dripping questions

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tdssmoke

Fire Starter
Original poster
Jun 29, 2013
30
10
NC
How much should I be cleaning my mes 30 after I've used it. Do I let stuff build up or will that affect the flavor of future cooks? So far I've used the water pan and saved the drippings. I add some back into the finishing sauce and save the rest for future pots of beans.

Also, is there some info on the best way to load this cooker? I looked around the site but haven't found it yet. I'd like to make some mac and cheese in there, should I put it on the top rack? Drippings aside, does it matter where in the cooker things go? If you do a shoulder and a turkey, do you just let one drip on the other or do you try to prevent that?

Thanks

Tyra
 
Tyra, morning....   Using a small amount of wood chips, 1//4 cup every 30-45 minutes, having the exhaust wide open for good air flow, and operating the smoker at max temp when a smoke session is complete for a couple hours, will keep your smoker pretty clean...  the high temp run will burn off the volatile components in the smoke condensate...  Those steps should leave your smoker with a hard crust like coating which doesn't affect the taste of future smokes..  Also, the AMNPS smoke generator produce a light continuous smoke which doesn't produce much if any creosote....   I have switched to it....   http://www.amazenproducts.com/   as have most folks on this forum along with over 10,000 folks elsewhere...  

Some food dripping on others has mixed revues...  If the smoker is operating at 225 or above, there "should" be no cross contamination of poultry pathogens to other foods, as an example...  I take safety measures to prevent this type thing, but that's me being paranoid...  I would place things like mac and cheese on a top shelf as the texture allows for penetration of any drippings into the pasta and thorough cooking would be necessary for temperature pasteurization of the dish... 

Dave
 
be careful with cross contamination from poultry to beef or pork...if you have room in your smoker try and place a drip pan under the turkey if its on the top shelf and place the shoulders on the bottom rack...as for your mac and cheese..have that on the top shelf if your doing multiple items

for example if your doing all pork..loins on the tops rack, ribs on the 2nd rack, shoulders on the 3rd rack...you can always shuffle shelves around as items get done
 
I have and use a MES30. It works great. Before the MES30, I have smoked on an electric for probably 30+years. I couldn't always drag my pipe pits around and some places I lived the fire dept had laws against open flames. My old ones I never cleaned besides the drip pan.

The MES is made so you can easily clean it. The grates and water pan are both SS. The drip tray in the bottom just lifts out. With the grates and water pan after I clean them, I spray lightly with Pam and they are so easy to clean that I am embarassed not to clean them. I know folks that even throw 'em in the dish washer.

But bottom line, its your smoke. If you are not worried about it, don't. I don't clean mine everytime but I make sure my grate I am cooking on is clean. I normally stack the grates on the top tear of the racks. I don't normally need all of them and usually I need 'em out of the way for a big piece of meat.

When you finish with the smoke make sure the loaded is secured and the vent closed. Nothing can get in, besides critters don't like smoke.

There is more than one train of thought as to proper mechanics to smoke with and electric, both work.
 
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