# Masterbuilt propane double door model # 20051311 Temperature issues



## richdm (Mar 28, 2015)

I am new to smoking and can really use some help. I am having issues keeping my temp. steady. I am having to keep the bottom door open just to keep the temp down. Today is my second time using the smoker and I wrapped my soaked chips in aluminum with holes in it. I got good smoke for like 30 minutes. Then I took them out of the aluminum because of some other info I read online. However, I cant keep the damn temp down to 225-250. It just steadily rises and I have the flame from the propane tank as low as possible. Help please???!


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

Are you using a water pan?


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## richdm (Mar 28, 2015)

yes i filled the stock pan that it came with. It holds about 2 quarts of water.


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

First of all don't soak your chips. The aluminum foil packet is a good idea for chips if that is all you have. Chunks work better. Do you have the top vent all the way open? If not that could be part of the problem. I have seen lot's of folks that have this same problem with that smoker. It seems you can install a needle valve from Cajun bandit and it helps you control low temps much better. I have also seen people use a cast iron pan instead of the chip tray that comes with the smoker and this seems to help too. A little more information would help. Also are you relying on the factory thermometer on the door for your readings? They are known to always be off and most times more than just a little off.


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

Most of us on here use sand or pea gravel in the pan. Steam causes all kinds of issues inside your smoker and I won't get into that but that is what a lot of us do. Plus wrap that in foil for easy cleanup after.


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## richdm (Mar 28, 2015)

I read the theory on soaking chips. These were already soaking since before I read- won't be soaking anymore. Top vent has been all the way open the entire time. I am going to switch to a cast iron pan eventually but right now I am trying to stop this smoke from going down the toilet. 

I am using the factory thermometer and I have heard the same-no good. But I don't have another one. I am looking into getting a wireless one. Should I just trust the temp is wrong and leave the doors closed and flame on low?


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## richdm (Mar 28, 2015)

So sand is a better alternative to water in the pan to keep temps down?


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

Well, water has many drawbacks as a temperature stabilization material in your smoker. 1 it takes a lot of energy to heat water. 2 once water reaches 212 degrees it boils and creates a lot of steam. Steam could be part of the problem in there causing a pressure cooker like effect. Now, to help you get through this smoke. You might need to add cold water now and then to the pan to keep your temp down. What are you cooking? If it is a Butt you can get away with higher than optimum temperature and it will still turn out fine. I take it you don't have a meat thermometer If not then all of this is a big shooting match as to how it will turn out. You need to know the temp. of your smoker and the meat whatever it is you are cooking. Can you get a cheap meat probe from a store close by? If you do have a meat probe test it in boiling or very icy ice water. Ice water is 32 degrees. Then you can take that out to the smoker and put it on the rack close to where the door one is and compare. Then you can do the math and see how far your smoker therm is off. You need to know these things or all of my advice will do you little good.


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

The water pan is not for adding moisture to your meat. It is there to stabilize the temperature and help with heat recovery when you open the door. It adds no moisture to what you are cooking. Therefore you can use sand, gravel, whatever to act as the same heat sink. It takes less time to heat this stuff up in there. Creates no extra moisture in there for creosote to stick to. There are lots of other reasons to not use water but those are at the top of my mind right now.


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

I know I am hammering you with stuff here but one more thing if you do have a tested thermometer to compare with. Sometimes there is a nut on the back of the factory thermometer that you can turn to calibrate it a little better. Sometimes not.


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## richdm (Mar 28, 2015)

I need as much help as possible so throw it all my way. I appreciate it. 

My wife says it is a pork shoulder. I tested the internal temp with her oxo thermometer and it was 100 degrees. I then closed the door with that thermometer in there and watched it fluctuate the same as the smokers thermometer. Its been over an hour by now and it seems to have leveled out around 250 so maybe it just needed some time? obviously the chips stopped burning long ago and right now the water has about halved.


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

richdm said:


> I am new to smoking and can really use some help. I am having issues keeping my temp. steady. I am having to keep the bottom door open just to keep the temp down. Today is my second time using the smoker and I wrapped my soaked chips in aluminum with holes in it. I got good smoke for like 30 minutes. Then I took them out of the aluminum because of some other info I read online. However, I cant keep the damn temp down to 225-250. It just steadily rises and I have the flame from the propane tank as low as possible. Help please???!


I'm trying to help you. Are you still there?


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## richdm (Mar 28, 2015)

And by internal temp I mean that of the pork


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

richdm said:


> I need as much help as possible so throw it all my way. I appreciate it.
> 
> My wife says it is a pork shoulder. I tested the internal temp with her oxo thermometer and it was 100 degrees. I then closed the door with that thermometer in there and watched it fluctuate the same as the smokers thermometer. Its been over an hour by now and it seems to have leveled out around 250 so maybe it just needed some time? obviously the chips stopped burning long ago and right now the water has about halved.


With chips that is about all you are going to get out of a load. You just have to keep adding another foil packet with a few holes punched in it every half hour or so. You don't want billowing smoke. You want a barely discernable thin blue smoke that has a nice odor. Did you test the oxo thermometer? If it is in the meat it's not helping you to get the CHAMBER temp. You need to know what the temp really is in there. It is ok if the temp is fluctuating a little bit. Say 15 or 20 degrees. Do you have a picture of the meat so I can see what it is that you are cooking? Pictures help as I am not getting much specific information from you.


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

I will get you through this if you follow my advice Rich. Don't get frustrated, It will take a little doing but we will get this fugured out. If this is a large pork shoulder you will be smoking it for many hours and by the time you are done you will have that smoker figured out. Just keep feeding me information.


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

This is a really good plan right here for you to look at if you are doing a Butt.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/140055/boston-butt-pulled-pork-step-by-step


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

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This is a pork shoulder. Is that what you have in there? How many pounds?


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## richdm (Mar 28, 2015)

Okay I went and added more chips, as well as covered the chip pan with tinfoil where the flame comes up. The flame is still on low. Here are the pics













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## richdm (Mar 28, 2015)

I tested both chamber and meat temps. Meat was at 100. Chamber was at 160 with the door open and that was the same temp reading as the machines thermometer so I am going to say it is legit


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

when you make your next foil packet. Make it very tightly sealed. Then just poke like 4 small holes in the top with a small sharp object. Your wood is catching fire as soon as the water evaporates off of it. You want to limit the air to the wood so it does not do that. That is what is causing the temp. fluctuations. You want the wood to smolder and not flame up. That is a pork shoulder. It would be good to put a pan under it to catch the drippings that will start flowing after a while. You will want to save that stuff for later and also you don't want grease all over the place in there. I can't stress this enough but YOU NEED TO KNOW WHAT THE SMOKER TEMPERATURE IS! How long ago did you start smoking that shoulder by the way?


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

160 is way way way way tooo loooooow. You want like 225-250. Crank up the temp until you get there. DID YOU CHECK THE OXO THERMOMETER FOR ACCURACY?


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

Before your next smoke I would say you need to take jeff's free 5 day e-course. It is free and you can eat what you practiced on as well. You will be way ahead of the game as you are now after doing that.


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## richdm (Mar 28, 2015)

It was only 160 because the door was open. Once I closed the door it rose right away. It has been in there for 2 hours. The temp is at about 225 right now. It's been there since I refilled the chips and took those pictures. It seems to have leveled out now.


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

Good, You just might get this under control after all. Hahaha..... Now that things are going pretty good crack a beer and relax. Watch for when your chips run out and keep on keeping on. Butt's, which is what we call shoulders, take 2 hours per pound or more at that temperature. so you are in for a long day/night. I have no idea where you are located but you might want to include a location in your profile so we can help you by knowing for one, what timezone you are in, and two, you may have a member in your town that can give you specific help on where to get things and stuff like that. One thing I would like to let you in on is that you really don't want to probe your meat until it cooks to at least 130 degrees or even more. When you probe you are introducing bacteria into the meat so you are playing russian roulette with the danger zone. If you read Bear's step by step that I gave you the link to he explains what that is and why. Keep on updating this smoke and take pictures so I can keep helping you get this sucker cooked to perfection. Happy smoking. Timber


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## richdm (Mar 28, 2015)

Thank you for all of your help. I appreciate it. I attempted the wood chips again. This time wrapped tighter. I guess that will be my next hurdle.

I tried salmon the other day for my first smoke but couldn't keep the temps down to where people were saying they belonged (180-200). Not sure I'll be able to keep this thing under 225













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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

That looks like it will work much better. I would look into a needle valve for your smoker. Then you can dial the temp all the way down to 140 degrees if you want. Also you should look into Amazen Products pellet smoke generators for your smoker. They are really neat. You can load one up and get perfect smoke for 11 hours at a time without messing around and using up all the foil in the house. I used to have a propane smoker and I used a small coffee can with foil over the top and some holes poked in it for smoke. I don't know if you could fit that in there or not but it's an option. A soup can would work too and if you had 2 you could just keep trading them out. It increased my smoke time by 200 percent when using chips and small chunks. You have to experiment a little to get it positioned just right with the burner for the right amount of heat to keep them smoldering along but it really worked a lot better.


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## richdm (Mar 28, 2015)

Here it is starting to smoke. Got a bit more going now


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

it says you have to sign in to view the vid. and there is no option to do so. dang.


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## richdm (Mar 28, 2015)

I changed the settings to public so should be able to view now. This is the link


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

I hope it settled down after that video? That is way too much white billowing smoke. You don't want that.


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

That kind of smoke over hours of time will leave a nice crust of creosote tar on your pork butt. Not good. You need to try and elevate that chip pan above the flame or place it off to one side so that you are getting less heat to it. I saw where the prefered mod is to use a cast iron pan with 3 bolts for legs to get it up off the heat some.


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

Is there any way you can fix this right now. I'm afraid you might be about to ruin that butt there.


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## richdm (Mar 28, 2015)

it only lasted for a few minutes. I don't have any that I can see anymore


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

All I can say is it looks as if your chips are just going up in flames still.


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/99373/masterbuild-xl-mods-post-your-mods-here I would look through this. I particularly like the mod on post 18. If you have a hardware store close you should get this fixed asap.


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## richdm (Mar 28, 2015)

Okay. I have a cast iron pan. I am going to put it in now. Do you recommend still putting the chips in tinfoil? I will do so anyway as i wait for your response. 

I also dont have a stove grate to put over top so I will just put the pan right over the flame


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## richdm (Mar 28, 2015)

Here is my solution. I took the water pan out so I would have enough room and placed the cast iron pan on top of the old chip pan.













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## richdm (Mar 28, 2015)

had to turn the flame up a bit so i have it at 250 right now but i am getting that barely visible smoke right now so i think i achieved success


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

richdm said:


> had to turn the flame up a bit so i have it at 250 right now but i am getting that barely visible smoke right now so i think i achieved success


YES! I love it when a plan comes together! I would just see how it works and if it works good with foil go for it. I think you will find chunks much easier to deal with next time. You should be all set now.


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

richdm said:


> had to turn the flame up a bit so i have it at 250 right now but i am getting that barely visible smoke right now so i think i achieved success


250 is fine. Are going to foil to help get through the stall?


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## richdm (Mar 28, 2015)

I have about 2 hours left. It is climbing closer to 300 but i am trying to keep under control. I read mixed reviews on foil. Not sure how to employ it


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## richdm (Mar 28, 2015)

The smoke looks much more translucent now. Not billowing and white. In my opinion at least. Maybe you see something different..


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

That smoke looks a little better to me. I would foil if I were you on this one because I don't know how much more smoke you will need to give it. That thing really puts out the smoke. Is that a fan I hear Can that be turned down? What is the internal temp of the meat now? If you read Bear's step by step you will see how to employ the foiling but it is really simple. I like to use a disposable foil pan myself and top that with two layers of foil. Normally it is the same pan that i caught all of my drippings in. I just pour the liquid out into a jar and put that in the fridge for a little while. Then defat and add back in at the end. You will want to do this when you are done cooking and ready for the rest as well. That stuff is really good and needs to be saved and added back in. I use apple juice for foiling liquid most of the time. I have used beer, root beer, etc... and it's all good but it seems that the apple juice goes well with the pork so I try to remember to have some when I am doing a butt. You don't need much juice, just about enough to cover the bottom of the pan. If you don't have a pan like that you can just double wrap in heavy duty foil with some juice and get the same effect. I find you get some leaking out all over when you do it this way. If you choose to foil do it at about 165 internal of the meat. That is where the stall will happen and is the best time to foil if that is what you are going to do. At this point you can bring it in the house and put it in your oven at 250 until it's 205 internal. Then once it gets there place it in a dry cooler wrapped in a couple of towels for 2 hours. I hope you are not planning on having this for dinner tonight because that probably aint going to happen. But, since I have no idea what your time zone is who knows. 2 hours per pound. By the way how many pounds is that thing? 2 hour rest. I hope I'm not repeating myself too much but I did say where you said you have 2 hours left??? What did you mean by that?


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

Looking at the Butt again you should foil that thing like I said. Someone trimmed every bit of fat and stuff off of that thing and that stuff is there to protect it and keep it moist. If you do not foil you will have dry pork. IMHO.


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## richdm (Mar 28, 2015)

Okay I put it in a foil pan with some juice at the bottom. I then double wrapped the top of it and put it back in the smoker. Before I did that I measured the temp- it was about 145-150 internal temp on the meat. I put it back in the smoker for a few. In about 20 minutes I will finish it off in the oven at 250. Right now I am at about 4.5 hours cook time so I will finish off the total of 6 hours in the oven. I think it is about 3 pounds so that math should add up. 

The fan in the background is for my house not the smoker.


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

Just remember, pork can't tell time. It could be done right sooner or later. Every Butt is different. You can not cook large muscle meats by time but only by temperature. FOIL AT 165 next time . Monitor the meat temperature in the oven too and don't just wing it. It is foiled now so it will not take any more smoke. You might as well save some propane. It will be done a little over 200 degrees internal temp of the Butt then you need to do the resting step like I outlined to you. That is very very important. You don't want to go to this much trouble and mess it up at the very end.


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## richdm (Mar 28, 2015)

Okay it is in the oven now finishing off. I will check back in about an hour and see what the internal temp is. I don't have a cooler. Do I just take an old bath towel and wrap it in that and put it somewhere room temp?


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

That would be fine. It will still be piping hot when the rest is over. It will be great.


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

By the way you can just poke the probe right through the foil and leave it in. just try not to have it touching any bones if there are any bones.


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## richdm (Mar 28, 2015)

What is the point of letting it rest? Just curious


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

You are redistributing the moisture in the meat. It is also breaking down more tough tissue while it is resting. The beauty of a pork shoulder is how tough it is to begin with and then when you have cooked it low and slow for long enough it is the tenderest thing imaginable. You should rest everything. Steaks, chicken, pork chops, turkey, meatloaf, burgers, chuck roast, tri tip, sirloin tip, flank steak, skirt steak, pork loin, you get the picture right? just everything you grill or smoke in the way of meat.


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## richdm (Mar 28, 2015)

timberjet said:


> Just remember, pork can't tell time. It could be done right sooner or later. Every Butt is different. You can not cook large muscle meats by time but only by temperature. FOIL AT 165 next time . Monitor the meat temperature in the oven too and don't just wing it. It is foiled now so it will not take any more smoke. You might as well save some propane. It will be done a little over 200 degrees internal temp of the Butt then you need to do the resting step like I outlined to you. That is very very important. You don't want to go to this much trouble and mess it up at the very end.


I have it in the oven at 250 for about 40 minutes now. It's only at 160 degrees. It has a total cook time of 5 hours 15 minutes at this point. Doesnt look like it will reach 200 degrees by 6 hours. Any insight?


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

Ok I said it earlier but I will say it again. Take Jeff's free 5 day e-course. I would even recommend his book because I have it too and it really goes in depth about why and how to do things. It costs a few bucks but is well worth it so that you can take advantage of that smoker so you don't decide to go half cocked on some 60 dollar brisket or something without knowing a spatula from a hole in the ground. I was a newby once and all this stuff has helped me to make the food I cook ten thousand times better than when I didn't know anything except how to grill a hamburger and hotdog.


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

I have highlighted everything you need to know about this in red. Please read what I wrote already. I am taking the time to really help you get this thing cooked right. Please read what I wrote.


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

Ok I don't have the patience for this anymore. Would someone please help this guy?


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## richdm (Mar 28, 2015)

The question I asked last had nothing to do with what you said before. I appreciate all of the time and help you gave me but don't be a dick and tell me you don't have patience for it anymore. Just don't answer. I signed up for the course and I have been reading it, doesn't say anything yet on what I just asked which was purely for your insight, not some concrete answer. But I won't fight with you over an internet blog. Thanks for your help. No need for it anymore, I've got it from here.


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## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

I don't think you even read half of what I tried to help you with because it doesn't seem like any of it sunk in. I already told you there would be a stall and what a stall is. I also told you what temperature to foil at. I also told you a lot more. If you just would have looked at the link I posted for you on the first page you would already have the answers that you are looking for.There is a search bar at the top of the page as well and all you have to do is type in what you need to find out and read. I am sorry that you think I am being a dick but I don't feel the need to answer the same question over and over and over and over. I hope your Butt turns out good and it will if you just follow all the advice and insight that I have given you. Bear put a lot of effort into his step by steps and I for one am glad they are here so I can help people by sharing his information that he so diligently and professionally put together. There is a lot to learn but pork shoulder is pretty easy. Happy smoking. Timber


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