Masterbuilt smoker vent position?

[bigbob73]

This is my "Icky Smoker"

I only use it for testing pellets and sawdust.

I bet you it has close to 1,000 hours of cold and hot smoking on it.  This thing burns something almost every day, and sometimes 24 hrs/day.

Once a month, I give it a good cleaning, but it never sees food any more.

TJ
 

A testament to the greatness of MES

 

[domapoi]

This is my "Icky Smoker"

I only use it for testing pellets and sawdust.

I bet you it has close to 1,000 hours of cold and hot smoking on it.  This thing burns something almost every day, and sometimes 24 hrs/day.

Once a month, I give it a good cleaning, but it never sees food any more.

TJ
 

As I said Todd, I was just yanking your chain. I can see that most of the stuff on top of that MES is just sawdust and not really dirt dirt.
 

 

[fmfa0801]

I called MES. They said leave it open for doing jerky and smoked fish. Then they said for ribs, butts, briskets......... only leave about 1/4 open or less. I live in SWFL. Every thing I smoke I leave it 95-100% shut. I also use the water pan & add chisp every hour or so. I smoke every thing at 225 and get a crispy out side. The smoke still exist and the meat is very moist & tender.

 

[domapoi]

Tod, is that a biscuit cutter on top of your MES? Is that to block the vent because there is so much creosote on the on the vent it doesn't move any more?

 

[csparker]

Hi all, I'm not a novice to smoking meat, by this is my first MES, and so after reading this thread I'm a bit confused. Having never before had a window on my smoker, I think I may be overthinking things. When I use the smoker with the vent all the way closed, and with well soaked mesquite chips as was recommended by the manual I get no smoke flavor, so today I am smoking some chicken just to test out the theories on the forum. Basically the changes are dry chips and vent open all the way. But I started to worry because I realized that there's no smoke to be seen in the window. At the same time I thought that maybe the smoke I was getting was more billowing white than thin blue. I do have the water pan 3/4 full. So I closed the vent to about halfway and began to notice droplets on the glass. Having read here that droplets are no good I opened the vent up all the way again. The color looks good and they haven't come off yet so I don't yet know about the flavor but what about the smoke itself? It isn't too thick as I normally think of creosote laden smoke to be, but it is white to grey, and not blue as the photo that was posted earlier shows. It's a beautiful and warm somewhat humid day here, does that matter? I'll have them off soon to test the flavor. Also I used fewer chips and added them about every 45 mins for the first two hours. And I checked once to make sure the chip tray had whitish ashes and not just blackened chips. The last thing is that smoke that comes out between loads looks the same as the smoke that comes out continually even after there have been no chips added for 1.5 hours.
I assumed this was vapor and not smoke, but I realize I can't tell the difference. Should the two types of smoke look very different. Btw the smoker was heated to 225• with dry chips for about half an hour before I added the chicken. Thanks All!

 

[doczod]

You need to feed it.  They like meat!  And what the heck, if your going to smoke in it anyway, you might as well cook something.

 

[doczod]

I tried something a little different last night.  I decided to so some beef jerky because my brother-in-law loves it and has never had home made beef jerky.  This time I opened the vent all the way so the moisture in the meat would be drawn out of the smoker and I couldn't believe how much smoke came out of this thing.  It billowed inside the smoker and had a nice blue, even smoke coming out of the vent.  Much more smoke than I've seen before.  Now I don't know what to do, because the meat will dry out quicker with the vent open, but I get more smoke.  Guess I'll just have to experiment.  Another good reason to cook up my favorite foods!

 

[captturbo]

There are lots of "tricks" you can do to keep the  smoke coming if you are staying with the smoker. I learned with mine to not soak the chips for long. They take too long to get smoke from them if I soak them for a half hour or more. I soak them for no more then five minutes. You can keep some dry chips on hand to get nearly instant smoke or you can mix the soaked and dry chips when re-loading.

I only use a few chips at a time when I'm sitting by the beer er ... ah.. I mean the smoker. I have to add chips every 10 to 15 minutes doing this but I get very consistent smoke. Loading the chip tray will give you longer smoke periods but I find that I risk periods of too heavy smoke doing that.

A tip to hasten smoke after adding chips is to pull the loading canister out slightly. It seals pretty well when pushed in tightly. Pull it back a tinch and you let more oxygen hit the fire box. You can coordinate this burst of oxygen by adjusting the vent as well.

I'm sure at some point I will get one of those dandy AMAZN dust/pellet doohickeys but finances are tight so I make my own chip products with my wood chipper and I doubt that my chips would burn properly in that thing. Sure would be nice to enjoy the hours of steady smoke it offers though.  

 

[psouthwick]

The vent on the Master Built is not a super tight I keep it closed when doing a butt. It worked well. 

 

[psouthwick]

This page is in the master manual I just purhcased... It also say not to soak the chips...

 

[doczod]

I ordered the AMNPS this past Friday, and it showed up TODAY (Monday)!  Wow, these guys are fast shippers!  I can't wait to try it.  I'm very impressed with the MES40 smoker and everything I've cooked in it has come out great.  I think the addition of the AMNPS should send it over the top.  I've still got my New Braufels chimney smoker that I converted to natural gas a few years ago and it works well also because of the electronic controls, but I'm getting more use out of the MES40.  With the AMNPS, I should be able to use both and be able to cook large quantities if needed.

 

[csparker]

Thanks Capt. Turbo!

 

[Bearcarver]

I ordered the AMNPS this past Friday, and it showed up TODAY (Monday)!  Wow, these guys are fast shippers!  I can't wait to try it.  I'm very impressed with the MES40 smoker and everything I've cooked in it has come out great.  I think the addition of the AMNPS should send it over the top.  I've still got my New Braufels chimney smoker that I converted to natural gas a few years ago and it works well also because of the electronic controls, but I'm getting more use out of the MES40.  With the AMNPS, I should be able to use both and be able to cook large quantities if needed.

It Will !!   

Bear

 

[billyj571]

Tod, is that a biscuit cutter on top of your MES? Is that to block the vent because there is so much creosote on the on the vent it doesn't move any more?

I think that's a cover to keep the little critters out of the smoker when not using it.

 

[pignit]

Tod, is that a biscuit cutter on top of your MES? Is that to block the vent because there is so much creosote on the on the vent it doesn't move any more?

That's a lid to a smoke daddy.......

 

[Bearcarver]

That's a lid to a smoke daddy.......

LOL---Good one Dave. I kinda doubt that.  

That's one of Todd's smoker.

Bear

 

[tjohnson]

It's a magnet that came with a hook on it for hangin' junk off the fridge.

I took off the hook, and installed an old cabinet knob.

I use the magnet to hold down a piece of paper to check the draft while testing different pellets at different temps in the smoker.

It's also handy for holding on fans or other attachments during testing new ideas for products.

This is my "Test Smoker" and needs a good cleaning!!

TJ

 

[captturbo]

Thanks Capt. Turbo!

You are most welcome. Enjoy that smoker! I'm trying to get some chicken leg quarters defrosted for my afternoon smoke. I'm ready to go but the chicken is not.

  I plan to smoke with peanut shells. I have found it to be a great smoke for chicken or fish. Peanut shells make smoke fast and easy too so I use mostly lightly soaked shells with a few dry standing by for when or if I notice the smoke has thinned out too much.  

 

[csparker]

You are most welcome. Enjoy that smoker! I'm trying to get some chicken leg quarters defrosted for my afternoon smoke. I'm ready to go but the chicken is not.

  I plan to smoke with peanut shells. I have found it to be a great smoke for chicken or fish. Peanut shells make smoke fast and easy too so I use mostly lightly soaked shells with a few dry standing by for when or if I notice the smoke has thinned out too much.  

That's a new one to me. I'll try that. Does it work best with chicken, or would you try that with anything else? Btw, I smoked some pork sirloin chops and they came out perfectly. I took your advice and fed the chip loader fewer chips, but a bit more often, every half hour or so when I noticed the smoke had died out. Oddly, they got to 160• pretty quickly, about 75 mins or so. Anyway, thanks, it was good eating.

 

[captturbo]

You can smoke other meats with peanut hulls and I sometimes do use them on beef and pork but peanut smoke is on the mild side so I mix some hickory, apple, cherry or sea grape with them when doing that. I smoked some burgers tonight with sea grape alone and it was a mellow smoke flavor. Milder then hickory.

I was adding chips probably every 15 minutes. I could have extended the time periods by adding more each time but I enjoy fiddlin' when I'm sitting with the smoker and I get better and more consistent smoke using the smaller amounts and short intervals.