# Masterbuilt Extra Wide



## couger78 (Jun 30, 2011)

I received my new Masterbuilt Extra Wide propane smoker this past Father's Day and spent the first day or so, seasoning it with some long hickory smokes.

here it is newly assembled and ready to go! The front door fits very well with little indication of potential leaks or gaps. I know others have used the fiberglass rope to aid in the sealing of the door, but i wanted to see the extent of 'leakage' before considering that particular mod.








After two days of heavy smoke, I gave it an initial run loading it up with several goodies...some baby-back ribs, 1/2 a turkey breast and some garlic sausages I made a few weeks ago.

In this smoke I used the silly little water pan and the pie-shaped chip pan as well. I did wrap the hickory chunks in foil to help minimize flame-up on the chunks. I also inserted an old pizza stone above the chip pan to help absorb some of the direct heat and disperse it. I insert two temp probes through the back vent (see photo below); one inserted into the turkey, the other to monitor the smoker temp. The probe registered about 20° hotter than the door thermometer that came with the unit. As smoke began rolling @ about 200-225° there was very little smoke 'seepage' at the door. Got it up to 250° fairly quickly then reduce the gas flow to 225° & maintained that temp for several hours.







The end result: I over cooked the turkey a bit— focusing on too many things that weekend!—the breast was a tad dry. The sausages were tasty—dried, smoked & with a strong flavor that reminded me of eating jumbo-sized slim-jims. Both the ribs & turkey however had a bit of a 'metallic' flavor—an indication that perhaps I needed to smoke & season the box MORE before inserting any consumables. I subsequently 'seasoned' (smoked) the empty box @ 275° for another 3-4 hours.

Since I wanted to use the smoker for sausage, I wanted to modify the unit to accommodate some hanger bars.

So I measured & cut some solid oak & dowels to create hanger bars similar to what I've illustrated here.







This set-up should allow for 10-15lbs of sausage to hang easily without too much crowding.

For sausage-smoking, I use the Amazen smoker as I can keep the temps down (<170°) & still get plenty of smoke.

The propane burner still runs a bit hot for this so I've some more research to do to see if I can find a happy solution to use both the prop. burner & AMNS in conjunction to achieve good smoke & easy-to-regulate temps below 180°

Only other mod I've done is to mount the whole unit of a 2x4 rolling/locking platform that raises the whole thing up about 6-8"—making it easier to move about and load/unload the goodies within.

I based my design upon fellow member SmokeThis1's design—shown here:







Got plans for briskets this weekend! Should be fun!

Kevin


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## j4165y (Jun 30, 2011)

I love this smoker I got it 2 weeks ago and made these mods...No One beats this smoker for the price.


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## SmokinAl (Jul 1, 2011)

Looks like your ready to go now!


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## dougmays (Mar 12, 2012)

have either of you guys tried maintaining lower temps for sausage or jerky? between 120-140? i'm looking to get one of these models for jerky but i wanna talk to others who have one and see if that is feasible? and if so can you get the wood to burn/smoke at those lower temps.


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## couger78 (Mar 12, 2012)

dougmays said:


> have either of you guys tried maintaining lower temps for sausage or jerky? between 120-140? i'm looking to get one of these models for jerky but i wanna talk to others who have one and see if that is feasible? and if so can you get the wood to burn/smoke at those lower temps.


Hi Doug

I used my masterbuilt ExtraWide mainly FOR sausage.

The trick is installing a valve in the line between the tank & smoker. This allows me to regulate the flow and keep temps down under 180°. For smoke generation, I use the A-Maze-N. Chunks of wood in the chip pan tend to raise the temp near 200° so I've found it easier to control with the amazen dust. If room allows, i'd alos use a water pan, but I havent found that to be a necessity for many sausage smokes.

Kevin


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## dougmays (Mar 12, 2012)

hmm so hard to maintain temps under 150 with wood in pan?


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## jus256 (Jun 5, 2012)

Couger78 said:


> Only other mod I've done is to mount the whole unit of a 2x4 rolling/locking platform that raises the whole thing up about 6-8"—making it easier to move about and load/unload the goodies within.
> 
> I based my design upon fellow member SmokeThis1's design—shown here:
> 
> ...


Where did you get that rolling cart?  I was thinking about making one out of some cedar that I grabbed off the garbage pile when they built my deck two years ago.  If I can buy one instead, I'd rather go that route.


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## tjohnson (Jun 5, 2012)

jus256 said:


> Where did you get that rolling cart?  I was thinking about making one out of some cedar that I grabbed off the garbage pile when they built my deck two years ago.  If I can buy one instead, I'd rather go that route.


Harbor Freight....Cheap  $$

TJ


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## jus256 (Jun 7, 2012)

TJohnson said:


> Harbor Freight....Cheap  $$
> 
> TJ


Thanks.  The funny thing is I was going to go over to Harbor Freight to see how they constructed the wooden rolling furniture movers they sell.  If I had just gone over there, I would have seen the other one.  Go figure.


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## 53rdcard (Jun 7, 2012)

If you have a harbor freight catalog or mailer and it has those furniture movers in it, you can get home depot to sell you the one they have at the HF price, i was able to do that at least about a year ago, and got 2 of the $19 ones for $7 each


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## couger78 (Jun 7, 2012)

jus256 said:


> Where did you get that rolling cart?  I was thinking about making one out of some cedar that I grabbed off the garbage pile when they built my deck two years ago.  If I can buy one instead, I'd rather go that route.


Built from cheap 2x4s plus some locking wheels from the hardware store. Drilled holes in feet to put lag screws to mount smoker to the base.

Painted black with extra Kraylon I had on hand. Less than $20 spent on the whole job, I recall. Well worth the effort.

Kevin


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## glocksrock (Jun 8, 2012)

Couger78 said:


> Built from cheap 2x4s plus some locking wheels from the hardware store. Drilled holes in feet to put lag screws to mount smoker to the base.
> 
> Painted black with extra Kraylon I had on hand. Less than $20 spent on the whole job, I recall. Well worth the effort.
> 
> Kevin


This is what I did as well, works excellent.


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## jus256 (Jun 10, 2012)

Couger78 said:


> Built from cheap 2x4s plus some locking wheels from the hardware store. Drilled holes in feet to put lag screws to mount smoker to the base.
> Painted black with extra Kraylon I had on hand. Less than $20 spent on the whole job, I recall. Well worth the effort.
> 
> Kevin



Because it was painted black, I guess I thought it was metal. That's why I responded to TJ the way I did. My original plan was to take some ofnthe scrap cedar that was left over from my deck builder's scrap pile. Then I saw yours and thought it was metal. I'll go back to my original plan and just find some locking wheels.


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## blaquepanther (May 2, 2014)

Can you give me the measurements for this  as I'd like to build it for my GS 40 Extra Wide Smoker also?


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