Auber issue

[allmann]

I am smoking a prime rib and when I set everything up ready to turn on the smoker, I plug it in and nothing happens. The light didn't turn on. I plugged the unit directly in to the wall and the light comes on. The Auber is stored inside up high on a shelf so the kids can't mess with it.

So now I am just running it with the meat probe through the auber and the smoker  plugged in. I am pretty pissed about this, as the whole reason I got the auber was to control the crazy temp swings I was getting. (ie. as soon as I plugged it in and set it on 200 it shot straight up to 275)

Anyone have this issue before? Any ideas to fix this. I was planning on doing 50lbs of summer sausage and snack sticks next weekend. I am not gonna do that with these crazy temp swings.

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[NDKoze]

I am sorry I can't help you with the Auber issues as I do not have an Auber and probably never will.

For your Auber situation, have you checked your Auber program to make sure it is still correct? Hopefully your inside Auber location shelf has plenty of airflow because those things do get hot and can overheat if stored/run in an enclosed place.

I smoke roughly 200lbs of snack sticks every year and the temp swings don't bother me a bit. I just did 50 pounds a couple of weekends ago and they turned out awesome.

If you can't get your Auber working and you are buy-passed without a switch to switch back to the stock controller, the only option would be to remove the buy-pass until you get your Auber functioning again.

I am not sure how much this helps. But, hopefully an Auber expert will come along and provide more useful information.

[allmann]

Thank you. I have it bypassed but with a switch so I could either go bypass or off the regular thermometer settings. That is how I am cooking it now. I just had issues in the past without the auber as times varied by hrs at times, but since the auber times seem very consistent.

On your snack sticks do you use your own recipe or a box from a store?

[NDKoze]

I use prepackaged Excalibur Seasonings and order them from Walton's Inc. My local meat market carries the seasoning too and if I don't have time to order, I will buy it there. The shipping from Walton's is super fast though, so I rarely buy it locally anymore as it is a lot cheaper from Waltons.

List of all of the snack stick seasonings that they carry:
https://www.waltonsinc.com/seasonings/snack-stick-seasoning

This is the seasoning that we use the most. We buy it in the 100lb packs:
https://www.waltonsinc.com/pepper-stick-seasoning

We sometimes will add 8oz of brown sugar to the original Pepper Stick mix and call it "Sweet & Sassy" as it has a punch but is a little bit sweet. The original Pepper Stick seasoning has a pretty good kick to it, so we started using 28lbs of meat for per a batch of seasoning meant for 25lbs and it is still plenty spicy for us. We are old Germans that don't really like spicy food. So, I would try the recommended amount before you start tinkering like we have.

We have also tried the Terriyaki, BBQ, and Willie's seasoning and they are all really good. I think the BBQ is my favorite, but not all of my family that I split the sticks with likes them as well as me, so we only make 25lbs or so of this a year. The BBQ is a sweet BBQ flavor.

I want to try the Ranch and the Blue Cheese yet, but not sure if we'll do that this year or not. We, made 56lbs so far and have another 140 to go for this season.

The Teriyaki is really good, but the seasoning is a VERY fine powder. The last time I bought it locally at my meat market and they mixed it up in the back room everyone in the meat market was sneezing as the fine powders were making our noses tickle which made us sneeze. The same thing happened when we mixed the seasoning in the meat. That stuff is just really find and makes you sneeze. Kind of funny actually.

[allmann]

Thank you I have been using the bass pro sweet and spicy. I will give these a shot. I have about 75 lbs of ground venison and about 60lbs (3 20lb packages that I add 5lbs pork fat when I grind)  of chunked meat to grind. I am gonna try a jalapeno and plain summer sausage, also store bought mixes.

By the way the prime rib turned out excellent, thank you for the recipe divot. It also took 4 hrs. Ill up load a pic when I get a chance

[DivotMaker]

Kevin, I understand your frustration, but let's work through the problem.  I know you said the smoker powers up, when plugged in directly, but did you test the plug on the smoker with another device, like a light?  Also, are you 100% certain the problem is not in the switch you installed?  I assume, if you are running the unit in the unbypassed mode, that you are only testing one side of the switch?  I haven't yet seen the power outlet on an Auber fail, so that's why I'm skeptical.
Did you try to plug it in with the switch in the bypassed position, and what happened?

Also, when you run the Auber program, does the green light on the upper right of the Auber come on?  If so, it's providing power to the plug.  If you remove the trim ring on the back of the Auber (pull off), there are 4 screws.  If you remove them, you can see if a wire possibly came loose from the plug.  Might be worth checking, if you have determined it's not your switch.

[allmann]

Just checked everything with the last smoke. All connections are in order but no power. I guess I am going to have to contact Auber and see what they say.

[allmann]

I was in contact with auber and we went through a list of troubleshooting and it ends up being the plug prongs were split a little too far and needed to be squeezed to make contact. Amazing, because it didn't look like it was widened at all. Maybe pushed it in on an angle last time it worked and it pushed the contact point in. Who knows, but it is working now.

[DivotMaker]

That's great news, Kevin!  Good to hear it was that simple!!