How Many Mes Owners Here?

[mommameah]

All right then!!!!!   We are in possession of a MES (of course it was a fiasco getting it. Ordered from Amazon and it arrived damaged.  Amazon has amazing customer service and I had a new one less than 36 hours later) . I can already tell it's superior quality to that thing I had before.  I am excited for Monday to come when I will first use is officially.    Ribs and Chicken. 

Thanks for all the reommendations

 

[pajenkins]

Just got my 30" MES from Amazon. Loving it so far. First up was a 6.5 lb chicken. Perfect!

image.jpg

• pajenkins
• Nov 16, 2014

 

[Bearcarver]

Very nice Chicken, Pajenkins!!

Stop in at the "Roll Call" forum and introduce yourself, so all the Great People here can welcome you properly!!!

Bear

 

[flyweed]

SO all you MES owners..I still have my OLD MES sitting here in my shop, gathering dust.  Have any of you put a NEW heating element in it, and controlled it with a PID...so basically you are just using the MES box and adding your own internals.  My old heating element, and controller died years ago.

Dan

 

[Bearcarver]

Hi Dan!!

I remember when you were talking about putting a PID on yours----That really was a long time ago. 

I think that was before your element died.

My Stock controller & element are still chugging along---over 4 years now.

Good to see ya,

Bear

 

[flyweed]

Bear..GOOD TO SEE YOU TOO!  Yeah, that really was a LONG time ago.  Trouble being..I was trying to get replacement parts from MES back then, and they just stopped talking to me.  So I pulled the plug and the MES went into the rafters of my shed. THen I moved on to a BGE and a GMG Daniel Boone pellet pooper.

Love em both, but kinda miss the MESS for loading up with my JERKY.  So was thinking about digging it out and gutting it, and putting in a a new heating element, and PID controller.  

Feels good to be back here.

Dan

 

[daricksta]

 
Everywhere I read said to get the Gen 1 MES, although I am not exactly sure why, but since that was the consensus, who am I to disagree? 

You're going to love it. I've got the bare bones MES 30 digital Gen 1 with no remote control or glass window but I don't miss either one. I use the Maverick ET-733 to track temps and I use the A-MAZE-N Pellet Smoker (AMNPS) for my smoke source. The only time I need to open the smoker door is to move the food around or foil or unfoil it, depending on what's smoking. I also check the top vent to make sure I'm seeing thin blue smoke (TBS). If there's no smoke, then if you're using wood chips you need to load some more. If you're using the AMNPS, sometimes it needs to be relit.

I'll put up the stuff I've smoked in my MES against the more expensive rigs any day.

 

[Bearcarver]

 
Bear..GOOD TO SEE YOU TOO!  Yeah, that really was a LONG time ago.  Trouble being..I was trying to get replacement parts from MES back then, and they just stopped talking to me.  So I pulled the plug and the MES went into the rafters of my shed. THen I moved on to a BGE and a GMG Daniel Boone pellet pooper.

Love em both, but kinda miss the MESS for loading up with my JERKY.  So was thinking about digging it out and gutting it, and putting in a a new heating element, and PID controller.  

Feels good to be back here.

Dan

Sounds Great, Dan!!

My Son has the Large BGE too, and he loves it too!!

Bear

 

[muck man]

Sad news, earlier this week I did some cheese cold smoking during the 7 degree temps here in Kansas City.  I made the decision to move my MES inside the garage to remove the cheese to get out of the cold.  I didn't get it put on my table in a level spot and it fell over smashing the door off!  I immediately saved all the cheese!  Upon closer inspection the hinges busted off and it is beyond repair.  I've had my MES for 8 years....seasoned perfectly, very sad.

I'm doing research, although I loved my MES, I feel it's time to move up to bigger....call me crazy but I'm considering moving all the way up to a Cookshack PG500.  Have a buddy who owns one (competes) and have looked at them closely.

Thoughts?

 

[Bearcarver]

 
Sad news, earlier this week I did some cheese cold smoking during the 7 degree temps here in Kansas City.  I made the decision to move my MES inside the garage to remove the cheese to get out of the cold.  I didn't get it put on my table in a level spot and it fell over smashing the door off!  I immediately saved all the cheese!  Upon closer inspection the hinges busted off and it is beyond repair.  I've had my MES for 8 years....seasoned perfectly, very sad.

I'm doing research, although I loved my MES, I feel it's time to move up to bigger....call me crazy but I'm considering moving all the way up to a Cookshack PG500.  Have a buddy who owns one (competes) and have looked at them closely.

Thoughts?

Sorry to hear about your lost love!!

Cookshack is a good smoker, but expensive.

My Son's first smoker was a Cookshack, but he never took care of it & the door rusted right off!!!

The one thing I didn't like about it was it had a top vent hole right in the middle of the top, and it used to drip condensate on the meat.

The copies are the same I believe.

I would find it hard to switch from a smoker that I loved for 8 years, but I've been married nearly 46 years to the same woman too.

Bear

 

[drains]

How do you handle all the drippings?

 

[domapoi]

Just to let you know, WalMart is having a "Pre-Black Friday sale today and in their add they have what looks like a Gen 1 on sale for $177 with free delivery or pickup.

http://www.walmart.com/browse/pre-b...at_id=0&_be_shelf_id=1271&facet=shelf_id:1271

 

[magicland]

Not a deal. Home Depot sells them for that everyday.

 

[old sarge]

Muck Man - The PG series is a whole other animal. Pellet grills are very popular. And expensive.  But they do double duty and therefore versitile. Has your buddy ever had any problems with feeding or temp control? I am not aware of any issues with the CS and other high end pellet grills, but there are problems from lesser units from time to time.  I would look over the pellet grill section here as well as the comments at Cookshack. One thing in your favor is that Cookshack has a no interest payment plan through PayPal. 

 

[86gn]

 
SO all you MES owners..I still have my OLD MES sitting here in my shop, gathering dust.  Have any of you put a NEW heating element in it, and controlled it with a PID...so basically you are just using the MES box and adding your own internals.  My old heating element, and controller died years ago.

Dan

My controller went out on my MES so I bought Auber dual probe PID. I've been very pleased with it.

If you do go with a PID I'd go for the make sure to go with at least two probes (chamber and meat) so you can set the chamber temperature and have it change to a holding temperature when the meat IT hits a desired point. I was able to restfully sleep all night Tuesday while smoking a brisket for a work luncheon on Wednesday despite the fact that my coworkers had very high expectations due to my previous briskets. When I went to my MES in the morning the brisket was at the holding temp and ready to wrapped up and taken to work.

With my PID and my AMNPS I can now do long brisket smokes that are set and forget.

 

[domapoi]

 
Not a deal. Home Depot sells them for that everyday.

My Home Depot only has the 2nd generation and if you live where there is no Home Depot the delivery is about $55. Not that is not as cheap as the same price for the unit and "free shipping" is it?

 

[dave from mesa]

Amazon has Gen1 30" for $177 w/free shipping all the time.

 

[gary s]

Sorry for your loss,  

Gary

 

[jlcnuke]

Masterbuilt was backordered on some parts so I picked up replacements from here for pretty cheap http://www.appliancefactoryparts.co...masterbuilt/?gclid=CJbw3I68kcICFUQF7AodikgAGA

 

[sloat]

Its likely the burner. Mine ,much older, did same thing.  Just new burner and its all good, no biggie.  Should be under warrantee.