Howdy all,
I'm based in Europe and my apartment lease specifically forbids the use of flames for cooking on the patio. With no common area there seems nothing to be done about the issue, and my MES40 is stateside in storage for my stay here. With that, I'm looking at a couple of options on Amazon here and was hoping for some advice from you fine folks.
Option 1: Chineseum ECB amazon.de /dp/B07BBMZVWF/
Looks decent, looks amazingly close to the Brinkmann ECB in my basement and a Meco unit. To the point that I think I could probably buy a 120V Meco element/controller replacement and use it stateside when I move back too. The downside is all the reviews I'm reading talk about terrible paint and how the paint gets into the food as it flakes off. My thought is to get this and run a couple of test smokes in it, then sand off the paint that flakes and coat the rest of the inside with high-temp paint, followed by a few more empty test smokes to cure the paint. Is that a reasonable thought? Should I even bother with a high temp rattle can?
Option 2: Tepro version of a MES30 (it appears) amazon.de /dp/B01N28JCEU
Looks good, looks like it's stainless inside and looks like I can source it from a local store. Downside is every review I see for it, be it on Amazon, Otto, or others, talk about crappy rack holders and the like.
Option 3: Just get a bradley.
I'd love to, but they're a bit spendy for something I won't be able to use back home when I move in a couple of years.
Most of the other cabinet smokers on Amazon either look like there's no insulation whatsoever, or they say it's galvanized steel which I've read horror stories about and want to avoid. Given my druthers I'd build a UDS and hook it up to a PID controller, or something similar, but at that point I'm into the project what a Bradley would cost me and, frankly, I wanna get my smoke on.
Thanks for reading this, I appreciate any help y'all can offer.
I'm based in Europe and my apartment lease specifically forbids the use of flames for cooking on the patio. With no common area there seems nothing to be done about the issue, and my MES40 is stateside in storage for my stay here. With that, I'm looking at a couple of options on Amazon here and was hoping for some advice from you fine folks.
Option 1: Chineseum ECB amazon.de /dp/B07BBMZVWF/
Looks decent, looks amazingly close to the Brinkmann ECB in my basement and a Meco unit. To the point that I think I could probably buy a 120V Meco element/controller replacement and use it stateside when I move back too. The downside is all the reviews I'm reading talk about terrible paint and how the paint gets into the food as it flakes off. My thought is to get this and run a couple of test smokes in it, then sand off the paint that flakes and coat the rest of the inside with high-temp paint, followed by a few more empty test smokes to cure the paint. Is that a reasonable thought? Should I even bother with a high temp rattle can?
Option 2: Tepro version of a MES30 (it appears) amazon.de /dp/B01N28JCEU
Looks good, looks like it's stainless inside and looks like I can source it from a local store. Downside is every review I see for it, be it on Amazon, Otto, or others, talk about crappy rack holders and the like.
Option 3: Just get a bradley.
I'd love to, but they're a bit spendy for something I won't be able to use back home when I move in a couple of years.
Most of the other cabinet smokers on Amazon either look like there's no insulation whatsoever, or they say it's galvanized steel which I've read horror stories about and want to avoid. Given my druthers I'd build a UDS and hook it up to a PID controller, or something similar, but at that point I'm into the project what a Bradley would cost me and, frankly, I wanna get my smoke on.
Thanks for reading this, I appreciate any help y'all can offer.
