Getting discouraged. Salmon fiasco and Canadian bacon maybe.

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scubohuntr

Fire Starter
Original poster
Dec 9, 2016
43
18
Montana
I have a MES 30. I can't seem to control the temperature on it at all. Maybe it's the AMNPS that's boosting the temperature, I dunno.

I had a 3-pound piece of pork loin brining for the last ten days or so.


I used a fairly conservative brine- 1/2 gallon water, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup white sugar, 3/8 (ish) cup salt, 9 grams cure #1, pinch of ginger, pinch of cloves. I injected about 150 cc, then brined it for 10 days and a bit.


I took it out of the brine. patted it dry, and left it in the fridge for a day and a half to form a pellicle. Then I brushed on a light coat of maple syrup on the meat side and added a few grinds of CBP.


I also had a little bit of salmon I wanted to try as salmon candy, so I stacked it in equal parts salt and brown sugar and refrigerated it overnight, then rinsed it off.


So far so good, right? I spent a couple of hours tweaking the MES to get it holding at 150 degrees. I laid out the salmon on a grill mat and brushed on some maple syrup. I put the salmon on the second shelf (not shown in pic), the pork on the third, and the AMNPS full of apple pellets on top of the chip tray. (Can't seem to get the pic to rotate)


The temperature took a half hour or so to recover from having the door open, then started climbing. I kept turning it down, but couldn't get it to stabilize below 200. The AMNPS burned out in three hours, producing clouds of acrid white smoke and leaving no unburned pellets. After an hour or so, the salmon was an oozing, bubbling puddle of nasty with salmonish lumps here and there. I took it out and threw it in the trash, mat and all. I had intended to smoke the CB for eight hours or so, but the IT was over 170 at four hours.


I sliced the CB after six hours in the freezer. It looks OK inside and generally tastes pretty good, although the "bark" is quite strong, and the CBP a bit overpowering, but I'm hoping it will mellow.


I am a little discouraged with not being able to control the temperature. There is also a lot more moisture in the smoker than I would expect. There is nasty fluid oozing down the probe wire and puddling on the little table my thermometer sits on, and dripping out onto the deck when I open the door. I have never used water in the smoker. Do I need to cut some ventilation holes? There is only the one little hole in the back and the drain hole in the bottom. I see a lot of instructions for "dampers open", but I don't have dampers. I tried leaving the door open a bit (latch lever open and hook engaged- about 1/4" gap), but the temperature kept climbing. It works OK for cold smoking, with just the AMNPS going, but for that I could have thrown out the smoker and used the box it came in.

I guess I can stick to cold smoking, but it seems like there ought to be a way to get some control over the process so I can hot smoke too.
 
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 To the SMF huntr!  

No need to get discouraged just yet, you are on the right Forum to find the help and info you need to turn things around for you. Cold Smoke, Hot smoke, it's all about the fun of learning and trying new and different things. What may work for one person, doesn't guarantee it will work the same for you. Learning different tricks, tips and techniques will all help toward learning and knowing what you are doing correctly and not?

Great pics is a good first step for other members to jump in and help with pointing you in the right direction. Keep posting up your pics and progress, we are all here to learn and have fun, no one here will jump all over you for asking too many questions. 
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 , Good Luck, Mike 
 
I have the same MES 30. Had the same problem as you. I'm pretty sure what is happening is the chip tray you are putting the AMNPS on is getting hot enough to cause all of the pellets to smolder at once instead of burning a little at a time. This is what is causing the temp to rise in the chamber. If you would have opened the door the pellets would have lit up in flames.

Try taking the chip tray out and putting your AMNPS were the tray was. Should fix your issues.
 
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Hi there.  I noticed in the pic that your smoker looked like the Masterbuilt Analog Smoker most of the time people refer to the MES as the "digital" smoker.

As already mentioned above, I'm thinking that all your pellets basically lit and burned out all at once giving bad smoke because all 3 rows of your AMNPS should have given you WAY more than 2-3 hours of smoke total rather then being completely burned up at that time.

Hopefully some MB Analog guys will chime in and give some feedback.  I imagine that if you have a Rotary tool (like a Dremel) you could consider cutting a 3" hole and adding a mailbox mod to separate heat from smoke.  I believe the MB Analog is 21gauge sheet metal and it could be done if you cared to go that route.  Again I'm hoping some MB Analog guys can chime in and give some tips vs my speculation.

I think the guys can get you on track :)
 
Have you tried smoking meat with just the chips in the chip tray as the instructions for the Masterbuilt 30 inch Analog smoker recommend? You might give that a try. 
 
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