Mes

[beretta92_fs2003]

I was just wondering how many of us mes owners use a drip pan in the mes? I use a 12x8 cake pan in mine. The only down side is it does take a while to hit the temp and sometimes it does not hit temp at all.(just a few degrees though nothing to worry about)

 

[pignit]

There has been a lot of discussion on the MES and it's recovery issues regarding temp. To answer your question... I usually use a drip pan to catch excess grease. I also fill the water pan that comes with the unit with liquid. Usually apple juice. You can warm the liquid prior to putting it in the pan so that the MES doesn't have to work as hard to heat it up too. It is recommended by MES to put hot liquid in the unit and to let it warm up to a full 275 degrees before adding meat. You may want to do a follow up search on this question as there has been a lot of info posted regarding the MES and it's ability to cook excellent food while having obvious isues with reaching cooking temp. and having long recovery times at the beginning of a smoke. Hope this helps.

 

[txbigred]

Hmmm, I always use the water pan with mine, and fill it with HOT water and bring to temp before adding the meat. As for the drip pan, mine came with one that has a drain hole in it that goes to a catch pan on the outside. do they not all have this?

Dave

 

[ronp]

I use the water pan as intended, and a disposable drip pan below the meat for the liquid gold.

 

[smokeguy]

I know the 40" all have them on the bottom but I'm not certain about the 30".

I use the water pan with hot water and sometimes some spices just because it smells good (fresh rosemary sprigs when doing turkey for example), the drip pan on the bottom, and if I'm doing something I want to keep the juices, I'll put another one under the meat. Otherwise I just let the juices drop into the water and onto the bottom pan.

Most of the time I'll preheat while I'm finishing getting the meat ready so usually anywhere from 15 minutes to 30 minutes to an hour if it's a full load. The smaller loads it really doesn't bother me too much if it takes awhile to get back to temp because it's easy to adjust the smoke then since the burner is always on. Also, getting up to 140 in that time frame hasn't been a problem either. For smaller loads. 8 butts or 4 packers I let it get up to max temp first in the MES as the meat comes up to 40 degrees on the counter, usually about an hour or a bit less for both of them.

 

[fishawn]

OK, I admit it, I am lazy...... I never fill the water pan.... I did the first couple of times & that was it. I never have had anything turn out dry or bad....