New here and to smoking, trouble making smoke

[jtre]

So I just got my first smoker, a masterbuilt 30” digital electric. Started my first pork butt this morning, and had trouble making smoke. I managed to get just the slightest hint of it but that was gone in less than 20 minutes, with not much of a smoke smell. I did add the unsoaked chips after heating to 225...should i put them in when the smoker is cold next time? Anyway i ramped up the temp to get them going and now have decent smoke and backed the temp down, now holding at 225-250 (with a good ambient thermometer, i might add). In the future though, how do i avoid the 2+ hour battle to create smoke? Excited to have pork butt and ribs today, even if they are not as smokey as i want. I should add, the used chips look like firewood tbat hasnt totally burned to ash...what should spent chips look like? Im thinking if i have a hot bed of ash, then i would only need to add chips every 30-45min or so like i hear is the norm...that is until i get one of the AMZN pellet products, that is.

 

[mike243]

Add your chips when you start it up and every 30-45 minutes for a couple of hrs at least,after the meat hits a certain temp smoke wont penetrate far so early smoke it important ,don't soak chips that only adds to the delay of smoke

 

[jtre]

Add your chips when you start it up and every 30-45 minutes for a couple of hrs at least,after the meat hits a certain temp smoke wont penetrate far so early smoke it important ,don't soak chips that only adds to the delay of smoke

I did try that on my first smoke, is thick white smoke in the beginning normal when heating smoker/chips from cold? I didnt do that this time because i thought thick white smoke is bad.

 

[oddegan]

Spent should be ash. One of the problems with the MES-30 is that it runs in heat cycles to keep your set temp. At 225 the cycle doesn't keep the chips hot enough to make smoke. Most people running the MES have a mailbox mod and the AMNPS. That's how I run mine and it works great.

 

[jtre]

Spent should be ash. One of the problems with the MES-30 is that it runs in heat cycles to keep your set temp. At 225 the cycle doesn't keep the chips hot enough to make smoke. Most people running the MES have a mailbox mod and the AMNPS. That's how I run mine and it works great.

Ok. Running it hot for a bit to get the chips smoldering again, hopefully i finally get a bed of ash to keep them hot when i bring it back down to 225. Those mods seem most helpful.

 

[schlotz]

Many have stopped using the chips and migrated to using the Amazen Pellet Smoker with pellets placed on the lowest bars next to the element box. Some remove the slide in section of the box, other pull it out a bit. You'll want to also pull the stoker tube out a couple of inches in order to get proper air flow to keep the pellets going. A well lit tray can burn for 8-12hours. Spend the time (experimenting) to learn how to get it started properly, and what adjustments are necessary with the MES tube and element box tray so the air flow is sufficient. BTW, remember to ensure meat drippings don't find their way into the pellets.

 

[jtre]

Does anyone have an opinion on the cold smoking attachment sold by masterbuilt?