Greetings from Amish Country!

[rewdey]

Hey everyone greetings from the land of the plain. Thanks for this board, talk about an invaluable resource. Little bit about me, long time foodie finally decided into the world of the great burnt wood smoke. Im starting out with a second hand Master built 30 MES first gen. On its maiden voyage the connectors burnt out and after much hardware store hunting found an old stove to cannibalize from a second hand shop for the high temp wires and connectors.
All in all im having a blast I've done a whole chicken did a boneless turkey breast and a pork loin, everything has come out great for the most part but would like to iron out a few kinks. Two questions im hoping you can shed some light on. First I'm having issues with my smoke output. I'm preheating to 250 adding my meat then dropping down to around 210 -220 depending on what im smoking. I'm soaking my chips for about a half hour before i add them as per the instructions. I usually get about 15 mins of thin blue smoke and then thats it. I'm left with some charred chips that arent burned through. I do have the vent open all the way. Second question having a hard time getting my internal temps up past 150 for things like pork and chicken. Cranking the heat or letting it longer ends up taking moisture out and doesnt help. I know some probe thermometers would prob help but im just going off what the display says. Thanks again.

 

[s2k9k]

:welcome1: to SMF! There are a lot of good people here with a load of experience that they are more than willing to share. If you have specific questions just start a thread and someone with experience will be along soon to offer advice. Spend some time doing some research on the forums, tons of advice and recipes already available there. The trial and error method works well. We will try to help you keep the errors to a minimum since we already made them for you. We look forward to your contributions.
The search bar at the top can be your best friend when you are trying to find answers to your questions but you can still ask too if you want!
We have an Articles section that is full of great information about smoking to include a lot of recipes and instructionals. Check it out there is a lot to learn in there!
You might want to check out Jeff's Free 5 day E-Course, it will teach you all the basics plus a whole lot more!

 

[seenred]

Welcome to the forums!  Glad you've joined us.  You've found a great place to learn and share ideas on our favorite pastimes...grilling, smoking, and curing great food!  There are lots of friendly and knowledgeable folks here who really enjoy helping one another.  Just ask any time you need help and you'll get plenty!

Regarding smoke production, wood chips in your chip tray will likely only produce smoke for 30-45 minutes before needing to be reloaded.  The capacity of the MES chip tray just doesn't allow for any more.  And IMHO, soaking chips has no benefit.  The water must evaporate before the wood will smoke.  Best advice is to check out A-Maze-N Products (sponsor's link at the bottom of the page) and order an AMNPS.  Its a smoke generator that will produce hours of perfect smoke without reloading, and it works great in the MES.

As far as IT (internal temp), an accurate, reliable meat probe is critical to insuring your food is done.  You can't assume the stock probe is accurate, because more often than not, it isn't.  Like many members here, I use a Maverick dual probe digital thermometer to monitor both IT and smoker temps.  Also, do a little searching and reading on "the stall".  Many meats will reach an internal temp of anywhere from 150-170, then stop increasing for as long as several hours before the IT begins to go up again.  

Hope any of this helps...you can always get plenty of good advice by posting questions in specific forums.  Good luck, and Happy Smoking!

Red

 

[kathrynn]

 to SMF!  We are so glad you joined us! 

If you didn't read the Terms of Service notes.....please do.  There are a few things that everyone should know about those pesky little rules before plunging into the forums. Rule #11......"Off Site Links are not allowed here at SMF" is something new. There are other simple guidelines for all of us to remember as we interact here.

If you need any help roaming around here in SMF....just give me a shout.  Happy to help any time!

Kat

 

[rewdey]

thanks everyone will def look into the course

 

[Bearcarver]

Welcome Neighbor!!!

What Red said above.

I used to put chips in, and get 5 minutes of too much smoke, then 5 minutes of real nice smoke, and then 5 minutes of light smoke tapering down to nothing.

Then I started using my AMNPS all the time!!!-----That was two years ago, and Happy ever after!!

Bear