SETenn wrote:
I got this smoker for Christmas last year and after some research I was able to get pretty darn good at getting some good smoke flavor. But, it seems that I am yet another victim of the control panel and element problems that seem so prevalent with these smokers. I have installed a new controller and element, fired it up and everything seemed OK. Went to start it up the other night and it went crazy and then shut down. According to Masterbuilt I need the body assembly, which they have agreed to send to me. I have come to the conclusion that I can no longer trust this thing and am looking at purchasing a new electric smoker.
After all of the digital problems I am very tempted to go with an analog controller. Those of you that have these please feel free to share your experience with them. Is it easy to get a temperature set? How about the smoke flavor? I have an old Brinkmann smoker with no temperature control and it seems the only way to control the temp is with the amount of water in the pan. It does OK but the meat will sometimes have a steamed flavor that I don't care for too much. Any opinions and/or advice is appreciated.
Every smoker seems to have some problem, so it isn't just the Masterbuilt brand.
I have a digital MES30 for about 1 yr now, like the set and forget part of it once I gave up on the internal chip tray.
If they are sending you a free new body, take it and use it.
If you haven't been there, I would recommend
Smoking Meat Forums for a lot of great info.. They do have a dedicated MES section which folks have shared fixes to most of the problems of MES units..
Using the internal chip tray was a hit or miss, either too much acrid smoke or no smoke at all.. Not to mention the constant feeding chips every 40 minutes.
I did the "mailbox" mod which you use an external metal mailbox, cut a 3 inch hole in the back of the box near the top, connect 3" aluminum flex duct (don't use plastic dryer vent material), connect the other end to the chip loader hole (remove chip holder). Inside I removed the chip tray. Search for the mailbox mod, you will find lots of great info on how to do it.
Then I bought the Amazen pellet tube in the mailbox which gives me about 3-4hrs of good smoke, Amazen also has a "maze" you can use instead of the tube, it can give a longer smoke time without refilling.
Make sure you open the top vent on the smoker fully, you want as much fresh smoke and keeping the top vent closed results in acrid flavors.
Have done pulled pork using pork loins (great taste and texture with less fat than the butt), Chicken leg quarters, baked beans, double hot smoked ham with great results..
Also have done a lot of cold smoking since I have the mailbox mod, several different cheddar cheeses, cold double smoked bacon, cold double smoked ham. The cheeses I have not gotten dailed in yet but the ham and bacon are on our favorites list for sure..
Have to do the cold smoking when outside temps get in the 40s for meats and for cheeses as long as temps inside the smoker don't go above 70 or so (don't want to melt the cheese).
To help the cold smoking process I added a small computer fan to the top vent to help draw the smoke through for better flavor..
