I'm finally starting to get it down

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dignan17

Newbie
Original poster
May 15, 2017
14
10
My first post here was a thread about how awful I was at smoking. I had a Camp Chef 24", and nothing I made was turning out well.

So a quick update: I hated the Camp Chef. The temperature control was insanely finicky, with temps swinging 10 degrees after a micrometer turn of the knob. The temps would also fluctuate wildly. I get that this'll happen, but we're talking about 40 degrees here. Or, if I turned the knob .0005 degrees to turn the temp down, later I'd see the temps spiral downward with no signs of stopping, then I'd turn the knob .0010 degrees the other way to compensate, and the opposite would happen.

I was sick of babying this thing.

So my beautiful wife let me sell the Camp Chef and I picked up the MES 40 2.5 (with remote). Life is better now.

I was starting to get better at smoking despite my Camp Chef problems, but now I don't have to baby the temperature knob anymore, and I'm thrilled! Sure, the temps still fluctuate, but now it's only ±10 degrees and I don't have to do a thing for it to keep the temp under control. Fantastic!

The one thing I'm still not pleased with is how long everything seems to be taking. For example, I was under the impression that a pork butt for pulled pork took 1.5-1.6 hours per pound. I also understood that it's foolish to try to estimate the actual cooking time. And yet, I still feel like I'm doing something wrong when it takes a 5.5lb butt 14 hours to get to 203. Doesn't that seem like too long? Or am I crazy? And this is at 250.

The end results though...yes! I'm getting the hang of it! Today was pulled pork and no-boil mac n cheese. The bark from the pulled pork was delicious - smokey and sugary. I sprayed with apple juice every few hours, so maybe that stretched out my smoke time...




I combined an MnC recipe I found here with some others and then eventually tweaked it to my liking.

Anyway, thanks to everyone here for all the assistance. I couldn't have gotten better without the amazing folks here. I'm sure I'll be leaning on you in the future.
 
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Congrats on the success!

You can run a pork but at 275F which is the max an MES is suppose to be able to hit.

Opening the door to spritz will definitely slow things down some.

Are you using a 3rd party thermometer?  The MES probes are NOTORIOUS for being off.  Your 250F may actually be 225F in reality.  A 3rd party probe like the ThermoPro TP20 is almost mandatory for an MES.

 You will likely find that the temperature at rack level for your meat is off from what the MES smoker is reporting.   If you can use the lowest most rack to the smoker I think you will consistently get the closest to the smoker temp you desire.

I have a V-shaped rib/roast rack that fits inside my disposable aluminum pans like the following image:


I put the aluminum pan on the lowest rack of my MES, the rack in the pan like the image above, and the pork but on the rack.  This way it gets smoke all around it and catches drippings while all sitting on the bottom most rack which is closest to the burner.

If you flip that rack over it can take racks of ribs in the slots :)

Anyhow, keep on plugging away and it will only get better.  Best of luck! :)
 
Thanks for the suggestions! Yes, I'm using my own ambient and meat thermometers, so I was pretty confident about the temps. I will try the lowest rack and higher heat though. Thanks.

And I just ordered some wire tracks that can fit in my foil pans, so I'll try that but I might end up with your roast rack.
 
Well since we are talking racks and the MES and all.  I also use the following rack for doing whole chickens:


As you can see the little chicken holder prongs can fold up for chicken/turkey and down to be a regular rack.  I also like that I can do two chickens at once especially when I find whole chicken on sale for like 99 cents or less!

I read an excerpt from an Electric Smoker book that using a vertical poultry roasting rack helps make the chicken skin edible.  

So far I have found that chicken skin is rubbery and not really too edible unless you can smoke at a smoker temp of 325F or so.

The vertical rack helps more than I thought it would.  There are some other approaches that can help as well but I'll let those who do them mention them as I just smoke at 325F with my heavily modded MES40 :)

Best of luck with your MES smoking adventures :)
 
I'd love to hear about your mods!

I figured I was probably giving up things like crispy chicken skin when I switched to electric. I'll definitely look into a vertical rack like those. Thanks!
 
I'd love to hear about your mods!

I figured I was probably giving up things like crispy chicken skin when I switched to electric. I'll definitely look into a vertical rack like those. Thanks!
I did a post with a bunch of my mods you can read about them here:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/261790/mes-mod-madness-teaser-pics

In short I have the following mods:
  • Mailbox Mod with AMNPS (A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker), this allows me to generate smoke whether the MES is on or off and at any temp inside the MES :)
  • Flipped the Heating Element - removed the heating element cover and flipped the heating element and the support bar so I could get more even heat from the center of the MES and all around
  • Convection Fan Mod - installed a convection fan to circulate heat and smoke and improve evenness of heat throughout the smoker.  It is installed so that the MES water pan does not interfere
  • Rewired MES and use of HeaterMeter PID Controller - rewired the MES and bypassed the crappy MES controller and I'm using the amazing HeaterMeter PID controller that has wifi capability, computer web based interface, mobile phone app, and can be completely internet accessible.  It also has amazing visual graphs/dashboards and archiving capabilities to save all of your smoking data for log book related information.
    • Custom Controller Box - built a custom controller box that holds the HeaterMeter controller, fan controller, wires, electrical compnents, etc. so I can simply plug the things up and turn off/on as needed.
I am planning a couple of simple mods that are the following:
  • Wooden Sausage Smoking Rack - I plan on cutting an untreated birch board so that I can have the following sausage smoking setup with wooden dowels, like the following


     
  • Birch Board Smoker Space Limiter - Think of this as a mostly solid wooden shelf rather than a wire rack.  I plan to simply cut an untreated Birch wood board that I can place in/on any of the rack holders to cut down the space in the smoker.  The idea is that if I'm only using the bottom 2 racks of the MES I would put the board on the 3rd from bottom rack holder and the hope board traps heat under it so that the bottom 2 racks with meat will have a more even and consistent temp between each other.  

    I have consistent heat in my MES with my fan mod BUT that is consistent per rack.  I can expect the bottom rack left, center, right to be at consistent temps though the 3 areas on that rack are not the same temp they are within 10-12 degrees of each other but they all hit or slightly exceed my set temp.

    Now the next rack up will also be consistent in the same manner though it will not be the same temp as the bottom rack.  Rack 2 may be 15 -20degrees lower than the set temp and when compared to the bottom rack temp.  However the 2nd rack is a consistent difference so it's not all over the place, and also like the bottom rack the left, center. and right temps on rack 2 are different but consistent across the rack.  In all this means that the bottom rack is at 275F and the next rack up is at like 255-260F.  

    So my goal with the mod is to try and get more even temp from one rack to another and a bonus would be to have evenness across a rack from left, middle, center.  If I'm successful then if the bottom rack is 275F the next rack up will be 275F or very close.

    I will likely cut a hole in the board so smoke doesn't get trapped and become stale but my fan mod should really help with any stale smoke situations.
So those are the mods that I have planned but they are simple to put in place and are simple mods :)
 
Well since we are talking racks and the MES and all. I also use the following rack for doing whole chickens:


As you can see the little chicken holder prongs can fold up for chicken/turkey and down to be a regular rack. I also like that I can do two chickens at once especially when I find whole chicken on sale for like 99 cents or less!

Where did you get the rack? I can't find one similar to hold 2 chickens.
 
I did a post with a bunch of my mods you can read about them here:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/261790/mes-mod-madness-teaser-pics

In short I have the following mods:
  • Mailbox Mod with AMNPS (A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker), this allows me to generate smoke whether the MES is on or off and at any temp inside the MES :)
  • Flipped the Heating Element - removed the heating element cover and flipped the heating element and the support bar so I could get more even heat from the center of the MES and all around
  • Convection Fan Mod - installed a convection fan to circulate heat and smoke and improve evenness of heat throughout the smoker. It is installed so that the MES water pan does not interfere
  • Rewired MES and use of HeaterMeter PID Controller - rewired the MES and bypassed the crappy MES controller and I'm using the amazing HeaterMeter PID controller that has wifi capability, computer web based interface, mobile phone app, and can be completely internet accessible. It also has amazing visual graphs/dashboards and archiving capabilities to save all of your smoking data for log book related information.
    • Custom Controller Box - built a custom controller box that holds the HeaterMeter controller, fan controller, wires, electrical compnents, etc. so I can simply plug the things up and turn off/on as needed.
I am planning a couple of simple mods that are the following:
  • Wooden Sausage Smoking Rack - I plan on cutting an untreated birch board so that I can have the following sausage smoking setup with wooden dowels, like the following


  • Birch Board Smoker Space Limiter - Think of this as a mostly solid wooden shelf rather than a wire rack. I plan to simply cut an untreated Birch wood board that I can place in/on any of the rack holders to cut down the space in the smoker. The idea is that if I'm only using the bottom 2 racks of the MES I would put the board on the 3rd from bottom rack holder and the hope board traps heat under it so that the bottom 2 racks with meat will have a more even and consistent temp between each other.

    I have consistent heat in my MES with my fan mod BUT that is consistent per rack. I can expect the bottom rack left, center, right to be at consistent temps though the 3 areas on that rack are not the same temp they are within 10-12 degrees of each other but they all hit or slightly exceed my set temp.

    Now the next rack up will also be consistent in the same manner though it will not be the same temp as the bottom rack. Rack 2 may be 15 -20degrees lower than the set temp and when compared to the bottom rack temp. However the 2nd rack is a consistent difference so it's not all over the place, and also like the bottom rack the left, center. and right temps on rack 2 are different but consistent across the rack. In all this means that the bottom rack is at 275F and the next rack up is at like 255-260F.

    So my goal with the mod is to try and get more even temp from one rack to another and a bonus would be to have evenness across a rack from left, middle, center. If I'm successful then if the bottom rack is 275F the next rack up will be 275F or very close.

    I will likely cut a hole in the board so smoke doesn't get trapped and become stale but my fan mod should really help with any stale smoke situations.
So those are the mods that I have planned but they are simple to put in place and are simple mods :)
Id like to see how you added a convection fan, I have one .
 
Where did you get the rack? I can't find one similar to hold 2 chickens.

Hi there and welcome!

You can get it here listed at $28:

It's not cheap but it is a good versatile rack.
It fits 2 chickens vertical.
It fits a turkey on it's back.
It works as a general roasting rack since the vertical things can lay down.
Also it is ALMOST a perfect fit over the foil pans I get from Costco. I have to kind of angle and slightly bend one of the corners of the foil pan but not to the point where the pan integrity is ruined. This is nice for catching all the drippings of whatever you roast on the rack!

I have basically replaced my V-shaped roasting rack with this one :)

Enjoy!
 
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Id like to see how you added a convection fan, I have one .

Hi there and welcome!

I'm not sure I have any additional pictures than what is already here in the post http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/261790/mes-mod-madness-teaser-pics but I did the following for my installation:

  1. Measured, bought, and prepared a plastic case to cover the fan when it would be installed on the back of the MES
  2. I also drilled and installed a chord relief grommet on the case, it would now be water tight enough to handle any splash or light rain scenarios, it is definitely not 100% water proof but should/has protected well

  3. I drilled a pair of holes through the back of the MES (larger on outside, smaller on inside) to fit a stainless steel sharpie pen frame. I drilled a hole through the pen frame and cut it down with a dremel so the convection fan would fit through the frame. This frame would make a tunnel so that smoke and heat wouldn't get into the insulation and body of the MES.
  4. I put the convection fan and pen frame in place to ensure it all fit without the fan shaft hitting the pen frame and I marked where to drill holes for bolting the fan to the back of the MES while all that stuff was in place.
  5. I drilled the bolt holes and fastened all together and tested to ensure it was good to go.
  6. Once confirmed I high temp food safe RTD siliconed the pen frame in place.
  7. I used a dremel to cut down the bolts and fastened the confection fan in place and setup it up.
  8. I then put the plug through the plastic case and wired it up to the fan and fastened the case in place
  9. I plug the fan in and off it goes :)

I know that is a simplified accounting of my installation but that was basically all of it :)

 
I've never actually seen a pork but that small, but when I do any thing that qualifies as a 'big' one, I plan for 24 hours from start to when it's done and ready to eat. I've ran pork butts for 30+ hours. I don't run hot and fast mind, I get annoyed at my self if I bump over 225f for pork. I'm odd.

Remember the stall can take literal hours to get through, and I don't think any guide line will ever truly be able to account for it. Some people have reported smokes that the stall seemingly never hit, then you get people who had stalls taking 8 hours. It's just safer to plan these things to start 24 hours in advance of estimated meal time. I've given up entirely on planning long smoking foods for specific times. It's done when it's done, if it's done in time for a meal..wonderful. If not? Well, reheat tommorrow. Alot of my smokes end at 1-2 AM it seems LOL.
 
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