First Smoke in 30' MES,

[prodirt65]

Hey guys first post,

My wife got me the 30" MES for X-mas and I smoked 2 racks of ribs in them this sat. Tasted pretty good, we both got stomach aches thou about 2 hours later. Idk if it might have been to much smoke? I know they were cooked all the way. They feel off the bone anyway, I put about 3 cups of hickory in periodical for the first 2 hours. The last hour I did not add any and then I wrap them in foil and put them back in for 1 more hour. Did I do something wrong? Also yesterday I cleaned out racks and all the food drippings. I ran some wood chips in to try season it some more. I noticed alot of yellow smoke.. idk what to do about that? Any advice will be great thank all. 

 

[themule69]

Did you season the smoker before the first use?

When you get a chance will you drop by roll call so everyone can give you a proper SMF welcome?

Happy smoken.

David

 

[geerock]

Did you have a bitterness in your throats after eating. If so too much smoke. Its a common mistake for new smoke cooks. Otherwise coyld be bad spices or meat. As for yellow smoke..... did you do a good burn out before the first cook?

 

[prodirt65]

 
Did you season the smoker before the first use?

When you get a chance will you drop by roll call so everyone can give you a proper SMF welcome?

Happy smoken.

David

yes, I followed the directions from masterbuilt on pre seasoning the smoker. 

 

[prodirt65]

Did you have a bitterness in your throats after eating. If so too much smoke. Its a common mistake for new smoke cooks. Otherwise coyld be bad spices or meat. As for yellow smoke..... did you do a good burn out before the first cook?

No bitterness, and I am not sure what you mean by burn out?

 

[old sarge]

Did you have yellow smoke when you cooked?  Was it thick or thin?  If not yellow during the cook, was it white and was it thick or thin?  Also, what position was your damper in?  And were the chips dry or wet?

 

[prodirt65]

 
Did you have yellow smoke when you cooked?  Was it thick or thin?  If not yellow during the cook, was it white and was it thick or thin?  Also, what position was your damper in?  And were the chips dry or wet?

I am not sure about the yellow smoke when I was cooking, When I was cooking the smoke was thin white smoke when i added the chips it got think about 20 mins later. chips are dry I dont soak them. The damper was about an 1/8th open. yesterday  Just ran chips in it for the hell of it and thats when I got yellow smoke and the damper was the same setting.

 

[jsdspif]

I doubt if it was too much smoke . I use alot of smoke in mine and the only thing I've made with too much smoke was jerky . I'd just open the vent all the way and leave it alone . When I first got mine I'd use different vent settings but then I just left it wide open . It sounds to me more like you're system just got upset from the greasiness (the amount of fat in) of the food . I think compared to ribs at a restaurant , which they probably boil them first , then refrigerate them and then somehow reheat when someone orders them ( I'm just guessing there ) , most of the fat is cooked out of them , but making them in the MES , not so much of that fat renders off . I made some pulled pork one time and I ate quite a bit of it and the next day I gave some to a friend and and a few days later I saw him and he said he got pretty upset stomach and I know he's doesn't eat much fatty stuff . He also said he had some kind of salad (macaroni or something ) from the grocery deli and I just said that's what probably made him sick or the fattiness . I don't think you did anything wrong with the cook . I'm thinking if somehow the ribs were left on your kitchen counter all day and night before cooking , or possibly removed from the cooler at the store and someone found them in the toy department the next day and put them back in the cooler , but I'd think by then they would smell so bad you wouldn't prepare them further . I thought that may have happened to me once because I bought 2 racks individually cryovacced . I made one rack and a couple days later I went to smoke the other rack and as soon as I cut the cryovac I knew something was bad because of the odor . I asked the meatman at the store about it and he thought it may have been somewhere along the way from slaughterhouse to my house that rack somehow lost refrigeration . I tend to think your systems just didn't like the amount of non rendered fattiness ???

 

[old sarge]

I would try (empty)  with the vent half or wide open, same chips and see what happens. Sounds like the smoke may have needed a better draft/air flow.  Just a thought.

 

[prodirt65]

Thanks guys for all your help. I am goin to try next time with the vent more open. Would having the vent open dry the meat out? and Do you guys add most of the would chips before your meat goes in or for example: You can add up to 2 cups of wood chips over 3 hours. Do you split up the times the chips go in or all at once? Thanks again guys

 

[jsdspif]

Ive never noticed meat drying out with vent wide open . One thing I started doing a while back was not starting the smoke immediately after placing the meat in the smoker . I wait maybe an hour or 45 minutes then start the smoke . I started doing it that way because I read somewhere if the outside of the meat is wet , that absorbs more smoke and can get bitter (or something like that ??) . Kind of like wanting meat to form a pellicle before smoking . Usually I put the meat in the cold MES , turn it on , and after about 45 minutes I turn on my cold smoker attatchment ( I have the mes cold smoker attatchment ) for 5 minutes , after the 5 minutes it's smoking good and I shut off the cold smoker attatchment and it continues smoking for 2-5 hours depending on how full I've loaded the smoking attatchment . I'd just throw a handful or so in there , and when it stops smoking throw another handful . I don't think a whole lot will fit . One problem with the mes is at lower temps (say 235 ) the element doesn't seem to stay on long enough when it is up to temp to get the chips smoking . That's why so many people get an amazen product and or mes cold smoke attatchment , , some other type of smoke generator etc . I've smoked alot in mine with just the stock setup . I used to crank my temp control to 270 to get new chips smoking and once they smoke turn the control back down . The only time I ever had any noticible difference was one time I forgot to turn the temp back down and left it at 270 for about an hour and a half when I wanted it set back to 235 .

 

[daricksta]

I always smoke with the top vent wide open and have never had a problem with dried out meat. The only reason I would even partially close the top vent would be if I thought the wood pellets (which is what I use instead of wood chips) were burning too quickly due to excessive air flow, which really isn't a problem with the MES 30.

You didn't mention if you had first cleaned all the grease drippings from the drip pan and perhaps from the inside walls before you did your additional seasoning (which probably wasn't necessary). If you didn't perhaps it was the leftover grease which colored the smoke yellow. I've never had that with my smoker because I clean all food and grease remnants from the racks and the pans after smoking. I also clean off any dried food and heavy residue from the walls and especially the ceiling. I leave just enough on the walls and door for seasoning.

Also, I have the wood pellets all fired up by the time I get the smoker to my temp set point. I first put the wood pellets in and then the meat so it's smoking right away. For ribs, I foil them after about 3 hours of cooking but I think next time I'll foil one rack and leave the other one unfoiled just as an experiment. I typically set the smoker temp at 235° but I'm going to try 250° for awhile, again as an experiment. It's all about learning to up your game. That's the fun part.

 

[prodirt65]

Thanks guys, learning so much