I'm fairly new to electric side of smoking. I purchased an Gen. 1 MES 40 right around Christmas. My inaugural smoke was some homemade Andouille sausage and it turned out great. Last Friday I had the day off and decide it was time to try some ribs. I'm use to using a kamado style grill and typically have done ribs with the basic 3-2-1 method. I wanted to get the ribs in the MES by noon so they'd be ready by 6pm. Temps here in Central WI were near 30 degrees and I had planned on warming up the MES for an hour prior to putting in the ribs. Of course, I got a little side tracked and didn't get the MES going until about 11:30am. By noon the temp wasn't as high as I would have liked. I was looking for 225 but it was hoving around 180. I put the ribs in anyway and after the first hour the temps was still below 190. I ended up pulling them off and throwing them on my kamado and they were done by 7pm. I guess if I"m going to be smoking at lower outside air temps I've got to plan on at least a full hour, perhaps two of preheating. Lesson learned and I'll try again after we get out of this deep freeze.
Sorry, no pictures this time...
Sorry, no pictures this time...
