Masterbuilt Smokers (Bear’s Thoughts & Findings)

darko886 · Jul 15, 2021

Bearcarver said:
A 10° swing is actually quite good.
Was that with the MES Read-out, or was that with an accurate Wireless set?
If it was with an accurate therm, and you want it to be 250°, just set it at 242°.
That way it should cycle between 245° and 255°, so the average will be 250°.

If that was from your MES Read-out, that means it was taken from the sensor on the back wall, just below center. (Looks like a little toggle switch)
If you want accuracy, get a set of wireless Therms, and put a sensor "Probe" where you will put your meat. Then adjust it to get the temp you want in that area. I always favored #2 rack (Second rack down from the top).

Note: When shooting for a particular Temp, watch a couple cycles. Then note the High & the Low. The center of that cycle is to be considered the Temp your meat is in.

I hope that helps. Any questions, PM me.

Bear

It was with a wireless thermometer. Glad that's not bad, thanks a always for the input, I'll be using your Boston butt step by step guide for my first attempt!

lunatics · Aug 18, 2021

darko886 said:
I have one more to ask you about. This one has vents on both sides and looks like the 2.5 inside. What do you think? I'm leaning to this one because of the vents.

Masterbuilt 30 in. Digital Electric Smoker with Bluetooth and Broiler in Black MB26073519 - The Home Depot

Celebrate the end of your next DIY project with a plate of ribs or a slow-smoked brisket. Built to take on the challenge and help you become a backyard BBQ champion, the MES 130P features innovation both

www.homedepot.com

I recently purchased one of these and cannot say I would recommend it so far from my experience. I have an old MB 30" electric smoker, I am not sure of which model and generation it is as MB is terrible with their naming/numbering scheme and my old one was so much better. Felt like it held temp better, created smoke better and felt like it was better constructed. This new one I have feels more cheaply built, feels like it doesn't hold temp as well and I notice the outside of the unit gets significantly hot where as my old one you would tap on the side of it, it feels solid, never heated up and you could touch it without any issues etc. This new one gets very hot on the outside and if you tap on it it just feels hollow as if there's no insulation or anything to help keep heat in. I am worried with how well this unit will perform in cold weather. Also my meat probe died the first time I turned the unit on to use/season it.

That being said, the one positive thing I can say about this unit is the broiler is a nice feature. I question how long it will last but it's been nice the couple times I made wings.

I need to do a few more cooks on this unit but I am already in the process of looking into trying to salvage or restore my older one which was left outside by friends and ruined. Currently everything inside is rusted out and full of mold but I am hoping I may be able to salvage it as this new unit does not compare and sadly I did not know any of these things until I got home, built it, seasoned, it and tried cooking in it and too late to return it. In hindsight I am regretting not looking into replacing my grill+smoker with a pellet grill or one of these new charcoal ones.

I have mostly been lurking on here but I wish I saw Bears posts earlier about his older models he is looking to get rid of before I invested $300 into this newer model which has been fairly disappointing Nothing worse than feeling like you wasted a decent chunk of money you can't get back..

Bearcarver · Aug 18, 2021

lunatics said:
I recently purchased one of these and cannot say I would recommend it so far from my experience. I have an old MB 30" electric smoker, I am not sure of which model and generation it is as MB is terrible with their naming/numbering scheme and my old one was so much better. Felt like it held temp better, created smoke better and felt like it was better constructed. This new one I have feels more cheaply built, feels like it doesn't hold temp as well and I notice the outside of the unit gets significantly hot where as my old one you would tap on the side of it, it feels solid, never heated up and you could touch it without any issues etc. This new one gets very hot on the outside and if you tap on it it just feels hollow as if there's no insulation or anything to help keep heat in. I am worried with how well this unit will perform in cold weather. Also my meat probe died the first time I turned the unit on to use/season it.

That being said, the one positive thing I can say about this unit is the broiler is a nice feature. I question how long it will last but it's been nice the couple times I made wings.

I need to do a few more cooks on this unit but I am already in the process of looking into trying to salvage or restore my older one which was left outside by friends and ruined. Currently everything inside is rusted out and full of mold but I am hoping I may be able to salvage it as this new unit does not compare and sadly I did not know any of these things until I got home, built it, seasoned, it and tried cooking in it and too late to return it. In hindsight I am regretting not looking into replacing my grill+smoker with a pellet grill or one of these new charcoal ones.

I have mostly been lurking on here but I wish I saw Bears posts earlier about his older models he is looking to get rid of before I invested $300 into this newer model which has been fairly disappointing Nothing worse than feeling like you wasted a decent chunk of money you can't get back..

I had 2 Gen #1s, one Gen #2, and 1 Gen #2.5.
They were all great, but the Gen #2 because it wasn't designed right, with the slanted Drip plate in the bottom.

Two of my MES 40s were still available until today.
That one that you brought home, assembled, seasoned, and tried could have been taken back, if that's all you did with it. If you didn't like it, you should have contacted them.

Bear

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Masterbuilt Smokers (Bear’s Thoughts & Findings)

darko886

Newbie

lunatics

Newbie

Masterbuilt 30 in. Digital Electric Smoker with Bluetooth and Broiler in Black MB26073519 - The Home Depot

Bearcarver

Gone but not forgotten RIP

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