Smoking newb with a Masterbuilt

[jamie krasnoo]

Hey everyone I just got a new Masterbuilt Sportsman Elite 40 electric smoker that a fought the crowds for at Bass Pro on Black Friday. I've made a bunch of mistakes already and I'm hoping I'll learn the ropes here. I put the smoker together a few nights before and then seasoned it right before I did my first cook. I decided I would go with the cheap meat first to get some experience and if I messed it up it wouldn't burn a huge hole in my pocket. I went with a couple of chickens that I got for $10. Honestly I looked at videos on YouTube and found a few articles to get me started and the one thing none of them really told me was how long do you smoke the chicken? I used the super simple recipe from Masterbuilt, the Lemon Pepper brined chicken smoked with apple wood. So I brined both chickens for around five hours, burned in the smoker and got it ready to go. After the seasoning I got the smoker down to 225 and put the chickens in. I put in fresh apple wood chips and off we went. So I put in fresh chips every 45 minutes to an hour till the birds were finished. Towards the end of the smoke I had some trouble getting the birds to 165. Outside temps had fallen down to 50 and may have even been below. I didn't think it would be affected that much by the weather but I had to crank up the temp to 250 to get it done. The skin had taken on a dark color. I put some photos down below to show the end result. I did a taste test and to be honest I wasn't really sure what to expect. The smoke flavor was very strong and seemed like it overpowered the flavor of the meat. My housemate said the same. The smoke flavor was too much. It took about five hours to finish them.

So here's my takeaway from it. Please tell me if I'm right.

1. I cooked it at too low of a temp. Probably should have set it at 250 - 255 instead of 225.

2. I put in too much smoke. I got a bit carried away thinking I had to put chips in every 45 minutes to an hour.

3. Weather affects the smoker. If it's cold out. Turn the heat up to compensate. Especially if its got a glass window!

Looking forward to learning. To top it all off I also got the Masterbuilt smoke generator that fits on the electric smoker for cold smoking. I love smoked salmon and hope to learn how to make lox.

Jamie

DSCN0883.JPG

• jamie krasnoo
• Dec 5, 2016

DSCN0884.JPG

• jamie krasnoo
• Dec 5, 2016

 

[SmokinAl]

From here your chickens look excellent!

Chicken is better smoked at higher temps.

I think your smoker will go to 275, if that's the case, then that is the temp I would smoke them at the next time.

If you got more smoke flavor than you like just stop adding chips after a couple of hours.

Lox is a big favorite around here, and as a matter of fact, I have some in the fridge curing right now.

I plan on cold smoking the fillets on Friday when the weather cools down here.

Al

 

[meatsweats86]

Great looking color on those birds. When I smoked my first chickens being a newbie I did low and slow and added wood chips every 45 mins with hickory and yes, they were way to smokey. Be lucky you didn't use hickory or mesquite or they probably would have been WAYYY to smokey.

Since poultry doesn't need low and slow, I would crank that baby up as high as it will go and maybe only add smoke for 2 hours. Higher temps will give you a crispy skin and poultry absorbs smoke faster than other types of meat.....so I've been told.

I'm still a newb, so I would suggest searching " chicken" on here and you will find lots of great info!

I'd invest in a digital thermometer like the maverick et 733. Then you will know exactly where your internal temps are and can pull it out at the right time.

-MeatSweats

 

[jamie krasnoo]

Thanks guys. I really appreciate the feedback. I'll try cranking up the heat and smoking it less. The cold smoker arrived but I need to find wild caught salmon as I heard farmed salmon doesn't really hold up.

Jamie

 

[chopkins]

I am brand new here. Excited to find this forum. I have smoked for about a year on a master built propane. I found that I dry rub chickens, then smoke 4 hours on 190 to 200. My birds come out good and were moist. I just have a problem with everything getting black. I am going to keep looking through the older forums to see what I am doing wrong for everything turning black.