New Smoker and questions

[mallardpte]

Just purchased a new master built 40"

Couple questions - anyone have a suggestion on best types of wood chips to use?  Do you / should you soak them in water first?  How long will one cup / load last?  want to do a brisket for first smoking

any help and recommendations appreciated

Happy Thanksgiving

 

[tropics]

Welcome to SMF You may want to get an AMNPS for your smoker Check out the MES Group section. The chip tray will most likely need refilling every 20 to 30 min. Wood should be dry vent wide open. Good Luck post some pics of your smoke.

Happy T-Day

 

[red dog]

Congrats on the new smoker. For wood chips you can use lots of different woods. I use hickory, apple, cherry, and maple most of the time. Hickory works good for beef and pork. I use milder flavored woods like the fruit woods for poultry. I don't soak my chips but you can and they will burn for longer if you do. How long the chips will smoke depends on different factors #1 being the temp you smoke at. In the MES you won't even get smoke until you get up over 180-200 degrees. #2 would be the size of the chips. Larger chips and chunks will take longer to burn. I would experiment during break in and seasoning to get an idea how your smoker performs. In my MES 40 generation 1 I get about 45 minutes to one hour at 225 degrees on a 3/4 cup load of chips but I don't get lots of smoke the whole time. Like I said before larger chunks will burn longer.