So I tried my first Brisket overnight in my second hand Sm150. Pushed the Brisket button (225 degrees) and let it rip, when I looked in about an hour the temperature on my inkbird was at 295 degrees. I shut it down and lowered the temp to 165 (fluctuating between 180-210)
What temperature fluctuations should I expect with this smoker? I guess I should have checked this first because now I have no idea what's going on with my brisket lol.
Currently I have the smoker at 195 which is (205 to 262)
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Ahh I see there are quite a few posts about this. However I'm still wondering what to do, a few posts say just don't worry about it but my brisket was $100 ish so I'd rather be safe than sorry.
The early temps will be a little more un stable due to the cold product. After while it should stabilize. If it does not stabilize give Cookshack a call and we can assist in trouble shooting the unit. After your Brisket is done you can attach your probe to the oven probe and run an empty test for reference.
Well I have one probe sitting on one of those little oven holders on the bottom empty grate (this one reads highest obviously) and one in the smoke exit hole on the top.
The one in the exit hole seems to coincide with the temperature setting of when the element cycles on. For instance smoker is set to 200, goes up to 237 element turns off, smoker drops back to 200, element turns on, back to 237 rinse and repeat.
Do you know which control system you have on it?
Older one without the meat probe is all I know. (I don't know if there was more than one without the probe)
If you can give us a call at (800) 423-0698 we can assist in trouble shooting the unit.
I would add to what electrotechnical said and say photos help a lot when describing your smoker and probe placement as well as different temp readings. One other thing, when possible, check your probes in boiling water for the temp at your specific altitude. Here is a nifty link showing temps. Sometimes a meter is dead on and sometimes due to age or some other factor, calibration of a new temp probe is needed:
So I checked my thermometer probes and all is good with them. I made some ribs the other day and just let it do it's thing and it ranged from 225-245 with the ball of aluminum foil. I thought, fine I can use this and it was just my imagination or misunderstanding of how these smokers work.
Last night/ today I'm doing a pork roast and all of the sudden today it's dropping to 145 which is basically the temperature of the roast currently.
I feel like by this temperature this thing ought to be kicking on no matter what. Kinda disappointed.
Couldn't figure out how to get it to kick back in, ended up putting it in the oven after it got to like 130 degrees.
Tried resetting, unplugging, starting a new cook, nothing. Will plug it in tomorrow and see if it comes on.
The SM 150 is fairly old. With the smoker empty, remove wood box and fire it up some night - does the element have a nice bright even glow with no dead spots? If not, a new element is needed. You may also need a new control board; not sure if they are available. There could be a loose connection in the wiring that is not noticeable initially but as the unit heats up, some looseness occurs breaking a connection. Hard to tell. Here is a link for testing your heating element:
If you can get a multi tester and give Cookshack a call we can assist in trouble shooting the unit. (800) 423-0698
Tested element, looks good.
Got a response from cookshack with instructions on how to bypass the temperature limit switch, appears to be working now. Gonna let it run overnight to see.
Well guess what, it ran fine empty overnight after bypassing the limit switch. Threw a brisket in last night and it went crazy, even shut off the whole smoker. Gonna try to disconnect door switch.
That has to be crazy frustrating. Wishing you luck and success.
I found the directions on disconnecting the door switch, for some reason or another they don't work with my smoker, however I THINK I figured it out on my own. Anyway it's back on (for now) been holding the wrapped brisket this afternoon hope it's ok!
Also I reconnected the hi limit switch because I'm not sure that it was/is faulty. I bought the Auber PID for the Sm50, if that works well and this keeps acting up I might use it on this too.
Just to let everyone know, somehow the temp sensor was shorting to ground after a while. I didn't replace it, I just got another Auber. It's not great at getting "up" to temp with a full smoker but I can still get it done. Could be my settings I suppose.
Aubers instructions are sometimes a tad confusing. It is a language issue. Doing an auto tune might be of some help. You may need to simulate a load with a pan of damp sand or some such medium that can emit humidity like meat does. Also the load will absorb heat. Maybe it will help, maybe not.
