MES 40 Birch Wood Heat Mod

[tallbm]

Well I figured I would show you a simple little "mod" I use in my MES40 smoker.
It's simply a 12 3/4 inch x 19 1/2 inch piece of untreated Birch Wood I cut from a sheet of birch wood I bought at Home Depot.

The idea is to put your food in the smoker THEN put the board on top of the next set of rack slots above the food.
Why? This forces the heat and some smoke to be trapped under the board which improves the cooking temp around the meat rather than trying to heat the entire smoker when only using a rack or 2 at the bottom. Also the heat just doesn't fly up and out of the smoker it has to work to get around the board.

Untreated Birch is safe and Birch is an actual wood you could smoke with if you wanted so it fit the bill perfectly.
This is a simple little "mod" you can use to help you out with your MES or similar electric smoker. I've been using it for a long time now just never properly posted about it. I hope it helps some of you out so you have more reliable temps and cooking times :)

 

[Winterrider]

Good idea. I have used just a sheet pan above, but don't think it really helps all that much. Closing off almost entirely would help immensely especially in cold weather. Thanks...

 

[kruizer]

Solid birch is good but I would never use a birch plywood as the adhesives may present issues.

 

[Wurstmeister]

Thanks for sharing this tip. I have never fully filled my MES40 & really get "anxious" over the constant refilling the tube and chasing the temp needle. Also, read your wall hanging mailbox mod & AMNPS and heater meter posts from your signature block. That mailbox mod is now my To-Do list but the heater memter is a tad beyond my craftsmanship skills.

John

 

[smokerjim]

good idea! may have to try it with my mes30. thanks for sharing.

 

[MJB05615]

That's a great idea! Gonna try. Thanks. Does the Birch wood add any flavor just from being in there?

 

[GaryHibbert]

Now that's a really great mod!! Do you find it increases the amount of smoke flavor and aroma in meat??
My problem with it is that I've never seen birch as a piece of dimensional lumber up here. Birch is used almost exclusively as firewood. It was selling at $100 per cut and split cord all winter. So I'll have to come up with an alternative heat blocker--any thoughts on that??
I'd like to try out the birch, because I love birch as a smoking wood. It produces a very nice, mild smoke for meat.
Gary

 

[tallbm]

Good idea. I have used just a sheet pan above, but don't think it really helps all that much. Closing off almost entirely would help immensely especially in cold weather. Thanks...

Yeah I cut mine to fit perfectly just for this job, other stuff at different dimensions may not work as well.

Solid birch is good but I would never use a birch plywood as the adhesives may present issues.

Yep this is from a solid birch sheet. Don't let the picture fool you into thinking it's plywood

Thanks for sharing this tip. I have never fully filled my MES40 & really get "anxious" over the constant refilling the tube and chasing the temp needle. Also, read your wall hanging mailbox mod & AMNPS and heater meter posts from your signature block. That mailbox mod is now my To-Do list but the heater memter is a tad beyond my craftsmanship skills.

John

Thanks!
I really like my wall hanging mailbox mod. I did see a guy who screwed a 50cal cammo can over the tube hole and use it for his mailbmox mod, that was a very cool one as well. I'm into simple no fuss stuff like that.

The Heater Meter is quite a bit trickier to deal with. I always recommend the Auber PIDcontrollers to people as they are much simpler and do the job just as well without all the extra bells and wistles mine has... which the wifi portion of the circuit board seems to have crapped out so mine's no better than an Auber PID at the moment hahah.
Get away from refilling with chips ASAP and you will be much happier :)

good idea! may have to try it with my mes30. thanks for sharing.

Thanks!
I don't know the dimensions you would need for an MES 30 but it would be no bigger than the dimensions of my board so that's a good starting point.

That's a great idea! Gonna try. Thanks. Does the Birch wood add any flavor just from being in there?

Thanks!
No the birch doesn't get hot enough to smolder, so no birch smoke flavor. It is just black from being drenched in smoke since I always use the thing. Outside of having a full smoker of jerky, 2 times have I ever filled my smoker where I didn't use the board.

Now that's a really great mod!! Do you find it increases the amount of smoke flavor and aroma in meat??
My problem with it is that I've never seen birch as a piece of dimensional lumber up here. Birch is used almost exclusively as firewood. It was selling at $100 per cut and split cord all winter. So I'll have to come up with an alternative heat blocker--any thoughts on that??
I'd like to try out the birch, because I love birch as a smoking wood. It produces a very nice, mild smoke for meat.
Gary

I think it may increase the flavor a little bit. I think it works better at making smoke flavor consistent. It forces enough smoke to concentrate underneath itself that your meat is completely bathed in smoke as the smoke and air works harder to find it's way up and around the thin gaps between the board and the smoker walls.
Check your Home Depot or Lowes website if one is around and they may have untreated birch wood sheets for ya. It's what I did.

I've never smoked with birch but I knew I wanted to use a safe wood for doing this and lucked out finding birch in whole sheets big enough for me to cut to this size :)