No Smoke

[retiredfire]

I bought a Masterbuilt electric smoker about two months ago, the first few times I used it there was plenty of smoke like I assumed there would be, but since then hardly anything. I use mesquite and cherry chips dry with the temp between 200-250 depending on what I am cooking. The chips just turn black and never really burn up and turn to ash like earlier. The brisket and ribs that I did cook turned out great just not enough smoke in my opinion. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[redoctobyr]

I'm new here too, but welcome! There are a lot of knowledgeable folks here, I'm sure they'll be able to help you out.

As a test, if you run the smoker at 275F, not cooking anything, does it smoke as-expected then?

Does the smoker report that it's up to the proper temperature? Can you confirm that with another thermometer? You're dumping the chips into the chip tray, using the loader?

 

[smokedcaveman]

a lot of people have that issue with the MES

are you using the analog or the digital model?

(my experience is only with the analog, other guys can help you out with the digital)

either way, one of the things the masterbuilts seem to suffer from is a rather puny chip receptacle (especially the analog. maybe 20 minutes of smoke) 

I'm going to be getting an AMNPS (tray or tube, not sure which at this point, but am starting to lean towards tube, as it works better in a lower oxygen environment, which the analog doesn't have a lot of ventilation.) and would suggest that you might want to look into it too. 

but I know your woes with the puny smoke generation. 

 

[SmokinAl]

http://www.amazenproducts.com/

Al

 

[PopJohn]

How do you use the amazin product in the masterbuilt smoker?

 

[smokedcaveman]

well, I actually wound up getting the tray, for my mes analog, I just pulled the little drip tray out of the bottom, and there's enough airflow through. you put pellets of your choice into the tray, (or you can mix pellets and chips, but no more than about 50% chips. if I use chips, i put a layer of pellets on the tray, with the chips on top, but still not over the sides of the channels. to be honest, I don't bother with chips anymore) light one end of the pellets (I use a blowtorch) until it's a bright red coal, about the side of the first joint of your thumb. stick it into the smoker, make sure your temp's right, put your meat in, make sure the temp comes back up properly, and then leave it alone. I've gotten a full 14 hours of smoke out of the tray, but if you need more smoke for a shorter time, you can light both ends of the tray, or if you want just regular smoke for a shorter period, you can fill 1/3 or 2/3 of the tray instead of 'full'

I had to do a small hack to my mes, in that I didn't have a 'good' place to set my tray, but my model has a nice hollow in the center of the element, so i got a piece of decorative 16 gauge steel with cutouts, cut it to size, and slide it in under the element, it rests on the supports, and holds the pellet tray neatly.

not sure if this answers your question. btw, the pellets i use are the lumberjack brand. I get them from atwoods, but the smoke is clean, and the flavor's good from them.

 

[PopJohn]

Thank you
That was the prob. Just can't see where to put a tray and then was curious about if it had an effect on the temp and if the element would be hot enough to get the pellets going.
Thanks again and will give it a try this weekend.

 

[smokedcaveman]

no worries, you can put the rack on one of the grates if need be, and you dont' use the element to get the pellets going. blowtorch is the way. just think of it as two seperate parts of a whole. the tray's for smoke generation only, and the element's for your heat control only.

hope that helped though!

but no, the tray doesn't put off a great deal of heat at all. (I mean you wouldn't' want to hold it barehanded, but as far as the box, if you werent' running the element, you could cold smoke with just the tray)

I'll try to get a couple pictures tomorrow in the daylight, so you can see how my setup is.

 

[smokedcaveman]

hope this helps you see what's going on. my tray fits right in the hollow. my last smoke was done ahead of schedule, so when I took the meat out, I just used a cheap steel spoon to separate the pellets, and let the little bit that was already lit burn out.

ps - sorry for potato quality picture. my phone camera's old. that's why I don't do a lot of q-view pictures (or any at all, really) no good if it's just a blurry lump anyway.