# Bigger Chip Tray for MES 40



## rabbithutch (Apr 25, 2012)

I just stumbled across this post:  http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/99719/official-masterbuilt-wood-chip-kit-w-qview-for-my-40.  It is about 18 months old.  When I took my chip tray and loader out just now to smoke some cheese, I found that my chip tray is half that size.  Mine is an MES 40 20070211 purchased at Sam's last Fall.

Does MES owe me a better tray, or was that an after-market purchase?


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## smoke king (Apr 25, 2012)

Contact Masterbuilt. They will send you the chip tray upgrade.


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## rabbithutch (Apr 26, 2012)

Are they still doing the replacements?  All of the threads and posts talking about it were from several years ago.

Do they give it to you or is there a charge?  How much?

Thanks!!

-rh


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## chef jimmyj (Apr 26, 2012)

They sent me mine, free, in January of this year. They are great to work with. Though I should add since you have an AMNPS, you may not even want bother with the upgrade...JJ


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## daveomak (Apr 26, 2012)

RabbitHutch, morning.... Do you need a different chip tray ???? I had the 1/2 size chip tray and it held way to many chips.....  If I put that many chips in my smoker, too much white billowing ugly tasting smoke was created....  

Just my observations.....    Dave


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## rabbithutch (Apr 26, 2012)

The only reason that I'm interested in the larger chip tray is that I might sell this unit someday and get a wood burner.  I would like to be able to pass it on in the best possible shape.  I think I'll give MasterBuilt a call.  They have not responded to contacts via their website on other questions, so far.


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## badbob (Apr 26, 2012)

I've never used the chip tray in mine, just the AMNPS. No fuss no muss. If you get one you probably wear the thing out before you would want to get rid of it. Just a thought.


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## frizzlefry (Apr 26, 2012)

They sent me the larger chip tray for free.

But you'll notice that the chip loader is still blocked off halfway, so I don't know if the bigger tray makes much of a difference.  I've been thinking about unblocking the loader, but I don't want to get the dreaded "ugly white smoke"


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## bigtimtx (Oct 22, 2012)

Just received a 40" MES (20070311) for my birthday last week. Ran about 30 lbs of brisket through it and although the cooking time and temps produced a moist, tender product, I was disappointed with the light smoke flavor produced by the MES. I called Masterbuilt this afternoon with my concerns and they are sending me the retrofit at no charge.

I noticed several things while watching the replacement video.

1. The bigger chip pan will allow the chips to spread out more evenly, so even with the 'half loader', you could likely shove in two loads of chips if desired. 

2. The replacement chip tray has no piece of sheet metal at the bottom blocking the heat from the element to the chip tray, so the smoker should be able to produce smoke at a much lower temp.

3. It appears that the chip tray itself is a bit deeper than the original, so the heating element is closer to the chips, so should burn a bit better/cleaner as well.

I'll repost here after I get it and try it out...


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## bigtimtx (Oct 22, 2012)

Just received a 40" MES (20070311) for my birthday last week. Ran about 30 lbs of brisket through it and although the cooking time and temps produced a moist, tender product, I was disappointed with the light smoke flavor produced by the MES. I called Masterbuilt this afternoon with my concerns and they are sending me the retrofit at no charge.

I noticed several things while watching the replacement video.

1. The bigger chip pan will allow the chips to spread out more evenly, so even with the 'half loader', you could likely shove in two loads of chips if desired. 

2. The replacement chip tray has no piece of sheet metal at the bottom blocking the heat from the element to the chip tray, so the smoker should be able to produce smoke at a much lower temp.

3. It appears that the chip tray itself is a bit deeper than the original, so the heating element is closer to the chips, so should burn a bit better/cleaner as well.

I'll repost here after I get it and try it out...


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## tjohnson (Oct 22, 2012)

BigTimTX said:


> Just received a 40" MES (20070311) for my birthday last week. Ran about 30 lbs of brisket through it and although the cooking time and temps produced a moist, tender product, I was disappointed with the light smoke flavor produced by the MES. I called Masterbuilt this afternoon with my concerns and they are sending me the retrofit at no charge.
> 
> I noticed several things while watching the replacement video.
> 
> ...


Big Tim

My best guess is that Masterbuilt does not want you to overload the chip pan by adding too many chips

Even though the replacement chip pan is 2 times as wide as the original chip pan, it real worth is somewhat confusing to me

The biggest improvement is they removed the heat shield that sits between the element and the chip pan

Remove the housing, and cut out the heat shied

Todd


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## bigtimtx (Oct 22, 2012)

Todd,

Thanks for the input. If they weren't still providing the retrofit tray and holder for free, I was going to do just that. Seems to me that it would be a pretty easy fix to just cut out some/most of the screwed/riveted bottom heat shield to expose the bottom of the chip tray, but I'm guessing Masterbuilt isn't quite ready to tell their customers to take a pair of tin snips to their smoker...hehehe, so they're still providing the kit.

I already took a look at the A-Maze-N smoker products as well. That will likely be my next step, as I have some cold smoke projects in mind as well.

Big Tim


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## chiefwej (Oct 23, 2012)

If you want a full-size chip loader vs the half you now have, it's very easy to just grind through the little spot welds and remove the piece that blocks the other half of the loader.  But once you add an AMNPS, I doubt you would ever use it again.


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## seenred (Oct 23, 2012)

Definitely get an AMNPS, and you'll quickly forget about the chip tray.


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## 1beezer (Oct 24, 2012)

With an AMNPS the chiptray will just become ductwork for the cold air intake to make it breathe. Get the free replacement but try and get the AMNPS and some pellets.


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