MES in the cold

[wazzuqer]

I have a Masterbuilt 30 that's around 4-5 years old, planning on smoking some duck snack sticks this weekend. Temperature is gonna be between -5 and 5 Fahrenheit for the day, Was wondering how my smoker will do in this chilly weather? anybody had any luck running there's all day long at these temps?? Thanks ...

 

[daveomak]

You will more than likely have to heat up the inside of the smoker body to get the electronics to start...  I often use a hair dryer to heat the thermocouple to fool it into thinking it's warm ....   and you will have to keep it warm until the element can heat up the smoker..   OR.. set an electric heater in front of it....  Below is a heater to preheat the MES 30 and form a pellicle on the bacon bellies...

Heater and bacon in cold weather.jpg

• daveomak
• Dec 14, 2016

 

[SmokinAl]

Good luck!

I wouldn't even go outside in temps like that, much less smoke something!

Al

 

[wazzuqer]

Yah after listening to the family tell how crazy I was for wanting to do it, I have put it off till it warms up, Thanks for the good advice...

 

[redheelerdog]

If I did not smoke in the cold I might not smoke at all for a while.

My MES 30 and MES 40 do fine in the cold.

Takes a little longer to get to temp, other that that they perform fine in my experience.

Turned mine on last week at 3F for some BB ribs...

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/255411/bb-ribs-on-a-cold-saturday

 

[devildog89]

That cold in Moses Lake isn't it time to go ice fishing?

 

[wazzuqer]

Ice isn't safe yet that I have heard , it was open water last weekend.

 

[devildog89]

Ice isn't safe yet that I have heard , it was open water last weekend.

I guess it is a little early yet. A friend and I are thinking of heading over in January to give it a try. 

 

[wazzuqer]

I drove over the I-90 bridge today there were 12-18 people out there on ice on the State Park side...

 

[devildog89]

Yeah I saw a report on a fishing forum that they saw 12 skinny guys on the ice.

 

[Bearcarver]

All of my MES Smokers worked for years at low Temps without heating them up first in any way.

However the last 4 years the one I use now doesn't work below 20°, but I think it's because there's nobody out there to plug it in!! 

Bear

 

[barron]

I just did 5 lbs of Teriyaki snack sticks and 5 lbs of Venison summer sausage yesterday with the temps around -26 with the windchill and my MES 30 had no problems.

 

[wazzuqer]

Awesome that's great to know, hopefully our deep freeze is over for the year

 

[daveomak]

Awesome that's great to know, hopefully our deep freeze is over for the year

.....................

.............

 

[driedstick]

Ya we got the same stuff you do.. good luck and let us know how it goes. 

DS