Ok new mes 30 owner,be easy on me

[El Golfo De Norte]

Ok purchased the floor model of the mes30 last week at lowes,out the door at 70.00 dollars!!
Went to season it,did as directed but noticed a LOT OF SMOKE!!Ok,since this came with no inst,went online and noticed no wood chip tray or water tray!I quickly extinguished the fire after a couple of minuets.
Since then I found this site and has been a boatload of info! thanks too all of you.
Called Masterbuilt and are going to ship the missing parts!! way to go MB.
Ordered at amazon a cheap hexagon smoker tube,seasoned the correct way and did ribs and chicken over the weekend and came out great!
I would not have been able to do this without this site and you all.

Have smoked before on the grill using the foil smoke bombs,I am so glad I do not have to do that anymore.As I was writing this the mail came and the chip tray and water tray arrived,do not plan on using any water at this time and will fill it with local gravel.
Thanks to all!!
Sorry no photos,I am old school and my motorola flip phone has no camera.

 

[SonnyE]

Welcome to SMF!

So you got a really killer deal on the MES 30. Good for you! :D
About the only things you need are the heater and control for it. I stripped all the tin out of mine, did my version of the Mailbox Mod, and did my bypass mod so I could do ambient to 275° smoking with mine.
Do you know what model it is? Should tell on a tag somewhere.
You can make it a great smoker for a few items.
1st. Get an AMNPS tray. Then you can use pellets for smoking.
2nd. Get an external control to control the temperature better than the existing one.

Sounds like you have a handle on it in spite of the missing parts. Typical of floor models of anything. They become parts for other similar models the inadept break.
Like a lost chip tray, or chip loader.

I use the heater, and the water pan in mine. The heater is obvious.
The water pan helps spread the heat and smoke around. And it catches much of the drips from my "projects". (It caught a lot of rendered oils from my Salmon smoke yesterday. :rolleyes: )

Anyway, do have a lot of fun with your New MES 30!

 

[normanaj]

There are two big investments you can make.First a dual probe thermometer,one for chamber temp and one for food temp.Second is either an ANMPS(tray) or AMNTS(tube).I prefer using the tubes with u-bolt mod.

Anyways good grab on the MES30!I walked out the door with my second MES30 for the same price this past April...right place and right time is a great feeling.

 

[GATOR240]

Welcome to the site. Sorry for your luck with the missing parts. As a MES 30 owner I can say that I really like mine, although, I have modified mine somewhat(AMNPS and mailbox mod). As you have figured out, do not use water in your pan and also get yourself a good dual probe thermometer as the factory one is notorious for not being accurate. You will find that even though the MES 30's have different shortfalls, their owners are still pretty loyal to that make of smoker. There are a several more MES 30 members on here that know quite a bit more that I do and I'm sure that they will be along shortly. Good luck and have fun!

 

[TomKnollRFV]

A few missing parts that Masterbuilt is willing to send ya....I'd say you definitely got a good deal there on the MES 30!

As many will say, the AMNPS is a must for any thing that will require you to not babysit the MES. I use mine as a rule of thumb for any cook going over 6 hours, and for any cook under 225f. And forget about putting water in the water pan. That MES is very well insulated, I strongly suggest looking over BearCarver's information, he is a guru concerning the MES!

 

[gmc2003]

Congratulations on the new smoker, sounds like a steal of a deal.

Sorry no photos,I am old school and my motorola flip phone has no camera.

Old School, ha! neither my wife or I have a cell phone except for the trac phone for travelling purposes. We currently are using a rotary phone, Waltons type phone(hand crank jobby) and one wireless. If your considered old school - we must be dark ages. LOL.

Good luck with the new smoker and enjoy it.

Chris

 

[TomKnollRFV]

Congratulations on the new smoker, sounds like a steal of a deal.



Old School, ha! neither my wife or I have a cell phone except for the trac phone for travelling purposes. We currently are using a rotary phone, Waltons type phone(hand crank jobby) and one wireless. If your considered old school - we must be dark ages. LOL.

Good luck with the new smoker and enjoy it.

Chris

Geeze GMC... are you sure your house isn't protected under historic laws? ;)

 

[gmc2003]

Geeze GMC... are you sure your house isn't protected under historic laws? ;)

No thank god. It's just that I have a degree in software engineering and the wife has her masters in networking, we both worked in the field for many years, and we're both kinda burned out on technology and decided to go back to the simpler times. It's nice not being available 24/7.

Chris

 

[El Golfo De Norte]

Thanks for all POSITIVE reply's,in this day and age good to see,hear not one negative reply.All ready have a knockoff tube which worked great,will be getting the tray one for longer smokes.Ordered a multi-probe thermometer,and all ready had a old taylor one,the temp difference was less then 5 degrees on the first smoke.

 

[normanaj]

The next big question:

What's first on the grates?!!!

 

[El Golfo De Norte]

More ribs and pork picnic this w/e