First Poultry Smoke in MES

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sportgd

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Apr 21, 2016
119
49
Buffalo, NY
I used to use a cheap charcoal smoker so the switch to an electric is quite the contrast.  I picked up some Turkey legs as well as a whole chicken to smoke together.  I first started with a brine that Chef JimmyJ posted in another post.  After allowing it to sit in the brine for about 28 hours I removed it uncovered to the fridge as I have read suggested.  It was able to sit like this for about 8 hours, I would have liked to have gotten it out of the brine sooner but had a few too many beers the prior night to care.  I used it with a rub I already had made from ribs previously.... I did this at my girlfriends request(she was a big fan of the ribs) and won't again as it wasn't the flavor I was hoping for.

Veggie tray to catch drippings from the turkey:


Rubbed Poulty ready to go in

The setup inside my MES 30 after putting the turkey legs in( I put them in about 90 minutes after starting).


Now I am going to apologize because I cannot locate my final shot!  I think it came out decent, I would wait a little longer to put the turkey legs in next time as they were done a little too early.  I had trouble getting a good skin as I have read is a common issue.  This was also my first smoke with an AMNPS, overall positive experience except I am still struggling with the best placement... It is too tight to the left of the heating element on the floor unless I pull the bottom tray.  I tried this but noticed the pellets closest to the element started to smolder since it was so near.  Other than using the entire bottom rack for the AMNPS I am at a loss on a good location.  I have put a shot below of my empty smoke if anyone has a suggestion.


Thanks for reading and I promise I will check if my girlfriend has a copy of the final results!

Ryan
 
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Great looking bird!!  I put my AMNPS all the way on the bottom to the left (as your looking at it) of the heating element right under the drip pan.  I've smoked just about everything in my 40" MES and have had ZERO problems with the AMNPS in that spot.  Just a suggestion. 
 
Thanks Big Iron... unfortunately the 30 seems to be just too small to put it there... so I built a mailbox!
 
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