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Converting a MES 30 Elite Analog into a snack stick smoker

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  • Converting a MES 30 Elite Analog into a snack stick smoker

    Ok, I've been pondering this for a while.

    Some time back I picked up a huge, as it 7 1/2' tall McCall proofer/warmer that I intended to convert to a mega snack stick and smoked sausage making machine. I liked this particular unit as it was inexpensive (like $85 with the auction fee and taxes), all stainless inside and out, the heating element was at the top of the unit, air is pulled from the top of the cabinet and forced across a finned heating element by 2 fans and then flows down a channel on one side of the cabinet with louvers to evenly distributed the heated air around the interior of the cabinet. Should have even heating and no danger of a grease fire as there is no way for the drippings to hit the element. Only problem is where to put it. The dang thing is too tall to go under my garage door so storing it there and rolling it out to use is not an option and I'm out of room on the covered porch (plus the wife said it's too big so that was the end of the put it on the porch campaign). So it has been sitting in storage since I bought it.

    I recently saw a thread in another forum where a user modded his MES 30 Elite Analog to upgrade from the 3 racks that come with the unit to a total of 8 racks. Photo is of his rack mod.



    I already own a Auber Instrument PID "in a box" controller that I bought to run the element in my e-WSM mod. The e-WSM does a great job on sticks and smoked sausage, I just need more real estate. I was looking at modding the e-WSM and adding racks but by the time I bought the racks and had the frame I wanted welded up I was looking at a $100+ mod. So the $170 MES 30 Elite Analog was starting to look attractive. Here is my PID controller. It will be plug and play with the MES 30.



    So this weekend I was checking out the "going out of business" sale at the local Gander Mountain. They had the MES 30 Elite Analog for 20% off which brought the price down to $132. I bought one. Here is the stock unit with no mods after simply running wide open for about 2 hours to burn off any shipping oil. It held 375* no problems in 70* ambient heat (temp by Thermapen - the dial thermo in door is off by 25* over 250 - shocker). Since I'm looking at cold smoking, snack sticks and smoked sausage, I only need to get to the 170-180* range so I think I'm covered.





    All that open space up top is just screaming "please add more cooking racks to me!" The mod will add 3 more and I also ordered 2 more racks for the open rack space at the bottom (total of 8 racks when done). That little white light you see at the top right of the interior is the only smoke exhaust port. I'm also going to add a real adjustable smoke stack on the top and use this opening as a temp sensor probe inlet (will plug with a drilled and slit silicone plug).



    Air inlet looks a little on the small side also, I may end up opening it up later.

    So right now the MES 30 Elite Analog is stock from the box. Here is a list of the mods I'm considering....

    1) add 5 more food racks and do the mod posted here:

    2) add a real smoke stack - adjustable model from a Lowes Master Forge gas smoker. I'm going to put a wide baffle about an inch below the bottom of the stack, I want to spread the in flow to the stack out over a larger area and more from the sides of the smoker to combat the natural tendency for the air to flow straight up and out the stack. Photo of the stack I'm ordering (back ordered until May 1st):



    3) place a cut section from a stainless steel "hotel pan false bottom" for steaming above the heating element. Purpose will be to more evenly distribute heat and smoke over a larger area via it's size (as a metal radiating surface) and via the holes in it. If I pull the rack for the smoke box and water pan, I should be able to find and cut a hotel pan false bottom unit to slide on the mounts for the existing rack above the heating element.

    4) close off whimpy 3/4" exhaust port on back of smoker with a slit and drilled silicone plug (use for temp probe wire inlet)

    5) use Auber "plug & play" PID controller to regulate 1,500 watt element and control temps

    6) use AMZNPS tray for smoke source, may require opening up larger air inlet on the bottom (larger hole or more smaller holes). I also intend on building a heat shield to sit slightly above the pellet tray and shield it from the heating element.

    7) depending on results of pellet tray and smoke stack mods, I may raise the heating element like others have done.

    8) may add insulating door gasket to stem leakage of smoke and better seal unit.

    9) may drill out the top rivets and pull the top off so I can slide in rock wool insulation and insulate the body. As is, the unit is a double wall, uninsulated (dead air space) shell. It looks like after drilling rivets for the top I can slide in sections of rock wool. Same for the door, drill rivets and insulate.

    So the part collecting begins.....
    Dave

    I love coming home. My back porch smells just like a BBQ joint.....


  • #2
    Hell yeah Dave...That thing is gonna kick ass...
    Craig
    sigpic

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    • #3
      That looks pretty sweet with the extra racks, and the PID sounds cool also. Sounds like you got a great game plan in place. Any thoughts on dowels or something way up top to hang stuff from?

      Good Luck! Be watching
      sigpic

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Fishawn View Post
        That looks pretty sweet with the extra racks, and the PID sounds cool also. Sounds like you got a great game plan in place. Any thoughts on dowels or something way up top to hang stuff from?

        Good Luck! Be watching
        I've seen one thread elsewhere where they made a wooden dowel rack holder that just slid down between the rack supports on the top set of supports and then laid dowels into v-notches in top of the wooden rack holder to hang sticks on the dowels. But with 8 racks I can make a bunch of sticks laying them flat as well.
        Dave

        I love coming home. My back porch smells just like a BBQ joint.....

        Comment


        • #5
          Awesome---Mass Produced Snack Sticks!!

          Great Idea!!

          Shame you can't use that Proofer---7 1/2 '---Huge !!

          Bear
          Vietnam Vet---9th Inf. Div. Mekong Delta (1969)
          Easy to follow Step By Steps: Pulled Cured Boston Butt Ham and Buckboard Bacon--Smoked Salmon-- Bacon-On-A-Stick--Bacon (Extra Smokey)--Boneless Cured & Smoked Pork Chops & CB--Canadian Bacon & Dried Beef--Ham Twins (Double Smoked)--Double Smoked Hams X 4--Bear Logs (All Beef--Unstuffed)--Smoked Bear Loaf (All Beef-Mild Hot)--Prime Rib (My Best ever)--Another Prime Rib--Chucky (Pulled Beef)--Twin Chuckies--Pork and Beef Spares--Rare Beef (for Sammies)--Raspberry Chiffon Pie---


          Mom & 4 Cub litter---Potter County, PA:

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          • #6
            Just to give you an idea of the size of the McCall warmer I "wanted" to use. The door is off and I have the louver panel that is normally on the right side of the interior out, but you get the idea.



            This is how the convection system is set up in that cabinet (this is the way it is now, I don't even need to mod it!!!) Two fans pull the air up and blow it across the finned element and then down the side louvered channel. Should have great even temps. I'm still hoping to get this in service one day, just not right now.

            Note: this drawing showed it after I added PID controller and air inlet for pellet tray in bottom of body of smoker.

            Dave

            I love coming home. My back porch smells just like a BBQ joint.....

            Comment


            • #7
              Cool project! Love to see some stix in it!
              Mark
              sigpic


              "Likes smokey old pool rooms, clear mountain mornins. Little warm puppies, children and girls of the night"?
              Smoked-Meat Certified Sausage Head!

              Comment


              • #8
                Looks like a well thought out and planned project. Looking forward to your updates as you progress.

                Comment


                • #9
                  That would be a "Stick Monster" !!!!

                  Oh Well---8 racks in your Analog aint bad either!!

                  Bear
                  Vietnam Vet---9th Inf. Div. Mekong Delta (1969)
                  Easy to follow Step By Steps: Pulled Cured Boston Butt Ham and Buckboard Bacon--Smoked Salmon-- Bacon-On-A-Stick--Bacon (Extra Smokey)--Boneless Cured & Smoked Pork Chops & CB--Canadian Bacon & Dried Beef--Ham Twins (Double Smoked)--Double Smoked Hams X 4--Bear Logs (All Beef--Unstuffed)--Smoked Bear Loaf (All Beef-Mild Hot)--Prime Rib (My Best ever)--Another Prime Rib--Chucky (Pulled Beef)--Twin Chuckies--Pork and Beef Spares--Rare Beef (for Sammies)--Raspberry Chiffon Pie---


                  Mom & 4 Cub litter---Potter County, PA:

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Cheers! keep diggin...i like it!
                    Sunset Eagle Aviation
                    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sunse...888015?fref=ts <... We sure could use some likes!

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Where are you located and what are you going to do with the big cabinet?

                      I bought a crescore at auction but it needs a whole harness to get it back up to snuff.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        I'm in GA, but I will probably hang on to the McCall for now. I still think it would make the perfect sausage smoking machine!
                        Dave

                        I love coming home. My back porch smells just like a BBQ joint.....

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Well, I had a minor setback yesterday afternoon. The parts from Masterbuilt came in, but the side rack supports were not a pair of supports, so I only got one. In their defense, the lady who took the order said it shows the part number for the support had two items in the shipping list (but she could not see what they were). Prior forum posts seemed to indicate the replacement order would consist of 2 of the rack supports (left and right side). But apparently the 2 items are 1 rack and 1 pack of the screws to mount it. So I'm 1 rack short of what I need.

                          So I called to order 1 more side rack support and they were closed for Good Friday. Guess it will be sometime next week before I can order the part and the drilling & modding can begin.

                          -----------------------------------------

                          For those who might want to order these parts for a similar mod, here are the Masterbuilt part numbers from my packing slip. My smoker is a Masterbuilt 30 Sportsman Elite analog, model number 20071012. It seems the Sportsman Elite version is sold by Gander Mountain, Bass Pro and Cabela's and is a little different from the "standard" 30 analog which has a different set of rack supports. The SE model has 3 racks and the rack supports are already set up for a total of 5 racks out of the box. The standard model I have seen at Walmart locally only has rack supports for 3 racks so the mod would be different if you did not have a SE model.

                          9907140023 - rack support (only 1 support and pack of screws - so order 2 of these)

                          910050029 - smoking rack (1 ordered 5, 2 to fit the existing rack supports and 3 more for the mod install).

                          Shipping on the entire lot was $10.36, so the parts were a little less than $50 (no breakdown in my packing slip) as it was $61 for everything I ordered so far.
                          Dave

                          I love coming home. My back porch smells just like a BBQ joint.....

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Could mount a range hood over the proofer and exhaust the smoke outside. Thats what I do
                            Don..

                            2 of me best buds ever! R.I.P guys
                            ______________________________
                            sigpic

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                            • #15
                              Well, kudo's to Masterbuilt's customer service call center!!!!

                              I called them to order the 2nd rack support, and they are shipping it at no cost (and no shipping either). When he pulled up my order and I told him I needed the 2nd rack support and why, he said on the way and no charge. I'm not 100% sure if I was supposed to get two in the original order, and I was sorta shocked with the no charge and did not think to ask, but I'll take it. Woo Hoo!!!!

                              I hope to have the parts here soon so I can get cranking on the upgrades. The one piece of the puzzle that is still missing is the smoke stack from Lowe's. I can't order it until the last week of the month as they are back ordered.
                              Dave

                              I love coming home. My back porch smells just like a BBQ joint.....

                              Comment

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