MES 30 - Set Up

[dontdriveangry]

Hello,

Recently purchased this MES 30 20071117 Model. I have the AMNTS 12" oval tube. I have seasoned the smoker and will be doing its first smoke this Sunday. I have been looking at some other set up threads for the MES 30 and attempted my own based on what I learned.

I have foiled the bottom drip tray with a hole punched in the back for any drippings to drain, which means I will still be using the dripping catch tray on the back.
Foiled the top of the wood chip tray shield, but removed the tray.

Foiled the water tray and have left it empty. May add some sand to it later and then cover with foil, but I wonder how that will affect the catching of the drippings? Do you guys typically catch the drippings in the empty water tray and then reuse the drippings for sauces/incorporating back into the meat afterwards?

I also bought a oven liner tray and cut it up. You will see that I wedged it into the lower rack guide. You will also see that I cut three 4" long strips in the metal just above the water tray with the idea to divert the drippings into the water tray. I also left a couple inches of open space through the grills between the door and the oven liner tray to help move the smoke. However, it spans from wall to wall on both sides, which also serves to protect the AMNTS below from drippings.

With the left over cut section of the oven liner tray, I folded up the edges to use that as an ash catch tray for the AMNTS so that the ashes aren't falling directly onto the drip tray.

Learned from another thread on this forum, I also added a U-bracket to the AMNTS to angle it upwards with the idea to slow the burn of the pellets. I will play around with the pitch of the tube by moving the U-bracket up and down along the tube. I will also experiment by using the pellets (A-MAZE-N pellets) and also pellets turned to coarse dust (Dave's).

On the top I have added a can as well to keep the smoke above the control unit. The smoke regulator has been removed as I understand that the regulator should be left at full open all the time anyways.

Also, I'll be doing some pork back ribs 2-2-1 method this Sunday and I will be placing the ribs on the rack above the oven liner tray, but would like to know if there is a rule of thumb regarding which rack the meat should be on.

I'd like some critiques on this set up, what I should do differently or what I can strip out and let's see how you have set up the inside of your MES 30 too.

Thanks!

 

[tallbm]

Hello,

Recently purchased this MES 30 20071117 Model. I have the AMNTS 12" oval tube. I have seasoned the smoker and will be doing its first smoke this Sunday. I have been looking at some other set up threads for the MES 30 and attempted my own based on what I learned.

I have foiled the bottom drip tray with a hole punched in the back for any drippings to drain, which means I will still be using the dripping catch tray on the back.
Foiled the top of the wood chip tray shield, but removed the tray.

Foiled the water tray and have left it empty. May add some sand to it later and then cover with foil, but I wonder how that will affect the catching of the drippings? Do you guys typically catch the drippings in the empty water tray and then reuse the drippings for sauces/incorporating back into the meat afterwards?

I also bought a oven liner tray and cut it up. You will see that I wedged it into the lower rack guide. You will also see that I cut three 4" long strips in the metal just above the water tray with the idea to divert the drippings into the water tray. I also left a couple inches of open space through the grills between the door and the oven liner tray to help move the smoke. However, it spans from wall to wall on both sides, which also serves to protect the AMNTS below from drippings.

With the left over cut section of the oven liner tray, I folded up the edges to use that as an ash catch tray for the AMNTS so that the ashes aren't falling directly onto the drip tray.

Learned from another thread on this forum, I also added a U-bracket to the AMNTS to angle it upwards with the idea to slow the burn of the pellets. I will play around with the pitch of the tube by moving the U-bracket up and down along the tube. I will also experiment by using the pellets (A-MAZE-N pellets) and also pellets turned to coarse dust (Dave's).

On the top I have added a can as well to keep the smoke above the control unit. The smoke regulator has been removed as I understand that the regulator should be left at full open all the time anyways.

Also, I'll be doing some pork back ribs 2-2-1 method this Sunday and I will be placing the ribs on the rack above the oven liner tray, but would like to know if there is a rule of thumb regarding which rack the meat should be on.

I'd like some critiques on this set up, what I should do differently or what I can strip out and let's see how you have set up the inside of your MES 30 too.

Thanks!

View attachment 487884View attachment 487885

Hi there and welcome!
I like the enthusiasm and preparation you are taking! :)

I think you are set for the most part but there are 2-3 areas I will weigh in on.

1. The oven liner tray may cause a ton of problems. I used a flat foil pan once like that in my MES40 and it wreaked havoc with heat and air displacement and the MES ability to measure temp properly and cook. It led to all of the heat being directed away from the meat or trapped away form the meat and the smoker taking forever!!!!
   I learned that was not acceptable and no real way for me to make it work.
   I switched to using foil pans that take up no more then 3/4 of the rack space and I put it on the lowest rack in the middle of the rack.
   This pan also catches 80%+ of the drippings if there are drippings.
   
   
2. You mentioned you wrapped the trip pan at the bottom of the MES and poked a hole so the tray's punched hole can still capture the drippings via the little drippings container.
   This sounds good in theory but in reality it buys you very little.
   Grease will now travel to the punched hole but when it does it will run under the foil and between the foil and the tray so you still have to completely clean the trip pan. Therefore the foil bought u very little in the way of cleanup.
   Also the little container for the dripping grease is sooooooo small that you would never be able to rely on it for a drippy 6+ pound pork butt, multiple racks of ribs, and definitely not a brisket.
   To battle all of this, the foil pan approach I mentioned earlier will catch 80%+ of all your drippings if you arrange your meat to do so. The excess drippings will make it down to the drip tray.
   NOW with the drip pan completely foiled over and no hole punched in the foil it works like a 10x better dripping capture container than the little one that comes with the machine. ALSO, you can easily clean the drip tray since drippings wont get between the foil and the tray. I just leave the drippings in the smoker and next day or next cook I strip the foil with solidified drippings. Wipe the tray with some alcohol and reapply new foil... super simple.
   
   Here is a pic of the foil pan I use in relation to a whole packer brisket. Brisket was at least 15 pounds and then trimmed down to fit the basket (which is rack size) and the brisket shrinks down to that final size:
   
   
   
3. If/when you move away from the oven liner you can still leave your AMNPS tube in the smoker but you will have to somehow cover it. Probably your best bet is to just cut down the oven liner so that you can sit on the rack above the tube and prevent drippings from getting to the tube. You can figure how to manage this but just wanted to bring it up.
   

Everything else looks good go to but I noticed you didnt have/mention a multi probe wireless thermometer. These things are pretty much mandatory because the MES probes are always wrong. Plus all of us smokers want the monitoring to dial in our smoking properly so even non-MES smokers heavily rely on a multi probe wireless thermometer to help them out. Dual probe is the minimum requirement (1 probe for meat, 1 probe on the rack to measure temp at rack level) but i highly recommend 4-6 probes as you can then measure temps across a rack, on multiple racks, and with multiple pieces of meat on multiple racks. More probes lives less to guesswork.

Finally, these are just my lessons learned and suggestions. Your current setup has a chance at running without issue so feel free to try it. As you requested I am just providing my feedback based on owning an MES and trying some very similar things so hopefully you can learn from my mistakes and my experience and save some time or disappointment hahahaa.
In the end do what will make you happy and what will make you feel good and confident.

I hope all this info helps and reach out if you have any questions! :D

 

[SmokingUPnorth]

That’s a lot of foil haha. That’s how I started when I got my first mes. I eventually god down to just foiling the water pan and the bottom tray. Only issues I’ve had with them was the inconsistent temp that the smoker ther'sfat reads. I’d recommend a “aftermarket” thermometer with more probes so you can watch smoker and meat temp. There are plenty of threads on here about them. back to your set up. It looks good, I never used sand since it never really had an issue holding theme or anything and also always used the water bowl empty since there apis enough moisture in there to begin with. And if you have issues with the pellet tube staying lit like I did you can pull the chip adding tube halfway out and it create more airflow to keep the pellets burning. Good luck with it. They are great smokers

 

[tallbm]

That’s a lot of foil haha. That’s how I started when I got my first mes. I eventually god down to just foiling the water pan and the bottom tray. Only issues I’ve had with them was the inconsistent temp that the smoker ther'sfat reads. I’d recommend a “aftermarket” thermometer with more probes so you can watch smoker and meat temp. There are plenty of threads on here about them. back to your set up. It looks good, I never used sand since it never really had an issue holding theme or anything and also always used the water bowl empty since there apis enough moisture in there to begin with. And if you have issues with the pellet tube staying lit like I did you can pull the chip adding tube halfway out and it create more airflow to keep the pellets burning. Good luck with it. They are great smokers

Yeah I hear ya. I got rid of the water pan. Then eventually got rid of all the stuff and flipped the element so I'm bare element in mine, no metal between my element and bottom rack :)

 

[cmayna]

Regarding the AMNTS, try filling it half way to help reduce the amount of smoke. Fill it vertically half way up. Turn it horizontally and with one hand covering the fill end, shake it sideways vigorously for 4-5 shakes and this will bring the level to approximately half way horizontally. You can experiment and adjust the amount of pellets used.