured) after the sonic boom just to get that smoke out of there..not sure if it matters or not but not taken the chance.

I called cookshack about an unrelated matter and spoke to one of their technical folks. I was told the new 20/25's digital temp control got the internal smoker temp up so fast the wood wasn't smoldering like the 008/009 which used the analog temp concrol. He told me that they changed the timing sequence so the unit would stay on high initially (I'm not sure how long, I think 20 minutes), to get the wood smoldering, and then cycle back down to the set temp.

It's unusual for a butt to be dry when cooked in a CS. No need to open the door to monitor the smoke. Temp probes will get that job done.

Also, not much need to foil a butt either unless you want to soften the bark.

Coming from a WSM or other non electric smoker takes some getting used to and breaking old habits. Read over this forum, especially the "Lessons for new users" and Smokin's 101s.

You're going to love your new toy!

Good luck.

I've had my 008 for several years, and I NEVER open it during the smoke. I just did a Sams 8.5 lb butt last week, applied mustard, than my favorite rub about 8 hrs before the smoke. Inserted 2 temp probes in the butt, set the temp to 225 de, and took the butt out 15 hrs later when the internal temp reached 195 de. Let it rest for 30 min with foil , and pulled it apart with 2 turkey forks with absolutely no problem.
I have nevere experienced a dry pork butt from Sam's. Just be sure the butts you buy have a good fat cap, perhaps this is your problem.
Good luck!