???'s to the MES gods.

[tomolu5]

My baby got me a shiny new mes 30 for Christmas, and I plan to make a couple "mods". My plans are to add a diffuser plate to the top, and a chimney, going through the wall. This is so I can run it inside my garage all winter long! I also think I will be doing a mailbox mod, eventually, and picking up an Amnps. My question is, are there any other mods worth going after? I have plenty of access to a machine shop, and stainless. I also have the abilities to wire additional temp sensors, convection fans etc. So, just looking for things to add to my to do list.

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[tomolu5]

Here's a pic for those of you wondering if the mes30 has the kajones to work in the cold

Been grooving along nicely for the whole seasoning session. Had it set at 225 for the first hour, and it held steady there too. Temps are accurate according to the frier thermometer I dropped in the flue.

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[daveomak]

 My plans are to add a diffuser plate to the top,

Tom, morning...  If you were looking at my original diffuser plate, made from an aluminum roasting pan, I came up with a new design that works as well and takes up less room....  

  Old Plate

New tunnel..... works as well in moving the heat and allows more room in the smoker...

If you can see the "bump" in the center of the tunnel, that is where the baling wire protrudes

through it...then it passes through the vent to be tied off and hold it in place.... 

exh tunnel 1.jpg

• daveomak
• Dec 27, 2012

exh tunnel 2.jpg

• daveomak
• Dec 27, 2012

tunnel holding wire.jpg

• daveomak
• Dec 27, 2012

This mod has worked very well...  I have not noticed any "hot" spots inside the smoker.     

Food for thought....   Dave

 

[chefboyartie]

dave nice mod. will try on 40. keeps us smokin happy new year to ya all !! ...art

 

[deltadude]

tomolu5, welcome to SMF and congrats on your NEW MES!  You are now a member of the MES owners club here at SMF.

Tom, you sound like you can tackle most issues with that smoker, plus you have the advantage to access materials and equipment needed to make nice modifications.  The best advice is to read back 10 pages of threads and read what others are doing or have done.  Then decide for yourself what is needed for your smoker.

To me a heat diverter at the top isn't necessary, I just make it a point to turn whatever I am smoking once or twice during the smoke to even things out.  A heat shield directly over the wood chip heat element assembly box is needed.  I use a simple cookie sheet, you could use a piece of stainless.  When you get your AMNPS check my posts on a cover you can then make one out of sheet aluminum and since you have a brake make it look real nice.

Again the best advice is to read electric forum posts and get your ideas

 

[tomolu5]

Hey, thanks so far guys, this thing seems to be light years ahead of the other electrics I have used. For the top diffuser, I was thinking of cutting out a piece of stainless, leaving a one inch gap around the top, and mount it to standoffs holding it about a half to 3/⁴ of an inch from the top. I will have to dig around for the element diffuser idea, kinda need to see a pic of that.

There is no search feature with this site when using tapa talk, so its kinda far and few between when I get time to sit in front of the desktop.

The primary reason for the Amnps/mailbox mod is to take advantage of the woodshop equipment that I own (sawdust from whatever species I want in abundance.

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[tjohnson]

Lots of mods have been done to the MES over the years

I've tried most of them once or twice

Don't use a tile on the chip pan housing.  I did, and my door swelled from the excess heat

There is a terrible hot spot in the right rear corner

You need to deflect some of this heat, and at the same time NOT overheat the sides or door.

Masterbuilt moved the exhaust to the opposite side for a reason....

Check the inside temp of your smoker, against your controller

I have to set my controller to 211° to maintain 225° on the middle racks

TJ

 

[jsdspif]

I set a can ( don't remember if it was chunky soup or pineapple chunk can , a little bigger than a regular condensed soup can ) on its side in the right rear so it's on top of the "chip pan cover " resting against the rear wall years ago and it helped , or I should say , seemed to eleminate the hot spot . It's not pretty and yeah somebady might say 'what's that in there for ?" but it works and was a simple fix . I also bought the cold smoking kit for mine . I have the amns but sometimes it seemed like when using it while hot smoking it burnt to fast . The cold smoke kit is nice but it is too hot ( burns chips too fast ) so I turn it on for about 5 minutes and then turn it off and it seems to keep smoking for 20 minutes to a half hour , at which point I turn it back on for a few minutes . when I seasoned it I turned it on and left it on and when I started the smoker was 41 degrees and an hour and a half later it was 54 degrees so it does heat up the smoker a little bit . I know I could have bought the pellet smoker but I kind of don't like having to light stuff . I can just load the cold smoker with chips and hot smoke or cold smoke .

 

[tomolu5]

Okay, I threw together my "fix" for the hot spot. And the is a hot spot for sure.

Cut a plate to 8&3/4", then marked out 8x8 on it. Next I clamped it between to boards and went to town with my "bfh".

This bent a 3/4 inch lip around two sides(back corner). Then I held it in place and marked a couple holes to hold it with wire. I will bolt it in permanently with stainless self tappers if I like the results.

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[pharmdsmoker]

Hello

Newbie here who has done quite a few smokes with my MES 30 in. I have been a victim of the "hot spot" I want to try Dave's fix listed in this post but if I do is there any reason to put a baffle on the smoke generating box ( pent pan, tile, etc)? I don't have a AMAZen smoker box and don't really plan on using one. Sorry about reviving an old thread but I kinda want to try and do this in one swoop.

thanks