Hello from Chicago burbs

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closer

Newbie
Original poster
Jul 12, 2008
15
10
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Wife just bought me my first smoker the MES 40 from SAM's. I have been reading through this forum for hours on end, soaking up all of the fantastic knowledge you guys all have! I look forward to becoming a contributor down the line. Today is my first attempt to smoke. 6 racks of baby back ribs rubbed and mopped with apple juice, and two mini fatties (i have been dying to try this) one with mexican cheese blend, onion, jalapeno, and bell pepper, the other mozzarella bell pepper onion and mushrooms. So far i'm having serious temperature issues with the unit, couldn't get it above 195 when full. So we'll see how it comes out.
 
Welcome to smf Closer. 6 racks and a couple fatties? Now that's jumping right in with both feet! Good luck with your smoke. Hope you get those temps to come up. Don't forget the q-view when your done.
 
Welcome to the SMF!! Spent over 20 years in the northern part of the state....Zion, Waukegan area.
 
Hi Closer, welcome to SMF, I'm a new MES Sam's 40" owner too, as well as recent newbie on SMF.

Like you, my 1st cook was 6 racks of baby back ribs, I was proud to be able to lay those babies flat two to each rack in the MES 40.
Like you, I had trouble getting up to temp. My problem was an extension cord. I had a 50' 14 ga. cord to get some distance between the house and the smoker, so smoke wouldn't drift back into the open screen doors/windows. After several temp resets, and a couple of hard resets (1st put MES digital control in off mode, then unplug the power cord wait, plug in cord and turn on MES control and set it), I then moved the MES and plugged directly into my house outside outlet, "no extension cord". PROBLEM SOLVED! The MES came right up to temp 225. The ribs came out great, even though the MES spend almost 3 hours at 190 before eliminating the extension cord.

I will say I have had the problem once since, but I think it was due to using cold water in the water pan instead of hot water. I used the MES last monday, smoked a couple of whole chickens and the MES performed great. I will be trying it later today with a couple racks of ribs, a couple of chickens and may some other treats.

One thing I noticed, I use a digital thermometer with remote probe - thru the top vent, probe either on bottom shelf or 2nd shelf up. The July 4th smoke, 10 racks of ribs, I had problems getting to temp, I assumed cold water. My digital taylor was reading 255 to 270, and the MES was reading 160-180, hmmm. So I opened the hatch and the remote probe inserted thru a chunk of potato, had fallen and was resting against the inside wall about 2" inches above the heating element/wood metal cover. So the cabinet was getting heated fine just not the inside air. Maybe I should have closed the top vent slightly, not really an option I want to try, worried about smoldering wood that gives off too strong of smoke with vent closed down. Another thought was the element is making contact with the cabinet, any maybe should be insulted from cabinet, not sure I will call Masterbuilt later today about this.

Not sure if any of the above helps.

Enjoy your new MES!
 
Sounds very familiar Delta, In fact I read your old post about having the temp problems, and tried to trouble shoot off of that. I too was using a 50 foot extension cord, which I had been using whean seasoning the unti and it worked fine then reaching 275 in 30 minutes.

So after the first hour and still not above 175, I slid the unit across my deck unplugged it ad plugged directly in to the wall, an hour later the temp was still only 185, so i did two more turn off unplug restarts, and another hour later the temp was fluctuating between 198 and 202. I though it might be the thermometer, so I ran to Target and picked up a standing dial thermometer, that also read 200. After I pulled the Ribs and put in the oven with foil, the temp came up to 250 after about 45 minutes or so.

Good news is the Ribs came out pretty good, a little dry because of the three hour low temp problem but fall off the bone tender. I'll experiment with the unit this week to see if this was a one time deal, or a faulty unit.

Thanks for the help.
 
This doesn't sound good.... You might want to call Masterbuilt see what they say.

Right now I have a couple of racks of ribs in the MES, here is the procedure I used.
Of course prep meat, ...
1. I preheat to 260-270 this takes about 30-40 minutes, at this point I drop my wood chips in water.
2. While preheating I boil water for the water pan.
3. When MES is preheated, I add water, and load the food, and add wood.
4. Usually the temp drops to about 170+ depending on outside ambient temp. Today it took about 40 minutes to get to 225.

Also today I'm experimenting with a charcoal briquet or two, to see what happens regarding meat smoke ring.

Again good luck with the MES, so far I'm happy, so are several others, but your temp problem and mine is not the first mention of this.
 
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