MES 30" Gen 1 ready for pickup tomorrow! Quick questions...

[LaLaMatt]

Folks, so my new MES 30" Gen 1 model is ready for pickup tomorrow. I've been reading through the forum using the search tool, and just have a few 'getting started' questions:

1. After I set it up, I understand I need to power it up to 275 degrees for 2hrs, and then throw in some wood chips for a further and final 1hr, to burn off any factory crap and season the oven. Is that sufficient? Do I have that right?

2. I intend to fill the water tray with sand and cover it with foil as a heat sink. But, if the water tray doubles up as a catchment basin for meat drippings, doesn't this create problems - don't the drippings run off and down below onto the AMNPS etc.?

3. After reading numerous reviews of the MES, I'm extremely worried about the tendency of both the control panel and the heating element breaking. It sounds like a very common occurrence. Are there just lemon parts out there, or are they all lemons? Is there anything I can do when I get my MES to determine if these parts on my unit are substandard or anything I can do to extend their life? My understanding is the Masterbuilt warranty is 90 days, and after that, i'd have to pay for any replacement parts.

4. And quick smoking question (as a complete newbie) - when I'm smoking something, and move to a period where I wrap it in foil, I assume at that stage there's no sense at continuing to use chips or the AMNPS for smoke, as it would not penetrate the foil wrapped food, and you're essentially just using the MES as a standard oven?

Anything else I need to know/do before I get started?
Thanks in advance - excited to get going with it!!
cheers,
Matt

 

[jted]

LALA Matt, Welcome. Basicly you have the correct. 2 hours hot then burn some chips or pellets. remember that the longer you burn a smoke producer the better your first smoke will be. I would be reasonable about the chip or pellet burning. start your smoke off with something easy like Pork ribs using the 3-2-1 method or the comparable that can be found on the forum pages.
You don't need to fill the water pan so full that your drippings will overflow. Just leave a 1/2 inch to put your foil on. That will give you about 3/4 of a inch of sand. Personally I no longer use the water pan as a heat sink. I used marbles so I could wash them when the foil tore but all this is personal preference. Just part of the fun of learning your smoker. If you use your smoker long enough you will have failures. Most likely it will be the connections to your element. That by far is the number 1 failure. There are many pages on the repair. It won't happen soon but you might source a couple of high heat 1/4"spade connectors. Actually you need 3, 2 for the element and one for the ground. Don't even waste your time going to a big box store. I understand that Amazon has them but not in small quantities. I have bought them several times for my self and friends at Ace Hardware. Any good appliance repair shop would have them also.The controller will occasionally go bad but to masterbilts contractors credit they hold up well. Just don't let them get wet. Electric parts and moisture don't mix . You are right you don't need to smoke your foil. infact a lot of folks think you don't need to smoke meat past 4 hours but that is a personal choice. I like up to 6 hours or 2 rows on my AMPS. Get one buy it from Todd at Amaz-n products. The inventor and CEO that answers his own Phone. He will and has helped hundreds of new smokers.
Ask the forum any question and you will get answers. not always the same but Personal opinions just like these. Jted

 

[dr k]

Per MB customer service the Mes is warrantied for a year even if the manual says 90 days.
-Kurt

 

[GaryHibbert]

Morning. Great choice in a smoker.
I've had my MES 30 Gen 1 for about 2 1/2 years and haven't had any problems with it except for the factory meat and cook chamber therms--they're bith garbage. MES therms are generally VERY inaccurate, so a good dual probe digital therm is a must.
When I got my MES I did a 2 hour burn to clean it up and its perfirmed flawlessly ever since.
If cold weather is a factor i strongly recommend storing your sand filled water dish inside. Otherwise it takes preheating the MES takes a lot longer.
In the bottom of your MES is a full size drip pan. I foiled it over so it's easy to clean. Didn't worry about the drip tube out the back. I always put an extra tinfoil drip pann uber the meat anyway. It's a lot easier to clean/replace. The big drip pan at the bottom just catches the bit if grease that manages to get by.
Gary

 

[browneyesvictim]

Ill bet you are stoked LaLa!
1. yes
2. Try leaving the pan empty but lined with foil. See if you find the sand is worth the trouble. In fact, I don't use the EOM SS oval pan at all in mine, but I do just set a disposable rectangular foil pan there instead. In my experience, using the oval pan exposes the AMNPS to drips anyway in the corners. Its good for many smokes before I have to throw it away and replace it.
3. No. Just keep it out of the elements. Resist the urge to want to use cleaners or hose it out or whatever.
4. Correct. Either remove the AMNPS out of the smoker or just close the vents and let the smoker snuff out the pellets due to lack of oxygen. Then you can re-use whatever unburnt pellets are left.
5. Enjoy! What are you smoking first?

 

[LaLaMatt]

thanks very much folks!!! Can't wait to get going with this thing!
I thought, per someone's advice, I might try a rack of ribs first. I prefer the 'Memphis style' (dry) when I order out - anyone have any good how-to-guides or advice for doing Memphis style? I believe the St. Louis cut is most typically used?

 

[browneyesvictim]

Yes. You can either buy full spares and trim them yourself to St Louis cut or buy them pre-cut. Compare your prices per lb. locally between the two. It might surprise you. For Memphis, what you are calling dry, is just a matter of not saucing or not foiling or both. There are also rubs or flavors that are more aligned with "Memphis" vs "Kansas City" vs "Texas", vs "Carolina" etc. Despite the names, its fun to try them all and experiment and find what you like.

Are you familiar with the 3-2-1 (or 2-2-1 or similar) method?

 

[tallbm]

I think everyone has given great advice.

1. yeah sounds right, the manual outlines the process
2. many people vary with this. It will not protect your AMNPS from drippings. You will likely want to build a shield for your AMNPS out of a foil pan. Guys just cut one down and slant it against the wall over the AMNPS. ALSO, you may want to put legs on your AMNPS so grease doesn't get to it from below AND it promotes more airflow as airflow underneath is a big deal for best performance.
3. This is a common issue because the electrical connectors are standard ones NOT hi temp ones. I would say to just research and get the hi temp stainless steel spade connectors for the day the MES connectors fail. You I would suggest you get a 10 pack or more in case you mess up or damage a connector. Also the same connectors are used for the safety rollout limit switch that cuts off the heat should the smoker temp start going too high for any reason. Lots of info available on this site for the repairs :)
4. Yep

Best of luck!

 

[LaLaMatt]

terrific - thanks everyone - I plan to pick up some high heat spade connectors from ACE today when I pickup the MES there also.
I am familiar with the 3-2-1 method (well, I've read about it) but i'm unsure if it still applies to Memphis style, or how to adjust it to Memphis style...?

 

[tallbm]

terrific - thanks everyone - I plan to pick up some high heat spade connectors from ACE today when I pickup the MES there also.
I am familiar with the 3-2-1 method (well, I've read about it) but i'm unsure if it still applies to Memphis style, or how to adjust it to Memphis style...?

I've been using SmokingAl's "ribs to temp" method. Basically like other cuts of meat, you put a meat probe in (NOT the built in MES one, it is garbage lol) and let the the temp hit 195F+. I personally have been going to about 202-203F so they are on the edge of fall off the bone and bite off the bone.

The MES is notorious for having the smoker temp probe and the meat probe be horribly off. You will want to invest in a 3rd party thermometer like the Thermopro TP20. Use 1 probe as the smoker probe at grate level of your meat, and the other as a real meat probe you can count on. My MES smoker probe was off quite a bit and I think my MES meat probe was off 5-7degrees. This is just another thing that the MES is known for lol :confused:

Best of luck!

 

[browneyesvictim]

I am familiar with the 3-2-1 method (well, I've read about it) but i'm unsure if it still applies to Memphis style, or how to adjust it to Memphis style...?

It doesn't. As I said you just don't sauce and/or foil. You have a couple of options.
1. Just let your ribs go the whole time without saucing or foiling- Straight 5 or to probe temp
2. Go 2 hours of smoke, then foil for 2 (no smoke), then out of the foil for 1 (no saucing) or to probe temp

The first option will be a more dry rib with bark, and the second option will make a more juicy rib but will have a nice crusty surface.

 

[LaLaMatt]

ok folks - did the first heat through last night - 2hrs at 275, then 1 further hour with chips. Went very well - I monitored the temp with a TP12, and actually, not sure if the accuracy of the MES deteriorates, but out of the box it stayed within 2-3 degrees of my TP12. I got a little worried when I first powered it up - it heated up to 290 degrees, but within a few minutes had cooled down again and hung out +/- 7 degrees of the 275 mark I had set through-out the burn (which seems reasonable to me) - except when I opened the door a couple of brief times.
The unit did its thing - and produced a lot of smoke from the small handful of chips I added for the final hour. In fact so much so I have a problem!!!! So, my wife is a bit sensitive to smell - I positioned the smoker carefully so that smoke would blow away from the house, but I wasn't expecting to get quite so much smoke smell in my clothes with the few brief interactions I had in the last hour. My wife wasn't thrilled with it, was worried all our furniture would start smelling like smoke etc. Wondering if any of you have come up with methods to help prevent/minimize this? Are there any relatively simple chimney mods I can do just to get the smoke a bit further up? I have a home depot a mile away....it'd need to be relatively portable mod as I move the MES to a different spot to use vs store.
Anyhow...if anyone has any thoughts on that stuff, greatly appreciated!!

 

[old sarge]

Smoke smell in clothing. That will happen if you babysit the smoker. I fire mine up and just let it go for the first few hours. Watching it has proven fruitless. I like the smell but my wife prefers the smoke smell stay outdoors - asthma. It becomes a great smell when all you can smell is the meat with only a faint trace of hickory. Enjoy!

 

[browneyesvictim]

The AMNPS will do better for you than the chips.

 

[LaLaMatt]

ok, I do have the AMNPS but didn't want to waste my precious AMNPS pellets on the seasoning of the smoker. I thought the AMNPS produced more smoke though?

 

[tallbm]

I'm afraid you will likely wind up with smoke smell no matter what lol. The key will be to minimize it.
My MES is on my patio of my apt :eek:
I put a fan by the patio door and have it blowing up and out so when I open the door it helps keep the smoke and smell from coming in. It doesn't eliminate the issue but greatly reduces what comes in.

I get smoke on/in my hair and clothes everytime I light and/or blow out the flame from the AMNPS and put it in my mailbox mod. No way around that.

I think you would be best served to manage the fact that you will smell like smoke rather than try to eliminate the chance all together unless you want to buy a space suite or a hazmat suite for everytime you mess with the smoker. Best of luck there and just shower after the smoking is done and the food is on the table :)

 

[jted]

Matt and I thought I was the only one with a wife that didn't like smoke. HA HA

The AMNPS will do better for you than the chips.

With the AMNPS you will get thin blue smoke (TBS). The next step is a old box fan that will move it away from the door.
Here is a picture of TBS smoke, good smoke and bad . I did not take the picture but it is one of the best examples.
Well bad news I can't find the past personal photo albums. That is more than disappointing. Anyways you get better smoke from the pellets. Jted