Fan for the MES

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scubadoo97

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
Sep 28, 2008
900
14
Florida
I am thinking of adding a fan to my MES for jerky making. Not sure what benefit it would provide for regular smoking but there would certainly be more air movement across the meat. I had thought about this for a while and have a few 3" computer fans that I had bought for my winecooler humidor. They were so cheap I bought a half a dozen to justify the shipping.

Well the fan in my computer's power supply started making a racket. Bearings are shot. What do you know it's a 3" fan. Glad a had a spare. So I took the old fan and stuck it on an extra elbow I have for the MES from my cold smoke generator making. It fits like a charm. Now that I know it's an easy fit I'm going to wire it to one of the many DC power supplies I have collected from all the old electronic gadgets that have come and gone.




Well see how it goes and report more in the future.
 
My guess is that it will slowly collect smoke and grease, etc and finally stop turning. But.....I've been wrong before.
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Good luck.
 
Good point. It may be okay for when using the smoker for jerky after the smoking is done. I'm hoping it will aid in the drying phase.
 
Yes it will collect smuge and such, But as cheap as the fans are, just replace them when needed. I have an exhaust fan on my big sausage smoker, have to clean it every now and then. It was made for heat,but not really for the smoke.

Dave
 
Fan is in use today along with the cold smoke generator. Between the air pump on the generator and the fan in the smoke stack there is excellent air movement inside my MES.

I am doing jerky today and have to say that I'm getting good smoke at low temps and the jerky is drying beautifully without over browing. The two system work very well together.
 
How long did it take you to get a finished product using the fan?

I was just thinking of that idea the other day. When my buddy who is helping me with my PID controller told me that the air needs to move over the coil for efficiency and to assist in drying.
 
I was done in maybe 3.5 hrs. and I let it go too long. I sampled a couple of strips from the front which were nice but thought they could go just a little longer. Forgot the back of the MES and of course the back right corner was over done on 3 racks. I used a top round "london broil" and I started at 170 until meat was cooked through then dropped down to 150 for the remainder. The cold smoke generator produced lots of smoke and the fan and the top made sure it was moving through the smoke well. No stagnant smoke.

3rd time and still haven't got it down pat.


Today I cooked a whole turkey breast. I used the fan while the wood chunks were first throwing off their usual white smoke before they settle down to TBS. The taste was that of a cleaner smoke.
 
Have you tried using a 12 x 12 ceramic floor tile above the smoke box? I just wedge it against the back wall and the right wall. It works real good and can usually get the temps almost the same on both sides.

I have the 40'. Less than a dollar fix.

I notice you have the 30' so you may need to cut the tile.
 
The exhaust fan can only pull as much air out as the intake inlet will let in. So why not rig up something to push clean air into the intake? That way your fan stay cool and clean.
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Ron I have tiles but just haven't remembered to put one in. I have ceramic floor tiles, ceramic fire brick tiles and quarry tiles. All would work fine. Thanks for reminding me.
 
No prob, it works for me.
 
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