I bought my Masterbuilt for my birthday in early April. I had read all the reviews and knew what to expect. Poor fitting / leaky door - Chip pan that catches fire --
Those things are true. First fire for seasoning proved it out. The only modification that I made right away was to get rid of the chip pan and replace it with a standard chip box that you might use on your grill. Surprisingly this worked great. I stole a rack (that you might find in the drawer under you range) from my wife, and it was perfect for setting over the fire and put the chip box on. I will post some pictures soon.
I'm not sure how I'm going to address the door issue. I may add two more latches. The Masterbuilt only has one in the middle. I suspect adding one at the top and bottom might help a lot. I may also use some kind of gasketing material to help. As it can get pretty cool here in NH - controlling and conserving heat can be critical.
This smoker is huge -- As a hobbyist, I don't know if I will ever fill the racks. What I have learned is that I need to add some time to my cooking as opposed to my much smaller vertical bullet. I have done Chicken - Ribs - and a pork butt and all were under done even with careful attention to temp. I was just given a gift of a really nice smoker thermometer with a wireless remote for monitoring. I will try this soon.
I know there are a lot of opinions about cooking with gas. I guess my take on it is that I don't feel the heat source is as important as the rubs, brine's, slathers and the wood used.
As a newbie - I may be way off base here, but that is my mindset at this time. I have a lot to learn and I'm certain I will find a wealth of helpful information here.
Pars
Those things are true. First fire for seasoning proved it out. The only modification that I made right away was to get rid of the chip pan and replace it with a standard chip box that you might use on your grill. Surprisingly this worked great. I stole a rack (that you might find in the drawer under you range) from my wife, and it was perfect for setting over the fire and put the chip box on. I will post some pictures soon.
I'm not sure how I'm going to address the door issue. I may add two more latches. The Masterbuilt only has one in the middle. I suspect adding one at the top and bottom might help a lot. I may also use some kind of gasketing material to help. As it can get pretty cool here in NH - controlling and conserving heat can be critical.
This smoker is huge -- As a hobbyist, I don't know if I will ever fill the racks. What I have learned is that I need to add some time to my cooking as opposed to my much smaller vertical bullet. I have done Chicken - Ribs - and a pork butt and all were under done even with careful attention to temp. I was just given a gift of a really nice smoker thermometer with a wireless remote for monitoring. I will try this soon.
I know there are a lot of opinions about cooking with gas. I guess my take on it is that I don't feel the heat source is as important as the rubs, brine's, slathers and the wood used.
As a newbie - I may be way off base here, but that is my mindset at this time. I have a lot to learn and I'm certain I will find a wealth of helpful information here.
Pars