Masterbuilt sportsman elite is junk

[Turkeyslayer]

I bought one of these simple electric smoker two years ago, it heated uneven and we made some mods based on suggestions from this website, thanks.
This year it died. Wouldn't get hot at all. All we do is a few deer a year, no messy sauces or liquids. All we really need an oven to cook at 180-190 for a while for snack sticks and jerky.
I brought it back to Cabelas and they gave me a brand new one , thanks Cabelas.
We heated it up, seasoned it according to the book.
We put in 30 pounds of beautiful sausage sticks me and my Dad made from two deer we butchered ourselves, hand mixed, hand stuffed... beautiful logs of meat.
The brand new smoker burned half and the other half is uncooked.
The thermostat was on 180 for two hours, then 190 for 4 hours. The meat thermometer inside a stick in the center never got above 145. Based on our experience, we looked and realized the uneven heat was upon us again.
We'll do the mods I read here again adding a diffuser, using a flat pan. It'll get right.
Be forewarned, though, Masterbuilts out of the box are sh*t. We have 15 lbs of shoe leather and will salvage the other half that isn't cooked yet.
I read this:
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/masterbuilt-uneven-cooking.259010/
and wanted to update the internet that they're selling the same junk and to add to the digital footprint that these smokers suck.

 

[Winterrider]

Thermostats and probe that come with just about all electric smokers are not reliable. Need something tested such as thermpro, inkbird, or maverick dual probes at least.

 

[Scott Eisenbraun]

Yeah, I don't get all the love so many members give to that brand. All I see are mods and parts lists to make it work right.

 

[zwiller]

I find my MES great for the value and I think that's why it gets the love but like all things in life, there are tradeoffs. That said, NO smoker will make up for poor practices. For starters, I think 30lbs is too much meat for that smoker.

 

[dr k]

A two pack of alum baking sheets is $1.00 at the Dollar Tree. With one two pack I cut the bead around one baking sheet off, leaving the flat flange around it so it fits inside the bead of the other baking sheet. The sheet with the bead is the lid ontop of the one cut off to make an airspace, keeping fat from vaporizing in the baking sheet that sits ontop of these two for a drip pan. So I use three sheets and throw away the one ontop when drips get burnt on it. Sliding this left, right , front and back an inch at a time gets me even temps on the top three racks. I put the bottom rack in backwards so the beveled edge of the rack is at the door. Since I'm against the back wall.

 

[Turkeyslayer]

A two pack of alum baking sheets is $1.00 at the Dollar Tree. With one two pack I cut the bead around one baking sheet off, leaving the flat flange around it so it fits inside the bead of the other baking sheet. The sheet with the bead is the lid ontop of the one cut off to make an airspace, keeping fat from vaporizing in the baking sheet that sits ontop of these two for a drip pan. So I use three sheets and throw away the one ontop when drips get burnt on it. Sliding this left, right , front and back an inch at a time gets me even temps on the top three racks. I put the bottom rack in backwards so the beveled edge of the rack is at the door. Since I'm against the back wall.
View attachment 382198 View attachment 382199 View attachment 382200

Fantastic plan, we're going to do this today. Thanks a lot , masterbuilt can make this for theirt product and use it instead of the sh+t they sell.

 

[Turkeyslayer]

I find my MES great for the value and I think that's why it gets the love but like all things in life, there are tradeoffs. That said, NO smoker will make up for poor practices. For starters, I think 30lbs is too much meat for that smoker.

Thanks for the tip,
But,
If it's a 22mm sausage cut into 6 inch lengths and there's enough air space and the box is supposedly at 180, wouldn't they all cook appropriately? That's the difference between and oven and a microwave. One potato or 13 potatoes, it'll take 45 minutes in an oven kinda thing

 

[Bearcarver]

With the first MES (Generation #1), the heat went from the Heating Element on the "right", straight up the "right" side & out the top "Right" Vent. This one needed a deflector on the bottom right to deflect the heat to the left side to balance it out, because the top vent was on the wrong side.

The Second MES (Generation #2) had a new flaw. It had a slanted drip plate above the heating element, with the right side higher than the left. This plate would trap the heat under that plate, and the heat would rise (like heat does) and move to the right under the drip plate, before rising up the right side of the smoker.

The Newest MES (Generation #2.5) is the one I have, and other than the occasional bad control or other electronic problem has no design problem, and needs no Mods to work Perfectly.

Here's more below:
Masterbuilt Smokers (Bear's Thoughts & Findings)
MES Generation Number Recognition Pictures & Pics (Digital Units)

Bear

 

[chopsaw]

, NO smoker will make up for poor practices.

I was trying to say that in a nice way , and just couldn't do it .
So thank you .

 

[zwiller]

Thanks for the tip,
But,
If it's a 22mm sausage cut into 6 inch lengths and there's enough air space and the box is supposedly at 180, wouldn't they all cook appropriately? That's the difference between and oven and a microwave. One potato or 13 potatoes, it'll take 45 minutes in an oven kinda thing

Let me preface by stating that I baked around 100lbs of potatoes for daughters grad party this past summer so I have some experience here. ;) Seems as though you are not familiar with the effect of thermal mass. Sorry, no, 13 potatoes take longer to bake than 1. Same as nuking. Now, the effect is probably not noticeable on that small of a scale. But let's say you baked around 50 potatoes like we did. Very noticeable. Actually took almost 2x longer... The mass of the potatoes takes more energy (time) for the oven to heat. Bottom ones were done sooner as they were nearest the element too. We forked tested...

I smoked 8 butts for this party and did like 3-4 and they averaged 14hrs per. Got gutsy and tried 2 at one time (about 16lbs total) and asked around here and got many different opinions how long it would take. I knew it would take longer but estimated like another few hours. Actually took 25.5hrs. You put the equivalent of 4 butts in there. So what happens now is that the element is running too often and radiation/proximity to the element becomes a factor. Usually, the smoker shuts off and temps have time to equalize. I checked the manual and they warn it will heat unevenly if overloaded. Not a MB fanboy or anything (screwed me out of $30 rebate) just trying to give you some answers. I personally think a tray is not really gonna help when you load it that full. Do 2 batches or rotate top-left to bottom-right halfway.