Keeping The Smoke Alive

[cbsmokes]

MES 30, newer one with the water pan that slides in on the left of smoke box. I'm in my one car garage due to rain and sudden gusts of wind. I did my seasoning the other day, didn't babysit it just let it run, used pecan chips. Smelled great soon as I walked out of house, smoke was pretty heavy but instructions had temp at 275. I plan to smoke this weekend so I figured I'd have a few and watch it run once today before I wreck a dinner tomorrow and just buy pizza. So I'm sitting here and the smoke is like almost nothing most of the time, then element kicks on it picks up a bit then back to almost nothing. How thin is the blue smoke supposed to be? How do I tell if the smoke is to heavy? And how do I correct either or? Yes I have checked chip tray after 1 hr and chips are black but most still there only few actually went to ash.

CB

 

[chef jimmyj]

Chips burn unevenly. So might be heavy for awhile then then out, With chips the average of the smoke does the job. When there is no smoke and the coil is on, it's time to add a few more. At 225, they burn up evey 30-60 minutes. The A-MAZE-N Expandable Tube works pretty well in that unit or do the Mailbox Mod...JJ

Some thin smoke...

SDC12476.JPG

• chef jimmyj
• Jul 18, 2011

 

[GaryHibbert]

It doesn't really sound like you have much of a problem.  You're getting the heavier smoke only at the onset when the element kicks in.  You should have no problems with the smoke in your MES.  Like JJ says, an AMNPS is (in my opinion) a necessary addition to a MES 30.  It just makes life so much easier, that's what I use 95% of the time.

Gary

 

[cbsmokes]

I just got in my AMNPS, do I need the mailbox or does it do well just sitting inside.
CB

 

[GaryHibbert]

I have mine sitting inside, right beside the chip tray at the bottom.  Todd designed the AMNPS to fit there in a MES 30.  If you do put it inside, pull the chip tray out a bit and the chip loader out a couple of inches for air.  Leave the top vent on the MES fully open.  Eventually I'll do a mailbox mod, simply to make life easier.

Gary