# My MES 40 "Mailbox" mod



## mr_whipple (Mar 4, 2022)

I've been messing with this thing for most of the winter. I'm not sure when last year I picked the smoker up, but I've been tinkering with mixed results and think I'm pretty close to calling it good. My intent was to make a smoker for the sausage I intend to make (if I ever stop procrastinating), but I also wanted to cold smoke bacon and to a small extent cheese. I ripped the entire chip loader out. Thought about flipping the element over, but that was a nogo without some more minor modification that I'm too lazy to do. Went to Tractor Supply and grabbed a few fire bricks, wrapped them in foil and set them above the element on an old cooling rack. I bent the legs so it sat high enough to be clear of the element. I've been playing with the heat in the 100-170 range and the bricks really do help as a thermal mass to keep the temp loss/recovery to a minimum after opening the door.










 I initially used an ammo can and aluminum vent hose, but the box was too small and really pumped out some nasty creosote. Also, I should have blasted off the powder coat or whatever those ammo cans are covered in. That too was a nasty smell! Anyhow, I had a friend make me this box. It's much larger than a mailbox or ammo can. I think its 12" H, 14" long and 10" wide. Put a 3" hole in the corner for the hose and a 90 degree elbow on each end.







I had him make it with a removable bottom for ease of cleaning and access to the pellet/dust maze. This is an older picture than the one above as you can see additional holes above.







And here's the topside rig. Yes, I know I'm not supposed to plug into a power strip for large power consumption appliances, but this is still in the testing phase (and that is a seriously capable surge suppressor) and when I do run it for anything other than short periods I use two cords and a dedicated wall outlet. I just need to power the auber and the fan for the cold smoke. It has no problem drafting at higher temps, but needs a little help when trying to cold smoke. I think that is a product of the lack of difference in height between the top of the smoke box and the input to the smoker. Any engineers please feel free to chime in. I might see about lifting the smoker a bit to test that in the future. I rigged up the adjustable speed fan I bought off amazon into the pvc to make a basic venturi as seen in other threads like 

 tallbm
 and his box fan rig. It works like a champ set to a low speed and it's quiet. I suppoe I could run it faster to make sure there is no smoke sinking to the bottom, but with the auber set to 55 with a current outside temp in the high 30's, I have been playing with it with the fan off and it seems to still draft, but I don't want the smoke settling at all so I'm going to run it regardless. The Chef Alarm is just for comparison to the auber. The auber seems to track a bit faster, but I think that's due to the better RTD type sensor in the probe. once settled they stay pretty much exactly the same.








As I'm posting this, I have some cheese smoking for what might be the final testing. I've determined I prefer dust over pellets so we're trying this to see how the taste works out with some cheese. I made a batch a while back which is basically 75% cob pellets 25% Kingsford cherry pellets. I'm going to go on the low end at 2 hours... I'm not a fan of heavy smoke. I already flipped the cheese at the 1 hour mark. I filled the maze with two rows of dust to see how much of it burns in that time span. The last time I ran a quick test on the dust in the maze it burned up 3/4 of a row in about 1.5 hours leaving nothing but fine white ash, so I'm wondering if that's too fast? Anyway, we'll see how this cheese tastes and that will tell me how close I am to calling this good. Thanks for looking!


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## BandCollector (Mar 4, 2022)

Looks to me that you are on the right track,

John


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## chopsaw (Mar 4, 2022)

Yup , looks like you have put some thought into it . Going your way for sure . 
Not sure how you run your Auber , but I have info in other threads on how I set mine up to control over run and a strong response to opening the door . 

Nice work .


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## Lonzinomaker (Mar 4, 2022)

If you haven't already, get rid of the dip in the smoke tubing. Chimneys work best if they is at least a gradual incline.  Kind of reverse of a sewer drain.
I used the smallest mailbox I could find for my mailbox mod, and am using 1 1/2 inch pipe and don't get creosote when using my AMAZN tray in it.


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## tallbm (Mar 4, 2022)

mr_whipple said:


> I've been messing with this thing for most of the winter. I'm not sure when last year I picked the smoker up, but I've been tinkering with mixed results and think I'm pretty close to calling it good. My intent was to make a smoker for the sausage I intend to make (if I ever stop procrastinating), but I also wanted to cold smoke bacon and to a small extent cheese. I ripped the entire chip loader out. Thought about flipping the element over, but that was a nogo without some more minor modification that I'm too lazy to do. Went to Tractor Supply and grabbed a few fire bricks, wrapped them in foil and set them above the element on an old cooling rack. I bent the legs so it sat high enough to be clear of the element. I've been playing with the heat in the 100-170 range and the bricks really do help as a thermal mass to keep the temp loss/recovery to a minimum after opening the door.
> 
> View attachment 527598
> 
> ...



Man it looks like you are in mod heaven! :D

I think you have it whipped. I also love your take on the cold smoke gadget you have over your vent! Way more elegant, simpler, and faster to make than my cardboard and tin can tinker jobs hahaha. I love it!

Can't wait to hear how the cheese comes out.  I bet if is great :)


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## dr k (Mar 4, 2022)

That venturi setup looks good. I also went the pvc fitting route with a 6" coupling I found. I use it every smoke. For hot smoking it's a wind break to keep air blowing in the top vent. It's open on the bottom so no drafting, sitting where the smoker handle attaches to the smoker so it doesn't go anywhere. It eliminates a vacuum in the smoker like when wind blows across the top vent. If wind blows in the top of the coupling it just comes out the bottom as the rising heat comes out the top vent. It works great with the PID on holding windy or not. When cold smoking I slide the coupling over so its completely on the smoker and it holds an inverted $15 tent fan that has a sealed motor that runs on 4 D batteries. Batteries last several months. 
	

		
			
		

		
	







Cold smoking






Grill gazebo power vent hood


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## tallbm (Mar 4, 2022)

dr k said:


> That venturi setup looks good. I also went the pvc fitting route with a 6" coupling I found. I use it every smoke. For hot smoking it's a wind break to keep air blowing in the top vent. It's open on the bottom so no drafting, sitting where the smoker handle attaches to the smoker so it doesn't go anywhere. It eliminates a vacuum in the smoker like when wind blows across the top vent. If wind blows in the top of the coupling it just comes out the bottom as the rising heat comes out the top vent. It works great with the PID on holding windy or not. When cold smoking I slide the coupling over so its completely on the smoker and it holds an inverted $15 tent fan that has a sealed motor that runs on 4 D batteries. Batteries last several months.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Very nice!!! I love all the gadgets and thought put into them!
Honestly I'm not much of a "gadget" guy HOWEVER if someone creates or an invents a gadget that solves an actual problem them I'm all for it.

For useless gadgets and tech to solve non-existent problems I'm out.
I feel like the window on my MES is one of these additions that solves a non-existent problem. I know a number of guys like them and have their reasons so I'm not picking a fight with them at all. 
I could never really see anything in my smoker once the smoker was good and rolling so the window was not very useful to see the meat. Also for me, the window blacks out with collected smoke or creosote every time I used it and I do not like cleaning it so I just left it blacked out.
If I can't see anything through the smoke, the window blacks out all the time, AND 99% of other smokers don't have a window, then to me it's a feature/gadget that solves a non-existent problem hahaha.

Again others like it and are happy with it and the only thing that matters is that we are happy in the end so I guess it does serve that purpose for some.

I now digress from my original digression haha.  Great smoke assist gadgets everyone! :D


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## dr k (Mar 4, 2022)

tallbm said:


> Very nice!!! I love all the gadgets and thought put into them!
> Honestly I'm not much of a "gadget" guy HOWEVER if someone creates or an invents a gadget that solves an actual problem them I'm all for it.
> 
> For useless gadgets and tech to solve non-existent problems I'm out.
> ...


Ha ha, I'm the one that hard wired the light socket years ago when we got Auber 1510 PIDs and foil over the internal light lens for rare night smokes for briskets and butts.  Peel off the foil and let there be light while watching tv outside. I did take out the stock 15 watt bulb and put in a 40. Socket is marked with 75 watt max. I clean the windows in the gen1 40 and 30 but haven't needed the light for over a year. I razor my windows in 5 min. It's always the best thing on tv so to speak.


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## tallbm (Mar 4, 2022)

dr k said:


> Ha ha, I'm the one that hard wired the light socket years ago when we got Auber 1510 PIDs and foil over the internal light lens for rare night smokes for briskets and butts.  Peel off the foil and let there be light while watching tv outside. I did take out the stock 15 watt bulb and put in a 40. Socket is marked with 75 watt max. I clean the windows in the gen1 40 and 30 but haven't needed the light for over a year. I razor my windows in 5 min. It's always the best thing on tv so to speak.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hahah nice!
It seems the upgraded outlet and blub helps quite a bit!

I'm usually asleep at this point :P


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## mr_whipple (Mar 5, 2022)

Lonzinomaker said:


> If you haven't already, get rid of the dip in the smoke tubing. Chimneys work best if they is at least a gradual incline.  Kind of reverse of a sewer drain.
> I used the smallest mailbox I could find for my mailbox mod, and am using 1 1/2 inch pipe and don't get creosote when using my AMAZN tray in it.


Yep! That pic was an older one, but I have it straight now. I'm either going to raise the smoker or shorten the box, I'm thinking lifting the smoker would be less work.



tallbm said:


> Man it looks like you are in mod heaven! :D
> 
> I think you have it whipped. I also love your take on the cold smoke gadget you have over your vent! Way more elegant, simpler, and faster to make than my cardboard and tin can tinker jobs hahaha. I love it!
> 
> Can't wait to hear how the cheese comes out.  I bet if is great :)


Your smoke gadget was the inspiration for that, and we're gonna write about the cheese in a minute.



dr k said:


> That venturi setup looks good. I also went the pvc fitting route with a 6" coupling I found. I use it every smoke. For hot smoking it's a wind break to keep air blowing in the top vent. It's open on the bottom so no drafting, sitting where the smoker handle attaches to the smoker so it doesn't go anywhere. It eliminates a vacuum in the smoker like when wind blows across the top vent. If wind blows in the top of the coupling it just comes out the bottom as the rising heat comes out the top vent. It works great with the PID on holding windy or not. When cold smoking I slide the coupling over so its completely on the smoker and it holds an inverted $15 tent fan that has a sealed motor that runs on 4 D batteries. Batteries last several months.



I remember seeing your setup in another thread and wanted to do something like that but I saw the small fan first and it seems to work so I'm happy for now. I think that piece of pvc was like $5 and I'd have to go look to see how much for the fan.



chopsaw said:


> Yup , looks like you have put some thought into it . Going your way for sure .
> Not sure how you run your Auber , but I have info in other threads on how I set mine up to control over run and a strong response to opening the door .
> 
> Nice work .


I run it in single step mode by just setting the temp. I have yet to change any values. If you recall which threads you posted that in please let me know, it would be much appreciated. I'll try a search a little later but some days my search skills leave something to be desired. 

As to the cheese, I pulled it after two hours and let it rest in the oven for a few hours before wrapping in peach butcher paper and into the beer fridge in the garage. Initially it smelled quite a bit too smoky and this morning I stuck my nose in the fridge and you could tell there was something smoky in there. I'm going to slice of a piece later, but for now I'm a bit skeptical. Hopefully it will mellow. I think it has something to do with the dust. I'm down to the tail end of the batch I made and I'm thinking it's too fine. I packed as tight as I could two full rows and it burned in its entirety in just two hours and from everything I've read that is way too quick. It doesn't look to have burned as completely as last time. You can see the edges of the rows have black to it.  First thing, I'm not sold on cob bedding for pellets... I'm going to try another type of pellet for dust, perhaps even splurge and buy some online. I'm hoping someone has a suggestion here.
Either way, I'm going to a gunshow later today... I might just grab some tannerite and fix this once and for all


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## Bearcarver (Mar 5, 2022)

Very Cool set-up Kurt !!
Well thought out !!
Like.

And You're looking good too, Mr Whipple!!
Like.

Bear


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## dr k (Mar 5, 2022)

Bearcarver said:


> Very Cool set-up Kurt !!
> Well thought out !!
> Like.
> 
> ...


Thanks Bear!  Sometimes real estate around the smoker for sheet pans and setting things down is hard to find so it's a space to temporarily set stuff as it vents out the bottom. Keeps probe wires in place down the vent.


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## Lonzinomaker (Mar 5, 2022)

I have only used dust made from 100% fruitwood pellets and get a slow burn.
I would think cob would burn faster since it isn't a hardwood.


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## dr k (Mar 5, 2022)

Lonzinomaker said:


> I have only used dust made from 100% fruitwood pellets and get a slow burn.
> I would think cob would burn faster since it isn't a hardwood.


Cob pellets burn fast. It's like making pellets outta balsa wood. Super light. The jack daniel charcoal pellets made from the sugar maple char the whiskey drips through with some oak from the barrels burns easily and is good to mix with slow burning hard to light cherry. It has a decent light charcoal flavor but you won't get a whiskey flavor out of it.


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## mr_whipple (Mar 6, 2022)

Lonzinomaker said:


> I have only used dust made from 100% fruitwood pellets and get a slow burn.
> I would think cob would burn faster since it isn't a hardwood.





dr k said:


> Cob pellets burn fast. It's like making pellets outta balsa wood. Super light. The jack daniel charcoal pellets made from the sugar maple char the whiskey drips through with some oak from the barrels burns easily and is good to mix with slow burning hard to light cherry. It has a decent light charcoal flavor but you won't get a whiskey flavor out of it.


In all my reading about making dust I can't say I ever ran across that regarding cob. Now that I know I'll be trying again minus the cob. Not sure what I'm gonna do with that big bag of cob bedding, but I'm sure someone will use it.  I've seen those JD pellets around, next time I'm out I'll grab some.  In the mean time, I'm pleasantly surprised with the cheese.  I sliced off a piece of the sharp cheddar yesterday and while it had a rather strong smell, it tasted quite mild as far as smoke went. I may or may not have had a few barley pops by that time so I tried it again this morning and  It seems pretty good to me. I'm going to vac seal it a littler later. Here's a pic that really doesn't show the change in color. It wasn't a dramatic change, but my eyes could tell. I'm positive I took  a before pic but I've been wrong before.  From top left going clockwise, Great Value Extra Sharp White Cheddar,  Tillamook Sharp Cheddar, Kraft Pepper Jack and last, Great Value Gouda.


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## mr_whipple (Mar 16, 2022)

So... back at it today trying out the new dust I made. Bought a bag of Pit Boss fruit blend, as the local stores no longer are carrying lumber jack of any kind.  I opened a piece of the sealed cheddar yesterday after 9-10 days and while I didn't like the smoky smell, it didn't taste bad, but the nose part kinda turned me off. I'll wait til this coming weekend to try another of the pieces. Anyway, packed up the tray and lit it up. It's burning nicely with a far better smell than the cob. i guess that's something I'll not be doing again. It's drafting fairly well, but when I put the cheese in it slowed down so I turned the fan on its lowest setting and left it there. smoker temp was 61 when I started, it's at 70 as I type this. Outside temp was in the 50's this morning now at 65 and cloudy. I just flipped the cheese after 1.5 hours and the nose tells me things are going fine. The smoker isn't full of billowing or stale smoke so i think we're finally close to success.  I have a wifi flexible bore scope style camera that I stuffed thru one of the air holes in the smoke box and I could see that things were burning nicely. Bad angle, but I could see a bit of the red ember and the thin smoke in the box. I'll try and snap a pic with it and post.


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## tallbm (Mar 16, 2022)

mr_whipple said:


> So... back at it today trying out the new dust I made. Bought a bag of Pit Boss fruit blend, as the local stores no longer are carrying lumber jack of any kind.  I opened a piece of the sealed cheddar yesterday after 9-10 days and while I didn't like the smoky smell, it didn't taste bad, but the nose part kinda turned me off. I'll wait til this coming weekend to try another of the pieces. Anyway, packed up the tray and lit it up. It's burning nicely with a far better smell than the cob. i guess that's something I'll not be doing again. It's drafting fairly well, but when I put the cheese in it slowed down so I turned the fan on its lowest setting and left it there. smoker temp was 61 when I started, it's at 70 as I type this. Outside temp was in the 50's this morning now at 65 and cloudy. I just flipped the cheese after 1.5 hours and the nose tells me things are going fine. The smoker isn't full of billowing or stale smoke so i think we're finally close to success.  I have a wifi flexible bore scope style camera that I stuffed thru one of the air holes in the smoke box and I could see that things were burning nicely. Bad angle, but I could see a bit of the red ember and the thin smoke in the box. I'll try and snap a pic with it and post.
> 
> View attachment 529121


Nice!!! 
Yeah I firmly believe most cold smoke cheese issues with smell and "strong" taste are the results of stale smoke.  After encountering cold smoke when I first started cold smoking and then working to fix cold smoke issues, I think I caught a general understanding of what people are encountering with their cheese smokes but do not realize its a case of stale smoke and not too much smoke.

I'm all in to see how it comes out :)


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## mr_whipple (Mar 16, 2022)

Ok... after 3 hours I pulled the cheese. The sun had come out and the ambient temp hit 68 or so and the smoker was at 78. I planned on 3 hours anyway, but wasn't gonna wait for me to forget like I did the sprinkler last night in the front yard (can't wait for that water bill ).


So this is 3.5 hours burn time on the dust. I'm not liking the black I see in the ashes. Looks like it was burning at it's best when it turned the corner. I think I'm going to either add some holes for airflow, or make some type of adjustable inlet like a small register vent or kettle grill top vent thingy. Looks close so I don't think I should be that worried at this point. I turned off the fan and left the whole thing going just to see when it stops. I'm going to buy some dust simply to see the consistency. I'm pretty sure finer is not my target ... somewhere halfway between whole pellet and sand perhaps further away from sand?  And the beat goes on....






Here's the cheeses. Is there a correct term for multiple cheese? Mooses or Meese? Anyway,  better nose smell coming out of the smoke box this time, but I've made myself paranoid of crappy tasting smoked food that I am certain some of this is in my mind. I sliced one of the colby jack pieces in half and had a taste, it was still warm from being at almost 80 degrees but I think it was just fine. I'm gonna wrap the batch in peach paper and let it sit in the beer fridge for a day or so  like the last batch. Also, the phone camera does no justice to the color of the cheese.  Thanks for looking.


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## dr k (Mar 16, 2022)

I foiled over the bottom of my grease pan rear drain hole. I plugged the bottom rear drain with a paper towel and capped it. So hot or cold smoking all air passes the smoke generator pellet maze in the mailbox. When hot smoking you can't keep a lighter lit at the rear drain from all the intake air. Lots of air comes in the drain, path of least resistence vs long snorkle. Dust sticks to Amnps walls and is partially burnt black, but if the rest lays flat in the maze as grey ash then you're good. It always takes a little longer with a bristle brush to clean the tray from burnt dust vs pellets. I made a dam with shears and a soup can bottom and pull tab as a brace for a two piece setup to completely burn all the fuel since it otherwise tapers and goes out and I pitch or fiddle with dust or pieces of pellets. Made a trapezoid piece to fit the center row since I usually don't burn more than one row and the end corner but it fits anywhere in the Amnps. Fill the maze at the dam first to hold in place and fill towards the lighting hole. People with the tube can light and burn verticallyi in grills and smokers but burning vert should only be six inches max from ash collapse so it burns completely per Todd Johnson the inventer.

















Sealed the two rear bottom corner holes with magnets and rubbery Goop glue,  all the bottom mounting holes except the two pencil holes at the front of the mailbox, the two holes at the edge of the amnps in the pic above, I drilled a middle hole so each row at the leading edge has it's own pencil hole. Lots of air comes in at the bottom door hinge. So air goes below the amnps at the holes and over from the hinge up to the top rear 3" hole to the smoker. Since I rarely burn all three rows, I put a bolt in the right hole from underneath the mailbox for only air on the left two bottom pencil holes and rotate the amnps half way so it burns with the airflow. Put ice bags on your mailbox mod and straight pipe to remove heat before it gets to the smoker vs smoking jugs of ice with your cheese. I like straight pipe added to just the coupling on the mailbox for cheeses. Directly into the smoker chip loader hole from the coupling when hot smoking. Still mild smoke. No distance for leaks from joints.


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## mr_whipple (Mar 17, 2022)

dr k said:


> I foiled over the bottom of my grease pan rear drain hole. I plugged the bottom rear drain with a paper towel and capped it. So hot or cold smoking all air passes the smoke generator pellet maze in the mailbox. When hot smoking you can't keep a lighter lit at the rear drain from all the intake air. Lots of air comes in the drain, path of least resistence vs long snorkle. Dust sticks to Amnps walls and is partially burnt black, but if the rest lays flat in the maze as grey ash then you're good. It always takes a little longer with a bristle brush to clean the tray from burnt dust vs pellets. I made a dam with shears and a soup can bottom and pull tab as a brace for a two piece setup to completely burn all the fuel since it otherwise tapers and goes out and I pitch or fiddle with dust or pieces of pellets. Made a trapezoid piece to fit the center row since I usually don't burn more than one row and the end corner but it fits anywhere in the Amnps. Fill the maze at the dam first to hold in place and fill towards the lighting hole. People with the tube can light and burn verticallyi in grills and smokers but burning vert should only be six inches max from ash collapse so it burns completely per Todd Johnson the inventer.
> 
> View attachment 529154
> 
> ...


 That's interesting as your short pipe version is exactly the opposite from how my brain envisioned mine. I don't have a rear drain, but I didn't considering blocking the one in the bottom.. I'll do that when it quits raining. That's also a neat idea with the dam for the pellets.  I'm going to lift the amnps off the floor of my box and either enlarge my air intakes slightly or add a  few holes on the sides for better flow in regard to the orientation of the amnps. I'm not going to do the vents I mentioned previously.   I pulled the cheese out of the beer fridge this morning, and I still don't like the smell, but it tastes just fine. Quite the conundrum. I'll test it out on my buddy and his wife to see what they say.


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## mr_whipple (May 1, 2022)

So... this should be the last update to this thread. I've been toying around more and more and I'm finally satisfied enough to try a serious cook, that thread after this.  So the last batch of cheese still tasted bad and I finally figured out my problems. I elevated the pellet/dust maze off the bottom of my smoke box using a small cooling rack with folding legs. Voila! game changer. I added holes for airflow, but now they're unnecessary for hot smoking and I put magnets over them. I open three holes to start after putting the maze, and once we're up and running I leave two ever so slightly cracked with the third wide open.  Not much time left in the year to get any cold smoking done, but I'm confident with the changes made it'll work just fine. I've done a few test cooks with basic brats and some moink balls just to gauge the smoke flavor and it's working like a champ. I've played with more homemade dust with great results. I made two batches, one Kingsford 100% Cherry and the other Pit Boss Fruit Blend. Both work very well and no problems with flavor. I've also ran straight cherry pellets with no failures to stay lit. 

Here's the simple fix cooling rack.







Here's the before shot of some storebought meatballs wrapped in some of my home made bacon. I stuffed each with a small cube of mozzarella, then hit them with a touch of KIller Hogs rub. Smoked with straight cherry.






Man were these good.  One had a cheese blowout, but other than that they were quite tasty. Reheating some at work caused quite a stir...."Hey, what are you eating? That smells incredible!"







So that's that. Last thing, somewhere back in this thread I mentioned that I put some foil covered fire bricks in there to keep the heat, but I chunked those. They just made the smoker work harder to come up to temp. More of a heat sink than anything.

Thanks for looking.


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## Bearcarver (May 1, 2022)

Looks Great, Whipple!
Your last comment struck my memory funny.
Years ago somebody suggested putting Bricks in my MOS.
LOL---So I'm supposed to make my MOS thaw out & heat up a couple of bricks that have been freezing solid during a Pennsylvania Winter?? Don't think so.

Bear


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