Masterbuilt Smokehouse 4-Rack Digital Electric Smoker

tracey in texas · Sep 7, 2008

Is this a good buy? I want to get me a electric smoker.

http://www.qvc.com/qic/qvcapp.aspx/v...lectric-Smoker

ronp · Sep 7, 2008

Don't know about a good deal or not. I have the stainless one from Sams at 299.00 and love it. They are great smokers.

meat-man · Sep 7, 2008

Ya I think it is cheap enough but have you shopped around ?

www.lem.com
www.midwesternresearch.com
www.alliedkenco.com
www.cabelas.com

I would do a little shopping around before I buy.

jlhog · Sep 7, 2008

This is the best price I could find when I bought mine. Ship it to a store near you and pick it up.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=7811422

formerlyfatguy · Sep 7, 2008

I just bought my second 40" MES from Sam's for $218 at my local Sam's in Plymouth, Ma
I notice Sam's EBay division has one for $369 on EBay now.
I got my first one on FleaBay for a little over $100. It had a little cabinet damage, but works great.

tender loins · Sep 9, 2008

Walmart is the lowest price on the black version I think, $188, and they ship it to your local Walmart store for free, you do have to pay tax though.

I just bought the stainless steel version from Cabela's. $249.99 was the cheapest I could find. I also had a coupon code for $2.95 shipping (plus $6 for oversize, so still just $8.95 shipping for 49 pounds!) PLUS I applied for a Cabela's credit card to pay for the smoker and got ANOTHER $20 off! And no sales tax!

So total delivered cost for the stainless steel version was $238.94. If I ordered the black version from Walmart, after sales tax, it would have costed $204 plus gas to go get it.

chris m · Sep 9, 2008

I have had the same smoker since June. I have been getting pretty good results with it but there is one thing I am having trouble with. Getting that thin blue smoke. I can make billowing white smoke. I can make thin WHITE smoke by only putting in an few chips at a time. Is there a trick to creating the blue smoke or is that not possible with this smoker?

By the way - $175 for the black model at Bass Pro Shops less a $25 rebate when I got mine in June.

Chris

tender loins · Sep 9, 2008

I don't want to get off-topic but on seasoning this smoker, with a stainless inside, do you still oil/Pam it on break-in? Is the veggie oil/Pam to stop rust on the black models, or to season the stainless steel interior? I can't think of how it may do either on SS.

The manual only states seasoning it at 275, water pan in place with NO WATER, and with 1 cup of wood chips only for the LAST 45 minutes (of 3 hour seasoning process.)

Thanks for any help on the seasoning issue on SS models.

ronp · Sep 9, 2008

Just folllow the book, that's all you need to do.

tender loins · Sep 9, 2008

I know they always recommend to keep safe distances from other things, but does the MES get hot on the outside or the bottom? Can they be placed on a picnic table or bench?

fishawn · Sep 9, 2008

Having had a MES for a while I would pay $500 for one! I paid $175 for mine @ Joes sporting goods.

werdwolf · Sep 9, 2008

No, mine has never gotten hot to the touch. Maybe just a little warm.

michdeerhunter · Sep 9, 2008

I have the stainless and I smoke on my wooden deck and about a foot from my house, which is vinyl sided. No problems let, it is pretty well insulated. To season it I just followed the directions. It looked real pretty inside before I used it and after using it I was sad. I cleaned it out and got the inside nice and shinny again. Then I used it and the same thing happened and I decided that I will keep the outside shinny and leave the inside the way it is.

tjw in kans · Sep 9, 2008

i thought about purchasing online but got mine locally. i always end up having to go through the trouble to return ship when i find damage or parts missing, then cabellas locally had the 20 dollar off coupon just in time.

dradclif · Sep 10, 2008

Hey all, first time here, but not a newbie to Q'N.

I just purchased my 40" stainless steel MES yesterday at Sam's for $150. End of season, (I guess somewhere anyway) plus display model, and last one. Seems they were well over $300 this summer, they went into the clearance area last month (to make room for Christmas stuff.. already), they were marked down to $215, then yesterday the last one was marked down to $195.... so I offered $150 to take it off their hands.. they thanked me.. LOL!!! I'll have to print out the manual though - missing in action. I suspect I can download one from Materbuilt's website, if they have one. In searching for their site, I came across this message board. It has some interesting posts regarding the design and development of this product. So, thot I'd stop in for a visit.

I'll come back again once I've used it.. maybe this weekend.

I also have..

30" CharGriller with side firebox. Typical for smoking upto 9 racks of baby back ribs, pork butts, or tri-tip. That's all I use it for, the external fire box is perfect for smoking meats.

34" stainless steel, natural gas - 3 burner, with back infrared for rotisserie and side burner, Sam's Club Members Mark (made by Grand Hall), which I also purchased a few years ago at considerable discount for the same reasons as above.. I made an offer, they took it. I use this for rotisserie chicken, corn, hot links, grilled chicken, steaks, etc. More for grilling, not BBQ'ing.

37" Dual Chamber, front loading Brinkman Professional. I typically sear my ribs on this before smoking them for 4 hours in the CharGriller. I also typically sear my tri-tip on here first, as well as cooking small red potatoes, or fingerlings, corn, hot links, etc.

I typically have all 3 grills going at the same time, to feed between 40 and 50 people. I'm hoping the addition of the MES will increase that to 60 or more. I love to cook, and I love to orchestrate what most are completely amazed that one person can do as much as I can, with the food tasting as great as it does. Probably at least 1/4 to 1/3 of the people at my BBQs are in the food industry business, (restaurant owners, cooks, servers, bar tenders, etc.), and they'll exclaim every time that my ribs and tri-tip are the best on the planet, and they've never had potatoes or corn off the grill like mine. I can't help but feel great watching people enjoy my cooking.

One thing particular I've seen in this message board is the mention of blue smoke, versus white smoke. I've never been part of a group, nor done research on smoking meats... self taught... but what is the meaning/ purpose/ significance of blue smoke?

That's it for now, I'll be baaaack!!!

Dave

pantherfan83 · Sep 11, 2008

Chris,

I'm not sure. Maybe one man's TBS is another man's thin white smoke?? Do you pre-soak your chips? If you are, you might want to try not, or if you're not, you might want to try it. I've always soaked my chips. I would think that would solve your problem of billowing white smoke. I've read that lots of people use dry chips. They say that in order for them to start smoking that the heating element has to dry them back out again anyway. That's probably true, I just feel like some of the chips will dry out faster than other, thus producing THIN smoke for a longer period of time rather than them all burning at once.

I've also read here:
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=11744
about getting better smoke ring results by adding a chunk of charcoal every once in a while. I tried it with my last smoke and was very happy with the results. This thread also suggest using chunks rather than chips.

Regardless if you think your smoke is blue or white, the bottom line is your results. If the food tastes great, who cares???

deltadude · Sep 11, 2008

GREAT BUY!!!

Sometimes life just isn't fair, I paid almost double that price. Hey I will sell you my manual for $100 :)

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