My crock pot has a low and high setting. With the lid off it's 135. On occassions when I had the lid on it to heat it faster, it would go to about 150 and shrivel the sinew. I usuall remove the pot from the metal cooker and set in on a towel while I"m sinewing. It will cool pretty quickly. But, I always test it with one small, single strand of sinew first.