first smoke not so good.

[elpaton]

Well i had the chance to use my new MES 30" that came in after i did the quick mod for more smoke. I smoked Salmon and some home made chicken strips. Well i set the temp at 240 cause i was not sure if the temp would be off aliite. Well from what i leaned the heat was to high the food came out on the dry side and i need to let the chicken and salmon set longer in juice. I took some pics of the food when i took it out and set it on a plate. i will try and upload those tomorrow when i find my cord for the camera. Has any tryed to smoke Jerky in the MES 30" yet?

 

[les3176]

Sorry to hear about your smoke. I have a mes30 and have found that the mes runs a good 12-15 degrees hotter than what it says or is set for. Have you tried to find the real temp that you are really running,i bet you are running hotter than you think.Did you use the waterpan? This will also help with moisture. As far as the jerky goes ,i have not but i have done snacksticks in the mes and the turn out great! But with jerky you don't want to use the water pan.

 

[elpaton]

i used the water pan this time to see how it works. never used one befor. i have never checked to see what the real temp is inside and i really need to. in the morning i am going to by 20bs of meat to make some jerky. lets see what tomorrow brings me.

Also Les how is it at smoking at a low temp?

 

[les3176]

I think for low temps or cold smoking i would invest in a amnsor a-maze-n smoker. at lower temps the chip box does not heat up enough to always produce smoke,just when the heating element turns on.You couls always put a couple peices of charcoal in the chip tray to help keep the chips burning if you wanted, but the amns is very easy to use and works great.I have done a cold smoke for cheese and afew smokes doing snacksticks After a few smokes you will get the hang of the mes,its a pretty easy smoker. Heres afew of the smokes i did in the mes if you want to check them out.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/fo...ld-smoking-cheese-and-the-amns-tried-the-brie  

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/102754/more-snacksticks-with-qview  

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/102128/first-try-at-snacksticks-with-qview  

Good luck.--LES

 

[realtorterry]

I don't have an mes so I can't really help with that, but whatever you do don't give up! All of us here have had bad smokes especially the first few! Stick with it & you won't regret it

 

[rbranstner]

The main thing would be to get a digital thermometer in the smoker so you can see what the actual temps are in the smoker.

 

[SmokinAl]

What Ross said!

 

[tjohnson]

Invest in a decent external thermo.  Best investment you'll ever make!

Your MES is reading the temp in the back right corner and not the temp on the racks.  My experience with my MES is that the meat probe is fairly accurate, but the smoker temp is way off.  Mine can be off as much as 30° + hot.

I use a Maverick ET-732.

Todd

 

[fpnmf]

We all have smokes that don't turn out like we want.

Use the search tool up there^^. It will give you tons of info about smoking and your MES.

The Wikis too. I read them regular..

  Have fun!!

  Craig

 

[daveomak]

Everyone here has had things go awry. For me it has been "more than once".  These "valuable learning experiences" usually end up in a pot of pasta with frozen peas, carrots & corn, sauteed onions, garlic and cream of mushroom soup. Delectably delicious. Mmmmmm Mmmmmm Mmmmmm Good!