- Jun 11, 2015
- 20
- 10
I'm a noob.
I have a 30" Masterbuilt electric smoker.
I love the smoker but I'm having a weird issue. Despite the fact that I'm setting the cooking temperature correctly, it is cooking the meat way too fast. I'm so glad that MasterBuilt included a meat probe or my meat would have been overcooked.
I seasoned the smoker as per the instructions.
A few days later, I smoked some chicken breasts. I used dry apple wood chips - just filled the tube as instructed. The instructions stated that the breasts would take 3 to 4 hours to smoke. I put the meat probe into one of the breasts, set the timer to 4 hours, and set the temp to 225, and then started the smoker. The meat probe initially correctly read the breasts at 45 degrees, since they just came out of the fridge. I was checking the smoker temp every so often and it held relatively steady at 225, give or take a couple of degrees. I reloaded the wood chips about an hour later. The meat probe said the chicken was about 100 degrees. When the second hour was about done I checked again and the meat probe was at 170. I was surprised since the chicken was cooking for only two hours. I used an instant meat thermometer and it also read 170. So I took the breasts out and sure enough they were done - actually a bit over done. The chicken was flavorful but a tad dry.
A couple of days after that, I smoked some baby back ribs. Once again I followed directions. The instructions said to preheat the smoker to 225, which I did. I used dry apple wood chips. When the smoker reached 225 I put in the ribs and apple wood. This time I kept a close eye on the meat temperature. Instead of taking 5 to 6 hours to smoke, the ribs were done in about 2.5 hours - about half the time. The smoker temp was set to 225 and as far as I can tell, everything was working normally. The smoker temp as usual stayed at about 225. The ribs were very good.
Any ideas on why the meat is cooking so fast?
Thanks.
I have a 30" Masterbuilt electric smoker.
I love the smoker but I'm having a weird issue. Despite the fact that I'm setting the cooking temperature correctly, it is cooking the meat way too fast. I'm so glad that MasterBuilt included a meat probe or my meat would have been overcooked.
I seasoned the smoker as per the instructions.
A few days later, I smoked some chicken breasts. I used dry apple wood chips - just filled the tube as instructed. The instructions stated that the breasts would take 3 to 4 hours to smoke. I put the meat probe into one of the breasts, set the timer to 4 hours, and set the temp to 225, and then started the smoker. The meat probe initially correctly read the breasts at 45 degrees, since they just came out of the fridge. I was checking the smoker temp every so often and it held relatively steady at 225, give or take a couple of degrees. I reloaded the wood chips about an hour later. The meat probe said the chicken was about 100 degrees. When the second hour was about done I checked again and the meat probe was at 170. I was surprised since the chicken was cooking for only two hours. I used an instant meat thermometer and it also read 170. So I took the breasts out and sure enough they were done - actually a bit over done. The chicken was flavorful but a tad dry.
A couple of days after that, I smoked some baby back ribs. Once again I followed directions. The instructions said to preheat the smoker to 225, which I did. I used dry apple wood chips. When the smoker reached 225 I put in the ribs and apple wood. This time I kept a close eye on the meat temperature. Instead of taking 5 to 6 hours to smoke, the ribs were done in about 2.5 hours - about half the time. The smoker temp was set to 225 and as far as I can tell, everything was working normally. The smoker temp as usual stayed at about 225. The ribs were very good.
Any ideas on why the meat is cooking so fast?
Thanks.