# I Need help getting my electric smoker to produce more smoke



## Alpha Texan (Nov 13, 2019)

Howdy folks, I'm a college student and recently began to try my hand at smoking. I've been lurking here for a couple months to learn some stuff and finally created an account to join the fun, so I hope I'm doing this right.

I bought a Masterbuilt 130B Digital Electric Smoker. I know, I know, it's not true smoking, but it's the best this college kid can do for now. When I fire it up, it produces a good amount of smoke for about 2 hours, and then it just stops producing smoke. I've used apple, hickory, and mesquite wood chips, all go the same. I always keep a pan of water, or the brine in their with the meat. Could that be preventing it from creating smoke and if so, how do I find that balance so it will smoke by taking out the pan without drying out the meat?

Any tips and suggestions are welcome!


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## daveomak (Nov 13, 2019)

*Add flavor without losing heat*

Patented side wood chip loading system - add wood chips without opening door








I found adding 1/4 cup of chips every 45 minutes or so worked very well...


...


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## SmokinVOLfan (Nov 13, 2019)

Welcome from East TN glad you joined up!

How often are you adding chips?

Just my 2 cents but the best thing you can do is ditch the chips and get an AMNPS. Stands for an Amazen pellet tray. Most MES users on here have gone to this. Gives you continuous smoke for 10-12 hours without having to keep reloading the chip dumper and getting inconsistent smoke. 

The MES is also very well insulated and a water pan is not needed most of the time.


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## daveomak (Nov 13, 2019)

5 X 8 Smoker Maze| A-MAZE-N
					

The 5 x8 A-MAZE-N-SMOKER BOX is a light weight, durable and portable smoke generator, that produces a great quality smoke for cold and hot smoking.




					amazenproducts.com
				




Above is a GREAT tool to add to your smoking arsenal...  Todd has sales about every couple of months or so...  He developed, invented and is a member of the Admin team here...


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## uncle eddie (Nov 13, 2019)

All of the above...I use the chip tube for short smokes and the AMNPS for longer ones.


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## bregent (Nov 13, 2019)

Alpha Texan said:


> I bought a Masterbuilt 130B Digital Electric Smoker. I know, I know, it's not true smoking,



That's news to me. Why do you think it's not true smoking?


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## smokerjim (Nov 13, 2019)

I have a mes 30, to me it's smoking, as mentioned above I don't use any water, just foil the water pan and put it the smoker to deflect the heat, I also use the amnps tray with the mail box mod. also the mes won't produce using the chip loader until you get it to about 200 degrees. if your soaking your chips I wouldn't bother just use them dry. is your top vent wide open.don't trust the mes thermometer they are know to inaccurate. if possible get a second thermometer , test it for accuracy in boiling water and go by that. also check out bearcarvers step by steps he has a lot info on the masterbuilts.


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## Steve H (Nov 13, 2019)

bregent said:


> That's news to me. Why do you think it's not true smoking?



There are some forums out there that bad mouth electric smokers. They basically say if you're not a stick burner. Then you ain't..... you get the idea.


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## normanaj (Nov 13, 2019)

Amazen tube with ubolt mod and ground pellets.


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## Norwester55 (Nov 13, 2019)

Steve H said:


> There are some  Most forums out there that bad mouth electric smokers. They basically say if you're not a stick burner. Then you ain't..... you get the idea.


Fixed that for ya! 
X's 5 on the Amazen tray. You'll want it for cold smoking too.


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## Dutch (Nov 13, 2019)

Alpha Texan, if you're producing smoke using wood you are smoking. Heat source is different, but hey- smoke is smoke.  The guys above me have given you some pretty solid tips.


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## Alpha Texan (Nov 13, 2019)

SmokinVOLfan said:


> Welcome from East TN glad you joined up!
> 
> How often are you adding chips?
> 
> ...


I add chips every 45-60 minutes. I'll look into that!


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## Alpha Texan (Nov 13, 2019)

bregent said:


> That's news to me. Why do you think it's not true smoking?


I say that since my neighbors have a great big pit smoker on a trailer. They make us look real wimpy but hey, the meat still tastes great!


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## Alpha Texan (Nov 13, 2019)

uncle eddie said:


> All of the above...I use the chip tube for short smokes and the AMNPS for longer ones.


Very interesting, everybody is recommending this. So do I simply load the pellets in this little tray and set it in the smoker? should I just set it on the lowest rack or try to get it by the heating element or what?


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## Alpha Texan (Nov 13, 2019)

To everyone suggesting the AMNPS, should I get the tray or the cylindrical one, and where would y'all recommend placing it in the smoker?

Edit: also, what brand or type of pellets should I get?

Thank y'all so much, this is very helpful!


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## Neo (Nov 13, 2019)

Alpha Texan said:


> Very interesting, everybody is recommending this. So do I simply load the pellets in this little tray and set it in the smoker? should I just set it on the lowest rack or try to get it by the heating element or what?


You need to get a fire starter, i use a heat gun..set one end on fire, let it burn a minute or two, blow it out then you are good to go with the smoke bud.


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## Neo (Nov 13, 2019)

Place it down by the element, on a rack under your meat....works great either place.


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## uncle eddie (Nov 13, 2019)

There are a BUNCH of posts on the AMNPS.  I love using it for pulled pork because it can smoke for 9-11 hours.  They sell it on Amazon - which is where I would buy it if you have PRIME.   Search for AMNPS - pops right up.

If not buy it from https://amazenproducts.com/

You can get the A-MAZE-N pellets from either place but ONLY get their pellets.  Other pellets are full of tasteless filler products.


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## chef jimmyj (Nov 13, 2019)

What brand of Pellets?  A-MAZE-N, of course! Todd invented the Maze specifically to work in his MES. He carries more flavors of 100% Smoke Wood Pellets than any other company. Todd's Customer Service is second to none and, as mentioned above, there are frequent Sales making his Products a great value...JJ


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## dadoandersonv (Nov 13, 2019)

Alpha Texan said:


> Howdy folks, I'm a college student and recently began to try my hand at smoking. I've been lurking here for a couple months to learn some stuff and finally created an account to join the fun, so I hope I'm doing this right.
> 
> I bought a Masterbuilt 130B Digital Electric Smoker. I know, I know, it's not true smoking, but it's the best this college kid can do for now. When I fire it up, it produces a good amount of smoke for about 2 hours, and then it just stops producing smoke. I've used apple, hickory, and mesquite wood chips, all go the same. I always keep a pan of water, or the brine in their with the meat. Could that be preventing it from creating smoke and if so, how do I find that balance so it will smoke by taking out the pan without drying out the meat?
> 
> Any tips and suggestions are welcome!


I found that with my electric smoker it holds heat so well the electric heater element does not come on once smoker is at temp, electric element has to be on to burn the wood chips. I open the door from time to time to lower the temp inside smoker so electric element comes on.


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## bradger (Nov 14, 2019)

as others have said every hour or add more ships into the loader.


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## SmokinVOLfan (Nov 14, 2019)

I place the tray in the lower left corner of my smoker under the water pan. Depending on your model you will have different placements. Pull your chip dumper out in the halfway dump position so you get airflow to the pellets and keep them going. I bought a cheap torch at home depot for $20 and light my pellets with it. Light em up and let it burn for 10 minutes or so get a real nice ember on the end then blow out the flame place it in the smoker and you are in business!


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## tallbm (Nov 14, 2019)

Alpha Texan said:


> Very interesting, everybody is recommending this. So do I simply load the pellets in this little tray and set it in the smoker? should I just set it on the lowest rack or try to get it by the heating element or what?



Hi there and welcome!

I think you have been given good info on using chips but as you can see all of us MES (Masterbuilt Electric Smoker) owners pretty much use the A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker (AMNPS) tray or tube.

You are running a 30 inch model which is often referred to as an MES30.  You may or may not have issues running the AMNPS tray in it, but as others have stated you put it on the bottom rack to the left and have your chip dumper pulled out half way in the dump position and that should allow enough oxygen in for the tray.

The way the tray works is that you fill it.  Light one end (or both ends for double smoke) with a porpane torch or heat gun.  You let it run a flame for 10 minutes (important) and then you blow out the flame BINGO it produces perfect Thin Blue Smoke (TBS) for up to 12 hours with a full tray, 3 hours from the tube,  without any fuss... provided it is getting enough oxygen.

A number of MES30 guys have had issues with the tray in their units so if that happens the alternative is to build what we call a Mailbox Modification (Mod).  Where in short you take a mailbox, cut a hole and attach a 3 inch aluminum elbow joint to it.  You remove the MES chiploader and connect a 3 inch aluminum duct to the MES and to the elbow joint.  You drill a couple of holes into the mailbox door and then you put the AMNPS in there and smoke will funnel into the MES.
You now have smoke generated outside of the MES that you can more easily manage.

Here is a pick of my AMNPS and mailbox mod with my MES40 (40 inch MES).  Mine is using a wall hanging mailbox and just goes directly to the MES with the elbow joint.  I wanted a compact all in one mailbox mod rather than a bigger multi part one.  Notice the AMNPS is light and flaming (flame is hard to see) before I blow it out and put it in the mailbox mod.  I hope this info helps! : )


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## Lonzinomaker (Nov 14, 2019)

I did the mailbox mod, works really well for doing cheeses and bacon at lower temps. Never could do that with my stock MES30.


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## Biggy1 (Nov 14, 2019)

Alpha Texan said:


> Howdy folks, I'm a college student and recently began to try my hand at smoking. I've been lurking here for a couple months to learn some stuff and finally created an account to join the fun, so I hope I'm doing this right.
> 
> I bought a Masterbuilt 130B Digital Electric Smoker. I know, I know, it's not true smoking, but it's the best this college kid can do for now. When I fire it up, it produces a good amount of smoke for about 2 hours, and then it just stops producing smoke. I've used apple, hickory, and mesquite wood chips, all go the same. I always keep a pan of water, or the brine in their with the meat. Could that be preventing it from creating smoke and if so, how do I find that balance so it will smoke by taking out the pan without drying out the meat?
> 
> Any tips and suggestions are welcome!


I have the Masterbuilt Smoker Kit and smoke with chips or pellets 6 to 8 hrs.


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