So, my 15 year old MES died again (the connectors on the element) and it was so black inside my lovely wife was not willing to look inside of the smoker and then eat the prize I spent all day cooking :) That said, I bought a new one on close out at the orange big box for $140. Ouch! How cheap it is.. not the price the latest version. I was in shock when I took it out of the box and saw how mouse the rack rails (molded into the sides), the water pan (wimpy) and the ridiculous chip loader and receptacle.
So, before even firing it up. I knew I needed to make an outboard smoke chamber and found the Popcorn Tin mod to be an easy solution. Built the prototype this past weekend (forgot to close the garage door while playing with the burning options in the driveway.... never going to get that smell out of my work shop or leave the car windows down again in the garage) Now I have seen the originals and the mailboxes but I had the over size tin packed with old throw away Christmas light strings so it was ready for repurposing.
I recently posted about my love for using orange chips or chunks and the difficulty finding Orange in pellets... that is why I have never gone with an pellet box or tube. I did come across a similar tool called Cameron's. I have been using that on the gasser for chips and chunks instead of my old foil packs. (See photo). But that was not my first thought. I tried to use an old single burner hot plate from Wally World I had laying around. Fit inside the inverted tin. (I put the pipes in the bottom of the tin so I could use the lid as the base... lift it off to feed more wood) Well that worked on medium heat, but it ignited the chips too fast and the tin reached un acceptable temps inside.
Plan "B".. Try the Cameron's basket packed with chips, lit with a torch and then put the lid on and see how well it stays lit, how much smoke (I drilled four holes at the bottom (Top) of the canister for ventilation) it generates. Well, it stayed lit and had a bunch of smoke (I used bagged apple chips I had laying around)I covered two of the four vents with magnets and it still smoked solid. After well over an hour, I took the canister off the "lid" and not even half the chips had burned. I estimate it could have gone another 2 hours. I still have some practical experimentation to go with an actual meat trial, but I am very optimistic. Temps of the pipe inside at the end were about 125 max. The tin itself got up to about 140 in the center mass where the burner was located, so gloves were needed to open it up. But, for very long smokes, I can open it up and reload the chip container if needed. Not a "set it and forget it", but much better than my original MES with loading chips every 30 minutes and this new chip holder that looks like it would last 10 minutes.
Also of note, there was a significant amount of liquid residue in the low spot of the pipe and a couple of ounces in the rim of the lid (base). Was not expecting that and I will be using the 3M stainless pads as filters in the final launch.
More posts to come. Thanks to all those here whom have given me all of the ideas and advice for improving my techniques the past many years.
So, before even firing it up. I knew I needed to make an outboard smoke chamber and found the Popcorn Tin mod to be an easy solution. Built the prototype this past weekend (forgot to close the garage door while playing with the burning options in the driveway.... never going to get that smell out of my work shop or leave the car windows down again in the garage) Now I have seen the originals and the mailboxes but I had the over size tin packed with old throw away Christmas light strings so it was ready for repurposing.
I recently posted about my love for using orange chips or chunks and the difficulty finding Orange in pellets... that is why I have never gone with an pellet box or tube. I did come across a similar tool called Cameron's. I have been using that on the gasser for chips and chunks instead of my old foil packs. (See photo). But that was not my first thought. I tried to use an old single burner hot plate from Wally World I had laying around. Fit inside the inverted tin. (I put the pipes in the bottom of the tin so I could use the lid as the base... lift it off to feed more wood) Well that worked on medium heat, but it ignited the chips too fast and the tin reached un acceptable temps inside.
Plan "B".. Try the Cameron's basket packed with chips, lit with a torch and then put the lid on and see how well it stays lit, how much smoke (I drilled four holes at the bottom (Top) of the canister for ventilation) it generates. Well, it stayed lit and had a bunch of smoke (I used bagged apple chips I had laying around)I covered two of the four vents with magnets and it still smoked solid. After well over an hour, I took the canister off the "lid" and not even half the chips had burned. I estimate it could have gone another 2 hours. I still have some practical experimentation to go with an actual meat trial, but I am very optimistic. Temps of the pipe inside at the end were about 125 max. The tin itself got up to about 140 in the center mass where the burner was located, so gloves were needed to open it up. But, for very long smokes, I can open it up and reload the chip container if needed. Not a "set it and forget it", but much better than my original MES with loading chips every 30 minutes and this new chip holder that looks like it would last 10 minutes.
Also of note, there was a significant amount of liquid residue in the low spot of the pipe and a couple of ounces in the rim of the lid (base). Was not expecting that and I will be using the 3M stainless pads as filters in the final launch.
More posts to come. Thanks to all those here whom have given me all of the ideas and advice for improving my techniques the past many years.
