It made SMOKE!
The dry run is over. It held 275 within 3 degrees for 3 hours. I never opened the door but I did turn the light on and off several times playin' with the remote. Quit playing around!!!
At 2:45 into the heat, I added a cupful of dry hickory chips to the s\chip bin and it made smoke. I tried to get pictures of the smoke coming out to post here, but the pics just didn't show it well. Besides, I'm prolly the only one impressed by it, eh? LOL---Don't bet on that !!!
Now I have a couple more questions: Shoot !!!
The user guide said to place the water bowl on top of the chip burner. That looks a bit iffy to me because it's not supported on the left side and would probably put too much load on the chip heater if filled with water.. None of the parts drawings showed any kind of bracket to go there. I guess I could easily place the water bowl on the fourth grill rack, but it looks like that forces me to give up cookin' space (although I doubt I'll ever load it that full. Am I missing something here? Just under the fourth grill rack space, you'll see a bent, extra pair of hanger wires. Your water pan will fit right in there.
What is the function of the water bowl? Sure, it adds moisture but most meats are pretty moist to begin with. Does it serve a function of stabilizing the temperature during a long smoke? Some use it for moisture. I rarely put water in mine. Some use it with sand for a heat sinc. I usually only put it in there to tone the heat down, before it gets to the meat, which is one of the reasons you should always have it in there. Make sure you cover it with foil, to make it easier to clean.
About the remote: It indicated the remaining cook time and the temperature throughout the heat. I thought I read somewhere that it would buzz or give an alarm, but it never did. Is this an ID-ten-T issue on my part? Also, If I turn the remote off and on during a smoke, will it still show time and temp correctly? I ask because during a long smoke I should think it would eat up the batteries. I never tested the buzzer. If you turn your remote off, the smoker will go off, unless I'm misunderstanding what you mean.
FYI - I ordered the
AMNPS and pellets from Todd. Can't wait to try apple and alder chips. They ought to be real good on salmon. You'll Love It !!!
Thanks again to everyone for their patience and generous help while I dithered over which smoker to get then over-thought the use of my new MES. We were all beginners once.
Thank you!!!
rh
