I found with my MES 30, it wouldn't smoke at cold smoking temperatures. Reason is the element wasn't hot enough, nor long enough to get the wood started, let alone actually smoke anything.
It did manage to "smoke" my Salmon at
200 degrees, sort of. If you can call taking hours and hours to finally consume 1/4 cup of chips smoking. About all that came out the vent was a scent of wood. Not hardly any sign of smoke, blue or otherwise. It looked good, it tasted good, but not my idea of being a smoker.
So, in order to make a MES work as a smoker, it must be modified from "box stock".
As evidenced by
Masterbuilt themselves marketing a cold smoker attachment. (Optional extra)
Or, like 547 folks here, doing a mailbox mod of one sort or another. Which is the fix to make an MES a true low temperature smoker.
But I'd bet it huff's like a train doing a 15 pound brisket, because that poor element is doing all it can to push the temperature up. And it doing so, being on more than off, it can actually perform as a smoker... Box stock.
The Big Chief, or Little Chief, just runs it's element. And if it's a warm day, with the sun shining on it, and no wind, it
might get warm. But those little aluminum tin boxes have done tons of salmon smoking for what they are. And they've done it very well. You mentioned the 165 degrees it
MIGHT reach, but you failed to note it is a constant heat. In plain Engrish, the element is always on.
Therein lies the secret, constant heat under those wood chips. ;)
Masterbuilt, at 225 to 275, is in it's element. Below 200... pathetic. Just a fact of life, Dr. K.
There are a few of fixes though, the 'Mailbox Mod', the
Masterbuilt add-on cold smoker box, Or, and this could be the rightest fix, a separate compartmentalized electric wood burner with a separate control. That's how I use to smoke.
An electric element or hot plate, with a container for my wood chips directly on it. Constant heat
to the wood. Not trying to make an oven.
But, I'm going for the
AMNPS, in my (now) highly modified MES 30 to have it all. Smoke cheeses at ~70 degrees, (or lower because I do that at night). Smoke my Salmon and reach the highly coveted 145 degree IT mark. Or use the MES as a great Rib oven at 225 and the 3,2,1 method.
I don't have any aspirations of doing half a steer for 24 hours. But it could, I imagine.
I like your Smokin Pit adaption. Same thing I dreamed about for my barby. But my gas pipe burner is about like trying to smoke in a sieve. LOL! So that idea never got off the ground.
Instead, my Brinkman, got injected with a Bradley, and got a 1500 watt element put under it's tail. :confused::eek:
Yeeearrr Baby! :D It served me well, till Bradley thought their pucks were made of gold.
OK, back to my MES 30. It's drying an aluminum pan (Thanks Dad!) full of pellet fuel as we speak at 275. That's another thing it does well, kiln dry fuel. I was going to do a drying/sterilizing run with it anyway, so put my pan of pellets in since it would be hot anyway.
Damn thing is as handy as a pair of cargo pants. :rolleyes: