New MES 40" what about?

[deltadude]

Yo those who previously owned a 40" MES with the 750 watt elements, and have since purchased the new 40" with 1200 watt elements, some question?

If you own the new 40", and didn't previously own the 750w unit feel free to comment too.

• Heat recovery, do you notice the difference?

• Does the extra wattage cause short cycling, similar to the 30" so that wood chips won't burn consistently?

• What about the extra BTUs of heat, is it causing any change in the way you cook?

• How about the water, has the extra heat resulted in the need to add additional water?

• The older 750w units, if you placed your hand on the case anywhere around the wood tray, and same area on the opposite the it will get fairly hot in that area. How about the 1200w units where are the hot spots?

Your input is appreciated....

 

[illini]

The built in meat probe was tested and appears to run colder than actual by 2*


the best things about this new one are the extra wattage and temp recovery. Also think the relocation of the controller probe as mentioned above is a great improvement.

The chip loader downsize is a dissapointment if you are using chuncks. My "contraption" eliminates any problem in that area for me.

Overall I think it is the best MES yet.

Marvin

 

[smokeguy]

Nice comparison- thanks!

 

[ronp]

I preetty much agree with Marvin.

 

[tjohnson]

I used my new MES in 0 degree weather this week in Minnesota.

Water soaked chips did not smoke at all, I switched to dry chips = GREAT SMOKE! Reload about every 30 min.

Temp probe seemed to be 10 degrees hotter than digital thermo pen. Possibly picking up temp in box, rather than in snack sticks. My guess it's more accurate in a larger chunk of meat.

30 degree temp variance in right rear corner of box. I placed a 12"x12" ceramic tile(Per Ron's Suggestion) and it worked great but cracked into pieces. I replaced ceramic tile with 1/2" granite tile and no cracks.

Chip pan is rather small and I had to empty about 1/2 way thru.

Very happy with New 40" MES

TJ

 

[jamminjimi]

I haved used a combination of wet and dry chips. I have not seen a noticable difference. My biggest question is. Does anybody get the tbs out of the mes? I can control the smoke but it is a whiteish gray not blue.

 

[ronp]

White may be caused by steam, you don't need to soak the chips.

 

[deltadude]

Ronp I thought you would jump all over this thread. You have owned several MES 40", I was hoping you would really point out the differences in performance.


Illini, you too have owned the 30" older and 40" older and now a 40" new. My reason for asking the questions, I believe in the next couple of months I will have to do the rewire thing for my 19 month old MES 40". I have firmly believed that I was always going to MOD my existing to include:
PID controller, Secondary 300 watt element, plus the heavier rewiring. I want to do 2 stage heating, so the secondary will come on only after Xº (maybe 15-20 deg) of temp drop and then cut out, while the 750 watt maintains temp. I estimate cost should be around $150 to complete the MOD.
So I'm trying to weigh if the mod+labor has enough benefit or just go with a newer model.

 

[ronp]

Ronp I thought you would jump all over this thread. You have owned several MES 40", I was hoping you would really point out the differences in performance.


I am not sure at this point what to say man, I haven't used it enough. I do know some of the improvements are good.

 

[illini]

Smoked a big chicken to try out the new 40"
Water usage was half of the pan consumed in 4 hours @ 275* cooking temp.
The temp swings were minimal and the lowest I have seen on a MES.
I would say +or- 8* from 275 set temp is about what it did. I had a look behind the small access door on the back to see the heater connections. They are spade lugs (male/female) but are larger than the ones on my other smokers. Access is easy and simple to the spade lugs

I don't think a ceramic tile or metal diverter would be useful as it would block the flow to the temp sensor probe and change the character of how the smoker operates. The temp sensor has been moved by the manufacturer as previously stated.

Marvin

 

[jsanders]

I was concerned with the slow heat up at first. I bought mine mid january, the 40. When I did the initial cure it took 3 hrs to get to 225. Todays example - I started at 1 and 6 hrs later it's at 200.

All this considered, everything I have cooked on it has been great. I am going to look into the wiring mod.

We want low and slow, this is just a little lower and slower.

 

[ronp]

Something wrong with that. Call Masterbuilt.

 

[dirtybird570]

I just bought a new 40'' w/window in door model 20070810 ... I can't find anywhere in the paperwork where it states the size of the heating element ..... how do you know what size it is ?????

 

[spg1]

Look at the back of the unit for a metal plate near the upper left corner.

 

[dirtybird570]

Thanks, ... mine is the 1200w... It was still in the box... guess I should have looked it over first ... but you would think the book would give all the specs.....

 

[insight]

Let me make an observation (on the newest MES 40, although I am extremely inexperienced in smoking, with smokers..and apparently chowing down on great Q.)

With an ambient temp of 72 degrees, with a MES temp at 225, when I opened the main door every hour for a spritz of apple juice/Jamaican rum, the temperature as expected dropped to between 203 and 210 degrees.

Recovery time was in the order of 1-3 minutes....very quickly.

I hope this information was not totally useless. Just tryin' to contribute.

 

[dave from mesa]

Same for me. I called Masterbuilt and asked. They said 1200 but didn't tell me where to find it.
Wish I would have seen this part of this thread first.
Haven't used ours yet as I been busy and when I can it's been raining.
Oh well next weekend for sure.