Ruined wings in my smoker. Real bitter

[Bones22]

I have a masterbilt smoker using hickory pellets instead of wood chips. I smoked some wings at 250 temp for 2 hours and my wings are real bitter. What am I doing wrong. Did I put to much smoke to them.

 

[mneeley490]

Did you have your vent open all the way? Trapped smoke can cause a bitter taste.

 

[chilerelleno]

Well that sucks, maybe, hopefully they can be saved with the liberal addition of some sauce.

Yep, too heavy a smoke can taste bitter, e.g. rolling thick white smoke versus the sought after thin blue smoke.

And as Mr. Neeley says stale trapped smoke can too, check your vents, did one or more get bumped closed or partially closed?
Also it may be time to give your smoker a cleaning? Burning grease/oils and creosote can impart a bitter taste.
Creosote can even make you tongue feel a bit numbed.

Give it a good cleaning and make sure you've good airflow.

 

[Bones22]

Yea I had the vent in the closed position but it was still coming out. I brined the wings in some lawrys garlic salt and water. I guess I had way to much smoke. This masterbilt smoker is alot different than my brinkman bullet smoker. Can I put real wood chips in this masterbilt or do I have to stay with pellets

 

[mneeley490]

Yeah, I think the vent was the culprit. Unless you have the Sportsman Elite 44, I think all electric Masterbuilt smokers are designed to use wood chips. Some folks have tried pellets, however, and I don't see that it would make much difference.
Search "mailbox mod" on this site, and you'll see what many Masterbuilt owners (including myself) have done in order to easily smoke with pellets.

 

[campfire218]

Masterbuilt smokers are designed to be used with chips. I use the amazen tray in mine and it works great with pellets. Hickory can get strong sometimes too.

 

[daveomak]

When adding smoke to food, always have the exhaust wide open.. Maybe drill out the holes in the chip chute to a larger size... It needs it...