Smoker worth fixing up?

[Childers13]

Neighbor threw this smoker out, says it works but it’s older, big electric master built, these decent smokers?I know nothing about it lol.

 

[Up_In_Smoke]

If it works, give it a shot.
You have nothing to lose.

 

[chopsaw]

Neighbor threw this smoker out, says it works but it’s older, big electric master built, these decent smokers?I know nothing about it lol.

That would be worth it if it didn't work .
That looks like the Gen 2.5 . Vent on the left side top , and a level drip pan .

Clean it up , ( don't hose it out ) and fire it up and see what happens .
All kinds of things you can do to upgrade it , if you get to that point . For now confirm it works , and get used to it . Not sure if you have other smokers now , but take time to learn this one .
Let use know .

 

[Childers13]

That would be worth it if it didn't work .
That looks like the Gen 2.5 . Vent on the left side top , and a level drip pan .

Clean it up , ( don't hose it out ) and fire it up and see what happens .
All kinds of things you can do to upgrade it , if you get to that point . For now confirm it works , and get used to it . Not sure if you have other smokers now , but take time to learn this one .
Let use know .

I cleaned the grates up last night, used a scotch brite pad with some soap and gently rubbed the walls down and cleaned up real nice, he threw out two brand new bags of chips so I started it up and ran it, seemed to get up to temp fast and produced a lot of smoke. I usually use my pellet grill but I do a lot of deer processing to save on cost and I think this smoker would be perfect for that, I’ve just never used one lol

 

[zwiller]

I think so! That looks pretty dang clean to me! Looks like a 40 too? You came to the right place if you want to learn how to use it. I think main reason folks give up on it is they don't like feeding it chips every 30m. Most don't know you can throw this in there filled with pellets and it will burn 4-5 hours. You'd be surprised of the results of that setup.

 

[Childers13]

I think so! That looks pretty dang clean to me! Looks like a 40 too? You came to the right place if you want to learn how to use it. I think main reason folks give up on it is they don't like feeding it chips every 30m. Most don't know you can throw this in there filled with pellets and it will burn 4-5 hours. You'd be surprised of the results of that setup.

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I’ve never used a pellet tube, do they put off a lot of extra heat or is it just mainly smoke? Everything works on this smoker, being a little older and not having any money invested into, i wouldn’t mind upgrading it, any suggestions on what I should change out?

 

[normanaj]

That looks like the Gen 2.5 . Vent on the left side top , and a level drip pan .

Other than the legs it's the same as my 30.

If the wiring is the same then adding a PID (if the OP chooses to do so) should be nothing more than switching the wiring harnesses.

 

[chopsaw]

I do a lot of deer processing to save on cost and I think this smoker would be perfect for that

Pretty much the whole reason I bought mine . Perfect for sausage , hams and bacon .
By the time we get ya squared away , He's gonna want it back . Lol .
Mines a 30 . 13 years old now .
Picnic ham

Summer sausage

 

[Childers13]

Pretty much the whole reason I bought mine . Perfect for sausage , hams and bacon .
By the time we get ya squared away , He's gonna want it back . Lol .
Mines a 30 . 13 years old now .
Picnic ham
View attachment 737748
Summer sausage
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Hell yeah man, what’s your process for summer sausage? One of the few things I haven’t made yet

 

[kilo charlie]

I’ve never used a pellet tube, do they put off a lot of extra heat or is it just mainly smoke? Everything works on this smoker, being a little older and not having any money invested into, i wouldn’t mind upgrading it, any suggestions on what I should change out?

You fill the tube full of pellets and light the open end on fire with a propane torch and let it burn open flame for about 10 min or so, then snuff out the flames with a gloved hand. the pellets will smolder through the tube.. should get about 4 hours from a 12 inch tube in my experience.. so it's just producing the smoke, not the heat. They also work well for cold smoking things like cheese, butter etc where you don't want the heat.

 

[chopsaw]

what’s your process for summer sausage? One of the few things I haven’t made yet

Like mentioned above , you came to the right place . Get that smoker going in the right directions for temp and smoke generation , couple cooks to see how it runs . Then plenty of time to talk sausage of all kinds .
I use mainly all pork butt . When I was hunting it was 50 / 50 pork deer . I make all different kinds , as a lot of others here do as well .
Here's a link you can look around , and veiw some threads and methods .

Sausage

www.smokingmeatforums.com

When you get ready give a shout . Plenty of knowledge and help here .

 

[zwiller]

I’ve never used a pellet tube, do they put off a lot of extra heat or is it just mainly smoke? Everything works on this smoker, being a little older and not having any money invested into, i wouldn’t mind upgrading it, any suggestions on what I should change out?

I actually geeked out and measured it. Adds around 20F if directly in smoker. Adds zero heat if you do the mailbox mod. Also, you can get a tray instead of tube and use dust which add no heat. If you add PID it becomes a BEAST. Will hold temps insanely good. Most of us set it up to run a "sausage ramp" of temp steps. Reminds me I want to change mine to make the steps shorter. Lots of us here rocking summer sausage (SS) so lots of good info.

 

[Childers13]

I actually geeked out and measured it. Adds around 20F if directly in smoker. Adds zero heat if you do the mailbox mod. Also, you can get a tray instead of tube and use dust which add no heat. If you add PID it becomes a BEAST. Will hold temps insanely good. Most of us set it up to run a "sausage ramp" of temp steps. Reminds me I want to change mine to make the steps shorter. Lots of us here rocking summer sausage (SS) so lots of good info.

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I appreciate the response, if you can pm me some links to these upgrades I don’t mind spending a few hundred lol, I use my big pellet grill all the time so this will be a learning curve as I know nothing about this thing other than turning it on, do you use the water pan on these?

 

[normanaj]

I appreciate the response, if you can pm me some links to these upgrades I don’t mind spending a few hundred lol, I use my big pellet grill all the time so this will be a learning curve as I know nothing about this thing other than turning it on, do you use the water pan on these?

Here's a few links:

This is how to rewire the MES for a PID controller:

Search results for query: simple rewire

www.smokingmeatforums.com

My own hack for using a smoke tube either inside the MES or in the mailbox mod:

U-Bolt mod for the AMNTS

I've been doing this since I bought my first MES 30.Makes using the tubes more convenient and much easier to handle.Fits great in the bottom left of a MES. More than one person has asked me why pitched?Keeps the pellets from falling out and you get a slower more consistent burn rate,which...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

And the mailbox mod is pretty self explanatory all you really need to know is the chip loader hole is 3" dia. Below is just one example of how to do it,an internet search will show many ways of doing this.

How to Build a Mailbox Mod for an MES Smoker (pic heavy)

I searched around high and low and couldn't find a tutorial on how to build a mailbox mod - even there there are lots of photos of everyone's mailbox mod (and you have to piece all of them together to figure out how to build one. Yeah, they're pretty simple, but I thought I'd try and put...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

I personally do not use the water pan as intended. It's nothing more than a drip catcher that I keep foiled so I don't have to clean it.

 

[JckDanls 07]

You will want to verify the temps in the cabinet... If you have a remote/wireless thermometer that you can use to track the temps in the cabinet... And then compare them with what the controller is saying they are... This is why people will do the PID mod as the controller is hardly ever correct...