Masterbuilt 255S

[Daugie]

Well I pulled the trigger and got me one yesterday. The New Masterbuilt 255S.

The thing is actually a pellet furnace! Watching and hearing the flame I asked myself what the heck was going on?

Risetime to the seasoning setpoint (350 degrees) took 25 minutes, and only overshot 7 degrees. There is a small amount of electrical noise on the thermocouple display, about +/- 2 degrees. This perhaps could be fixed with a .001 microfarad capacitor across the TC.

The smoking is done at a lower combustion fan speed (I think) and is added to the cook time as a separate setpoint. So in a few hours, in goes the 17lb bird.

Assembly was easy with good and simple pictures. Fabrication is decent quality for China made. The control panel is self explanatory with LED indicators for heat, smoke, temp display of 2 external probes and the third, internal. 6 LEDs total plus the time remaining alternated with the current temp on the digital display.

Never expected to be cooking with a flame!

More as I get used to thing.....about midpoint.

Daugie

 

[Daugie]

Turkey is up to 100 degrees with the setpoint at 240. About 4 hours into it. I'm doing a 20 minute smoke cycle & a 60 minute cook & repeat. The drippings are doing wonders onto the drip pan and thus even more smoke. Using half hickory & apple B&B pellets.

Using this smoker is like nothing else with the gain for the smoke cycle ranging from SP-2 to SP-6. One thing is that the crucible can become overfilled at low temps after a long smoke cycle & going back to the heat cycle, or cook cycle, the smoke comes flowing out at a huge amount.

From an engineering and process control standpoint, I can understand whats going on with this pellet furnace. I could also see some sort of change in how I understand the best way to operate the 255S, and perhaps a few improvements would help out, more on that when the first smoke is completed. We'll see how the rest of the day goes.

Inside along with the bird are a pork loin, about 5 lbs of sausages, and 2 chickens which all are looking quite good. My mouth is dripping as I write.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! -Daugie

 

[Daugie]

Well the turkey and everything else turned out great. I ended up running a smoke cycle for a whole hour+ after the preheat. Drew down the chamber temp to 80F, so it will cold smoke. Then used a 20 minute smoke cycle and a 40 minute heating cycle for the rest of the day with a 3 hour heat cycle at the end. At that point it was smoking fairly well from the drippings.

It did go through a half bag of pellets during the initial burnout at 350f, but having the setpoint set from 240 (too low for a 17lb turkey) then up to 280 for the duration taking 12 hours total to reach internal 165F turned out slightly dry, but the skin was crisp. Did 2 pork loins, 2 pounds of chicken thighs, and 5lbs of sausage.

So the first batch was a learning experience, not too much pellet consumption, and a light dusting of ashes in the catch pan. So far I'm impressed with the Masterbuilt 255S.

Hope yall had a super Thanksgiving!
Daugie

 

[amlong88]

Thank you for posting on this! I've been very curious about this pellet smoker and haven't really been able to find any reviews. Please keep us posted on how your smokes go.

 

[Daugie]

Exactly, I pulled the trigger not seeing any reviews. One thing can say is that it gets hot quick, uses not as much pellets as one may expect, and YES it's a pellet furnace! Has 2 modes, smoke (low heating capacity) and the furnace mode that sounds like it's running on propane. The thing roars. Doesn't make any ashes. It does however overload the crucible on a extended low temp smoke when I messed with the "SP setting" So keep this at 3 or 4 and I believe everything will be good. So I'm happy to say that it's a flame - electric smoker. No heating element to replace every year. And yer cook'in with a wood flame, a jet wood flame!

May the Christmas season find you with plenty of smoked goods.

Daugie

 

[Daugie]

Well it's been a few months and I have to say, with the huge size of the Masterbuilt 255S, I have been packing this thing full and the time span between smokings has grown. So with the freezer still stocked, lately I have been thinking about doing some cold smoking / curing of some bacon and some cheese.

Setting up one of the shelves for single slices of some thick (1/8") cut bacon. I'm partial to hickory, so I'll do it like that. Just a cold, long smoke, maybe 3-4 hours if I can get the temp to stay low.

May diddle with the SP-2 setting to see where she settles and will report back here before I get serious, you know, spend a day to see how low she'll go, and how long she'll stay there. I do know that with the higher SP-2 settings, the cruicable will become overfilled (I forget what setpoint I had programmed), and when I changed modes from smoking back to cooking, she filled the neighbors backyard with pellett smoke -Whowe! So more to come.

Daugie

 

[rwuensch]

I bought the MWS 255S XL with great expectations but the product simply doesn't work. I bought my 1st one and it wouldn't maintain temperature, frequently overheating to 400 when set to 220. Returned the unit for another. The second had a 71 degree temperate offset. Set it to 220 and the real temp was 149 Deg. I ruined two BBQ days as my briskets cooked for 18 hours and were 1/2 cooked. I contacted Masterbuilt support and finally received a new controller and thermometer. Only made the smoker unusable. Set to 220 and it would start, rise to 300 then stall only to recover with a raging internal fire then shut down with ERR3 "Over Heat". I worked with support and they finally admitted they could not fix it. Asked for a refund and they refused to return any further calls and refused to respond to any further emails. Last Masterbuilt product I will every buy. Thank you Jalen and Alma from Masterbuilt support for your complete abandonment of your product support and warranty. Thank You Academy for taking both units back with full refunds after months or working with Masterbuilt.

 

[Bighappytx]

My old master built electric smokehouse finally crapped out on me. After about 5 years of service and a brief stint of sitting out in the elements the controller gave up and kept shutting off when it would go to power up. I'd already replaced one heating element for 50 bucks as the old one had rusted through and created a ground that shocked me when touching the racks. I just finished brining and drying a batch of salmon to smoke when it gave up. So I rushed to academy thinking it was time to buy a new one and upgrade. I never was able to truly cold smoke fish with the old one. I'd crack the door and keep the temp around 160 and ramp it up to make smoke and crack the door....repeat this for 4 hrs and with an internal fish temp of 145 ish we had pretty good smoked salmon. So in my urgency not to waste my 3 days already invested in the fish I plopped down 399 for the mws 255S. Looked pretty cool and I bought the floor model so no parts to put together. Instantly I read 180 to 350 and I knew it wouldn't work. When this thing burns to make smoke it's like a small furnace. The box temp WAY overshoots. Right now it's on a 1 hr smoke cycle S4 setting with zero cook time and the half open with the temp setting at 215. Way to hot which cooks the fish too quickly and can't impart enough smoke. I'll finish this batch the best I can but this bad boy is going back to academy! Amazon.com here I come for reviews on true cold smokers.