MES Rewire Simple Guide - No Back Removal Needed!!!

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Hey everyone, just followed along with the rewire instructions here to bypass the OEM controller. Thanks so much for all the pics and details!

Mine was model #20075315, and the wiring had thick heavy clips that reminded me of molex connectors you would see in a computer power supply. I plugged it in briefly and it seemed to work great (element got hot anyways). I have a few questions:

1) I quite literally took out that black box that housed the power circuit board kit. With the power connected directly to the element the rainbow wires from the controller are just curled up and tucked into the housing itself but otherwise not connected to anything. That's cool right? Do I need to keep that thing? I think it was busted anyways.

2) Now I need a PID and it sounds like the Auber WS-1510ELPM is what everyone recommends for ease of use (easy is a big deal to me). I will just plug the smoker into that controller and then the controller into the wall?

3) How does that controller get a temp reading from inside the smoker? It has some kind of probe or sensor or something? Is is accurate? Does it need to be calibrated?

Thanks again for all your help!
Lol right! I leave my pit probes in the smoker and pull the disconnect ring to bring in the controller but for small stuff with the crockpot for SV I wanted to get a spare multi purpose RTD for indoors/backup but dang it's $24 but worth every penny. I just don't make that much yogurt. I have a back up Mes element so I may get another RTD multi probe. If I make yogurt at 110 for 4 hours in a crockpot it's nice having a probe that isn't carbed up. I asked if they had discount codes when I got the 1510 a couple of years ago but they didnt but gave me $5 off the shipping. I'll just have to ask and see.

I have a different pid, but you might be able to buy another probe off amazon for a decent price. I needed a second probe for my... essential oil distiller.
 
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Lol right!
Yeah . Went from 30 degree temp difference in both directions to worrying about 1 degree difference between the probe and a therm .
I got mine dialed in . After it gets to temp it's just a steady blink . Stays right on set temp .
 
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The WS-1510ELPM does have an offset to calibrate the probe, lock code 155. If necessary and the RTD multi purpose probe you get with it, if you select it vs sous vide only is for sous vide or smoker and waterproof for turning rice cookers and analog crookpots into a SV or to make yogurt p4,i0, d40. Get the multi purpose RTD.

Hahaha thanks for the info, i did a strike through in the post. I dont want any bad info out in the world comeing from me :D

I think the Auber I used was an older model and feel like it might not have had an offset. I probably did but my probe was dead on so didnt have to read that far into the crazy drunken manual hahaha. I gave that unit and a rewired MES40 to my mother as a gift :)

On my Heatermeter (HM) i had to replace a probe and bought one off amazon and man it was 12 degrees off but I can offsett all probes on the HM... but i think the wifi functionality is busted.
 
Hahaha thanks for the info, i did a strike through in the post. I dont want any bad info out in the world comeing from me :D

I think the Auber I used was an older model and feel like it might not have had an offset. I probably did but my probe was dead on so didnt have to read that far into the crazy drunken manual hahaha. I gave that unit and a rewired MES40 to my mother as a gift :)

On my Heatermeter (HM) i had to replace a probe and bought one off amazon and man it was 12 degrees off but I can offsett all probes on the HM... but i think the wifi functionality is busted.
I saw the offset setting when reading the instructions before buying the PID but never have needed it yet as well.
 
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I have a different pid, but you might be able to buy another probe off amazon for a decent price. I needed a second probe for my... essential oil distiller.
I did take a quick look on Amazon. The one's with a connector are pretty close in price. Might as well stick with Auber to get the same resistance and connector.
 
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Well it works wonders (of course)! Here's my overnight pork shoulder if anyone's interested. Used an amazn pellet tray with hickory, pecan, mesquite combo pellets.

Question: Safest way to clean the PID probe? Just soap and water?
 

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Well it works wonders (of course)! Here's my overnight pork shoulder if anyone's interested. Used an amazn pellet tray with hickory, pecan, mesquite combo pellets.

Question: Safest way to clean the PID probe? Just soap and water?
Nice that pork but looks great!!!!
I use 99% rubbing alcohol on a folded paper towel and it does pretty well AND anything it doesnt remove has just been dowsed with micro-nasty killin 99% alcohol so i know im good to go with pid and meat probes :)

Pork Butts are $1.17/lb here at the moment. It's not $0.99/lb but I may grab one but not sure if I'll smoke it or cut it up and do grilled portions or what I may do with it haha.

Also wow, thats a cool blend from Pit Boss i've never seen before. But stores around here dont carry anything but Competition Blend so not like I see a big Pit Boss variety hahaha. I do want to get their char hickory though and see if my MES can produce any kind of hint of a smoke ring.

Keep it up man and I'm glad you are a successful rewire and have joined the PID team :)
 
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Also wow, thats a cool blend from Pit Boss i've never seen before. But stores around here dont carry anything but Competition Blend so not like I see a big Pit Boss variety hahaha. I do want to get their char hickory though and see if my MES can produce any kind of hint of a smoke ring.

Thanks!

I got that bag at Walmart of all places, you might have some luck there if you've got one nearby.

This is purely a guess, but I've never gotten a decent ring in my MES before. I did this a *little* differently than I've done in the past. I got the tray of pellets full roaring and then plopped it into the smoker. The butt dry brined for about 8 hours in the fridge, and went into the smoker before it reached temp (around 160f). I thought the early "cold smoke" for the first 30 minutes or so there might have contributed to that nice pink edge I got.

Edit - to clarify I didn't put the pellets in before the dry brine, just right when I started the smoker.
 
see if my MES can produce any kind of hint of a smoke ring.
I have the " guts " removed from mine . Chip tray covers the element . If I'm doing higher temp smokes , 200 or above I used wood chunks in mine . Never looked for a ring , but it's nice thin smoke that leaves fantastic smoke flavor . I have mine adjusted to where it gets to temp , it's a steady blink . On / off time is equal . I think that keeps the element hot enough to smolder the chunks . After a long smoke all that's left is clean white ash .
 
Thanks!

I got that bag at Walmart of all places, you might have some luck there if you've got one nearby.

This is purely a guess, but I've never gotten a decent ring in my MES before. I did this a *little* differently than I've done in the past. I got the tray of pellets full roaring and then plopped it into the smoker. The butt dry brined for about 8 hours in the fridge, and went into the smoker before it reached temp (around 160f). I thought the early "cold smoke" for the first 30 minutes or so there might have contributed to that nice pink edge I got.

Edit - to clarify I didn't put the pellets in before the dry brine, just right when I started the smoker.

Thanks! I avoid walmart at all costs but I would maybe pop into the garden section to check for pellets. I have in the past :)

I have the " guts " removed from mine . Chip tray covers the element . If I'm doing higher temp smokes , 200 or above I used wood chunks in mine . Never looked for a ring , but it's nice thin smoke that leaves fantastic smoke flavor . I have mine adjusted to where it gets to temp , it's a steady blink . On / off time is equal . I think that keeps the element hot enough to smolder the chunks . After a long smoke all that's left is clean white ash .

The smoke ring is a property of how stuff burns and heat and stuff like that if I remember correctly. So a heating element can never produce the ring.

Now charcoal will give u one if you use it. There is someone here on the forum that lays some charcoal briquettes just slightly on the element and they seem to produce a small smoke ring as they burn. I think the same thing happens if u lace your AMNS with some chacoal chunks and/or use the char pellets.

I don't really care if I have a ring or not but it would be cool from a tinkering perspective to be able to create one with the electric smoker in a not so invasive way :D
I thought about smashing up some pecan shells and lacing my AMNPS with them to see if they would do it but haven't tried. I'll get my parents to save me some shells as they have pecan trees in the backyard and my mother aims to forage about 80 pounds of shelled pecans each year hahaha.
 
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I know the element won't give a smoke ring . I burn solid wood chunks on top of the element .
I've been mixing wood chips with the pellets when I use the tube for awhile now . Works great .
I've just never looked for a smoke ring .
 
I'm pretty sure the smoke from the chunks and pellets can produce a ring (I got some decent pink in mine) but it takes some work.

Here's my current operating theory: In a charcoal smoker there is always smoke, right from the get go, that introduces a lot of the heat to the meat. In an electric smoker the heat is ambient but not from the smoke at all. By putting the meat into a smokey chamber that isn't actually hot yet there was some time for the smoke to perform it's requisite chemical reaction before the heat from the element "closed" that off.

You can use chunks in the included tray above the element, but it has to already be very hot to make that work. Alternatively the pellet tray/tube can be lit and producing a ton of smoke when the smoker itself is still stone cold.

Consequently I got good pink by doing that. Getting the pellets going first and putting that into the chamber with the meat while the ambient temp was still low.
 
Interesting. Its on my list to play with some day hahah :)
 
This link has the highest producers of Nitric Oxide (NO) from nitrogen based plant matter that requires no smoke necessary for this ordorless, invisible, tasteless water soluble gas to instantly start absorbing into meat faster than heat can denature the protein until heat catches up to the penetrating gas and passes it turning meat grey/brown. Carbon monoxide also works for smoke rings so even though different nitrogen matter produces NO on how vigously it burns (like quick high heat of burning Savana grass) you can get a ring with CO. I don't care myself with the tasteless smoke ring. Smoldering wood just doesn't produce enough gas unless you have charcoal to supplement the gas as it burns for heat and flavor.
 
This link has the highest producers of Nitric Oxide (NO) from nitrogen based plant matter that requires no smoke necessary for this ordorless, invisible, tasteless water soluble gas to instantly start absorbing into meat faster than heat can denature the protein until heat catches up to the penetrating gas and passes it turning meat grey/brown. Carbon monoxide also works for smoke rings so even though different nitrogen matter produces NO on how vigously it burns (like quick high heat of burning Savana grass) you can get a ring with CO. I don't care myself with the tasteless smoke ring. Smoldering wood just doesn't produce enough gas unless you have charcoal to supplement the gas as it burns for heat and flavor.


This is great stuff thanks!
 
This is great stuff thanks!
Celery juice powder and ground celery seed has enough nitate to show a fake ring if it's in your rub. Some sprinkle nitrite on meat and rinse it off after 15 minutes for a fake ring. Probably why it's no longer in judging competitive bbq throwdowns.
 
This link has the highest producers of Nitric Oxide (NO) from nitrogen based plant matter that requires no smoke necessary for this ordorless, invisible, tasteless water soluble gas to instantly start absorbing into meat faster than heat can denature the protein until heat catches up to the penetrating gas and passes it turning meat grey/brown. Carbon monoxide also works for smoke rings so even though different nitrogen matter produces NO on how vigously it burns (like quick high heat of burning Savana grass) you can get a ring with CO. I don't care myself with the tasteless smoke ring. Smoldering wood just doesn't produce enough gas unless you have charcoal to supplement the gas as it burns for heat and flavor.

This is the article I read in the past about it! Thanks for the link its super informative :)
 
NO is all show and no go. The chemicals that truly produce the best smoke flavor are produced by "burning" wood at low temps. The higher temps that produce NO (given adequate O2, which requires air flow, which is another issue with electric smokers) are actually counterproductive.

If you simply must have a smoke ring, salting your meat beforehand with pink curing salt (Prague Powder #1) which is 1/16 sodium nitrite and the remainder normal salt, will do the trick.

Take it easy, the stuff can kill ya'. But if you really want the smoke ring...
 
NO is all show and no go. The chemicals that truly produce the best smoke flavor are produced by "burning" wood at low temps. The higher temps that produce NO (given adequate O2, which requires air flow, which is another issue with electric smokers) are actually counterproductive.

If you simply must have a smoke ring, salting your meat beforehand with pink curing salt (Prague Powder #1) which is 1/16 sodium nitrite and the remainder normal salt, will do the trick.

Take it easy, the stuff can kill ya'. But if you really want the smoke ring...

I run a mailbox mod with my MES so I have some wiggle room to goof around with this.
Yeah i've read where people will use cure to give the smoke ring appearance but I'm not one to do that as I don't want to change the flavor profile and as u know cure is not to be trifled with haha.
 
Was just thinking...do you need to rewire at all if you just tell the smoker you want max temp internally? Won't that effectively bypass the controller by using it's own logic to force it to an always-on state?
 
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