Masterbuild XL Mods - Post your mods here!

j4165y · Jul 22, 2011

You are way too nit picky.. I have no problems with my smoker. The cast iron pans are too thick to burn wood properly. That is why I welded the slots shout or just take a hammer and pound even and use foil to avoid flame touching the wood. For the Money this is the BEST smoker out there. Air flow and leakage is in your head.. Just cook and enjoy the results. Adjust the knob to low and maintain 225*. I have cooked over 300lbs of meat with no problems. I use apple wood on Chicken, Brisket, Pork Ribs and Links.

otis857 · Jul 22, 2011

Call it what you will. But when you get down to it, the smoker is a box with shelves, a chip pan and a burner in the bottom. The trick is to make that box cook meat as good as any other box with shelves and a burner. Air flow comes into play when you want to cook low and slow at 225 or less and this smoker does have a problem maintaining low temps without the burner going out. This box does just fine at 250-325 with the previously mentioned mods. And especially for the price, it does many things good. But for most of us, this is a hobby every bit as much as a way to cook your dinner. And there is no nit picking in trying to squeek the best performance possible out of this inexpensive and fairly well made smoker.

Look at other, more expensive smokers. They usually have a vent or vents at the bottom to help regulate temp and air flow. When I find and add some round 1/4 turn air vents, IMHO, this smoker will perform with the best of them with minimal modifications and for a lot less $$'s than the expensive smokers.

dbarnett66 · Jul 25, 2011

darthtrader said:
I've had this smoker for nearly a year now. My biggest problem with it is inadequate airflow causing some cooks to turn bitter from stale smoke. I imagine that this could possibly be due to the exhaust positioning on the back side rather than top and lack of control of the intake. The poorly fitting door, inaccurate thermostat, the wobbly uneven legs, laughable drip and wood pans...I can deal with all of that, but airflow...that's going to take some major modding. Is anyone else dissatisfied with this?

I am sorry that you have so many problems with the smoker. I ditched the water pan and the wood pan and replaced with with a cast iron pan for wood chunks and a full sized stainless steel catering pan. My door fits fine. A little smoke escapes but not enough to be a concern. I don't rely on my thermometer either although people have told me that it can be calibrated. I use oven thermometers and wireless thermometers for the meat.The XL has been the best smoker that I have owned. I don't even use my Ugly Drum Smoker anymore. My legs have never wobbled.

I don't think you need to modify airflow. I use three to four fist sized chunks of pecan and that is it for the entire smoke. No bitterness what so ever. Because I use a full size catering pan, there is no need for the drip pan. All the drippings go back into the water pan. I leave my vents wide open and I can maintain temps at 225 to 250 without much concern. My knob is turned about midway between the low and medium setting with the air vent wide open. I would try using less wood and keep the vents wide open. If you are using the too much wood and it catches fire I could see some bitterness from soot. After a few minutes, I don't see visible smoke coming from my vents unless I get a flashlight and use it to back light the thin blue smoke. I hope this helps. Keep us posted.

dbarnett66 · Jul 25, 2011

Otis857 said:
Call it what you will. But when you get down to it, the smoker is a box with shelves, a chip pan and a burner in the bottom. The trick is to make that box cook meat as good as any other box with shelves and a burner. Air flow comes into play when you want to cook low and slow at 225 or less and this smoker does have a problem maintaining low temps without the burner going out. This box does just fine at 250-325 with the previously mentioned mods. And especially for the price, it does many things good. But for most of us, this is a hobby every bit as much as a way to cook your dinner. And there is no nit picking in trying to squeek the best performance possible out of this inexpensive and fairly well made smoker.

Look at other, more expensive smokers. They usually have a vent or vents at the bottom to help regulate temp and air flow. When I find and add some round 1/4 turn air vents, IMHO, this smoker will perform with the best of them with minimal modifications and for a lot less $$'s than the expensive smokers.

I maintain 225-250 on my XL for 11-12 hours with out any flame outs. I turn the knob 1/2 way between low and medium with great results. My vent is wide open.

otis857 · Jul 25, 2011

My control knob is set at as low as it will go without the flame going out and I cant get it to hold 225, much less go below that. With any breeze at all the flame goes out at this low of a setting and I have to cook at 250. As I said before, it will do 250-325 with no problems (checked at the middle shelf) its keeping it at 225 that is a problem for my smoker. Thats where increased air flow will come into play. Perhaps these smokers are inconsistent and thats why some people have no problems maintaining lower temps and others have problems getting temps up, while others have no issues with the temperature at all. Chinese quality control standards leave much to be desired, especially in lower price point products such as this.

Dont get me wrong, Im not dissatisfied with the smoker. A lot of meat has gone through my smoker and no complaints havebeen lodged by Mrs Otis. But I think more along the lines of Darthtrader as well as others here that have come up with creative mods for the XL. It is a decent smoker, but it could have easily been a great smoker from the start with a little more product R&D and some pre production user input. And its still easier and more consistant than the Bar B Chef offset charcoal smoker that it replaced at my house.

BTW, I run a cast iron frying pan for the chip pan and a full size S.S. serving pan for the water pan. THe frying pan works fine for chips smoking without catching on fire and the serving pan does a great job as a grease pan as well as a water pan.

darthtrader · Jul 25, 2011

j4165y said:
You are way too nit picky.. I have no problems with my smoker. The cast iron pans are too thick to burn wood properly. That is why I welded the slots shout or just take a hammer and pound even and use foil to avoid flame touching the wood. For the Money this is the BEST smoker out there. Air flow and leakage is in your head.. Just cook and enjoy the results. Adjust the knob to low and maintain 225*. I have cooked over 300lbs of meat with no problems. I use apple wood on Chicken, Brisket, Pork Ribs and Links.

I'm glad you've had such problem free experience with yours. I'm thinking mine must've been made on a Monday.

Understandably, this is only a $200 unit, but it would be nice not to expect to have to know a little welding/fab or have to buy a few extras to get to your point of satisfaction. Don't be afraid to 'knit pick' around here! If at the very least, we're helping Masterbuilt for their second generation roll-out, and they didn't even have to pay us a consulting fee.

dbarnett66 said:
I am sorry that you have so many problems with the smoker. I ditched the water pan and the wood pan and replaced with with a cast iron pan for wood chunks and a full sized stainless steel catering pan. My door fits fine. A little smoke escapes but not enough to be a concern. I don't rely on my thermometer either although people have told me that it can be calibrated. I use oven thermometers and wireless thermometers for the meat.The XL has been the best smoker that I have owned. I don't even use my Ugly Drum Smoker anymore. My legs have never wobbled.

I don't think you need to modify airflow. I use three to four fist sized chunks of pecan and that is it for the entire smoke. No bitterness what so ever. Because I use a full size catering pan, there is no need for the drip pan. All the drippings go back into the water pan. I leave my vents wide open and I can maintain temps at 225 to 250 without much concern. My knob is turned about midway between the low and medium setting with the air vent wide open. I would try using less wood and keep the vents wide open. If you are using the too much wood and it catches fire I could see some bitterness from soot. After a few minutes, I don't see visible smoke coming from my vents unless I get a flashlight and use it to back light the thin blue smoke. I hope this helps. Keep us posted.

I've always favored a mild smoking of three chunks or less too. One thing I've noticed from even the less costly gas smokers is the addition of intake vents and exhaust chimneys. It's just nice to have options.

Otis857 said:
My control knob is set at as low as it will go without the flame going out and I cant get it to hold 225, much less go below that. With any breeze at all the flame goes out at this low of a setting and I have to cook at 250. As I said before, it will do 250-325 with no problems (checked at the middle shelf) its keeping it at 225 that is a problem for my smoker. Thats where increased air flow will come into play. Perhaps these smokers are inconsistent and thats why some people have no problems maintaining lower temps and others have problems getting temps up, while others have no issues with the temperature at all. Chinese quality control standards leave much to be desired, especially in lower price point products such as this.

Dont get me wrong, Im not dissatisfied with the smoker. A lot of meat has gone through my smoker and no complaints havebeen lodged by Mrs Otis. But I think more along the lines of Darthtrader as well as others here that have come up with creative mods for the XL. It is a decent smoker, but it could have easily been a great smoker from the start with a little more product R&D and some pre production user input. And its still easier and more consistant than the Bar B Chef offset charcoal smoker that it replaced at my house.

BTW, I run a cast iron frying pan for the chip pan and a full size S.S. serving pan for the water pan. THe frying pan works fine for chips smoking without catching on fire and the serving pan does a great job as a grease pan as well as a water pan.

Would be great to see your chimney mod in pics, Otis!

otis857 · Aug 10, 2011

Sorry for the Delay, Darth. Here's the pics of my Masterbuilt mods and some ribs I smoked for my 54th B day Sunday. You cant see it from this view, but I picked up a stove damper online and added it to the stack under the rain cap.

Here's the frying pan for a chip pan, sitting on an old bbq grate with 5/16 bolts to get the right height. I also used a full size SS serving pan for the water pan.

And this is where I cook my road kill. Outdoor Kitchen is still a work in progress. Maybe I went out a little too much, but when it was new, I painted it brown to match in with the rest of the Outdoor kitchen area. It definitely looks better than the flat black out of the box finish.

Here's some ribs & chicken ready to go on for the B day celebration. Sorry, no money shot. I got behind and had a houseful of people when the food came off, so I couldn't get any cooked road kill pics. But I didn't get any complaints, so I assume I'm on the right track to getting my Q to par.

I used the recipe on SmokingPit.com for the chicken, injected with diet cherry Dr. Pepper, and Johnny Trigg's recipe (on the same site) for the ribs. I hadnt been on that site for a while, but Rob Green has some new recipes that take your Q to the next level and I cant wait to try some more of his recipes. These were sure a hit.

Back to the issue of low air flow, Im still convinced that I need to add a vent or 2 on the bottom to get the air flowing better. I see too many other brand smokers with them and this will help me get closer to 200 degrees for fish and other cold smoking recipes.

glocksrock · Aug 12, 2011

I replaced the stock water pan with a lasanga pan, and I use a 10" cast iron skillet on top of the wood chip pan, but to help the heat pass through the pan I drilled 3 one half inch holes in the pan and it works great.

kevin scott · Aug 16, 2011

SmokeThis1 said:
I am using the chip pan that came with the smoker, but after a few initial fires, I took a sledge hammer and laid the pan on a work bench, and pounded the prongs down almost flat. I have come to the conclusion that it is better to always use aluminum foil under my chips and loosely leave the top of the foil open. I also built a dolly with casters. I have pictures of both mods on my profile page.

I did a similar thing to mine, pounding the metal on the top of the tray down over the vent holes, then placing a layer of aluminum foil in the pan to hold my wood. I don't close it at the top (yet), but I may at some point. I noticed when I seasoned the smoker, the wood caught fire with those slots open; now it smolders the wood, but doesn't ignite it.

grinder · Aug 28, 2011

Here's the mod I made after reading the other posters ideas. The vent in the back seemed pathetic so I cut a 4" hole in the top and added a chimney with a damper and painted it with black bbq paint.I used a cast iron frying pan with stainless steel bolts for legs, for the wood pan. I flipped the drip pan rack upside down, so it hangs a little lower. The bigger drip pan I I bought sits on top of the rack leaving room to drop wood chunks into the burn pan below. Since I flipped the drip pan rack upside down, the drip pan just fits under the bottom grate. I use sand in the drip pan (controversy, I know) so I don't have to worry about sliding the pan out and refilling the water. With both venst open and the smoker on low the temp is hugging 200 deg, on a 84 deg day. Half way between low and med and I'm running 225. Workin' on my first smoke now, spare ribs. Thanks to everyone for all the great ideas.

glocksrock · Aug 29, 2011

Grinder said:
Here's the mod I made after reading the other posters ideas. The vent in the back seemed pathetic so I cut a 4" hole in the top and added a chimney with a damper and painted it with black bbq paint.I used a cast iron frying pan with stainless steel bolts for legs, for the wood pan. I flipped the drip pan rack upside down, so it hangs a little lower. The bigger drip pan I I bought sits on top of the rack leaving room to drop wood chunks into the burn pan below. Since I flipped the drip pan rack upside down, the drip pan just fits under the bottom grate. I use sand in the drip pan (controversy, I know) so I don't have to worry about sliding the pan out and refilling the water. With both venst open and the smoker on low the temp is hugging 200 deg, on a 84 deg day. Half way between low and med and I'm running 225. Workin' on my first smoke now, spare ribs. Thanks to everyone for all the great ideas.

Did you drill holes in your frying pan to insert the bolts? How hard is it to drill through cast iron?

otis857 · Aug 29, 2011

Hey Grinder, Nice stack & pan mod. Did you notice an improvement in air flow too? The stack was an improvement on mine, but Im still going to look for some vents to install when the AZ sun dies down. It hit 117 degrees here last week, so Im hibernating under the A/C til October.

Glocksrock, Cast iron is not hard to drill through with a good bit and low speed drill or drill press. Just be sure to drill smaller pilot holes first.The nice thing about using bolts is that you can easily adjust the height as needed. Adding the bolts directly to the pan made for a very clean modification too.

I do wish Masterbuilt would look at forums like this one to see what real world people are doing to their products to improve them and incorporate some of these designs. Pretty cheap R&D !!

grinder · Aug 29, 2011

Thanks Otis, I liked your idea of the stack and figured venting through the top would promote even better air flow. I researched the MB on this site before buying it and read about every ones' complaints and the mods they made. I didn't bother trying it out first, so I don't have a comparison. When I was testing it out I had lots of smoke rolling out both vents, so the air must be flowing. I thought about putting in a lower vent, not really sure that it needs it, though.

Glocksrock, Yes, the bolts go through the pan, with a nut above and below, so the height can be adjusted, somewhat. The stainless bolts I found are only threaded about 1/3 of their length. 3" bolts were too long and the wood wasn't smoking at 225 deg. I switched to 2 1/2" bolts with the adjuster nut all the way down and that's working really well. Otis is correct about drilling cast iron, I would add to use cutting oil to help clear out chips and keep the bits cooler.

jimmyjames · Sep 3, 2011

Only had my XL a week but have smoked chicken and just yesterday a brisket, my first whole brisket. Turned out great. I put a small rectangular pan on top of the raised ribs in the smoke pan to keep ash and wood out of the burner. Seems like maybe the thing to do is drill some more holes in the sides where the rack bracket holes are and use the included water pan and rack as the smoke pan. I use a lasagna pan for a water/drip pan. Can't see putting any type of pan over the burner completely to where it covers it up. Cooking a butt or picnic on Labor day. Cheers!

exhaustedspark · Sep 4, 2011

I have used a old used cast iron pan and lid that i drilled wholes in to use and it alway worked fine. I can use with lid when i need and dont use when i dont.

I do not have a mes. The only store bought i have had was a little chief and a big chief smoker. Currently makeing a UDS out of water pressure tank.

Got impatiant today and smoking some cheese in a partialy built tank. Around here (Washington state) the second hand stores have a lot of cast iron from Japan etc that can be picked up pretty cheap.

Love the Smoke. Live the Smoke

Karl

dewetha · Sep 19, 2011

well here is my first MOD. I am running some smoke/heat tests now.

I added a 10 x 20 cast iron skillet. I ma thinking it will even out the heat and make a good base to add smoker boxes or maybe chunks right on it.I am also hoping this big hunk of metal will retain heat. I suppose you can get one at a swap meet or second hand store but I have little to no patients when I want to do something so I bought it.

I may need to raise the skillet after some testing.

here are my pics:

dewetha · Sep 19, 2011

as you can see, I was so exited to try it, I didn't clean it out first. LOL.

smoked great for the test. now I really need to improve the air flow

dewetha · Sep 23, 2011

here is my smokestack mod finished just in time to BBQ for the weekend. I purchased a replacement smoke stack from char-griller .$16 + shipping. it is made for a barrel type smoker. I have no metal working skills and half ass handyman skills. i beat it flat as I could and offest it as much as possible. so it's not perfectly straight but it will do. I sealed it off with some high temp silicone.

2 mods down more to go!

there is a nut between the cabinet and flange so it won't go anywhere.

glocksrock · Nov 6, 2011

Grinder said:
Here's the mod I made after reading the other posters ideas. The vent in the back seemed pathetic so I cut a 4" hole in the top and added a chimney with a damper and painted it with black bbq paint.I used a cast iron frying pan with stainless steel bolts for legs, for the wood pan. I flipped the drip pan rack upside down, so it hangs a little lower. The bigger drip pan I I bought sits on top of the rack leaving room to drop wood chunks into the burn pan below. Since I flipped the drip pan rack upside down, the drip pan just fits under the bottom grate. I use sand in the drip pan (controversy, I know) so I don't have to worry about sliding the pan out and refilling the water. With both venst open and the smoker on low the temp is hugging 200 deg, on a 84 deg day. Half way between low and med and I'm running 225. Workin' on my first smoke now, spare ribs. Thanks to everyone for all the great ideas.

Where did you get the chimney from, I'd like to do a mod just like that as well, also what did you use to seal/secure it?

dewetha · Nov 7, 2011

it looks good

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