Masterbuilt smoker vent position?

[jted]

 
did st louis ribs for the first time today, they came out better than anything i've done, not perfect but very good... 3-2-1 method, only opened the door in between steps.

i will definitely experiment with higher heat and less cook time. thanks for the tip

with the vent fully closed (90% closed, as it doesn't close completely), the temperature fluctuation was almost completely gone. it stayed a steady 225 for almost the entire cook... with the vent fully opened,  i'd get down to 215 and up to 240+... it would cycle the heating element on and off. i was pretty surprised the vent position has such a huge impact on the stability of temps

also, my woodchips wood last about 1hr as opposed to 30-40 mins with vents fully opened

yes i will do this next time... i'll get the wife to take them as my hands usually get food/oil/sauce on them

i'll have to look into the mailbox mod because i want to use my amnps and it won't work if i have the vent closed

not sure if it's with all st louis ribs, but these seemed to have a lot of cartilage/inedible parts vs almost none on baby backs

Hi, I am glad to hear about your cook. Lot of folks will chime in on your vent position. I for one truly believe that once the smoker is up to temp you keep it open. A little  fluctuation of the temp doesn't matter. 20 degrees either way does not matter just turn up your controller 5 or 10 degrees.  We smoke not cook in a oven. My oven fluctuates  check yours.

What I want to talk about is the 2 different cuts of Ribs. Spares and Loin back ,Loin back ribs come from the upper part of the hog. The spare ribs come from the bottom of the hog near the Belly depending on the processor the spares have a bit of belly(bacon meat)  on them. The spares have more fat to render out and you are right the baby backs are meaty. Smaller more expensive but meatier. The Saint Lewis cut is just the center of the spare ribs. They look good on your platter but some of the tastiest meat is removed. Last season the spares were running from 1.99 to about 2.49 per pound the Saint Lewis cuts were about 2.50 to 3.00 and the baby backs ran up to 3.50 or more. I use a good sharp chefs knife and can make those Saint Lewis cuts and have the tasty meat you don't get with the butcher shop cut in just a couple of slices. One of the cuts I make is to take off the cartridge and meat from the side of the spares.  That pesky membran takes me as long as the trimming. Before you give up on spares cook several and get proficient at trimming. It's all about the journey. A good time to develop great BBQ bean receipt is during rib cooks.

Just a thought.   Jted

 

[bmaddox]

 
Hi, I am glad to hear about your cook. Lot of folks will chime in on your vent position. I for one truly believe that once the smoker is up to temp you keep it open. A little  fluctuation of the temp doesn't matter. 20 degrees either way does not matter just turn up your controller 5 or 10 degrees.  We smoke not cook in a oven. My oven fluctuates  check yours.

^^^^ This. With the vent closed you are not allowing the air to circulate and you are really just baking at that point. In order to achieve a quality smoked product you need the maintain air flow to move fresh smoke across the food. You don't want to end up with stale smoke or your smoker filling with too much smoke.

 

[gary s]

The only time mine is closed is when I am through smoking to keep the rain and bugs out

Gary

 

[Bearcarver]

 
did st louis ribs for the first time today, they came out better than anything i've done, not perfect but very good... 3-2-1 method, only opened the door in between steps.

i will definitely experiment with higher heat and less cook time. thanks for the tip

with the vent fully closed (90% closed, as it doesn't close completely), the temperature fluctuation was almost completely gone. it stayed a steady 225 for almost the entire cook... with the vent fully opened,  i'd get down to 215 and up to 240+... it would cycle the heating element on and off. i was pretty surprised the vent position has such a huge impact on the stability of temps

also, my woodchips wood last about 1hr as opposed to 30-40 mins with vents fully opened

yes i will do this next time... i'll get the wife to take them as my hands usually get food/oil/sauce on them

i'll have to look into the mailbox mod because i want to use my amnps and it won't work if i have the vent closed

not sure if it's with all st louis ribs, but these seemed to have a lot of cartilage/inedible parts vs almost none on baby backs

A lot of good answers above, so if I duplicate, it's only to emphasize a point:

I don't do St Louis cuts any more. I find smoking the whole rack keeps the ribs a lot more moist.

The only time my MES top vent is closed is when preheating, and after the smoke is over---to keep bugs out while not in use. So if your AMNPS doesn't work good with your top vent closed, that's good---nobody's does, because your top vent should not be closed. Mine is nearly always fully open.  Therefore you shouldn't need the Mailbox.

I generally do Ribs at between 225° and 250° smoker temp. When I said higher heat & less time, I was talking more about your Brisket---Not your Ribs.

Bear

 

[foamheart]

 
^^^^ This. With the vent closed you are not allowing the air to circulate and you are really just baking at that point. In order to achieve a quality smoked product you need the maintain air flow to move fresh smoke across the food. You don't want to end up with stale smoke or your smoker filling with too much smoke.

Thats not true. I smoked for almost 30 years in a ventless analog smoker, wore three of them out. Still have all three in the barn. You are trying it impose the way a fire breather works upon an electric. Its fine it works. But it also works in an sealed contained enviroment with no detrimental effcet to the taste of the smoked meat. I did it for 30 years, if you don't believe it I would gladly show you.

I like the vents on MES smokers, I couldn't maintain temp let alone smoke on my pits (Charcoal and split burners), but you do not require a vent to smoke delicious meat. I have been doing it for too many years for it to be an accident.

And as to stale smoke, think about what you are saying. Because its has an incomplete combustion doesn't make it stale.

Thionk about it, professional chefs use a chip tray with wetted chips in their commercial ovens and their smoked foods are also delicious. Fully open vents are not the only way you can smoke.

 

[bmaddox]

 
Thats not true. I smoked for almost 30 years in a ventless analog smoker, wore three of them out. Still have all three in the barn. You are trying it impose the way a fire breather works upon an electric. Its fine it works. But it also works in an sealed contained enviroment with no detrimental effcet to the taste of the smoked meat. I did it for 30 years, if you don't believe it I would gladly show you.

I like the vents on MES smokers, I couldn't maintain temp let alone smoke on my pits (Charcoal and split burners), but you do not require a vent to smoke delicious meat. I have been doing it for too many years for it to be an accident.

And as to stale smoke, think about what you are saying. Because its has an incomplete combustion doesn't make it stale.

Thionk about it, professional chefs use a chip tray with wetted chips in their commercial ovens and their smoked foods are also delicious. Fully open vents are not the only way you can smoke.

I'm sure it can and has been done. I have only used a few electric models but the common theme that I see is that you need a good, constant airflow to allow for the wood to burn cleanly (regardless of what type of wood you are using). The MES units are designed to create a chimney that draws air in from the chip loader and out of the vent. If you cut off the vent than you are interrupting the chimney.

That's just my opinion and considering there are people on here that have been at this longer than I have been alive I'm willing to bet that there is a counter point to all of my opinions (but at least I keep learning 

)

 

[Bearcarver]

 
I'm sure it can and has been done. I have only used a few electric models but the common theme that I see is that you need a good, constant airflow to allow for the wood to burn cleanly (regardless of what type of wood you are using). The MES units are designed to create a chimney that draws air in from the chip loader and out of the vent. If you cut off the vent than you are interrupting the chimney.

That's just my opinion and considering there are people on here that have been at this longer than I have been alive I'm willing to bet that there is a counter point to all of my opinions (but at least I keep learning 

)

I never cared for stale smoke either. I would guess it depends on the smoke, but I like mine to be moving from the generation to the exit vent, and going by the meat on the way.

Bear

 

[gary s]

I can only speak from a stick burner standpoint I always have my smoke stack vent (Damper )   wide open  control the heat and smoke with the dampers on the FB 

Gary

 

[ozsmoker]

appreciate the feedback, i will have to take video next time so you guys can see the smoke leaving the vent even when completely closed

i really feel that the main reason the meat was drying out on previous cooks was because of the heating element cycling on/off (vent fully opened) vs maintaining a more constant temperature (vent closed)

 

[jpfol]

Hello MythMaster,

I bought a Masterbuilt Pro 30 and am having some fun with it. I already did all of the pre-proofing required for the grill last night.

I have a few things going today on it and saw a big drop in temp when I put my first items on. Granted, I took the pre-rubbed meats out of the fridge and realized it could drop the temp, but that was an hour ago, the temp went up (set to 275) to about 230 but then dropped to 195. The only difference was I added soaked wood chips after the first hour. I am thinking the Susy Homemaker 'soak your wood chips' suggestion doesn't work with the way this little $270 plus bad boy was designed. I get the vents, I learned them on a kettle grill.

I am thinking soaked wood chips nailed me. Could this have impacted the heating element? I am thinking it did. Thanks.

 

[foamheart]

 
Hello MythMaster,

I bought a Masterbuilt Pro 30 and am having some fun with it. I already did all of the pre-proofing required for the grill last night.

I have a few things going today on it and saw a big drop in temp when I put my first items on. Granted, I took the pre-rubbed meats out of the fridge and realized it could drop the temp, but that was an hour ago, the temp went up (set to 275) to about 230 but then dropped to 195. The only difference was I added soaked wood chips after the first hour. I am thinking the Susy Homemaker 'soak your wood chips' suggestion doesn't work with the way this little $270 plus bad boy was designed. I get the vents, I learned them on a kettle grill.

I am thinking soaked wood chips nailed me. Could this have impacted the heating element? I am thinking it did. Thanks.

Actually, with an electric there are trade offs from a firebreather. The firebreather loses humifity. Therefore it is usually moped spritzed or sauced in an attempt to maintain moisture, even to the point of putting water trays in the pit. Every time its opened though it recoups the lost heat almost immediately.

Electrics maintain their mioisture great, they do not need to be opened so they do not need mopping spritzing or saucing. BUT if you open the CC and release the heat its does take much longer to recoup that lose. I have read that it took 15 mins., that seems excessive to me, but lets say 10 mins. If you only open that door once and hour, on a 12 hour smoke, you have added 2 extra hours to your cooking time just trying to recoup those temperature loses.

Most here agree that soaking is not a good thing. I can see only two possibile reasons. By wetting the chips you help prevent flash over. Thats when chips flash combust instead of slow smoldering. It is very possible to do this. The second and what I consider the most likely, the optium smoking temp is about 100 to 150 IT, thats what I have seen suggested by those I respect their opinions. Prior to approx 100 the meat is still wet and wet doesn't absorb the smoke as well as dry, its why we all try to achieve a pellicle before smoking. I am guessing now but at approx. 150, I have heard the meat since smoking since 100 IT is full of smoke. I am not saying that meat will not accept smoke below 100 (Like cold smoking it takes forever) and I am not saying that at 150 the meat cuts off and will not accept more smoke. BUT I do believe that above and below these magic numbers it absorbs at a diminished capcity.  LOL.... ALL that being said, I think the wetting of the chips helps allow the meat to come to temp. before allowing starting the smoke. Helping to keep it in that maxium asorption range better.

Is that a long winded explaination or what? LOL

I don't normally soak chips, I do although normally allow the meat to rest in the smoker about an hour before adding my chips/shells/splits/chunks, etc. etc.

Leave that door closed, and you'll have supper sooner. BUT as in all advice given here, I HIGHLY recommend that no matter what you are advised, try it yourself and draw your own conclusions.

 

[smokedude]

Even though I am new to this I followed the advice of leaving it wide open. Only close for preheat.

 

[jted]

Foam,has given great advice, not all that long winded for the information given just a word about heat loss, I opened the door  on my MES30 just to sap a couple of pictures
the butts had been smoking for about 4 hours so the box was hot and stable. I had my camera ready and when opening all I did was snap 2 photos in less than 30 seconds my box dropped 35 degrees it went from 250 to 215 as soon as I opened the door. The ambient temperature was near 80 degrees so that was not a problem. I have insulation on my smoker not for the warm up but for retaining and recouping lost heat.

DSCN2969.JPG

• jted
• May 5, 2015

DSCN2972.JPG

• jted
• May 5, 2015

I can tell you that  heat loss is greater early in the smoke. 

 

[gary s]

How long did it take to recover ?   On my RF temp always drops when I open the door, but  goes right back up in just a few min. So not a big deal, for me anyway

Gary

 

[Bearcarver]

 
Foam,has given great advice, not all that long winded for the information given just a word about heat loss, I opened the door  on my MES30 just to sap a couple of pictures
the butts had been smoking for about 4 hours so the box was hot and stable. I had my camera ready and when opening all I did was snap 2 photos in less than 30 seconds my box dropped 35 degrees it went from 250 to 215 as soon as I opened the door. The ambient temperature was near 80 degrees so that was not a problem. I have insulation on my smoker not for the warm up but for retaining and recouping lost heat.

I can tell you that  heat loss is greater early in the smoke. 

 
How long did it take to recover ?   On my RF temp always drops when I open the door, but  goes right back up in just a few min. So not a big deal, for me anyway

Gary

Good question Gary---That's the important part---Getting back up.

It would be my guess after smoking at 250° for 4 hours, then dropping to 215°, it would take about 3 to 5 minutes to get back to 250°.

How about it Jted???

Bear

 

[gary s]

If it only takes a few minutes to recover opening the door is no big deal unless you are constantly opening it. Just remember it's not the temp drop, But the recovery time.

Gary

 

[foamheart]

" I had my camera ready and when opening all I did was snap 2 photos in less than 30 seconds my box dropped 35 degrees it went from 250 to 215 as soon as I opened the door. The ambient temperature was near 80 degrees so that was not a problem. I have insulation on my smoker not for the warm up but for retaining and recouping lost heat."

I would guess that most folks are not that quick. Leaving the door open to change or adjust or just shake and check the chip tray, maybe a spritz or mope the meat thinking it a firebreather, pushing, turning or flipping the meat like a fire breather, checking that the chips are again smoking, and of course the pictures.

Most folks until educated think an electric operates the same as a firebreather. It doesn't, we here show them how to modify it to make it operate more to that understanding. Which if it allows them better control and a more enjoyable smoking experience is not a bad thing. It doesn't matter how you reach your smoking Nirvana, only that the state is achieved.

 

[Bearcarver]

With my MES 40, I don't mop or spritz, I usually take pics at the start, then through the glass, and then when the meat is done.

I don't use the chip drawer, because I'm 100% AMNPS---11 hours on it's own.

So the only time I open my door is if I'm using my heat deflector, and I have to adjust it, and that takes about 3 seconds.

And if I foil something, I remove it (door open less than 10 seconds), foil it & add juice if needed, Put it back in (another less than 10 seconds).

That's about it for my door opening once things are going.

Bear

 

[foamheart]

 
With my MES 40, I don't mop or spritz, I usually take pics at the start, then through the glass, and then when the meat is done.

I don't use the chip drawer, because I'm 100% AMNPS---11 hours on it's own.

So the only time I open my door is if I'm using my heat deflector, and I have to adjust it, and that takes about 3 seconds.

And if I foil something, I remove it (door open less than 10 seconds), foil it & add juice if needed, Put it back in (another less than 10 seconds).

That's about it for my door opening once things are going.

Bear

And that is how it should be. But most folks new to electrics don't realize that. They expect it to react the same as a firebreather, only easier. They realize the difference when explained, of course, but its something most never even think about until they can't get their pulled pork done.

 

[milo the silo]

I've haven't tried the molasses thing but looks like a good idea.  Normally I just rub with mustard, apply the rub and brown sugar the night before, smoke at 225 using the 3-2-1 method.  When wrapping in foil, I melt butter and pour over the whole rack, smoke for another 2 hours.  Take them out of the foil and 225 for another hour.  

No complaints yet but maybe the molasses will even get me a kiss from Mama.  

Happy smokin' ya'll.............