Best Modifications for Analog MES

[SuperDigital]

Hello everyone,

Been using an ugly drum smoker that me and my dad made for years but it stays at his house because I am not allowed to have charcoal or propane in my community. Lucky for me tho I just won MES 35b analog smoker in a raffle at work and I'm very excited to break it in.

Now I know this is a bottom of the line electric smoker and has some issues so since I didn't pay anything for it I'm wondering what modifications I can make to it to increase my chances of a great final product?

Any information or tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated!

 

[tallbm]

Hi there and welcome!

@dward51 did about every mod you could think possible to an analog MES and he detailed it very well in this post:
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/mes-custom-ss-model-mods-pic-heavy.264396/#post-1720293

For me I would do 4 things:

1. Insulate it - either the way dward did or I would wrap it in a fireproof blanket/insulation type thing. Those smokers have been known to be susceptible to wind/weather changes.
2. Use an Auber PID Controller with it - a PID Controller should give you accurate and consistent temperature management within a few degrees of your set point. The idea is that you plug the smoker into the PID Controller, plug the PID Controller into the wall so now the PID feeds your smoker electricity, and put the PID temperature probe inside the smoker so now the PID knows whether to turn the heat up or cut it off to maintain the set temperature you enter into the PID.
   For example: I punch in 225F into the PID. The PID will now read the temperature probe that is inside the smoker and when the temp is below 225F the PID will feed electricity from the wall to the smoker to keep the temp going up in the smoker. When the PID reads a temp of 225F, or close to it, the PID will cut down/off the power to keep the temp near 225F without going to far over. It repeats this cycle over and over.
   
   This way if the wind kicks up or temps drop outside the PID will simply just cut on more power to hit and hold the set temp (225F in the example above).
   
   
3. Get a good dual probe or better wireless thermometer so you can tell what the smoker temp is at meat/rack level AND you can tell what the Internal Temp (IT) of the meat is while you cook.
4. Look into the A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker (AMNPS) and see if there is a way to rig it up so you have up to 12 hours or so of PERFECT Thin Blue Smoke (TBS) with little to no babysitting or hassle!

That's the best I have for you. Good luck! :)

 

[tomd8]

I know this thread is a few months old but in case you haven't purchased all of the things that tallbm mentioned here's what I did with the same smoker. I did use his post as a guideline but I did the following:
Instead of tearing it down to install insulation I bought a 6x4 heavy welding blanket.
I drilled the the same 2 inch holes top and bottom and added a flange mount UDS damper.
I replaced the front temp gauge which is now dead on accurate (boil water test)
I use a pellet tube for smoke and it works well even with the fluctuations.