Smoking Vic, congrats on your new MES 40, did you get the latest version or the last years model? The newer one has the controls in top front, the older on top in back.
Make sure you are getting smoke, some have issues with the built in wood chip smoke system generating smoke. I can give you all the reasons but you need to simply read back about 10 page and you will read the why's and the fixes.
Some MES owners rave about their MES cooked chicken, I do not, and gave up a long time ago on chicken. The temps will not get the skin crisp enough for my tastes, instead it is sort of rubbery. As to flavor, that is subjective, however that is also another reason I have abandon the MES for chicken. Instead for whole chickens I use my
weber Kettle, it cooks chickens perfectly and the flavors are fantastic, using the indirect method. I have even done turkey's in
the kettle also fantastic. For pieces I use my gas grill weber.
Why am I saying negative stuff regarding the MES & Chicken, because for some there is a steep learning curve on getting chicken right using the MES. I consider myself a pretty damn good cook, and I didn't master it, but I also didn't try very hard because my wife love the chicken from
the Kettle and who wants to argue with the boss. So rather than ruin or put so-so fare out for your holiday meal, I thought I would give you a heads up.
Maybe those who have been successful cooking Chicken in their MES will follow up with the tips to great Chicken Q and the MES.
Also here are some MES new owner tips that might help.
CONGRATS on your NEW MES,
Making it
Easy to
Smoke
Q!
I post the tips below for newbies, it attempts to answer some of the common questions that are asked, hopefully it helps.
MES New Owner Tips:
Collected from input of many MES owners, some may seem a bit dated due to new MES with higher watt elements but work as a general rule.
• Season it. (Many spray the inside with PAM)
• No extension cords, unless it is 12 ga or heavier. A real 14 ga will work very short distances, 12 ga for longer than 10', I use a 12ga x 50' with no problems.
• Spray your racks with PAM prior to smoke (makes cleanup easier).
• For easier cleanup, use alum foil on the water pan and drain pan.
• Cleanup should happen right after your cook or the day after, if you let sit the racks are not solid stainless and will form corrosion spots.
• Manual says preheating isn't necessary, preheating will make getting up to initial set temp faster, and temp recovery when opening hatch faster. (These instructions were for older MES units with lower wattage elements, however the value of preheating applies to all units.) Preheat to 270º. Cold ambient 45º and colder as long as 2 hours, 1 hour for warmer temps and as little as 30 min. in summer. Preheating help establish a stable cooking platform without the dramatic temp swings in first hour of smoking. (Experiment with preheating and see if it helps.)
• Add boiling hot water to pan, this will allow you to get up to set temp faster. * Water is an essential part of the smoking process, even most competition cooks now use water in their wood fired smokers.
• Start the smoke with a few wood chips. The manual says 1 cup max, you will find a hand full is almost too much. 1st chip dump just a few chips 8-10, 15 minutes later a little more chips 10-12, another 15 minutes 12-15 chips. This should produce a nice bed of hot ash with good chip combustion. 12-20 chips every 30 minutes should work from this point on. Your goal is TBS (thin blue smoke). When its right you can smell the sweet smoke, it won't smell bitter or be cloudy white. Dark smoke is nothing but awful.
• New generation smokers have made the chip tray smaller and added an extra piece of metal between heat element and chip tray. This has created numerous problems, there is a free retro fit kit you can order direct from
Masterbuilt to solve this problem. * Some later models have the larger tray without the extra piece of metal.
• Many MES owners buy an AWNPS for good smoke lasting 8+ hours, if setup correctly it works great! NOTE the AWNPS instruction warn against using the water pan. As stated above water is important part of smoke process. I have had great success using this easily constructed cover
pic1 pic2 info, and can still use a water pan.
• Do not adjust vent leave it wide open. Unless using the AMNS, (follow AMNS instructions).
• Use external probe for sensing meat internal temp, you can run the probe cord through the exhaust vent. *You may want to run 2nd probe inserted into a wood block or potato with 2” to 3" tip exposed to verify the internal MES cooking temp. (Newer MES models have the built in probes. verify they are +/- 5º accurate). I NOW USE a Maverick ET-732, it's great!
• Once your meat is loaded, avoid opening the hatch. New models can recover to set temp faster, but every time you open the door you extend the cooking time. Thus spritzing isn't really necessary in a MES due to the water pan keeping the smoking environment moist enough to not dry out the meat.
• If you do have to open your MES plan your moves so you can keep door open time to a minimum. (I’ve decided to not stress and plan for open door times by adding 20 minutes per door opening, although best is to keep to absolute minimum).
• When your done cooking, the proper way to shut the MES down is to turn off the controller then unplug. (Sounds simple but the controller has been known to get stuck if not shut down properly.)
• If your MES seems to struggle getting to either the preheat temp of 270º or is taking extraordinary long times to raise to cooking temps after meat is loaded try doing a RESET..
Proper RESET = cycle the MES off with the controller, unplug electrical cord, count to 10, re-plug electric cord, turn on MES with on/off, reset temps.
If you tried a reset, and 20-30 minutes later there is little change do the reset again.
• Cleanup is easy with a Brillo (or similar) pad to scrub the tough stuff, and throw grates, water & drain pan into dishwasher. Some have complained about the spot welds on the drain pan rusting, I hit those spots with a touch of PAM then store the cleaned stuff back in the MES.
You do not need to clean the inside cabinet, most experienced smokers consider that just seasoning. With a hot wet rag, wipe out the inside bottom and any excessive gunk on the walls. Again with hot damp cloth, wipe the door gasket, and the door frames (for better seal).
Note: The above tips are based on 6 years of input from this forum and various owners. However all the above was written before the new late 2012 model was release, (identified by controls in front, vent in back, small water pan on left side). For sure some of the above still applies, but it will take a year of posts from new 2012 owners to get enough feed back on what works and what doesn't.
Congrats on you new MES purchase, and welcome to the MES owners club.
SMOKE - ON DUDE
