First smoke on my MES 30- 2012 Model

[magnum9]

Hello SMF!

I guess this is kind of an introduction of sorts. I'm Tyler from Michigan and I have been BBQin' for about 3 years and am TERRIBLE at it. I'm here to learn...

I got a surprise gift this year, a 2012 MES 30 for Christmas. Was VERY excited to say the least. Complete surprise. I have been cooking on a Weber 22" kettle with the Smokenator add on and was pleasantly surprised with the results I could produce. However, I have two young children, was in college, and just bought a house two months ago. So it was incredibly difficult to monitor the Smokenator like it needed to be. I love cooking with charcoal but I completely acknowledged that I needed an electric smoker if I wanted to continue smoking without the wife killing me because I am not helping around the house. Someone heard me say I wanted one and it showed up under the tree!!

Now, I'll apologize for the long post first as it is somewhat of a compendium of my experience with the new 2012 model MES along with my problems from the first smoke. Now please keep in mind I'm a complete rookie. I have attempted smoking meats 4 times total so I can't really give to much criticism when I don't know what I'm doing.

So to start, I seasoned the smoker per the Masterbuilt instructions and had my first problem here. When I went to check on it at one point the chip loader was laying a couple feet away from the smoker and is quite charred up now. I honestly don't know why but I speculate it was either wind or the problem some people are having with the chips igniting. I can't imagine wind would be able to blow hard enough through the tiny vent on these things but also can't imagine that chips catching on fire would blow the loader out the side. But as charred as the loader was I would be surprised.

First smoke: 4.5 LB pork butt

I've never been a pork guy so my thoughts on the final results are pretty worthless. It tastes fine. But maybe a little dry. Probably because it took 10 hours to finish. It just wouldn't come up to temp. I've got some theories why and I'll throw them out in a minute. First is the final results... Sorry, I forgot to take a pic of the butt un-pulled

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• magnum9
• Jan 13, 2013

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• magnum9
• Jan 13, 2013

Now for what most of you probably want to hear/see... the 2012 MES critique/praise.

I LOVE not having to babysit the smoker through the process. But I HATE questioning whether its working as intended.

I have heard people on here talking about the 2012 being off on temps. I took a few readings from different places and you will see my Maverick thermo reading plus that of the MES during the initial heat up in these next few pics.

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• magnum9
• Jan 13, 2013

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• magnum9
• Jan 13, 2013

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• magnum9
• Jan 13, 2013

Pretty darn accurate if you ask me. I'll take some more reading from a few other racks/positions on future cooks. 

Now for the UGLY... The meat temp probe doesn't read right. AT ALL. I was inside watching on the cool little remote (that works great) and my meat internal temp showed 175 only 2.5 hours into the smoke. I knew it wasn't right and verified on my Maverick that showed it at 145... Yes, that bad. And no, my maverick is not off. I tested it by placing a cup of water in the smoker after smoking this butt. The Maverick smoker and meat probes showed a temp reading of 186 while the Masterbuilt meat probe showed 216 when I decided to shut it down. Any thermo in a cup of water that reads 216 is junk. And no, the water wasn't even close to boiling.

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• magnum9
• Jan 13, 2013

BAD picture of how I tested the probes.

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• magnum9
• Jan 13, 2013

Pictures of the Butt in the oven....

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• magnum9
• Jan 13, 2013

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• magnum9
• Jan 13, 2013

All in all, I love the heck out of this MES compared to the charcoal smoker. I did find a way to extend the smoke chips and that was to add a few layers of foil inside the chip pan to slow heat transfer and that allowed for longer smoke in between adding chips.

I'm a little peaved about the temp probe as that is incredibly important to me. I'll contact Masterbuilt to see what they say. but all in all I think this little thing is incredible. Accurate temps. Solid construction. Good smoke. HUMID if you want it to be. It's a winner in my book.

Now, I would be open to ideas as to why it took so darn long to cook this thing. I did open the door several times because the meat temp probe readings were so different and I was trying to make sense of it. It stalled at 150 for almost 3 hours. I finally had to foil just to get it going. The temps were around 210 the whole time it stalled.

Final product, not what I would like, a little dry, not enough smoke (my own fault).

Thanks for taking a look and sorry for the huge post. I hope it's at least entertaining.

 

[old sarge]

Tyler, Welcome to the forum from Arizona. If your smoker is running properly and the element is heating good and steady when and where you set it, rely on the Maverick and avoid the temptation to open the door. MES owners will probably chime in with hands on experience with the unit you have. Mighty lucky to receive such a wonderful gift. Enjoy!

 

[ncsmokeu]

Hi Tyler.

You will find lots of info on MasterBuilt smokers on here.  I own the 1st gen 40" and love it.  I had the Gen 2 40"  (same year as your 30")  but returned it and kept the Gen1.  Nothing wrong, just preferred my Gen 1 better (guess I'm just used to it.  Although some have reported problems with backdraft or not enough smoke coming out of the vents.

As for your questions/comments:

Never trust the readouts on these things.  EVER!  I had the opposite problem on my MES 40".  The probe was accurate with my Maverick 732 within +-5 degrees.  The unit readout was off sometimes 50 degrees lower than real temps.  Lesson:  rely on your Maverick for both unit and probe temps.  I have a chart that tells me if I set my MES t o 200 degrees, it will actually heat to 245...etc.

As for your chip loader blowing out, either someone is playing tricks on you or, like me and the Gen 2 I returned, I had several flare ups while seasoning, one of which blow the chip drawer out until it hit the door.  Thinking it was the unspent oil the unit is pack in, and what you are burning off during seasoning.

I'll be the first one to say it..."if you are looking, you are not cooking"!  Try not to open the door.  This is probably why your stall time was so long.  Remember that think cuts stall and you think they have stopped.  Resist the urge to open the door or up the temp.  It will get there!  Foiling it was not a bad thing, lots of people do that as part of their process. 

Your pics look good for your first smoke with a new machine.  It takes time to learn how your smoker operates.  It will only get better!

 

[magnum9]

Thanks for the encouragement.

I know I need to leave the meat alone and leave that door shut but it was the temp probe issue that I didn't know about. Never thought there would be that much discrepancy and it made me question enough that I opened that door many times.

I think I need to get a Maverick 732 though. My 73 has no range at all.
 

 

[tjohnson]

Trust your Maverick, not the MES Digital Display or the MES Meat Probe

I smoke a pork butt in my MES for the first 6 hours, foil it and finish in the oven....Yes, I use my oven!

At this point, the meat doesn't know if it's in your smoker or the oven, and it really doesn't care either.

Use a foil pan under the meat, to catch the drippings.  Place the meat in this pan when you foil.

When you pull the finished pork butt, separate the fat from the drippings, and discard the excess fat

Pour some of the drippings back into your pulled pork, and use some for dipping sauce

Todd

 

[chef jimmyj]

Welcome and best of luck with your new toy. First off, at any temp between 200 and 240*F it will take about 2 hours per Pound to get the meat to an IT of 200*F. For safety sake always smoke at 225*F or higher. So at the 210*F you were set at you actually had a pretty fast cook. You got lucky it could have gone a few hours more. Next the Chip loader blowing out across the Patio is Common and a result of adding too many Chips to the MES. As a large load heats various gasses are given of and at some point ignite. This can can cause anything from Farting Smoke or Puffing Flame out the side of the loader to Shooting the Loader a few feet from the smoker. I have had all three happen before I learned to only place 1/4 Cup of Chips at a time. Or better yet stop messing with the whole chip loader completely and invest in the AMNPS Pellet Smoke Generator...http://www.amazenproducts.com It was designed to give up to 10 hours of Hot or Cold Smoking without having to deal with reloading chip every 30 minutes. As far as dry meat goes that is not typical of Butts however can happen. Place a pan under the meat to catch drippings that can be added back to the pulled meat along with a Finishing Sauce or Apple Juice to moisten the meat. I will give two recipes, one a North Carolina style tangy Vinegar Finishing Sauce and the other is Sweet and was originally designed for foiling Ribs but works great on Pulled pork as well...JJ

JJ's Finishing Sauce

2C Apple Cider Vinegar

2T Worcestershire Sauce or more to taste

1/4C Brown Sugar

1T Smoked Paprika

2 tsp Granulated Garlic

2 tsp Granulated Onion

2 tsp Fine Grind Black Pepper

1 tsp Celery Salt

1 tsp Cayenne Pepper or Chipotle powder. Add more if you like Heat.

1/2 tsp Grnd Allspice

Combine all and whisk well. Let rest, at room temp, 30 minutes for the flavors to meld together.

Foiling Juice

For each Rack of Ribs Combine:

1T Pork Rub, yours

1/2 Stick Butter

1/2C Cane Syrup... Dark Corn Syrup...or Honey

1/4C Apple Cider...or Juice

1T Molasses

Optional:

2T Vinegar, 2T Mustard and 1/4C Ketchup to make it more KC Style.

Simmer 5-10 minutes until syrupy consistency.

Allow to cool for 5 minutes, pour over foiled Ribs and

run your 2 hour phase of 3-2-1. For the last phase return

the ribs to the smoker BUT reserve any Juice remaining

in the Foil. Simmer the Juice over med/low heat to reduce to a saucy thickness. Glaze the Ribs for presentation or service.

For Pulled Pork: Make a Double batch, Butter optional...

Add 1/2 the batch to the Foil Pack or place it in a Pan with your Butt, when the IT hits 165*F.

Cover the pan with foil and continue to heat to 205*F for pulling.

At 205* rest or hold the Butt in a cooler wrapped in towels until ready to serve.

De-fat the remaining Juice from the foil pack or pan and set aside.

Pull the Pork and place it back in the pan and add the de-fatted pan Juice and any additional reserved Foiling Juice to moisten and Serve...OR... Bag and refrigerate until needed.

When re-heating place the Pulled Pork in a Pan or Crockpot and add reserved Foiling Juice or Apple Cider, as needed to make up the Juice that was absorbed while  the pork was refrigerated. Cover and re-heat in a pre-heated 325-350*F oven or on High in the crockpot to 165*F and Serve.

Note: the addition of the reserved Foiling Juice or Apple Cider should make the PP moist but not Swimming.

 

[nutzio]

I received the MES Model 20071111 for Christmas.

I am so new to this I am not sure how my model stacks up to the OP's.

Check my roll call post to see what I have smoked to date.

I have learned to trust my probe on my smoker after some prliminary exploration.  I did a 3.5 lb boneless porkloin rubbed and wrapped in thick cut bacon.  my probe in the loin said 160* on the nose when I pulled it out.  Wrapped it in foil and let set at room temp for ~1/2hr it was delictable !!! the most moist and juicy pork loin ever.

I am happy with my Masterbuilt overall and am hooked on using it often.  Despite adjusting the door closing mechanism numerous times to get a better seal on the door, I continue to get black ooze running out the front left lower corner.  Nothing a old rag can't sop up.