Getting in to the game

[CurtW]

I just received my new Masterbuilt smoker today.

 

[fivetricks]

Hello and welcome. Please check out the masterbuilt smokers sub forum for any questions you may have!

 

[cmayna]

Welcome to SMF. What's your plans with the smoker? Meaning what meats do you plan to smoke in the masterbuilt?

 

[CurtW]

I‘m starting with chicken wings tomorrow. The sky is the limit going forward.

 

[SmokinAl]

Welcome to SMF!
Congrats on the new smoker!
Al

 

[CurtW]

Day 2 update: assembly went well. The only hick up was one of the channel brackets for the water tray was popped loose from its very small tack welds. A few more tacks from my Lincoln metal melter and all was well.

I’m doing the pre-season now on the coldest day of the year. From the picture you can see that my thermometers are already in disagreement.

 

[Braz]

Do not trust the built-in thermometer. Ever. And, welcome.

 

[tallbm]

Hi there and welcome!

Yeah like Braz says don't ever trust ANY of the MES (Masterbuilt Electric Smoker) thermometers. They are always wrong.

I'm glad to see you already have a 4 probe digital thermometer. That is like the 1st recommendation to be made when using an MES hahaha.

The next one is to look into the A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker (AMNPS) tray.

It will burn wood pellets and wood dust to produce PERFECT smoke for up to 12 hours UNATTENDED!!!! You can put it in the bottom left side of your smoker and cover with a slanted foil pan cut in half or you can build a mailbox modification and put it in there and have the smoke run into the smoker.

AMNPS Tray

My mailbox mod with AMNPS:



FYI, your smoker may or may not be able to hit the max 275F smoker temp. You won't know until you try.
Also know that the temps swing so understand that if you set the temp to 250F then it will go over 250 and then drop under 250 and go back and forth to give you an average of 250F.

All of us MES guys run the smoker with the vent wide open all the time
Also we just foil over the water pan (also foil over the drip tray on the floor of the smoker for easy cleaning) and never fill with water. The MES holds existing moisture very easily without need of water. Finally I just removed my water pan and threw it out a long time ago to avoid having another thing to clean, I think many do that as well :)

Figured I would get this info into your head so you know what to expect.

I hope this info helps!

 

[SmokinVOLfan]

Congrats on the new smoker! I second the AMNPS pellet tray. Well worth the $30. Also I would smoke those wings at 275 and if you don't achieve the crispy skin you are looking for you can put them under the over broiler for a few. Look forward to seeing the pics!

 

[CurtW]

The first smoke went better than I expected. The skins were not crisp but not rubbery either. The important thing is that SWMBO enjoyed her wings.

 

[tallbm]

The first smoke went better than I expected. The skins were not crisp but not rubbery either. The important thing is that SWMBO enjoyed her wings. View attachment 411416

Congrats on the 1st successful smoke!
If you are going to do other chicken parts with the skin on you may want to cook them to like an internal temp of 130-140F and then throw the chicken skin down on a screaming hot propane/gas grill to get the skin to behave better and in turn finish the cook.
If you throw the chicken on when the IT is higher it will overcook the white meat :(

I hope this info helps! :)

 

[jcam222]

Next up I’d recommend pulled pork. Very forgiving cook that yields deliciousness.

 

[phatbac]

Congrats on the new smoker and the wings look great. keeping SWMBO happy (content) is a good goal in life...

Happy Smoking,
phatbac (Aaron)