I got my 30" MES a couple weeks ago, bought it at Walmart website, also purchased the MES cold smoke kit. This is a new adventure for me, so was excited to get started. first evening I put it together, was to late in the evening to start it up, soooo next day preseasoned it , got it ready to go for the next day, crap!!!! snow and rain next 2 days. LOL. Oh well, thats South Dakota for you. Finally got my MES with cold smoker up and running. First smoke was a 3# beef chuckie at 250 for about 6/7 hours, beef was done, did have a smoke ring, but just a tad tough, not bad, was eatable, just had to chew a little. good flavor.
Next I tried my hand at making beef jerky, hmmmm a little to much smoke, not enough seasonings in marinade. took like 12 hours. next time I think I will turn heat up after 4 hours and also turn off smoke at that time. Started out at 100 degree, after about 7 hours did turn it up to 150. I think it took a lot longer than it should have, not sure what I did wrong. (Yes I did use a cure, so beef should be fine.)
Plan to smoke a 6 # pork loin for Easter nand also a 6.8# turkey breast, Both will be put in a brine day before... any and all suggestions and tip would be greatly appreciated.