New to Smoking and slightly frustrated

[forbey]

Hi, forum name is forbey. Real name is Jay. My wife and I are ALMOST new to smoking.

We just bought the Masterbuilt 49 electric. Put it together last night started seasoning tonight. Made it all the way to adding some wood. It flashed and blew the door open. Not sure what to do next!

Other than that ... I love smoked bbq! LOL

forbey

 

[the smoke break]

Welcome aboard. As a noob myself, I can't tell you how much I've learned from this forum...I know you will enjoy it as well.

 

[cmayna]

What do you mean it flashed?   What type of wood did you use?

 

[forbey]

I used apple wood pellets.

By flashed I meant it went "poof" and the force of the poof blew open the door. Now I'm having trouble latching the door.

 

[foamheart]

New smoker, go *poof* and blow the door open. Since its new I believe I could contact where you bought it first. If it real new sometimes depending upon where you bought it, they will replace it. My next thought would be to contact the factory.

If ya put it together correctly, it shouldn't go *poof* and blow the door open. Did you add the chips to the tray or use the auto loader?

 

[smokinhusker]

Sorry to hear the problems right from the beginning. I have an older MES 40 and absolutely love it. I did have some other problems and called Masterbuilt and they took care of it immediately so hopefully you will obtain the same great customer service if you end up contacting them.

I guessing you have the New or Gen 2 model and I found this link regarding chips/pellets igniting and blowing the door open

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/147573/mes-recall

 

[forbey]

I used smoker pellets. I added it to the tube ad dropped them in according to the instructions

 

[forbey]

 

Sorry to hear the problems right from the beginning. I have an older MES 40 and absolutely love it. I did have some other problems and called Masterbuilt and they took care of it immediately so hopefully you will obtain the same great customer service if you end up contacting them.





I guessing you have the New or Gen 2 model and I found this link regarding chips/pellets igniting and blowing the door open



http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/147573/mes-recall

I bought it Saturday, put it together Sunday and seasoned it Monday. I called Masterbuilt this morning. They are sending me a new door. The customer service rep made two suggestions; first use chips and not pelets; and to double check the positioning of the wood tray. If the wood tray wasn't in snug, too much air could get to the wood and cause it to flash.





I will try and re-run it tonight if I can get the door to stay latched. Using chips, I'll see how it does.





forbey

 

[kathrynn]

to SMF!  We are so glad you joined us! 

We love to see pictures of what you are cooking (or what we call q-views here at SMF).  To "upload the q-views" just follow the directions here and it will be easier. If you are using a cell phone, an IPad or a kindle, go to the main SMF page and click the Mobile button. Will make the uploads a bit faster too.

If you didn't read the "Terms of Service" notes.....please do.  There are a few things that everyone should know about those pesky little rules before plunging into the forums and some guidelines of how to interact within the forums. Off site links are not allowed here at SMF per TulsaJeff. Not that you have done anything wrong....just a little bit of FYI for new members!

If you need any help roaming around the forums....just holler!  Happy to help out!

Kat

 

[forbey]

Thanks, Kat!

 

[gary s]

Welcome to SMF   You will find a world of information non this site. Everyone is willing to help. Good luck and keep us posted

Gary

 

[seenred]

Welcome aboard, Jay!  Sorry to hear you're having some problems with your new rig, but it sounds like the folks at Masterbuilt are trying to help you make it right.  

For worry-free smoke generation, you ought to consider purchasing an AMNPS...a simple-to-use smoke generator that can produce hours of perfect smoke without the need to reload.  Also its designed and sold by a member of these forums.  It is a perfect match for an MES...check it out at http://www.amazenproducts.com/.

Red

 

[s2k9k]

:welcome1: to SMF!!! We're happy you joined us! We have over 50,000 members now who just love to share what they know. You've come to the best place on the net to learn and share everything Q!!!

 

[gary s]

I am not familiar with electric smokers, when you said it blew the door open what would have caused that. Does it have a vent that was maybe closed off? I saw a gas grill one time that had accumulated to much gas and when it was lit it blew the lid open, lucky no one was hurt. Trying to figure how an electric could do that.

Good luck and be careful

Gary

 

[dan - firecraft]

Welcome forbey....I would only use wood in there and maybe pass on the pellets. BBQ pellets are made to produce heat and smoke. With it being electric you are not going to need the heat that the pellets are going to produce. Well seasoned wood chucks are going to give you a nice clean burn with not too much extra heat. If the pellets got to hot and burned all at once I guess it could build up enough back pressure to pop the door open.....

 

[forbey]

Welcome forbey....I would only use wood in there and maybe pass on the pellets. BBQ pellets are made to produce heat and smoke. With it being electric you are not going to need the heat that the pellets are going to produce. Well seasoned wood chucks are going to give you a nice clean burn with not too much extra heat. If the pellets got to hot and burned all at once I guess it could build up enough back pressure to pop the door open.....

Masterbuilt said to only use chips. Several have said they use pellets. Right now I'm in the middle of the first run, using pellets. So far, after 4 hours the internal temp is back up to 208 and the meat is up to 151.

We shall see how this all turns out!

 

[brianbray]

I had that happen on my MasterBuilt too. It was when it was brand new and I was using pellets. It seemed to have built up some gas and then ignited. I had the tube for filling the pellets in my hand at the time so the door did not blow but it scared me when the poof, complete with flames, came out that four inch hole. 

Maybe it happened one more time and has never happened since. 

But then, I rarely rely on the smoke tray that is built in anymore because I built an external smoke generator and I prefer to use that. I get a more consistent smoke that way. I also quit using pellets by themselves and switched to finely split wood. It is less likely to off-gas the way those pellets do.

So, this was probably not useful to you, except to say that you are not the only one who has had this happen. I will agree with the others that MasterBuilt has very good customer care. I had an issue that I will not even specify here because they went so far above and beyond in fixing it that it would be unfair of me to air that laundry.

Brian

 

[smoking b]

 
Welcome forbey....I would only use wood in there and maybe pass on the pellets. BBQ pellets are made to produce heat and smoke. With it being electric you are not going to need the heat that the pellets are going to produce. Well seasoned wood chucks are going to give you a nice clean burn with not too much extra heat. If the pellets got to hot and burned all at once I guess it could build up enough back pressure to pop the door open.....

Do not use wood chunks in your MES it wasn't designed for that.

Masterbuilt said to only use chips. Several have said they use pellets. Right now I'm in the middle of the first run, using pellets. So far, after 4 hours the internal temp is back up to 208 and the meat is up to 151.

We shall see how this all turns out!

Most using pellets - myself included - use the A-Maze-N-Pellet-Smoker (AMNPS) from here  http://www.amazenproducts.com/   It is a perfect match for the MES - 12 hours of smoke at a time & you can cold smoke with it too. I don't use my MES without it.

 

[pc farmer]

I must be lucky then. Before I started using the pellet smoker chunks was all I used.

 

[smoking b]

I must be lucky then. Before I started using the pellet smoker chunks was all I used.

After I got my MES a friend of mine got one & started using chunks - he kept getting flashes & called MCS & they told him to stop using chunks & to start using chips 

   He switched to chips & the problem went away but he is tired of having to add them all the time & wants to get an AMNPS now.