# Masterbuilt question



## pinebarrensbbq (Jan 14, 2016)

Hey everyone. New to the forum but not to smoking. Worked as a BBQ chef for a few years but due to a combat injury, I can no longer work. I now have a small, home based BBQ & jerky operation. I was using propane but it was killing my profits and wanted to keep consistent so, I purchased 2 40 inch electrics. Now, this one is fully insulated where as my others weren't. I noticed when making jerky during the first run, the temps were fluctuating a lot. As in it was set to 140, but was climbing to 155. I adjusted the door to get more ventilation and stabilize the temp which, since it outdoors but sheltered from the wind, kept the temp swing to 3-4 plus or minus during the on off cycles. Is this normal for electrics? I don't mean to sound dumb, but I'm very new to the electrics outside of the restaurant which was indoors and held a solid temp. Thanks for the help in advance.


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## SmokinAl (Jan 14, 2016)

Yes it's normal for electric smokers to have large temp swings, just like the oven in your house. When it cycles on & off the temps rise & fall. If you can keep it to + or - 3 or 4 degrees your doing a fantastic job!!

Al


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## pinebarrensbbq (Jan 14, 2016)

Okay, thank you for the info. The only thing I could think k of to get more ventilation and stabilize it was to adjust the door. The ones I've used at the restaurant always held solid temps because it was in a controlled environment. Now, it spikes about 15 degrees when I first add the wood chips and ten drops back down after a few minutes. Thanks again for the help!


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## walta (Jan 15, 2016)

I think masterbuilt designed the controls to have this swing from the set point deliberately for 2 reasons.

 If the smoker were controlled very closely the heaters run cycles would be short and frequent.

1The frequent cycles would shorten the number of hours the smoker will work before the smoker fails.

 The relay that turns the heater on and off will fail after X number of cycles.

2 The short cycles under certain conditions may not have the heater on long enough to insure the wood in the tray will burn.

In my opinion as long as the average temperature is at the set point a 15° swing will not change the end product.  

Walta


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## daricksta (Jan 15, 2016)

PinebarrensBBQ said:


> Hey everyone. New to the forum but not to smoking. Worked as a BBQ chef for a few years but due to a combat injury, I can no longer work. I now have a small, home based BBQ & jerky operation. I was using propane but it was killing my profits and wanted to keep consistent so, I purchased 2 40 inch electrics. Now, this one is fully insulated where as my others weren't. I noticed when making jerky during the first run, the temps were fluctuating a lot. As in it was set to 140, but was climbing to 155. I adjusted the door to get more ventilation and stabilize the temp which, since it outdoors but sheltered from the wind, kept the temp swing to 3-4 plus or minus during the on off cycles. Is this normal for electrics? I don't mean to sound dumb, but I'm very new to the electrics outside of the restaurant which was indoors and held a solid temp. Thanks for the help in advance.


Welcome to SMF! I've never smoked jerky in my MES. Do you have a how-to that you've come up with? I know that other members make jerky in their electric smokers but I don't know how you dry out the meat without making it inedible.

And yes, you will see temp swings with the MES. I use a Maverick ET-733 to monitor smoker and meat temps.


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## pinebarrensbbq (Jan 15, 2016)

Ricksta, can you define a how to? Do you mean the temp settings? Or from dressing the beef till finish?


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## pinebarrensbbq (Jan 15, 2016)

daRicksta said:


> Welcome to SMF! I've never smoked jerky in my MES. Do you have a how-to that you've come up with? I know that other members make jerky in their electric smokers but I don't know how you dry out the meat without making it inedible.
> 
> And yes, you will see temp swings with the MES. I use a Maverick ET-733 to monitor smoker and meat temps.






walta said:


> I think masterbuilt designed the controls to have this swing from the set point deliberately for 2 reasons.
> 
> If the smoker were controlled very closely the heaters run cycles would be short and frequent.
> 
> ...



The way I had it set last night, it was between 140-143 and I baby sat it for about 40 mins and the cycle only came on a few times. It sat at above 140 for the most part with very little dipping and cycle swaps.


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## pinebarrensbbq (Jan 15, 2016)

I'm happy to give as much of my knowledge as possible. I don't want to seem like I'm patting myself on the back but I get a decent amount of jerky sales with about 85% return clientele.


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## daricksta (Jan 16, 2016)

PinebarrensBBQ said:


> Ricksta, can you define a how to? Do you mean the temp settings? Or from dressing the beef till finish?


Yes, PInebarrensBBQ, Bearcarver has amassed a collection of his Step-By-Step directions for smoking a bunch of different meats in a MES. He has one or two MES 40's. I saw from a later email that you sell your jerky professionally. I'd love to see photos and--if you're willing to share your proprietary recipe and methods--how it's done. I'm not even sure which is the best beef or pork cuts to use for jerky. I'm not interested in poultry jerky but salmon jerky is also something I'd like to try making.


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## daricksta (Jan 16, 2016)

PinebarrensBBQ said:


> The way I had it set last night, it was between 140-143 and I baby sat it for about 40 mins and the cycle only came on a few times. It sat at above 140 for the most part with very little dipping and cycle swaps.


I have a MES 30 Gen 1. I make it a point to keep my Maverick probes in the same place with every smoke, whether one's in the meat or both probes are clipped to separate racks on opposite sides of each other. During the first couple of heating cycles the controller temp might be 20-30° higher than the ET-733 temps. The right side of the smoker is typically hotter than the left. About 3 hours in the temp differences between the controller and the ET-733 become either negligible or non-existent--both temp displays will be the same. The temp differences between the two sides will shrink to about 5 degrees or less, for a period they may be the same. Frequently the left side will become hotter than the right. I've never figured out how that shift works.


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## daricksta (Jan 16, 2016)

PinebarrensBBQ said:


> I'm happy to give as much of my knowledge as possible. I don't want to seem like I'm patting myself on the back but I get a decent amount of jerky sales with about 85% return clientele.


I'd like to up my game to produce smoked foods I could sell.  My wife owns a home daycare and I'm always cooking her breakfast in the kitchen (not in my smoker). I cooked one of the breakfast sandwiches I created for one of the daycare dads and he said he'd be willing to pay if we started offering to-go breakfasts for daycare parents dropping off their kids in the morning. In our state we could run a food business out of our home kitchen. But it'd be too much work in addition to everything else we have to do.

My wife and I like to imagine that if our home cooking was as good 10-20 years ago as it now, we would've looked into buying a food truck. That would've put us on the cutting edge of the business. We're too old to do it now--dang it.


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## pinebarrensbbq (Jan 16, 2016)

Home food service and food trucks are both tricky when it comes to health codes and standards. Having the "homemade" and not selling retail are how to start as well has farmers markets. I'm just now starting to see a small profit. Having an Llc and getting meat and other items at wholesale is essential. I pay 3.15 per lb for eye of round but still have razor thin profits. I generally buy about 150$ dollars worth of pork or beef at a time since I refuse to freeze anything in the inventory. This makes things tricky, but also a better product.













image.jpeg



__ pinebarrensbbq
__ Jan 16, 2016


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## pinebarrensbbq (Jan 16, 2016)

daRicksta said:


> Yes, PInebarrensBBQ, Bearcarver has amassed a collection of his Step-By-Step directions for smoking a bunch of different meats in a MES. He has one or two MES 40's. I saw from a later email that you sell your jerky professionally. I'd love to see photos and--if you're willing to share your proprietary recipe and methods--how it's done. I'm not even sure which is the best beef or pork cuts to use for jerky. I'm not interested in poultry jerky but salmon jerky is also something I'd like to try making.



Absolutely. I can put something together tonight and post it up if you'd like that goes from start to finish. I just snapped this before a customer arrived for a pickup. I can tell you right off the bat that having an LLC and getting beef and spices wholesale is essential. Even with the prices I pay my profits didn't arrive for a while and even now they are very minimal. More of my profits come from the catering side. I don't do mass quantities yet, but doing pulled pork pans and brisket is where the profits increase. The jerky is a stay busy and get my name out kinda thing at the moment.













image.jpeg



__ pinebarrensbbq
__ Jan 16, 2016


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## tropics (Jan 16, 2016)

PBBBQ  Here is a rack I made for my MES if you use the sticks they sell in the dollar store for smores.You can hang a lot of Jerky on it.

Richie

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/174140/sausage-rack-mes40-w-step-by-step


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## daricksta (Jan 16, 2016)

PinebarrensBBQ said:


> Home food service and food trucks are both tricky when it comes to health codes and standards. Having the "homemade" and not selling retail are how to start as well has farmers markets. I'm just now starting to see a small profit. Having an Llc and getting meat and other items at wholesale is essential. I pay 3.15 per lb for eye of round but still have razor thin profits. I generally buy about 150$ dollars worth of pork or beef at a time since I refuse to freeze anything in the inventory. This makes things tricky, but also a better product.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


In our state, you just need to pass an online food handlers exam to get your permit. I really don't know if food inspectors are required to come to your home or not.  But, the cooking side business is just a nice dream for us. Running a home daycare is a labor-intensive business. My wife routinely puts in 12-14 hour days Mon-Fri, not including food shopping on the weekends and whatever bookwork and such she needs to do on the weekends. We've become really good home cooks because we can't afford to eat out much.

I admire you for being able to build up a business like you have.


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## daricksta (Jan 16, 2016)

PinebarrensBBQ said:


> Absolutely. I can put something together tonight and post it up if you'd like that goes from start to finish. I just snapped this before a customer arrived for a pickup. I can tell you right off the bat that having an LLC and getting beef and spices wholesale is essential. Even with the prices I pay my profits didn't arrive for a while and even now they are very minimal. More of my profits come from the catering side. I don't do mass quantities yet, but doing pulled pork pans and brisket is where the profits increase. The jerky is a stay busy and get my name out kinda thing at the moment.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Wish you lived in my area. I'd be a customer. How long have you been doing this professionally? And how did you start? Did you post earlier you had a catering business? I'm curious about your background. My wife and I watch a lot of cooking competition shows. Our favorite is Top Chef and we're always interested in how the chefs' histories.

What's a pork pan?


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## pinebarrensbbq (Jan 16, 2016)

daRicksta said:


> Wish you lived in my area. I'd be a customer. How long have you been doing this professionally? And how did you start? Did you post earlier you had a catering business? I'm curious about your background. My wife and I watch a lot of cooking competition shows. Our favorite is Top Chef and we're always interested in how the chefs' histories.
> 
> What's a pork pan?


I do a lot a lot of jerky and dry rub sales online which, I will post a Facebook and online store link in the end of the post. I've been selling to friends and family for about 6 months and when other veterans in various states started asking how to purchase, I decided to get serious, register an LLC, purchase 2 more smokers and start buckling down and getting serious. My online sales have been going for a week and so far so good. I've been having to smoke at least 9 lbs a day to keep up with orders. I started years ago at a friends BBQ restraint here on the NJ coast at a resort town and because I can't work due to my combat injury my only option is to be self employed. NJ before that I've  worked in kitchens on and off my entire life and always enjoyed it for the most part, but BBQ is a whole other animal. People are amazed when they really see what goes into smoking jerky. I've found ways to cut down on my marinading time and the key to making any money at all is buying things wholesale as I stated before. A store may sell a 3 lb eye of round for 18 dollars, where I'm getting a 9 lb cut for 30. It's a fine balance between producing the best quality you can without going overboard and going in the hole. At the moment, I have two flavors of jerky out called Bee Sting which is a sweet taste of honey followed by a nice amount of heat using home made hot sauce that I call white lightning. The other is teriyaki. I will have 3 main flavors with some other batches thrown into the mix every month but I'm not going to overstretch myself by offering too many choices at once. The local sales which aren't too intensive, consist of small order for people are the dry rubs, pulled pork, brisket and my signature item, which is pig candy. My rub is a blend of salty, spicy sweet with brown sugar, coffee grounds and a few other items. It's rubbed onto thick cut bacon that I smoke then slice myself, baked at 325 while rotating the racks for about 20 mins. The end result is a caramelized, sticky sweet and salty piece of bacon that people go absolutely insane for. I have one person who wants to buy 5 lbs at a time. Shipping isn't an option with the pig candy, but everyone online is begging for some so I decided to jar and sell my rubs and give them instructions on how to do it at home. Here's a link to the online store. It's not much at the moment, but it's a safe and secure way to sell which is most important for the time being. I use Square for debit and credit orders and they recently came out with the online store version which is free to use. 

https://squareup.com/store/pinebarrensbbq


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## pinebarrensbbq (Jan 16, 2016)

tropics said:


> PBBBQ  Here is a rack I made for my MES if you use the sticks they sell in the dollar store for smores.You can hang a lot of Jerky on it.
> 
> 
> Richie
> http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/174140/sausage-rack-mes40-w-step-by-step


Thanks! I am going back to hanging my jerky. You can hang a lot more that way and I was using skewers. A bit more time consuming but worth it when rack space is at a premium! I'll give this a shot for sure!


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## pinebarrensbbq (Jan 16, 2016)

RickSta. I'm going to be prepping a cut tomorrow morning so I'll take pictures and then post em up with a play by play. I will tell you this. I've read a lot of posts where people say you can't smoke jerky, that they've tried and failed, just use a dehydrator etc etc.. I see the temps that some people are smoking at and for how my jerky comes out, which bends, doesn't break and is cut along the grain, you need to smoke it under 150. I set my smokers around 135 on the electrics to keep the temp swing from going over 150. It takes a bit longer, but it's worth it. Most postings I've read say people smoke at 180 for 3 hours then finish it off in the oven. That's not necessary, you just need a very low heat that may take up to 4 hours. Since my MES smokes so much, I only smoke it about half way through for about 15 mins so I don't overdo it, where as my propane smoker I can leave a chunk on a cast iron skillet and let it give nice call smoke the entire time.


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## bauchjw (Jan 17, 2016)

PinebarrensBBQ said:


> Okay, thank you for the info. The only thing I could think k of to get more ventilation and stabilize it was to adjust the door. The ones I've used at the restaurant always held solid temps because it was in a controlled environment. Now, it spikes about 15 degrees when I first add the wood chips and ten drops back down after a few minutes. Thanks again for the help!


I know you've gone way past the initial start of this thread, but I wanted to check if you've looked at a version of "mailbox mod" for your smokers? By the sound of this statement putting the wood in is a contributing factor. For cheap or nothing you can make a mailbox mod that keeps steady smoke without added oxygen. Good luck.


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## pinebarrensbbq (Jan 17, 2016)

bauchjw said:


> I know you've gone way past the initial start of this thread, but I wanted to check if you've looked at a version of "mailbox mod" for your smokers? By the sound of this statement putting the wood in is a contributing factor. For cheap or nothing you can make a mailbox mod that keeps steady smoke without added oxygen. Good luck.



Yes I have. The other possible solution is we have a mini cast iron skillet that's used to bake a large cookie. If I can get it to fit, it will keep the chips from flaring up. It's about the circumference of a softball which would allow for a chunk of wood. Regardless of this, I'm not a fan of chips. I prefer chunks just due to the fact a single chunk lasts an entire jerky session and then some.


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## pinebarrensbbq (Jan 17, 2016)

Here's how a brine it. As simple as possible when I have ample time to let it sit and brine. When I'm busy, I'll isually throw the meat in a ziploc, then put it inside of a vacuum seal bag and I get the equivalent of a 10 hour soak in 25 mins. I'm headed to a wedding at 3, and this will be smoked around 10-11 pm. 













image.jpeg



__ pinebarrensbbq
__ Jan 17, 2016


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## pinebarrensbbq (Jan 17, 2016)

Here's how I cut the beef up. It use nothing but eye of round. I start by using a filet knife to cut the fat cap off and remove as little meat as possible as I'm doing it. A lot of times there will be the thin film of intramuscular fat that is easier to remove after slicing, so I leave it for the time being. I fire up the slicer and go in the direction of the grain which comes out like the piece on the left. It is cut at 1/8" thick, and from there it's just a matter of slicing with the grain using a filet knife. Now, if there's any fat, or interior marbling, now is the time to slice it out. It doesn't need to be 100% fat free, you can leave tiny bits here and there, you just don't want masses of fat because it will turn the jerky rancid during the smoke or if it doesn't, it will reduce the shelf life of the beef. When I smoke, I keep it under 150 from anywhere to 3-6 hours depending on the weather. After I know the smoker is stabilized and won't spike over 150, I check it every 30 mins or so. I like my jerky to bend, not break but, see a little bit of white when you fold it over where the grain separates. There ya have it. I don't freeze my meat before slicing, to keep it cutting clean I pull the meat from behind the blade to keep it from being sloppy, then when the cut slabs of 1/8" are on the board, just slice it into strips. They don't need to be identical, but the closer they are to one another in shape and size will allow them to pretty much smoke all evenly . Anymore questions, feel free to give me a shout! 













image.jpeg



__ pinebarrensbbq
__ Jan 17, 2016


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## bauchjw (Jan 17, 2016)

image.jpeg



__ bauchjw
__ Jan 17, 2016





Not sure if your smoker is same model, but I can use chunks under the heating element. two will last about 20 hrs. I just use chips in initial hour. 

Thank you for jerky info. I've been planning on trying this for years.


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## pinebarrensbbq (Jan 17, 2016)

It's not identical, but there is a gap undeneath that I was actually curious about but wasn't sure if it would be hot enough to produce smoke. I'll give that a try tonight for sure. Do you just place it a top of some foil?


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## bauchjw (Jan 17, 2016)

I did put on foil but only because that's what I line the bottom with for drips. It's produced smoke but I normally augment. However, with some adjusting I think it'll work.


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## daricksta (Jan 18, 2016)

PinebarrensBBQ said:


> I do a lot a lot of jerky and dry rub sales online which, I will post a Facebook and online store link in the end of the post. I've been selling to friends and family for about 6 months and when other veterans in various states started asking how to purchase, I decided to get serious, register an LLC, purchase 2 more smokers and start buckling down and getting serious. My online sales have been going for a week and so far so good. I've been having to smoke at least 9 lbs a day to keep up with orders. I started years ago at a friends BBQ restraint here on the NJ coast at a resort town and because I can't work due to my combat injury my only option is to be self employed. NJ before that I've worked in kitchens on and off my entire life and always enjoyed it for the most part, but BBQ is a whole other animal. People are amazed when they really see what goes into smoking jerky. I've found ways to cut down on my marinading time and the key to making any money at all is buying things wholesale as I stated before. A store may sell a 3 lb eye of round for 18 dollars, where I'm getting a 9 lb cut for 30. It's a fine balance between producing the best quality you can without going overboard and going in the hole. At the moment, I have two flavors of jerky out called Bee Sting which is a sweet taste of honey followed by a nice amount of heat using home made hot sauce that I call white lightning. The other is teriyaki. I will have 3 main flavors with some other batches thrown into the mix every month but I'm not going to overstretch myself by offering too many choices at once. The local sales which aren't too intensive, consist of small order for people are the dry rubs, pulled pork, brisket and my signature item, which is pig candy. My rub is a blend of salty, spicy sweet with brown sugar, coffee grounds and a few other items. It's rubbed onto thick cut bacon that I smoke then slice myself, baked at 325 while rotating the racks for about 20 mins. The end result is a caramelized, sticky sweet and salty piece of bacon that people go absolutely insane for. I have one person who wants to buy 5 lbs at a time. Shipping isn't an option with the pig candy, but everyone online is begging for some so I decided to jar and sell my rubs and give them instructions on how to do it at home. Here's a link to the online store. It's not much at the moment, but it's a safe and secure way to sell which is most important for the time being. I use Square for debit and credit orders and they recently came out with the online store version which is free to use.
> 
> https://squareup.com/store/pinebarrensbbq


Checked out your page. Do I wish you lived in my area so I could not only do a taste test before I buy but watch you at work! I don't see myself ever selling food professionally but so far the only time I got to see guys who knew what they were doing was at a BBQ competition I went to last year. Always looking to improve my own skills at BBQ, grilling, and in the kitchen.


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## pinebarrensbbq (Jan 18, 2016)

I'm always learning new techniques from other pitmasters. The jerky I had to lean solo, while all my other BBQ came from my friend whom I worked for. I consider him a mentor as he would always take the time to answer questions and show me how to do stuff, and to this day I can call him and he'll always make time if I need advice. Even with getting the business rolling, he's been there to help. He doesn't see me as a competition or a threat, rather sees someone with a passion and is willing to go the mile to help.


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## daricksta (Jan 19, 2016)

PinebarrensBBQ said:


> I'm always learning new techniques from other pitmasters. The jerky I had to lean solo, while all my other BBQ came from my friend whom I worked for. I consider him a mentor as he would always take the time to answer questions and show me how to do stuff, and to this day I can call him and he'll always make time if I need advice. Even with getting the business rolling, he's been there to help. He doesn't see me as a competition or a threat, rather sees someone with a passion and is willing to go the mile to help.


When I first got on SMF there was a great guy/mentor nicknamed Scarbelly who gave me his home phone number to call. I feel uncomfortable calling people I don't really know personally so I never called him. Sadly, he died a few months or so later. For the past few years my primary mentor here has been Bearcarver. He's an amazing guy and the most knowledgeable person I know when it comes to smoking with a MES. He's got two MES 40's, I believe. So, I've picked up tricks and advice from him, from others here, and from the cookbooks I've collected. I'm always experimenting to find out what works consistently well. I've been using wood pellets and not chips for a few years because in an electric smoker I think pellets provide better smoke flavors than chips and with less hassle. A friend of mine gave me what I consider a gourmet smoking book for my birthday last month. I've posted about it here. The book's full of recipes that kick smoking food up several notches. Can't wait till the weather warms up so I can break out my MES 30 to start trying new recipes while working on perfecting the classics like pork ribs and beef brisket. At some point I'll try my hand at putting out jerky.

I think I told you my wife and I watch a lot of cooking competition shows. We enjoy the shows were established pro chefs are competing because they always help each other. Sounds like you have a great mentor. He understands that in your area the market can expand to handle his business and competitors'. I know that if I'm at a place where there are two vendors selling jerky and I like both I'll buy from both.


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## pinebarrensbbq (Jan 19, 2016)

daRicksta said:


> When I first got on SMF there was a great guy/mentor nicknamed Scarbelly who gave that's me his home phone number to call. I feel uncomfortable calling people I don't really know personally so I never called him. Sadly, he died a few months or so later. For the past few years my primary mentor here has been Bearcarver. He's an amazing guy and the most knowledgeable person I know when it comes to smoking with a MES. He's got two MES 40's, I believe. So, I've picked up tricks and advice from him, from others here, and from the cookbooks I've collected. I'm always experimenting to find out what works consistently well. I've been using wood pellets and not chips for a few years because in an electric smoker I think pellets provide better smoke flavors than chips and with less hassle. A friend of mine gave me what I consider a gourmet smoking book for my birthday last month. I've posted about it here. The book's full of recipes that kick smoking food up several notches. Can't wait till the weather warms up so I can break out my MES 30 to start trying new recipes while working on perfecting the classics like pork ribs and beef brisket. At some point I'll try my hand at putting out jerky.
> 
> I think I told you my wife and I watch a lot of cooking competition shows. We enjoy the shows were established pro chefs are competing because they always help each other. Sounds like you have a great mentor. He understands that in your area the market can expand to handle his business and competitors'. I know that if I'm at a place where there are two vendors selling jerky and I like both I'll buy from both.


That's definately the case here in NJ. I have a bunch of hunters who will be dropping off game to be smoked because the closest place is in PA. They will have it processed and butchered, and I will smoke it the way they like. I've been getting requests for venison jerky. While it can't be sold, I will make money off smoking it for them. There's not much to do with BBQ in the area, and 2 places that are about 30-40 mins away don't smoke on site. They order it smoked and reheat it. My buddy's shop and myself are 2 of 3 who actually smoke everything ourselves.


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## daricksta (Jan 20, 2016)

PinebarrensBBQ said:


> That's definately the case here in NJ. I have a bunch of hunters who will be dropping off game to be smoked because the closest place is in PA. They will have it processed and butchered, and I will smoke it the way they like. I've been getting requests for venison jerky. While it can't be sold, I will make money off smoking it for them. There's not much to do with BBQ in the area, and 2 places that are about 30-40 mins away don't smoke on site. They order it smoked and reheat it. My buddy's shop and myself are 2 of 3 who actually smoke everything ourselves.


It sounds like you're growing this into a nice little business. If you get popular enough who knows much you could expand if that's your goal.


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## pinebarrensbbq (Jan 20, 2016)

Well, I'd really like to expand down the road. I dunno if I'd want a full scale restaurant. But, where I live it's kinda hard to have anything but that once you reach a certain point.


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## daricksta (Jan 21, 2016)

PinebarrensBBQ said:


> Well, I'd really like to expand down the road. I dunno if I'd want a full scale restaurant. But, where I live it's kinda hard to have anything but that once you reach a certain point.


You really need to love the restaurant biz to open one up. There's a guy in our area who's been bringing his offset barrel smoker to various fairs and such for 15 years. He sets up in his own booth. In my opinion his Q isn't that good but that's beside the point. Seems like many BBQ people are mobile, traveling to various fairs in selected geographical areas, sometimes even entering competitions. You could rent a booth to just sell your jerky products, along with whatever dry rubs and sauces you might have developed. On the booth countertop you could have a clipboard or something where people could sign up for your mailing list. You could hand out business cards with your email and web site included so customers could order online. You could conceivably make more money this way than if you opened a brick-and-mortar restaurant.


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