Hello from St. Louis, MO

[mattyoungus]

Hi, 

I'm a 38 year old stepdad, husband, web developer, musician, novice woodworker, and I am fairly new to using a smoker.

I actually have a Little Chief smoker that I love - you can't cook the meat through in it (only gets up to 175° F), but it smokes very nicely. Then after an hour or two in there, I transfer to the oven to bring up to temp.

I recently bought a Master Built 30" Electric Digital smoker which has been a little frustrating - seems like it's not getting to the temp that the display says (bought a oven thermometer to test the next time I smoke), but also doesn't consistently produce smoke at 225° F. I end up having to bump up the temp to get it smoking, then adjust it back down. Haven't determined if it's the temp, the air flow, or the wood chips yet.

Anyway, that's me. I love smoked meat, and I'm looking forward to learning a thing or two from you all!!

Thanks, 

Matt

 

[gearjammer]

Hey Matt, welcome to you.

Dang, I should buy me some stock Masterbuilt they sure are

popular little buggers.

You will find that there are many folks on here with the MES.

The temp gauges in them are notorious for being off by quite a bit.

As for the smoke, you will find on here an advertiser name of Amazn

not Amazon.

He makes a smoker tray that you light and come back six or eight 

hours later and it's still smoking.

I use one personally and they are great, that and a good temp gauge

and you're set.

Have fun.

                 Ed

 

[billg532]

Hey Matt, Bill here in KCMO. Bought a Master built too. No problems yet. I bet you got some great BBQ in St Louis. Got some ideas I'd like to hear them.

 

[SmokinAl]

Welcome to the site!

Al

 

[mattyoungus]

Hi Bill, 

Yeah, definitely some good BBQ here in STL. I recently had some issues with my MSE30...wasn't producing smoke because it was too hot out. The chamber would heat up so quick that the chips didn't get hot enough to ignite. Tried lots of stuff, but ended up getting an AMNPS (A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker), and added the Mailbox Mod. It's working great. I would suggest giving it a try if you ever have trouble getting yours to smoke.

I posted a pic here: http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/248282/mes30-with-amnps-and-mailbox-mod

Other than that, I'm pretty new to smoking so I've been doing mostly pork butt, ribs, and bacon. Having lots of fun so far!

Good luck! Definitely hit me up if you have any questions about the AMNPS or Mailbox Mod :)

 

[gary s]

  Good morning and welcome to the forum, from a hot day here in East Texas, and the best site on the web. Lots of great people with tons of information on just about  everything.

Gary