How Many Mes Owners Here?

[cmayna]

Nice work m00se.  You'll love the Auber controller.

 

[m00se]

Thanks cmayna  and miatawnt2b. Let's see how she does for this weekend's party. We have 30 people over for the afternoon. Butts and Breasts, Butts and Breasts LOL

Cheers!

 

[jimmy1957]

Butts and Breasts, Where is my invitation? LOL.

 

[m00se]

 

[alwaysntraining]

As of yesterday I am an owner of what I think will be a great smoker. I have always used electric smokers but this is a nice upgrade. I bought mine at Academy Sports. No one else came close to their price!

 

[m00se]

Awesome! I got the inaugural smoke coming up tomorrow night for mine. I am praying to the PID gods that I have it set up correctly for the pork butts and turkey breast. I ran it for a short time yesterday and it hit 275 F and sat rock solid for an hour. Speaking of Academy, I had never heard of them until someone here showed us the great deals he got on some equipment. I checked their site out and grabbed one of these: http://www.academy.com/shop/Product_10151_10051_3174053_-1_

I haven't used it yet, but I have 4 slabs of bacon I just cold smoked that I'll jam through it soon.

Have fun with your new smokerator!

 

[alwaysntraining]

That looks nice and what a price. I payed 299.99. That was 130.00+/- than Walmart or Amazon. I thought it must be a different model but nope all the same. Model 20070311. I am new to these but see there are popular upgrades. What are a few good tips? I upgrade everything, can`t keep my hands off.

 

[dr k]

 
Awesome! I got the inaugural smoke coming up tomorrow night for mine. I am praying to the PID gods that I have it set up correctly for the pork butts and turkey breast. I ran it for a short time yesterday and it hit 275 F and sat rock solid for an hour. Speaking of Academy, I had never heard of them until someone here showed us the great deals he got on some equipment. I checked their site out and grabbed one of these: http://www.academy.com/shop/Product_10151_10051_3174053_-1_

I haven't used it yet, but I have 4 slabs of bacon I just cold smoked that I'll jam through it soon.

Have fun with your new smokerator!

About the food slicer link.  If it's under 200 watts take it slow.  These aren't the Hobart $700+ slicers you see behind the deli counter that rip slices in seconds.  When I got my food slicer I went for the best price not under 200 watts and got it for $75.

-Kurt

 

[m00se]

Yes I totally agree, Kurt. I keep my eye on craigslist for "that one special deal" on a used commercial slicer...so far though...nada. I spent a few decades in restaurant kitchens and indeed these little squirts don't even come close. I took this one out of the box and first thing I noticed is that the blade runs at about 55-60 rpm, and has about a 1/16" wobble LOL...

I knew it was a gamble but at $36? Why not.

 

[jimmy1957]

for a slicer you guys could try the Chef's Choice 615, I got mine about 2 months ago and love it so far, It's not a heavy duty one but it gets the job done.

 

[m00se]

 
for a slicer you guys could try the Chef's Choice 615, I got mine about 2 months ago and love it so far, It's not a heavy duty one but it gets the job done.

Before I saw this "deal" the 615 was the one I had picked out to buy. They seem to get good reviews on Amazon. I have ~10 lbs of smoked bacon I just stuck in the freezer to firm up and I'll be putting the slicer to the test shortly.

 

[old sarge]

I have been using the same Rival electric slicer for at least 3 decades.  Does a nice job; not perfect but nice. 

 

[jimmy1957]

That's what I did, Just Google what is the best slicer to buy and that is what comes up, I know sometimes you can't believe the reviews but I took the chance, I looked for about 2 weeks before I finally decided to spend $120 and get it.

 

[m00se]

Well, I just did the first slab. The motor doesn't seem to have much trouble anyway. The sliding bed leaves a bit to be desired. It's sloppy and "not precise". The food holder or "grip" in slicer vernacular (the part that you use to push the food into the blade) has a gap where the bacon sits so that only 1/3 or so actually contacts it. This makes you use your fingers to keep an even pressure on the meat. Having about 30 years of experience with these things leads me to believe I will probably save my pennies and  go for the Chef's Choice. The clincher is that the bed and grip are not removable so while bacon isn't particularly messy, other foods might make it a PITA to clean this thing.

It was worth the $36 gamble, and it will get me through these slabs. However, I see Craigslist in it's future.

 

[bsmhaze]

image.jpeg

• bsmhaze
• Mar 19, 2016

I have had my MES 30 for 5 years and love it! Of course, it has gone through some mods. Gutting the chip tray and adding the mailbox mod has been totally worth it!

 

[m00se]

Man, I wish I took pix of the pork butts and turkey I did night before last. The Auber controller locked on 235F and kept it rock solid through the 12 hour cook. We had a slight breeze and it was in the low 20's overnight, with the Amazen blasting pecan smoke. It was a sight to behold. I threw a hollowed out cabbage in there with some chicken "Better Than Bouillon" and a stick of butter. Lordy momma, soooo good! The party peaked at about 35 people and compliments were flyin. They especially liked the smoked turkey. It was so moist and succulent. All in all very pleased with the results, but man, do pork butts make a mess!

 

[rschriv]

Did you set uphe auber controller based on the auto config, or did you have some settings for it. I have that controller, and have

used it with a Cookshack Cookette, but not on the MES. I would like to use it there, and was just wondering what the settings

would be.

Rod

 

[m00se]

Hey Rod,

I used it straight out of the box. I'm still trying to understand the instructions, I have to admit. They're more or less like reading Chinese to me. After spending a bit of time googling and reading, I have figured out how to set the auto-tune. I did start it, but after it sat there blinking at me for almost an hour I got paranoid and did a factory reset (#666 wouldn't you know). That reverted it back to the factory settings and I just set it to the temperature (235f) and set the upper and lower limits for the probes and went to town. I will eventually tune it but as of right now it's working pretty darned good as is. Part of my problem figuring it out is that whoever wrote the manual skips parts that are intuitive to them, but for me the n00b, complete gibberish. I wish there was a sort of cheat-sheet for this thing.

Hope this helps -

tl;dr - I think the factory settings will work fine as is.

 

[cbsmokes]

Just got a MES 30 John McLemores signature series, I got it at a silent auction/charity for a fallen vet. I have no idea where it was purchased but I can't find that exact model anywhere else. Has the 2 gen interiors. But wheels and tilt bar like the 40s so I like it so far. Only did seasoning so far, smelled great did great smoke at the 275. Tryed it again at later at 200 only got faint smoke and only when the element had kicked on it disappeared when element went off. Plan to do some leg quarters this weekend (heard it's real hard to mess that up) and play with airflow, chips, and other variables to get smoke continuous. Do have a AMNPS 5×8 (I think that's how y'all abbreviate that) on the way after seeing all the rave about it on here. Overall I think MES is a quality product, could be better but we all don't get a golden crapper do we. I just want good food and little hassle.

 

[bauchjw]

Congrats on the new MES and I'm glad to hear it's for a good cause. You will enjoy it!