Masterbuilt Glass Door or Not?

[dr k]

I like that I can see what's cooking. And with the mail box mod (or in my case popcorn tin) I don't get a huge build up on the glass. Sometimes I do two or three smokes before I clean it.

After several smokes in the summer the humidity/heat makes for a quick 3 min razor blade cleaning. Winter takes longer. I ran a dedicated cord to the Gen 1 40 interior bulb. The ceramic socket is rated to 75 watts and the max wattage bulb that fits is 40 watts. It's a smoking meat aquarium. I foil over the bulb housing glass and pull it for night smokes.

 

[jusmejim]

I appreciate everyone's comments. I found what I consider to be a reasonably priced MES40 (with glass) so have a new one on the way. Should be here Friday. Thanks again for all the input.

 

[sigmo]

With condesation without water in the pan in this insulated smoker, the smoke may be white and disipate quickly as it exits the smoker before TBS that lingers and floats away. But the window is your true smoke meter. If you can't see your food or is going that direction then you can correct before it's too late.

That is what I've observed, too.

Sometimes the smoke residue is fairly difficult to clean off of the window and the glass cover over the interior light. So I like the idea of covering the light unless it's being used at night.

But, to me, it's worthwhile to have the window because as dr k points out, it's difficult to judge the smoke once it leaves the smoker because what happens is that the moisture being driven out of the meat uses the smoke particles themselves as nucleation sites for condensation. So as the smoke leaves the vent, the moisture in the air condenses onto the smoke particles and the resulting "cloud" looks white even though the smoke itself would be blue.

I've posted this before, but I'm not sure how many folks have seen it. The color characteristics of light scattered by particles has to do with the size of the particles. Larger particles scatter all colors somewhat equally (Mie scattering), while tiny particles scatter blue light more efficiently (Rayleigh scattering).

And this is why you can judge the character of smoke by its apparent color. Blue means tiny particles. White means larger particles.

But if what you're actually seeing is small water droplets that have condensed onto the smoke particles after the smoke has left the smoker, then you're getting a bogus indication. A steam cloud outside the smoker does not mean that the smoke inside of the smoker is not "thin and blue".

So you really need to judge the density and color of the smoke before it cools down and water vapor can condense onto the smoke particles, making them seem larger, and creating a deceptively white scattering of light.

To this end, it's nice to have the window. I use a bright LED flashlight to shine into the window so I can see what's happening with the smoke inside of the smoker. So I do like having the window.

Further, I can look in different places and use the movement of the smoke to show what the air movement patterns are inside of the smoker. That helps me to adjust my baffles and place the meat or pans to try to get even smoke deposition as well as visualize how the heat itself is likely being distributed.

But you can also shine a light down into your smoker's vent to look inside, or if you use a "chimney", you can shine the light down into the chimney to judge the color of the smoke before it has a chance to cool down too much.

And I agree that once the window gets covered with smoke residue, it might as well not even be there. So if you're not going to clean it, and not going to use it, you might as well not have it.

But for me, I'd miss it if I didn't have it.

 

[Bamabww]

Thanks to everyone who responded to the original post and his question about the glass door or not. I’m consider the same thing and this has helped me a lot.
I think I would fall in to the “probably wouldn’t clean” crowd.