New to electric smokers

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jfugate5916

Newbie
Original poster
Jun 18, 2016
4
10
Just purchased a Masterbuilt 40" smoker from academy day before yesterday. So far I am unimpressed.

Background: I was a stick smoker, then moved to a pellet grill, loved it until it died and I couldn't find any parts, now on to the electric.

Issues I'm having:

1) smoke is not really generating. I can smell it occasionally but not much is escaping from draft vent. I smell more food than smoke

2) as I add wood chips they do not burn down. I had added chips and after an hour they had not burned down. I know I am not overloading the burn tray. IM making sure to check inside the tray before I add.

3) the only way I can create smoke in a rolling sense is to crank the heat up about 10 degrees higher than my desired temp then back it back down. I do not like that much fluctuation with my temps. its hard on the meats

4) a lot of condensation on the inside of the door.

5) no clear instructions on exactly when to add chips. When they are black? When they are all gone?

Any insight I could get would be great. I did season like the instructions said except I did it about 30 minutes long just to be safe.

Oh yeah, one more thing. Disappointed in masterbuilts customer service hours. Smoking meats is a weekend thing. Who cooks between 8-5 m-f. Most people cook on the weekend. At least I do.

Thanks in advance

Jeff
 
Also just an fyi. In order to get smoke i have to crank heat up to get the chips to start smoldering then crank the heat back down. Am i doing something wrong with this thing?
 
I don't think you are  doing anything wrong.  Call master built on Monday and tell them what is  happening.  The smoker should  work as advertised.  
 
 
Just purchased a Masterbuilt 40" smoker from academy day before yesterday. So far I am unimpressed.

Background: I was a stick smoker, then moved to a pellet grill, loved it until it died and I couldn't find any parts, now on to the electric.

Issues I'm having:

1) smoke is not really generating. I can smell it occasionally but not much is escaping from draft vent. I smell more food than smoke

2) as I add wood chips they do not burn down. I had added chips and after an hour they had not burned down. I know I am not overloading the burn tray. IM making sure to check inside the tray before I add.

3) the only way I can create smoke in a rolling sense is to crank the heat up about 10 degrees higher than my desired temp then back it back down. I do not like that much fluctuation with my temps. its hard on the meats

4) a lot of condensation on the inside of the door.

5) no clear instructions on exactly when to add chips. When they are black? When they are all gone?

Any insight I could get would be great. I did season like the instructions said except I did it about 30 minutes long just to be safe.

Oh yeah, one more thing. Disappointed in masterbuilts customer service hours. Smoking meats is a weekend thing. Who cooks between 8-5 m-f. Most people cook on the weekend. At least I do.

Thanks in advance

Jeff
Is this the digital or the analog electric smoker?
 
This is a digital smoker.

Called master built this past monday and they decided they would send me a new heating element and chip tray. Funny thing is when I got them yesterday and tried to install, the chip try is not the right size. I am greatly disappointed in this. SWMNBC has expressed that she wants me to take it back to Academy and swap it out. Im leaning towards returning it and getting another pellet grill. 

Suggestions?

Thanks in advance 
 
 
This is a digital smoker.

Called master built this past monday and they decided they would send me a new heating element and chip tray. Funny thing is when I got them yesterday and tried to install, the chip try is not the right size. I am greatly disappointed in this. SWMNBC has expressed that she wants me to take it back to Academy and swap it out. Im leaning towards returning it and getting another pellet grill. 

Suggestions?

Thanks in advance 
If it were me and I'm still within the return period I'd bring it back for a full refund or an exchange. I won't tolerate appliances or just about anything I buy that doesn't work properly when I get it home. But you might have muddied the waters by installing the new heating element. You could always put the original and the original chip tray back in and return it to Academy. But first, did you test out the new heating element?

Now, you never said which model you bought. That's important. Do you have a Generation 2 or a Gen 2.5 smoker? We can tell by the model number. I have a MES 30 Gen 1, what I call a basic black smoker. No window, no remote, no meat probe. But I tell you, after four years the thing still works perfectly, In fact, it's working better now than when I first bought it. Masterbuilt makes some of the best (relatively) inexpensive electric smokers on the market but they also produce some lemons coming off the factory assembly lines. Apparently they've had whole production runs that were snakebit.

As I said, mine has worked great from day one. No, you shouldn't have to crank up the heat to get the wood chips to smolder and then lower the heat back down to your target temp. But of course that won't matter if you're bringing the smoker back. As for another pellet grill, Traeger is very popular but I'm not a fan. We've also had people post here with problems with those grills. They're not airtight so they're very susceptible to temp fluctuations on windy or cold days and such. And it all depends on how much you want to pay for an electric smoker. As I said, from my own research MB has the best electric smokers on the market for below $500.  
 
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