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Masterbuilt cold smoker kit

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Are the guys who have these generally still happy with them?

I have an MES 30" and am already tired (after only 2 smokes) of loading wood chips all the time and would like to be able to do an overnight smoke.  I just was looking at my credit card rewards program and realized I can get one of the cold smoker kits from Masterbuilt for free. 
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Also, in the area where I keep my smoker on the patio I've only got one outside outlet with two sockets.  It looks like from screenies above it would be ok to plug them both into the same outlet but I was just wondering.
 
I have one of these and did a similar setup to the gentleman above.  It works great for cold smoking.  Generates lots of smoke and virtually no heat when you add the piping to create space between the two.  Have not done cheese, but sausage, bacon, salmon works well.
 
Robdog

How long will the smoker put out smoke before you have to refill and are you using wet or dry chips?  Was thinking about getting one so I didn't have to add chips so often but this discussion on amazen has been enlightening.
 
Just tried mine out tonight in 32 degree weather with no pipe extension.  It brought my temp up to 38-40.  Not a very significant increase.  My dry wood chips lasted over 8 hours.  I love it.  Cheaper to refill the chips than buy the amazn wood chips.  I can collect apple twigs and use in this too, can't do that in an amazn.  I have also never tried an amazn smoker though.  I chose the masterbuilt because i had a gift card for cabelas and it is substantially cheaper for me to restock wood chips than to buy the saw dust for the amazn.  For only trying it out tonight, I am happy with it so far.  Brining some rainbows and lakers now to cold smoke this weekend.  The trout will be the final test.
 
As dcarch said above....I have one of these and have used it a few times.   I am using it currently to smoke cheese and the outside temp is around 32 and the smoker temp is 45-50 deg.  That is plenty cold for cheese and fish.  In the summer......well who cold smokes in the summer anyways!  When the smoke chamber is filled it will burn for 7-8 hours like said above.  It definitely puts out alot of smoke.
 
I bought the A-Maze-N smoke generator and have had nothing but problems with it. Microwaved the pellets, got it lit for 20 minutes with a good cigar-cherry burn on it, removed the ash catcher and feeding tube. Bought a small fan and aimed it into the feeding outlet, top vent wide open. Still would not stay lit. Bought the cold smoker attachment and it works perfectly. Steady stream of good smoke. Using wood pellets with it, instead of chips. Would highly recommend this product.
 
I smoked cheese in mine today, as the ambient outside temperature never got over 35º F, and the temperature in the MES pegged at 55º. The cheese came out darkened and firm! Our MES has a MB leg kit installed, so some modification was needed to mount the kit. I suggested this solution to Masterbuilt, but they didn't seem interested. Their advice: Put the smoke generator on a box to align with the smoke chip port!

  
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coloradoadrian said:
How long will the smoker put out smoke before you have to refill and are you using wet or dry chips?  Was thinking about getting one so I didn't have to add chips so often but this discussion on amazen has been enlightening.
Click to expand...
Two cups of Weber hickory chips (filling the chip hopper about 1/2 full) burned for a little over three hours. The MB instructions for the kit caution against using wet chips. I couldn't keep the A-MAZE-N tray going reliably with their sawdust fuel.
 
JD4JC that is awsome.  I have the same setup on my smoker and the cold box is wably by itself.  You should market that.  I will have to try to make that.  I have tried pellets in my MB cold smoker and they work great but leave a lot of resin on the inside.  Have you tried pellets?
 
Thanks for your kind words! I have not tried pellets, but have quite a large supply of the Traeger brand. I read somewhere how much "non label" wood (mostly alder) is included in most Traeger pellets, and was a little concerned about using them as opposed to the "pure" Weber brand wood chips; but having read of others' successes with pellets, will give them a try soon.

I gave each of my sons a MES, and a "leg kit" that differs from mine (straight legs on theirs). I'll probably try to make them a kit to mount their "birthday present" smoke generators, and if so, will post a picture. The only trick to mounting the SG on a setup like mine is getting the angle of the shelf right so that the shelf bottom is parallel to the ground. Lucky for me, my brother here has a sheet metal break machine, so getting the angle right was cinchy!

I thought that Masterbuilt would want to copy the design and told them about it, but have seen no sign of life from them on this. Maybe their lawyers advised that I might claim intellectual property issues if they responded and later used my pictures of the fix for their own product. Notice to Masterbuilt (if you're listening): You can have my shelf design for free!

[Edit] I just heard from my son in Atlanta, and he said that the "new style" of straight legs in the MB kit I got him provides a sufficient "lip" to support the cold smoke kit with the stop nut removed from the innermost legs to allow the unit to line up with the smoker hole. No kit needed from me!
 
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JD4JC

Really like the design on that smoke generator shelf.  Looks commercially done!!  I just upgraded my MES 30" to a 40" today.  It has the legs like yours.  I want to get that smoke generator, I don't really do any cold smoking but I wanted to find a way to do long smokes without refilling the chip tray every 15-30 minutes, this looks like a good alternative.  I'm not that skilled with metal working so I'll have to try to find another way to do it.
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  Stupid that Masterbuilt didn't adopt that design, it's mint.

Looked at the AMNPS but the only issue I see is placement of the tray.  Where do you put it to 1) keep it away from the heat element, 2) protect it from meat drippings that could potentially extinguish it and 3) it would take up rack space that I could be putting meat on.  Any of the AMNPS guys have any suggestions for these concerns?  Would the tube style work better in this instance?

Thanks!!

Matt
 
Got a question. I recently purchased the Masterbuilt cold smoker. It seems to produce way to much non blue smoke. Does anyone have this problem? Any thoughts on how to change that?
I've tried the AMPS but it always seems to go out or the pellets blowup and won't burn. The AMPS works great in my propane Masterbuilt just not in my MES 30.
 
JD4JC said:
I smoked cheese in mine today, as the ambient outside temperature never got over 35º F, and the temperature in the MES pegged at 55º. The cheese came out darkened and firm! Our MES has a MB leg kit installed, so some modification was needed to mount the kit. I suggested this solution to Masterbuilt, but they didn't seem interested. Their advice: Put the smoke generator on a box to align with the smoke chip port!



  
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IMG_0871.JPG

         
IMG_0872.JPG

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Click to expand...

I have the leg kit on my MES30 and used 3" pipe to connect. I'll be adding a 2' straight pipe to keep the temp down more.
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I've had some PMs on the bracket, and I'm not in a position to make any more, as I used my brother's machine shop, and he's moving away. The design is not rocket science, and all you need is a piece of 1/ 8" or 3/32"aluminum sheet bent to the proper angle with four holes drilled to align with the existing holes in the smoker, and the two outer "feet" of the smoker generator. Mine is cut to conform with the legs of the smoker and the bottom dimensions of the generator, but that refinement is certainly not needed for functionality.

Any sheet metal shop could easily make this. All you'll need to give them is the length and width of the piece of the sheet you need, the distance from the edge to the bend, and the angle of the bend. For the angle, if you have an inexpensive angle transfer tool, you can take the angle from the smoker to the legs, and take that to the shop so that they can use their sheet metal brake to bend it for you. than all you need is to drill four holes and grab a couple of 1/2" bolts to fasten it to the legs. The feet for the generator will secure it to the bracket
 
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