Masterbuilt smoker vent position?

guppy · Aug 13, 2011

I just bought a Masterbuilt 30" electric with digital controls. Never used a smoker before. I did a pork butt following the recipee in the manual. It didn't say to put water in the water pan so I didn't.

It was a seven pound butt and I cooked it for 5 hrs at 220. Then I wrapped it in foil and cooked it another 2 hrs. When I pulled it out the internal temp was 185. It had good flavor, but wasn't real tender. What do I need to do, water in the pan, longer time?

Bearcarver · Aug 13, 2011

Guppy said:
I just bought a Masterbuilt 30" electric with digital controls. Never used a smoker before. I did a pork butt following the recipee in the manual. It didn't say to put water in the water pan so I didn't.

It was a seven pound butt and I cooked it for 5 hrs at 220. Then I wrapped it in foil and cooked it another 2 hrs. When I pulled it out the internal temp was 185. It had good flavor, but wasn't real tender. What do I need to do, water in the pan, longer time?

Guppy,

We usually cook to internal temp---not time.

Your smoker temp was OK, but you could try foiling at 165 internal temp. Maybe add a little of your favorite liquid to the foil. Then keep it in there until the IT is about 205˚. Then it will be real tender. The recipes that come with smokers aren't as good as the ones on this forum. Try doing a search here (above). This forum has a great search engine!!!

Bear

captturbo · Aug 14, 2011

Guppy said:
I just bought a Masterbuilt 30" electric with digital controls. Never used a smoker before. I did a pork butt following the recipee in the manual. It didn't say to put water in the water pan so I didn't.

It was a seven pound butt and I cooked it for 5 hrs at 220. Then I wrapped it in foil and cooked it another 2 hrs. When I pulled it out the internal temp was 185. It had good flavor, but wasn't real tender. What do I need to do, water in the pan, longer time?

I would suggest keeping water in the pan for a long smoke like a pork butt or a brisket.

domapoi · Aug 14, 2011

I too would suggest putting water or some other liquid in the pan for long smokes. I also would suggest adding some type of liquid, either in the form of a BBQ sauce or mop or juice, inside the foil when you wrap it. As far as final temp. goes, if you want to have sliced pork butt don't cook it above much higher than what was suggested in the manual, I think it was 175 degrees. If you want to have PULLED port, then you need to cook it to 205 degrees. Pork will not pull until it reaches above the 200 degree mark.

billy boy · Aug 14, 2011

I leave my vents completely open. I am getting a new thermometer so that I can watch my temps better. I would open it to check things more frequently, at first.

candurin · Aug 17, 2011

So, if you are all recommending that the vents remain open (OK, let's call is more than 50% open), what about those of us with the analog smoker (20070210) that has not vent on top?

Do we need to mod it (if so, any recommendations) or perform some other method of venting?

FYI, I plan on using my AMNPS for all smoking applications. Embarassingly enough my brand new smoker and PS has been sitting in the garage for a month and I have not yet had a chance to season it and fire it up.

jwsailor · Aug 18, 2011

Bearcarver, thanks for the tip. I think I told you I had called masterbuilt a few months back and they told me the retrofit was just for the 30 MES. Well I took your advice and called back on Monday, well here it is Thursday I got a new bigger chip burner in my hand and will install it Friday in my MES40. Thanks again.

Bearcarver · Aug 19, 2011

jwsailor said:
Bearcarver, thanks for the tip. I think I told you I had called masterbuilt a few months back and they told me the retrofit was just for the 30 MES. Well I took your advice and called back on Monday, well here it is Thursday I got a new bigger chip burner in my hand and will install it Friday in my MES40. Thanks again.

That's great!!!!!----I often wonder how people made out. I like when someone lets me know when one of my tips paid off.

Makes it all worth it ! LOL---Makes that one finger that does all the typing very happy!

Thank You Sailor,

Bear

candurin · Aug 22, 2011

candurin said:
So, if you are all recommending that the vents remain open (OK, let's call is more than 50% open), what about those of us with the analog smoker (20070210) that has not vent on top?

Do we need to mod it (if so, any recommendations) or perform some other method of venting?

FYI, I plan on using my AMNPS for all smoking applications. Embarassingly enough my brand new smoker and PS has been sitting in the garage for a month and I have not yet had a chance to season it and fire it up.

Just wanted to bump this thread to see if I cuold get some information and opinions for the analog MES 30 smoker with no vent.

Bearcarver · Aug 23, 2011

candurin said:
Just wanted to bump this thread to see if I cuold get some information and opinions for the analog MES 30 smoker with no vent.

There are a few who have them, but I can't think of who they are.

Bear

roller · Aug 23, 2011

Me either .....

candurin · Aug 23, 2011

I adjusted the door latch to allow smoke to billow out the front. Work great while seasoning. But, how much smoke should I allow to escape? Should it be billowing out, just gently blowing a light, steady stream or simply allowing a constant stream?

Thanks for the help so far. Can't wait to use it Thursday and get my first Q-View up.

domapoi · Aug 23, 2011

Can't speak for the analog MES 30" but I can tell you that you should never have so much smoke that it is bellowing out (that promotes the build up of all that yucky black stuff on the inside walls of your smoker and on your food). You never want more that a thin blue wisp of smoke. I would imagine that you should not open up the door so much that you loose the heat needed to cook your items in the smoker while having just as you put it, "just gently blowing a light, steady stream".

That is just my opinion.

Bearcarver · Aug 24, 2011

candurin said:
I adjusted the door latch to allow smoke to billow out the front. Work great while seasoning. But, how much smoke should I allow to escape? Should it be billowing out, just gently blowing a light, steady stream or simply allowing a constant stream?

Thanks for the help so far. Can't wait to use it Thursday and get my first Q-View up.

I would try to make less smoke, instead of having to allow extra smoke out of the door seals.

Your AMNPS should solve your smoke problems.

Bear

tjohnson · Aug 24, 2011

TBS, not Billowing White Smoke!!!

Here's one of my favorite pics.

The smoker on the left is Billowing White Smoke and the Smoker on the right is Nice TBS

You want a nice stream of TBS coming thru your exhaust vent on your MES

candurin · Aug 24, 2011

I guess I should have rephrased my question. Should I have the door open enough where the amount of smoke that "vents out" is just as much smoke as the AMNPS is generating?

domapoi · Aug 25, 2011

TJohnson said:
TBS, not Billowing White Smoke!!!

Here's one of my favorite pics.

The smoker on the left is Billowing White Smoke and the Smoker on the right is Nice TBS

You want a nice stream of TBS coming thru your exhaust vent on your MES

I love how clean the top of that MES looks. LOL........Just yanking your chain.

doczod · Aug 26, 2011

I've got a Masterbuilt 40 inch smoker. I always leave the vent closed and have had fabulous results with it. I put 6 racks of baby backs in it, start it off at 275 just to get the wood smoking, then turn it down to 225 and add wood about every hour. I don't use any water in it because the moisture in the meat stays in the smoker when the vent is closed. The door seal keeps it all in there. After 4 hours, those ribs are falling off the bone and have a nice bark on them. I also did 16 pounds of butts the same way. Started off at the high temp till the smoke started, dropped it to 225, and added wood every hour for the first 3 hours. At 11 hours, I turned the heat back up to 275 for 1 hour. At the end of the 12 hours, the butts were perfect. Had "Mr. Brown" on the outside and the bones pulled right out. All the time, I kept the vent closed. Last night I did 14 pounds of beef tenderloin. I got the smoker up high as usual for the smoke to start, dropped the temp to 225 after a few minutes, and kept thermometers in the meat so I could see them through the door. I pulled them at 130 degrees (about 55 minutes), crisped them up on the grill at very high heat for about 2-3 minutes per side (4 sides), then tented them so they would rest for about 15 minutes before carving. I made a fabulous red wine reduction to drizzle over the slices and was a hero! The Masterbuilt smoker is excellent for me. The only thing that I could improve on might be to have a little more smoke. I'm thinking of using an amaz n pellet smoker in it to add some more flavor and to cold smoke in it.

tjohnson · Aug 26, 2011

candurin said:
I guess I should have rephrased my question. Should I have the door open enough where the amount of smoke that "vents out" is just as much smoke as the AMNPS is generating?

The short answer is "YES"

You can create TBS in your smoker with ot without the AMNPS. It may take some tweaking, but you'll figure it out. I don't know why they don't have a decent intake and exhaust on some of these electric smokers, but......That's a different thread.

Some guys use a cheap aquarium pump to pump some air thru the drain hole, into the the smoker, for good combustion. I've had a customer cut a small intake vent towards the bottom.

It's just odd to me that they don't install a good intake and exhaust vent.

Todd

tjohnson · Aug 26, 2011

DOMAPOI said:
I love how clean the top of that MES looks. LOL........Just yanking your chain.

This is my "Icky Smoker"

I only use it for testing pellets and sawdust.

I bet you it has close to 1,000 hours of cold and hot smoking on it. This thing burns something almost every day, and sometimes 24 hrs/day.

Once a month, I give it a good cleaning, but it never sees food any more.

TJ

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