I got MasterBuilt Model 2051311 for Christmas 2015
Smoked some Ribs The Tuesday after Christmas and they turned out ok
with a lot of babysitting the smoker hard to keep under 300.
Now for some background.
I run my Propane from a 100 gal tank regulated to 11" of mercury at the tank through the house for the stove and stub out to the back behind the patio for the BBQ and now also for the Smoker. I have run my Weber 6 burner SS BBQ for 11 years without a regulator with no problems.
Now for the mods I have done.
1. added a adjustable regulator. helped a lot with burner control. but adjustments here don't seem to do much. temp was still hard to control under 220.
2. added a needle valve. also received my Maverick Model ET-733.
3. mentioned to my wife that I wanted to get a 8" cast iron frying pan for a chip tray.
She said she had bought a cast iron fajita pan she had bought on the net and didn't think it would work for us. I took a look and its about 7.5" by 9" oblong long story short hay it fits and it works.
Did some testing over two days with no meat.
with two 2" chunks of mesquite on the cast iron fajita pan on the burner ring / chip holder rest.
Day 1
I was able to get my temps at the upper grate with the ET0733 down to 130 but got it to hold at 150 no problem. could not get much smoke if any. I have a smoke generator in mind for this problem when I am doing jerky using lower temps. checked door thermometer and it was reading 5-10 degrees low.
Day 2
I was able to get my temps up to 200-230 with no problem by adjusting the needle valve and vent position. could smell the smoke but could not see any visible smoke coming out of the vents. two 2" size chunks of the mesquite lasted at least 4 hours. maybe Ill just have to add a few more chunks to get more smoke. checked door thermometer and it was still 5-10 degrees low.
conclusions:
1. must have a BBQ regulator of some kind.
2. digital thermometer is a must, the door thermometer is trash.
3. the needle valve if you plan on doing any thing under 220 degrees.
4. cast Iron chip tray for wood chips/chunks. the original chip tray had holes that allowed the burner flame to reach the wood making it burn not smolder.
Thanks to everyone on this forum that has done these mods and reported the results on other smokers.
now I can get to smoking with confidence .
Jim
Smoked some Ribs The Tuesday after Christmas and they turned out ok
with a lot of babysitting the smoker hard to keep under 300.
Now for some background.
I run my Propane from a 100 gal tank regulated to 11" of mercury at the tank through the house for the stove and stub out to the back behind the patio for the BBQ and now also for the Smoker. I have run my Weber 6 burner SS BBQ for 11 years without a regulator with no problems.
Now for the mods I have done.
1. added a adjustable regulator. helped a lot with burner control. but adjustments here don't seem to do much. temp was still hard to control under 220.
2. added a needle valve. also received my Maverick Model ET-733.
3. mentioned to my wife that I wanted to get a 8" cast iron frying pan for a chip tray.
She said she had bought a cast iron fajita pan she had bought on the net and didn't think it would work for us. I took a look and its about 7.5" by 9" oblong long story short hay it fits and it works.
Did some testing over two days with no meat.
with two 2" chunks of mesquite on the cast iron fajita pan on the burner ring / chip holder rest.
Day 1
I was able to get my temps at the upper grate with the ET0733 down to 130 but got it to hold at 150 no problem. could not get much smoke if any. I have a smoke generator in mind for this problem when I am doing jerky using lower temps. checked door thermometer and it was reading 5-10 degrees low.
Day 2
I was able to get my temps up to 200-230 with no problem by adjusting the needle valve and vent position. could smell the smoke but could not see any visible smoke coming out of the vents. two 2" size chunks of the mesquite lasted at least 4 hours. maybe Ill just have to add a few more chunks to get more smoke. checked door thermometer and it was still 5-10 degrees low.
conclusions:
1. must have a BBQ regulator of some kind.
2. digital thermometer is a must, the door thermometer is trash.
3. the needle valve if you plan on doing any thing under 220 degrees.
4. cast Iron chip tray for wood chips/chunks. the original chip tray had holes that allowed the burner flame to reach the wood making it burn not smolder.
Thanks to everyone on this forum that has done these mods and reported the results on other smokers.
now I can get to smoking with confidence .
Jim
