MB 40” question

[Jon Bartlett]

I’ve recently purchased a masterbuilt 40”. I’m smoking some venison summer suasage today with the logs laid on the grates not hung. Ive noticed that the right side of the logs are browning but not much happenning on the left side. Uneven heating or circulation I guess. Previously I’ve laid them in my traeger and they evenly cooked. Should i put a deflector pan on the lower rack to help spread the heat? Or other suggestions would help.

 

[TomKnollRFV]

Browning? How high are you running these? I've never heard of summer sausage browning.

 

[mike243]

I run mine with the pan in and yes my summer sausage browned called for 170 on the directions

 

[TomKnollRFV]

From Disco's Blog-

I preheated my smoker to 140 F and put the chubs in. I smoked for two hours and increased the heat to 150 F. I smoked for one hour. I increased the heat to 160 F and smoked for another hour. I increased the heat to 170 F and smoked until the internal temperature of the sausage was 155 F.

You want to gradually step the temperature up. Though at 170f in a smoker with the casing I'm perplexed how it browned.

 

[Bearcarver]

I’ve recently purchased a masterbuilt 40”. I’m smoking some venison summer suasage today with the logs laid on the grates not hung. Ive noticed that the right side of the logs are browning but not much happenning on the left side. Uneven heating or circulation I guess. Previously I’ve laid them in my traeger and they evenly cooked. Should i put a deflector pan on the lower rack to help spread the heat? Or other suggestions would help.

Which Generation MES do you have?
The Gen #1 needs a deflector, but it shouldn't cause one side to brown & not the other.
I would think after more time they will even out.

Here's some Beef Logs I smoked in my MES 40.
Smoked Bear Logs (All Beef)

Bear

 

[Jon Bartlett]

Which Generation MES do you have?
The Gen #1 needs a deflector, but it shouldn't cause one side to brown & not the other.
I would think after more time they will even out.

Here's some Beef Logs I smoked in my MES 40.
Smoked Bear Logs (All Beef)

Bear

Not certain what gen it is. Here’s a picture. I’ve stepped the temps up to 180 though the morning and have been holding steady. Just checked again and about half and half as far as looking even.

 

[dr k]

View attachment 376723
Not certain what gen it is. Here’s a picture. I’ve stepped the temps up to 180 though the morning and have been holding steady. Just checked again and about half and half as far as looking even.

You have a Gen 1 hybrid. The inside looks like the Gen 2.5 tiered pan and chip housing style with the sensors in a Gen 2.5 location back wall and the Gen 1 top vent right, rear back grease trap and rear controller. I have the Original Gen 1 and put the flat bottom oval water pan on the bottom rack on top of a perf SS half circle for a 22.5 weber kettle grill. It moves heat towards the door and lets heat up the back wall then to the top right. So the four sides of the 2nd from the top rack are the same temp. I'm not really using the whole perf plate because the water pan is on top of the semi circle with the strait edge butt up against the back wall.

Barely see the perf grill topper.

I never used the stock chip system so out it came in thirty seconds with three screws and the open air under the pan has to work its way up to more evenly mix.

You can't see the perf steel with the water pan on it. All the new chip housings compared to the original Gen 1 boxy style have a more open design to see the element and a roof that pushes the heat toward the right wal, then with Gen 1 right side top vent there is no reason for rising heat to go left like the left top vent Gen 2 and 2.5 unless you mod it.

 

[Bearcarver]

View attachment 376723
Not certain what gen it is. Here’s a picture. I’ve stepped the temps up to 180 though the morning and have been holding steady. Just checked again and about half and half as far as looking even.

OK---As Kurt said, "You have a Hybrid, which is the Gen #1 exterior & the Gen #2.5 interior".
The only problem with that unit is the top vent is on the right, the same side as the Heating element. This causes the heat to run straight up the right side from the heating element to the top vent.
The best way to fix that would be to move the top vent to the opposite side & close the hole on the right.
However I had that problem with my Gen #1, and I handled it with a Heat deflector, which is shown below in the Pic.
It is a piece of aluminum that covers the whole right side, above the water pan. I kept the left side of it up higher than the right side, so the heat from the right would get pushed over to the middle of the smoker, before it would rise through the racks. I could raise or lower that left end to adjust the heat movement & balance the left to right heat.

You can see the deflector on the right, above the water pan:

 

[Jon Bartlett]

Thanks for the info! Much appreciated! Doing a mod will be easy enough. I used a small baking pan yesterday and it helped. The end of the day the logs came out good and the unit held temps very good. For $199 I can’t complain. Thanks again for the advice!