# Help with Charcoal in the Masterbuilt Pro Dual Fuel



## ifyougotem (Jun 4, 2013)

Hey folks,

I did my first cook on my masterbuilt pro, st. louis ribs in case you're curious. I had some issues and was hoping for some insight/advice. I used a cast iron skillet on top of the unit's charcoal tray, as I read it's not ideal, for the charcoal and wood chunks. I didn't bother with the minion method, as I was only doing ribs. Instead, I just heated the coals in the chimney starter, dumped about 8lbs in (as per the smoker's instructions) and placed a couple of wood chunks on top. 

I got it up to my desired temp of 250, and let the ribs go for about 3 hours, I pulled them, and wrapped them, and when I put them back in the temperature dropped significantly (This can be expected, I had the door open after all). The trouble was, it never came back up to 250 and wouldn't go past 190. I had the dampers wide open, I added more hot coals, refilled the water pan, and nothing. I had to move everything to the oven because I just could not get the temp back up. 

I tried to be as detailed as possible, so someone can let me know if I'm doing anything wrong. I've read some reviews that said they lined the door with oven gasket to keep so much smoke from escaping. Could this be my problem? Should I just use the provided charcoal tray instead of the skillet?

I hope one of you experienced masterbuilt users has some insight. All the discussions I've found about this unit were all about using it with propane.

Thanks!


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## daveomak (Jun 5, 2013)

The charcoal tray probably plugged with ash and couldn't breath to heat up....    Skip the skillet.... bury the chunks in the charcoal...  skip using water after the first hour or two, it cools the smoker....  Always use the minion method for long smokes....   fill the basket with enough charcoal and chunks to complete the smoke and then some....     Clean out the ash so the charcoal can breath.....  

Dave


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## ifyougotem (Jun 5, 2013)

Thanks for the advice Dave. I'll try this next time, and let you know how it goes.


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## daveomak (Jun 5, 2013)

There a modifications members have done to their smokers....  In the search bar, type in your smoker and "mods" or "modifications" etc... those should help you....      Dave


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