Temperatures rarely measure up

Welcome to the forum. Your smoke sounds delicious. I would recommend saving yourself a litte stress and stop monitoring the oven temp. Have faith in CS and assume what you set the temp at is what it's cooking at. The bottom line is how good does it taste.

Well...I kinda agree and kinda don't. Everyone should know what temp their smoker is cooking at when set where. For instance, my Smokette has never made more than 235*F, even in 90+ summer heat. It should have got higher than 200*. Now when you get it all lined out and mapped out, watching the temps go up and down might be overkill.

quote:

Originally posted by jimfromweymouth:
Welcome to the forum. Your smoke sounds delicious. I would recommend saving yourself a litte stress and stop monitoring the oven temp. Have faith in CS and assume what you set the temp at is what it's cooking at. The bottom line is how good does it taste.

Howdy again,
Thanks for the welcome and the reply. The prime rib turned out medium, and the meat thermometer never got above 142. Next time I'll take it out when it reads around 135, and see how it turns out. (I like it rare to medium rare.) The five pound roast was in for ten hours, six hours at max temp. Smoker temp never got above 200. It may sound like like I monitor temps a lot, but it pays to keep track, especially if you like rare to medium rare but not medium.
I love cooking, and want my smoked meats to be just right.
This was first time I cooked a full roast. Glad I skimped on the wood, it was plenty smokey with just a little.
I have a dynamite cookshack/rack of lamb recipe, even my 82 year old mother ate a whole rack last year at dinner("I'm really not very hungry, I'll just try a little..."). I'll post it when I get around to it!
Great site, glad I joined!

I think you should call CookShack customer service. Sounds like you might have a bad thermostat or element.

quote:

I always put a meat thermometer in as well, and I'll take it out when it's 145 degrees in the meat.

I can't comment on your cooker temperature but i will on your above quote.

If you enjoy med rare meat and look for it at 145 you are in for disappointment.
I doubt you should be going over 125-130 for what you want.
Best.
dick

Hi BlackLab,

Please tell us more about your dynamite Cookshack/rack of lamb recipe.
I would really like a awesome rack of Lamb recipe for my Cookshack smoker.
If you share it with us here also post it in Fourm Favorites Recipes.

Thank you,
Brian E.

Well I have more faith in the CS than I do thermometers. Are you sure it's accurate? If it's one of the dial oven thermometers, I wouldn't guarantee.

Check it for accuracy and certainly if you can verify the smoker is only getting up to 200, and you're not on an extension cord, then a call to Customer Service would help work through potential issues.

Smokin'

Hi SmokinOkie!
I AM using a twenty foot extension cord...do you think that would account for my low temps?

Roast tastes great...My three Labs sampled a little as well. They seem to think it turned out GREAT.

Hi Brian,

I posted my Rack of Lamb recipe today, "Best Rack of Lamb / Traditional Greek Style"

Enjoy!

There have been cases where people are using the wrong gauge of cord and thus losing power and the CS can't pull enough power through the cord.

The suggestion would be to hook it directly to the wall and see if you have the same problem.

Blacklab

Mr. Jig is right - if you want rare on a standing rib roast then your target meat temp is about 125-130. Remember, it will continue to cook a bit during the resting period.

Smokin is right about the extension cord also - if you have to use an extension make sure it is at least a 12 gauge wire.

Regarding the cooker temp, much has been written in the forum about this. Just like your indoor oven, the heating element cycles on and off. So if you actually had a recording thermometer, you would likely see the temp swing somewhere approx from 190 to 265 as the heating element goes on and off. Eventually, you will learn to not worry too much about that because the average is closer to what you set the thermostat at. The bottom line is the great result with your finished product.

Sorry I didn't think about an extension cord. I think 20 feet is too long, 12 gauge or not. If at all possible, you should plug directly into the wall. If you do not have an outlet close enough, consider installing one as close to your breaker box as possible for where you use your smoker and on it's own 20 amp breaker.