First Time Seasoning New MES 30" Electric Smoker Model 20070910

[br ragin cajun]

Going to season my new smoker today as per Masterbuilt's directions in owners manual.  They say to do this before the first time you actually smoke meat.  They say to close vent all the way and run for 3 hours on 275.  Then they say the last 45 minutes to add one cup of woods chip and the smoker is seasoned ready to use.

When I add the wood chips should I open the vents or leave them closed.  Have heard a lot of people say to leave open and not close when smoking meats which the MES says not to do but I agree with leaving it open makes more sense to me.  People say leaving closed will make it harder for chips to smoke due to lack of air and will create creosote.

So when I season it for first time was wondering if vents open or closed.  Don't want to have creosote build up on first time.  Or sine it so short a time period 45 minutes this won't matter.

Do i even need to season it before smoking meat the first time.

I know I'm asking a lot of guestions but really don't want to screw up a new smoker.

 

[jsc1234]

Welcome

I just got my MES 40 about 2 weeks ago and yes you want to run it for a good 3 hrs @ 275. You can smell something burning off during this time probably from the production. After 2 hrs I dumped in a cup of chips with the vent open and let it go, Not sure what the wood chips do but there is no off odor after doing it,

Good luck and enjoy
 

 

[sigmo]

I just got a Masterbuilt a few days ago, myself.  I was in a real hurry to get it running, but reading the instructions, they said to season it, so I did.

And I am VERY glad that I did!  In fact, I'd recommend running it at 275 for longer if you have the time to do so.

When I first fired it up, the heating element and/or the metal parts near it emitted a lot of very stinky smoke.  This is probably oil or other substances used in the manufacturing processes or applied to prevent rust during shipment. (Hmmm.  What does burning cosmoline smell like)?

You would NOT want that stench embedded into anything you were going to eat, that's for sure.  And I would recommend a slight alteration to MB's seasoning instructions.  Seeing and smelling the really rank smoke coming off of the heating element and parts in that area initially, I opened the door of the smoker to let that vile stuff out of there.  I really didn't want it adhering to the interior of the smoker and "lingering" any longer than it has to.  After about 30 minutes, the smoke had really subsided, so I then closed the door and gave it another three hours at 275.  Then, I put in a cup of hickory chips and gave it another hour.

Of course, running it with the door open causes the heating element to be powered on continuously for that entire time because it obviously cannot get the smoker up to 275.

I left the vent wide open for the entire process because I wanted any of the stinky stuff to get out of the smoker and not coat the inside of it.  I felt that the whole "seasoning" procedure was really more of a way to drive off as much of anything really smelly/toxic, as possible, and to that end, keeping a constant flow of air moving through the smoker made sense to me.

I actually think the longer you do this first de-stinking run, the better.  I wasn't able to detect any stink in the pork shoulder I did immediately after my four-hour seasoning run, but really, unless you're in a hurry, why not drive off as much of whatever that stuff is as possible?

New Car Smell may be good, but new smoker smell is definitely NOT. 

I'm very new here, and glancing around, I saw someone mention seasoning their smoker with Spam!  I'm not sure what that procedure is, but I suspect the idea is to smoke a chunk of Spam as the first "run" and then just throw it away so that any "new smoker smell" (NSS) is gotten rid of on a chunk of meat one doesn't mind just tossing away!  But I should read up further on that subject.  I just saw it mentioned and don't know what the proper Spam seasoning procedure really is!

 

[br ragin cajun]

Thanks seasoned today per instructions and it seemed to go well.

 

[br ragin cajun]

Thanks so much!  I seasoned mine today and ran it longer as you recommened without the chips then I put chips in it and ran it longer then the manual said as well.  Smelled like sweet hickory then i was done and took out tthe grates, drip pan and water pan to wash them.  Had a nice light brown hue to the inside.  Wiped the inside down with wet paper towels and dried.

Gonna give it a shot here in a few days.

 

[JckDanls 07]

BR.. what you should have done after the first few hours when you threw the wood chips in was coat the whole smoker inside and out with cheap veggy oil.. let that cook into the metal to season it... You can still do this the next time you fire it up...

 

[br ragin cajun]

BR.. what you should have done after the first few hours when you threw the wood chips in was coat the whole smoker inside and out with cheap veggy oil.. let that cook into the metal to season it... You can still do this the next time you fire it up...

Thanks so much! 

 

[sigmo]

BR.. what you should have done after the first few hours when you threw the wood chips in was coat the whole smoker inside and out with cheap veggy oil.. let that cook into the metal to season it... You can still do this the next time you fire it up...

I should probably do that, too.

At least the inside.