Newbie experience and comments on first cook with new smoker (with photos, recipes, and links)

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rayman63

Newbie
Original poster
Feb 28, 2017
12
15
The Setup

I had been interested in getting a smoker for a while and decided to jump in on a deal at Amazon for a Masterbuilt  electric smoker 20077116 for $259 -- .  Based on some comments I have seen, I believe this is a version 2.5 of the MES digital smokers.  The green color of the smoker, by the way is a hunter green, and not a bright green like the Amazon description shows.  See photo below.  For everything that came with this smoker, I think it was one of the better deals out there.

The item arrived quickly, well packed, and intact from Amazon.  Setup was straightforward, although I have decided to go into zip-tie manufacturing in China, based on the quantity used in Masterbuilt’s packaging.  Based on separate temperature measurements during the burn-in/seasoning period, I was getting temps in the range of 279 to 307 with a set temp of 275.  I think some of the variability was due to the fact that the unit was basically empty of any thermal mass to help regulate the temp, but during my first cook/smoke it did run about 15 degrees hotter than the stated air temp.

I also purchased a Maverick ET-732 to monitor temps.  Was pretty meh about it – I didn’t think it did a good job with the in-meat temps, the connectivity would drop periodically, and it felt cheaply made.  Also had a bit of challenge getting accurate reads from it when performing a freeze and boiling water test.  I sent it back and will be getting a Thermoworks Smoke.


My First Cook

I decided to do both a brisket and a slab of baby back ribs.  For the brisket I used simple 50/50 rub of salt and pepper.  At the stall, I wrapped them in paper for 2 hours. For the ribs I used a basic rub and added a bit of apple juice during the time it was cooking in tin foil.  I used Franklin BBQ sweet sauce recipe for the bbq sauce, which was not used during cooking.  Recipes below for those who are interested.  Cooking temp throughout averaged about 250 degrees as planned, and used predominantly oak chips.  I used the water tray in the unit to add moisture.  The final product was great – both the ribs and brisket turned out as good or better than expected.  


Observations

I started out with a 10 pound brisket.  I lost 2 pounds right away to fat trimming.  I probably left a little too much on top, as I was shooting for about a ¼ inch layer going into the smoker.  After cooking the now 8 pound brisket, I ended up with 4 lbs 6 oz of finished meat.  Consequently, I ended up with about half of what I purchased in finished brisket.  I paid about $2/pound at the store and ended with a meat cost of about $4.50/pound finished.  I would be curious to hear how this compares to other folks’ experience.

The brisket just barely fit into my 30 inch smoker.  I wish the size was just about 3 or 4 inches bigger to better accommodate whole briskets (and ribs).  I didn’t want a 40 inch smoker, both for cost and size reasons, but think it would be nice to have just a bit more space in this unit.  I noticed some competitors make a 36 inch smoker which would seem pretty close to ideal, but I like the fact that MES has so many users to give advice and is such a known commodity.

I did not end up having to feed the smoker every 30-45 minutes like I thought I might.   It was more like every couple of hours.  The smoke quality was fine, as measured by the taste of the finished product.  The oak chips being fairly dense may have had something to do with this.  For my next smoke, I am going to try an AMNPS for the smoke and see how that compares.  After that, I may try the mailbox method with the AMNPS.

I really liked having the legs on the bottom of the smoker.  When working with it, the extra height was a plus.  Also, I am thinking about getting the side shelf for the unit, as I could have really used it to hold stuff when adding liquid, wrapping the ribs, etc.

The water pan ended up serving as a big drip tray for the brisket, catching 95% of the grease that dripped off.  This meant that I had a layer of fat covering the water, diminishing its effect, I believe.  At one point I emptied it out and added some fresh water.  I would be curious to hear how others deal with this.

The temp fluctuation I saw with the unit left me a bit puzzled.  Early on in the cook I was pretty consistently setting the temp on the unit to 235 degrees to get an “actual” temp of 250 per the Maverick.  Later on, and after adding the ribs, I was having to set closer to or at 250 to get 250.  I don’t know what exactly to attribute this too – the “seasoning” of the smoker, the Maverick thermometer, the additional meat added later in the cook, etc.  It’s something I plan on monitoring going forward, though.

The end result of the cook was way more meat than the 3 of us could eat in one setting.  I would like to hear how others handle this – vacuum sealing and freezing extra meat, reducing the size of the meat cooked, etc. 

Lastly, I would be curious to hear what other folks do with their smokers when it is raining out.  I left mine under the eaves of my garage to protect it from the rain. 

Some Closing Thoughts and Recommendations for other Newbies

Overall, I am very pleased with the results and the MES setup.  I am glad I made the purchase and had fun learning how to do all this.  My next cook will be a pastrami I have planned, and I can’t wait to do it.

If I were to do this again, there are a few things I might do differently and/or give some more thought to.

First, get a good reliable thermometer BEFORE you get your smoker and be satisfied that it is working well and properly calibrated.  You will need it to help ensure you are cooking at the right temps, and it removes another variable you don’t want to have to think about on your first cook.

Second, the ease of an electric smoker is hard to beat.  I thought about using a grill with an AMNPS, for example, but find the control and simplicity of the electric smoker to be exceptional.

Third, the size of the unit is pretty important – I would double check to make sure it will fit the kinds of things you want to prepare.  Thirty inches is a little tight for my purposes, but it got the job done.

Fourth, plan on a cook taking a long time.   For example, a brisket will take 10-12 hours, no problem.  Don’t try to cheat the recipe and end up with a subpar product.

Fifth, there are literally thousands of recipes and techniques for smoking meat.  And, many recipes conflict with each other – wrap the meat vs. don’t wrap the meat; use paper to wrap the meat vs. use tin foil to wrap the meat; use apple juice vs. water in the water tray; use sauce vs. no sauce; etc.   Further, there appears to be very few “scientific” comparisons of techniques to see what really matters or does not.  For example, I would love to know if adding apple juice instead of water in the water pan really ends up making any flavor difference in the finished product.  Here’s a forum on the topic:  http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/84968/apple-juice  

My recommendation is to start with a basic recipe and experiment on your own. Also, I think getting sound advice from experts who have done a lot of the experimentation already is a good idea.  For me, that is some of the frequent posters in these forums, as well as external resources, like this one from Franklin BBQ in Austin:  http://www.pbs.org/food/web-shows/bbq-with-franklin/

Good luck and I would welcome any feedback folks have, as I am always looking to improve my game!  Thanks all for the help I have gotten through these forums to date.

Recipes

Franklin Smoked BBQ Brisket

Ingredients

10-12 pound brisket, trimmed to 1/4 inch layer of fat surrounding and removing silver skin

1/3 to 1/2 cup each of kosher salt and 16 mesh ground pepper (don’t cake on)

Directions

Let brisket rest at room temp for an hour or so to lower temp while smoker is heating.  Add water to pan in smoker.

Heat smoker to 250 degrees and plan on cooking about 60 to 75 minutes per pound (note can use as low as 225 degrees)

Place fat side up with the flat by the vent or coolest area of cooker

Use paper to wrap the brisket in paper to speed up cooking when internal temp = 165 degrees and cook for an additional 2 hours (Amazon sells the food grade pink barbecue paper for this purpose)

After 2 hours check temp and continue cooking outside the paper, spraying every 30 to 45 minutes with a 50/50 worcestershire and water mixture until temp is at about 203 degrees (or at least 195 degrees, as the meat temp will likely rise a bit still once off the smoker)

Remove from smoker and place in a cooler and let rest in paper or foil in a cooler for 20 minutes to an hour.  Slice against the grain and serve.

http://bbqblvd.com/bbq-brisket-recipe-aaron-franklins-texas-brisket/ for more info






Baby back ribs

Ingredients

1 rack of baby back ribs

Rub - see rub recipe

1/3 cup apple juice for foil wrap plus extra for spraying

Yellow mustard (optional)

BBQ Sauce (optional — can serve with it later)

Directions 

Heat smoker to 250

Peel off membrane on bone side of ribs

Cover meat with yellow mustard (optional) and rub and wrap and refrigerate for a couple hours

Cook for 2 hours uncovered, 2 hours covered in foil with apple juice poured over top, and 1 hour +/- uncovered

Cook to internal temp of 195-200 in thickest part of meat, reducing cook time as needed (Note – use a fine point thermometer to measure the temp here.  Thanks to SmokinAl for this recommendation around temps)

When wrapping in foil, add some liquid to the foil to keep meat moist, e.g. apple juice

Baby back Ribs Rub Recipe in the Franklin style

Ingredients for 2 Baby Back Ribs

* 4 tablespoons of pepper

* 2 tablespoons of salt

* 1 teaspoon of garlic powder

* 1 teaspoon of paprika powder

* 1 teaspoon of chili powder




Franklin ”Sweet Sauce"

Ingredients

14 oz. ketchup (I used cane sugar – not corn syrup sweetened)

5 oz. water

2.5 oz. apple cider vinegar

2.5 oz. white vinegar (cut back on this if you don’t like a fairly strong vinegar taste)

4.5 Tbsp. brown sugar

2.5 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbsp. chili powder

.5 Tbsp. Kosher salt

.5 Tbsp coarse-ground black pepper

1 tsp. cumin

Directions

Mix all ingredients in a pot and simmer until the flavors are well combined, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat. Once cool, store in an air-tight jar or bottle in the refrigerator. “It should stay good for months!” says Aaron.   I used the ketchup bottle to store and serve the sauce afterwards (although it comes out kind of fast, so be careful if you do this).
 
I never use water in the water pan. So much moisture stays in an electric smoker anyway that adding more is completely unnecessary. I just keep my water pan clean and use it as a drip tray to capture juices for use later.

4 pounds, 6 oz from an 8 pound brisket is about a 53% yield. That's not outside the norm. Given that it was a Prime grade brisket it isn't surprising there was a lot of fat weight to render out.
 
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Nice Job, Ray!!
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Sounds like you're learning your new Toy very Well !! That's the Main Thing you need to do.
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Most of us MES owners never put any liquid in our water pans. I like to cover my Water Pan & Bottom Drip Pan with Foil to make it easier to keep clean.

Like SOT said--It just isn't needed. Actually there is usually already too much humidity in an MES, and adding water to the Water Pan does more Harm than Good.

Below is my Index that could help you---Everything Smoked is with MES Units:

Just click on "Bear's Step by Steps".

Bear
 
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Thanks Bear.  This week I am trying a pastrami.  We'll see how it goes...
 
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