Follow up Post: Maverick ET-732 Malfunctioning?


 
JeffB

JeffB

TVWBB Pro
I posted this am about my 4 butts. Went on at 9:00am and about 30 minutes ago the probe registered 172 and holding for the past hour, maybe 2.

I pulled the probe and put it into another butt. It settled at 187 and won't move. Been on the smoker for 8.5 hours now. I know, "it's done when it's done," right?

My Maverick ET-732, however, keeps acting strange. The hand unit keeps switching from numbers to dashes (---) both at the grate temp and the food temp. I'm inside, but not more than 100 feet TOPS from it.

1. Could my food be ready already based on the 187 internal reading of the second butt?

2. Anybody had the same problem with the Maverick and know why it keeps switching to dashes?

Thanks!
 
Hi Jeff,
I use a Maverick 73. On a recent smoke (of a turkey) I thought it was reading high so I checked using a small hand held digital therm. It read about 20 degrees lower so I finished my smoke using it instead of the Maverick.

The next day - before I ordered a replacement probe for the Maverick - I stuck the Maverick meat probe in a pot of boiling water. It read 212° F. I stuck the small hand held in the water and it read 184°.
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Were I in your shoes I'd put a pot of water on to boil.

The dashes could mean that the remote unit has lost contact with the part attached to the probes. I see that on mine when I turn the transmitter off.

-hank
 
Thanks. I just went to the back of the house where the windows face the backyard, and the numbers came back on--I think the ET-732 is terrific, but I also think that somehow the house construction can sometimes block the signal.

I want to pull the pork but I'm afraid it's not yet done. I hate the wait...I'm an impatient guy.
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Smoke on!
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Mine works fine except in my office where i have a tone of electronics going on all the time. Of course, that's where I am most of the time I'm smoking, so... But if keep it away from command central it works fine.
 
Jeff, try inserting a sharp object into the butt . If it goes in with little resistance then its done. Do this in a couple of different areas of the meat. It's not the temp or time but the softness of the meat that determines if its done.
 
I thought my ET-732 was malfunctioning once, too, as I was getting the "---" readout. Turns out I didn't have the probes pushed deeply enough into the unit.
I also figured out I have to plug the probes in before I turn the unit on or it will give me the "---" readout.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by paul h:
Jeff, try inserting a sharp object into the butt . If it goes in with little resistance then its done. Do this in a couple of different areas of the meat. It's not the temp or time but the softness of the meat that determines if its done. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks, Paul. That's exactly what I did. I used a long metal skewer for cooking shishkebabs on my gas grill and I pushed it easily through all 4 butts. It was at 190 and the skewer easily passed through the meat, but when I tried to pull the meat apart, it was not that simple. It would not pull with forks.

I still say it was undercooked.
 
Jeff,

I too was having a similar problem with my ET 732. I did figure out why I would get --- sometimes. I found you really have to push those probe jacks in good. The rubber coated socket will try to push them back out just enough to break contact.

Also, I did have to change batteries in the sending unit when it starting flashing --- and different temps. The supplied batteris are cheap.

Good luck.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jeff Bryson:
Thanks, Paul. That's exactly what I did. I used a long metal skewer for cooking shishkebabs on my gas grill and I pushed it easily through all 4 butts. It was at 190 and the skewer easily passed through the meat, but when I tried to pull the meat apart, it was not that simple. It would not pull with forks.

I still say it was undercooked. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>I've always had a vague uneasy feeling that I don't really understand what is meant by pulling. Most of the time, I don't even pull butts. One of my local grocers sells bags of "boneless rib tip trimmings" that are mostly fist or double fist size pieces of pork that are well marbled with fat. I smoke until I think they're done (and rarely get to the temperature specified for pulled pork.) Then I rest them long enough to cool to a temperature what I can handle with bare hands. Then I shred the meat by pulling it apart with my bare hands. I can easily identify the 'doneness' of the meat and I find that some parts tend to just fall apart whereas others require that I actually separate strands of meat. And on this account, I'm not sure how much separation is desirable. I usually go for strands that are no more than about 1/2" or a little less.

I suppose you are looking for something I would gage as "just falls apart" if it is something you want to pull using utensils. But I've never thought of pulling pork with a fork so I can't really say.

I have noticed that butts tend to fall apart when I try to pick them up. I wonder if that would be an alternate test to the "poke it with something" standard. And as far as the resistance to poking, it seems to me that would be a pretty subjective measure depending on the shape and sharpness of the 'instrument' and the strength of the cook.
 
Check out this video starting at the 5:40 mark. This is VERY similar to how my BB's were when "finished" at 190, but I'd say these are just a bit more done than mine. Not much but a bit. Perhaps at the 195 range?

Does everybody's pulled pork look like this when pulled?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Er59tnrZvWg
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jeff Bryson:
Check out this video starting at the 5:40 mark. This is VERY similar to how my BB's were when "finished" at 190, but I'd say these are just a bit more done than mine. Not much but a bit. Perhaps at the 195 range?

Does everybody's pulled pork look like this when pulled?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Er59tnrZvWg </div></BLOCKQUOTE>That's pretty much what mine looks like. If anything, mine might be even more tender. I seem to recall the bone pulling right out.
 
Thanks for the info here as I had a similar experience this past weekend while cooking an 8 lb pork shoulder. I have the ET-901 and it was consistently reading about 10 degrees higher than a second wired probe (Poulder). I inserted only about 2 inches into the top of the shoulder while the Poulder probe was fully inserted from the side. When the ET-901 hit 200 degrees the readout went to dashes.

I pulled the shoulder at 194 degrees after 8.5 hours (250 degrees at dome) and then let it rest for about 30 minutes. Chopped it up and then served it on burger roll with slaw and a basic homemade sauce (cider vinegar, ketchup, sugar, salt, and cayenne). Awesome meal.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Brian Lee:
this is how mine looked at 195 degrees:
IMG_0004.jpg
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Brian, Is that blood in the middle of that pork shoulder?
 
Hi Mike,

No, there definitely wasn't any blood. I took the pic immediately after I pulled the bone out so the red color is bark and rub.
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Here is the pic before I pulled out the bone:
IMG_0003.jpg
 
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