Masterbuilt instructions

[ad69iuu]

Using our Masterbuilt for the first time today.  Instructions clearly say to take the unit to the maximum temperature for 30 minutes prior to putting food on.  Want to smoke fish at about 175 degrees.  Using instructions, took smoker to 265 (or whatever the highest was) then put the food on and knocked it down to 175.  Well, entire unit shuts down in order to cool internal temperature to the desired temperature.  So now I have fish on a smoker that is shut down, not creating any smoke and cooking.  So basically, I have hot air baked fish.  What am I missing?

 

[tallbm]

 
Using our Masterbuilt for the first time today.  Instructions clearly say to take the unit to the maximum temperature for 30 minutes prior to putting food on.  Want to smoke fish at about 175 degrees.  Using instructions, took smoker to 265 (or whatever the highest was) then put the food on and knocked it down to 175.  Well, entire unit shuts down in order to cool internal temperature to the desired temperature.  So now I have fish on a smoker that is shut down, not creating any smoke and cooking.  So basically, I have hot air baked fish.  What am I missing?

Hi there and welcome!

I believe you have just run into an issue with the Masterbuilt Electric Smoker (MES).  If you want to smoke at low temps like 175F then the MES will likely not heat your wood to smoke it :(

There is a little tray/device called the A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker (AMNPS) that most MES users utilize.  Basically it is a tray that allows you to put wood pellets in it and you light the wood pellets and let burn for 10 minutes.  Then you blow out the fire and the pellets will begin producing perfect smoke, Thin Blue Smoke (TBS).   At this point you set the AMNPS tray inside your MES and you will get all the smoke you want independent of the heating element.

Many of us MES users build what is called the Mailbox Mod (modification).  This way we can cold smoke and smoke food without adding any heat from the smoldering pellets, etc.  Anyhow, Here is an image of my mailbox mod and the AMNPS burning pellets before I blow it out and use it for smoke.

33fbwvn.jpg

• tallbm
• Jan 8, 2017

I know it's probably not what you want to hear but this is pretty much your best if not only option if you want to smoke at 175F.

Best of luck :)

 

[chopsaw]

 
Using our Masterbuilt for the first time today.  Instructions clearly say to take the unit to the maximum temperature for 30 minutes prior to putting food on.  Want to smoke fish at about 175 degrees.  Using instructions, took smoker to 265 (or whatever the highest was) then put the food on and knocked it down to 175.  Well, entire unit shuts down in order to cool internal temperature to the desired temperature.  So now I have fish on a smoker that is shut down, not creating any smoke and cooking.  So basically, I have hot air baked fish.  What am I missing?

You heat it to max first time to burn the packing oils / junk out off the unit  . 

 

[bbqwillie]

Unfortunately, you misinterpreted the instructions. You max it for 30 minutes to burn off any manufacturing debris, then let it cool back to ambient air temp. After the cool down, I do a wipe down with a dry, clean cloth. Now you're ready to start cooking on it. 

You tried to combine the "burn off" and "first cook" all at the same time. Clearly that didn't work to well.

As TallBM suggested, get an A-Maze-N and save yourself a lot of heartburn. As a bonus you'll get better consistency in your smoke without having to add chips every 30-40 minutes.

 

[redoctobyr]

 
Unfortunately, you misinterpreted the instructions. You max it for 30 minutes to burn off any manufacturing debris, then let it cool back to ambient air temp. After the cool down, I do a wipe down with a dry, clean cloth. Now you're ready to start cooking on it. 

You tried to combine the "burn off" and "first cook" all at the same time. Clearly that didn't work to well.

As TallBM suggested, get an A-Maze-N and save yourself a lot of heartburn. As a bonus you'll get better consistency in your smoke without having to add chips every 30-40 minutes.

Agreed that the "burn off" and "first cook" shouldn't be combined. But I'm not sure that the manual was misinterpreted about maxing it out before each cook. I just got the 20070910, my manual states:

Page 4:

"LET'S GET STARTED!

- “Pre-season” smoker prior to first use. See page 23.
- Pre-heat smoker for 30 to 45 minutes at max temperature before loading food."

And page 23 says, for the pre-season instructions:

"PRE-SEASON SMOKER PRIOR TO FIRST USE.
Some smoke may appear during this time, this is normal.
1. Make sure water pan is in place with NO WATER.
2. Set temperature to 275°F (135°C) and run unit for 3 hours.
......"

As I read it, it does seem to me like they've shown separate instructions for pre-seasoning, and for food. And they are telling you to max it out for 30-45 minutes each time before cooking. That seems a bit odd to me, any theories as to why they'd want you to crank it up every time? Maybe to help get the wood chips going?

I got an AMNPS for my smoker, so I will probably skip the max-out before each cook. ad69iuu, I'm impressed with the AMNPS "so far" (today is my first smoker use :) ). But it's been making thin blue smoke for about 4 hours, hands-off. It's used about 1/3 of the pellets that the AMNPS can hold, so 10+ hours should be doable without any baby-sitting.

 

[bbqwillie]

Red, you're right about the 30 minutes at MAX. I should have read the manual but by the time I got around to buying an electric I had been smoking meat for over 35 years on charcoal and stick burners so I threw the manual on my work desk and never bothered. I winged on experience alone. 

 

[chopsaw]

I can set mine at 225 and it runs at max for 30 minutes on its own . Like said above run at max to burn it off .

 

[ad69iuu]

I don't think I misinterpreted. It says very clearly....

1. Preseason.......
2. Pre heat smoker for 30-45 minutes at max temperature before you load the food....

This step is in addition to the pre season stage

 

[GaryHibbert]

Hey all,

Ive been using my MES 30 Gen 1 for years. When I first got it I did a 30 minute max temp burn in to remove any factory oils. That was the first, last, and only time the temp has ever been set to max.

I do pretty much all my smokes at 240ish. I always preheat my MES--to whatever temp I'm going to be cooking the meat at.

There is only one possible reason that I can see for preheating the MES for one half hour at a temp higher than required and that is to compensate for the mass of cold meat you'll be putting into the smoker. When the meat is put in, reset the temp to your desired cooking temp. As the temp in the cook chamber drops, the meat will start warming, and the heating element will start up again at the appropriate time and temp.

That said, I've never followed those instructions. I'm never in so big a rush that I felt the need to do so.

Gary