Pitboss or Masterbuilt

[Buzz G]

You will get better product with an electric smoker with some thought given to independent, controlled smoke generation.

I personally think that a butt from a Masterbuilt, (run well) even without a smoke mod, tastes a lot better than one from a Traeger.

I have been running a masterbilt 40 electric for probably close to ten years and it has been flawless, thought I would try the pb for something different, guess you should stick to what works for you, home made smokers I have built that are stick burners with propane backup is still by far the best flavor and the best cook I use the mes when I am being lazy and don't want to babysit it.

 

[Buzz G]

You're a big fan of this smoker. I can tell! ;)

OK. That's interesting information. The blower runs at a constant speed, and they try to control the temperature purely by the rate at which they feed pellets into the burn area.

If you could feed the pellets very smoothly and slowly, it seems like you could still get reasonably precise temperature control. But it sounds like the controller in yours dumps pellets into the burn chamber in rather jerky, large dumps.

I wonder if this is because the controller is "jerky", or if there might be a mechanical issue that is causing your particular copy of this smoker to be jamming or hanging up when trying to feed the pellets. So instead of feeding them slowly and steadily, it binds up for a while, and then things break loose all at once dumping in a big batch of pellets.

It would be interesting to study the drive to the pellet feed corkscrew.

Pellet stoves usually work very well. I'm sure these smokers use a similar system. But a small smoker would be a lot more unforgiving than heating an entire room or part of a house.
,

The auger runs nice and smooth, it seems to be the timing of the thermostat when it starts dumping pellets it is just more than it needs before it stops the auger, that is where the big temp swings come in.

 

[sigmo]

As you both say, I really do love how pork butts come out in my modified MES40 with the AMNPS pellet burner for smoke.

The flavor and cook are excellent and it really is nice to be able to run it with very little intervention for long periods. Perfect, especially for those long long smokes like a butt!

If the auger and pellet movement are smooth, it seems like setting up a different control system might be able to fix the issues with the PB. That still seems like a fun project for a control system nerd like me.

But it's not acceptable out of the box performance for a product. I can see why you'd be mightily annoyed!

 

[Buzz G]

As you both say, I really do love how pork butts come out in my modified MES40 with the AMNPS pellet burner for smoke.

The flavor and cook are excellent and it really is nice to be able to run it with very little intervention for long periods. Perfect, especially for those long long smokes like a butt!

If the auger and pellet movement are smooth, it seems like setting up a different control system might be able to fix the issues with the PB. That still seems like a fun project for a control system nerd like me.

But it's not acceptable out of the box performance for a product. I can see why you'd be mightily annoyed!

If In knew it was going to take a bunch of mods I would have just built another one from scratch

 

[sigmo]

I'm still tempted to get one to use for its enclosure. I really like its size and rack setup. For me, building the cabinet would be the time-consuming part of a build. The control system is the part I'd actually enjoy. I guess I should try a complete build someday.

 

[Buzz G]

I'm still tempted to get one to use for its enclosure. I really like its size and rack setup. For me, building the cabinet would be the time-consuming part of a build. The control system is the part I'd actually enjoy. I guess I should try a complete build someday.

I'd give you a screaming deal on one but I am in North Dakota and it looks like your in Wyoming, thinking the freight would not work out

 

[sigmo]

I'd give you a screaming deal on one but I am in North Dakota and it looks like your in Wyoming, thinking the freight would not work out

I think you're right. As an individual without a big shipping contract with UPS or FedEx, it's very expensive to ship. Where I used to work, we had a contract with UPS, and I could have sent you an ARS label for that bad boy, and regardless of its weight and size, $4.50 is what we'd pay. We shipped bigger, heavier items that way quite often.

As an individual, it would be prohibitive.

I just guessed the box might be 30 x 30 x 36", with a weight of 50#.

Ground UPS from Bismarck to Casper: $322!!!

I'd be far better off getting one locally.

I keep toying with the idea. But only because I figure I could modify it to be all electric. But I would play with it as-is first just to see.how it works.