MES 40 Gen 1 (20070211) Wet chips or no?

[tpc74]

So I've only seasoned this thing and don't have a lot of data to go by, but it seems to me that wet chips, even those soaked for maybe 2 hours tops, don't like to burn as well in this guy? This was passed down to me by my father, and I don't know exactly his experiences with it. Seems to have the smaller shallow chip tray. Near as I can tell last, he was burning pellets in the chip tray, otherwise I would ask him. I doubt he remembers though.

Would it be better to burn a mix of half wet, half dry chips? Just dry chips only? Or just wait it out and go with wet chips?

When I seasoned it, the wet chips did eventually smoke, just took a bit longer than i expected. But then i read that wet chips don't start to smoke until they dry out, so whats the point of them being wet?

Should I just start it on 275, get the chips smoking (wet or dry?), and then bring it back to my initial temp I wanted to be at? I'm just doing fish this time so the temp will be a bit lower.

 

[browneyesvictim]

NO!!! Don't use wet chips! Bad juju.

 

[tpc74]

Any particular reason? Just wondering... In my dual fuel I use chunks and wet ones at that, but the burner (or charcoal) is so close the the chunks that they would catch fire very quickly, even with the vents closed. Wet chunks did a great job of burning correctly and consistently.

 

[browneyesvictim]

You pretty much answered your own question why. The exact reasons you described. You want the wood to burn cleanly as to not produce creosote and white smoke. You will hear much around here about the coveted TBS- Thin blue smoke.

Using pellets in the chip tray is not advised either. But most of us with the MES don't use the built-in chip burner at all either. Check out the A-maze-n pellet tray. Highly recommended! It has a lot more benefits than using the chip loader.

One more thing. Always leave your top vent wide open.

 

[mike243]

I use the chip tray with the only problem is to reload evry 30-45 minutes been using it 8-10 years more than likely

 

[browneyesvictim]

most of us

I had a feeling I was going to get called-out on this. I didn't say everyone. In fact, honestly I even use the chip tray once in a great while for very short (<1 hour) smokes. But if I didn't learn about the AMNPS on this forum I would still probably be using only chips with the loader and been perfectly content doing so. A person simply wouldn't know any better.

 

[zwiller]

+1 AMNPS. Love that thing. Be sure to read up on pellicle for the fish.

 

[Nutshell]

Get an AMNPS and get 10 hours of consistent smoke. No more loading chips...ever.

 

[TomKnollRFV]

I only use my AMNPS when I plan to do things overnight. When I'm around and awake, I hit it with chips. It also lets me easily swap in and out types of wood.

As for the origin of people thinking all smoker wood has to be soaked, as alot of googling and history and all of that has taught me, it's mostly a method to control temperatures on old smokers before our fancy electric ones. Those things relied on the bed of coals/fire to get chips going, which means by adding wet chips, you could keep temps down.

On a MES, you don't want to do that, as you then have a few heat cycles to dry the chips out before they roll smoke..and don't use water in the water pan on a MES. As Mr. Bear explained to me, that sucker is well insulated to begin with and you don't need water. <I actually stalled out my brisket by adding in an au jus pan. So I mean...that oughta tell ya how well insulated>.

 

[tpc74]

Just pulling up this thread as I am contacting MB for some parts, but it did bring back some questions, not sure why in didn't ask them years ago.

Why leave the top vent open, and why no water in the pan? Should the pan just not be in there at all? I've done plenty of pork butts and chicken with the water pan and water in it, always been fine. Brisket I always mess up. Just want to know the theory behind no water pan?

 

[smokerjim]

Basically the mes holds enough moisture without adding water but you could if you want people that use the amnps tray inside usually dont add the water because it puts the pellets out. As far as the vent to keep the smoke fresh.

 

[tpc74]

Basically the mes holds enough moisture without adding water but you could if you want people that use the amnps tray inside usually dont add the water because it puts the pellets out. As far as the vent to keep the smoke fresh.

Ok, but don't you lose a lot of heat out of the vent if Its wide open? I don't have a amnps, so I use chips.

 

[smokerjim]

I'm sure we lose heat but the mes will kick on to keep at set temp. It's sort of a trade off to keep the smoke fresh and your chips will smolder better with a little draft.

 

[tpc74]

I'm sure we lose heat but the mes will kick on to keep at set temp. It's sort of a trade off to keep the smoke fresh and your chips will smolder better with a little draft.

Ok thanks, I will try it!

 

[Bearcarver]

I'm sure we lose heat but the mes will kick on to keep at set temp. It's sort of a trade off to keep the smoke fresh and your chips will smolder better with a little draft.

Thanks Jim!!
I got a serious break on this one!!!
You said the same as I would have---On every one of those!!
Like.

Bear

 

[tpc74]

Thanks Jim!!
I got a serious break on this one!!!
You said the same as I would have---On every one of those!!
Like.

Bear

Just when I thought I had it all figured out! Haha

 

[smokerjim]

Thanks Jim!!
I got a serious break on this one!!!
You said the same as I would have---On every one of those!!
Like.

Bear

ya taught me well over the years bear!

 

[cmayna]

For me, the top vent of the MES40 is not very big as compared to the size of the MES40 overall. Even wide open, the adjuster flaps of the vent takes up precious vent space, resulting in a smaller vent yet. More the reason to keep the vent open, all the time.

Sometime, when you're bored and all of your chores are done, you might try a mailbox mod. I love being able to tend to the pellets without having to open the smoker, especially since I typically change pellet flavor mid way thru a smoke. Best mod I've done to my smoker.