Electric smokers
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Stats77 If you’re looking for a cheap alternative I started with a used vertical gas unit, put the cast iron fire box right on top of the gas burner and gapped the door open and it worked great. Used it for years, you could pick something like that up on facebook marketplace for $50. I never got overly concerned about the temp initially but now that I can control it, I’m all over it. Use the smoker to get smoke on it then move sausage to the water bath to cook it and save up for the PK.
Parksider I agree with what you said I had a brinkman vertical gas smoker and it was fine for ribs, chicken and the normal things till I also got into sausage and it kind of worked out the burner went on it and I bought a mb30 so far no complaints !
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,Parksider
Used to do the same with cast iron fire box. Now only use the the amazing smoker. -
tarp
Really don’t know about the other models. I know I’ve had great success with this one. Been my go-to. Will be firing it up in the next couple weeks. Luv it.Congrats on winning
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Brianh mine was all over the place on temps too. Take as many photos of everything you have experienced with the smoker…serial numbers, receipts, display areas etc… CS won’t do much to help without it.
Joe Hell An update on my situation with the new Masterbuilt, still haven’t heard a word from them despite sending a ton of photos and descriptions. Not a single reply. Guess I’ll chalk it up to a $300 lesson and start saving money for a better unit. I should have done some research before buying the new one. I assumed since my original one was such a good unit they were a safe bet, buyer beware!
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Joe Hell An update on my situation with the new Masterbuilt, still haven’t heard a word from them despite sending a ton of photos and descriptions. Not a single reply. Guess I’ll chalk it up to a $300 lesson and start saving money for a better unit. I should have done some research before buying the new one. I assumed since my original one was such a good unit they were a safe bet, buyer beware!
Brianh that really blows… . I hope they reply to you.and fix the problem . Did you purchase online or at a store? Possibly be Able to get assistance from where you bought it. I bought a gas grill for my work at Lowe’s . When I got it out of box the side burner was damaged. I called them up to see about getting me a new replacement part and they just repacked the whole grill. Worth a shot
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Joe Hell An update on my situation with the new Masterbuilt, still haven’t heard a word from them despite sending a ton of photos and descriptions. Not a single reply. Guess I’ll chalk it up to a $300 lesson and start saving money for a better unit. I should have done some research before buying the new one. I assumed since my original one was such a good unit they were a safe bet, buyer beware!
Brianh The Masterbuilt rep from instagram reached out this morning and also contact the son of the owner. I’m sure they will eventually make it right but we will see. They said if I don’t hear by the warranty department by Monday at 5:00 to let them know. Despite my current and past issues with their products I have always spoke fondly of them. When they work I feel they are the best bang for the buck on the market.
Better Living Through BBQ!
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Brianh that really blows… . I hope they reply to you.and fix the problem . Did you purchase online or at a store? Possibly be Able to get assistance from where you bought it. I bought a gas grill for my work at Lowe’s . When I got it out of box the side burner was damaged. I called them up to see about getting me a new replacement part and they just repacked the whole grill. Worth a shot
Stats77 I purchased this one online and had temp issues from day one but just chalked it up to winter temps being the culprit. As spring approached and the weather warmed I knew there was an issue. Customer support was again hard to connect with but they were happy to send out a new control panel. Well…that wasn’t it. They then sent me the entire cabinet as the wiring is embedded within the walls. That did the trick and I enjoyed many months of a perfectly functioning smoker. I hadn’t used the smoker from early August through November and ran 32 lbs of Canadian Bacon with zero issues. One week later I put 4 racks of pork ribs in the smoker set to 210 degrees and walked away for a couple hours. When I went to check on them there was an alarm going off that I never heard before and the temp had spiked to the point to where the ribs were burnt to a crisp.
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I’ll stick with old faithful, my Treager, it has its faults but I can work through them. It has a bad habit of shutting down on long smokes at lower temps. I have a new controller with dual temp probes, but yet to put it in. The thing just chugs along and makes the neighbors mouths water every time I fire it up.
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I also have a Big Green Egg but I needed something that would maintain temps between 120 - 170 deg. to make snack sticks, smoked sausage, jerky and bacon. I broke down and bought a 40” Masterbuilt for the sole purpose of making the above listed items. I got fed up with the large temp swings. I would get a +15 to a -15 of the set temp, I finally ripped out the Masterbuilt controller and replaced it with a PID controller. Now when I set the PID to any temp, the temp of the smoker the stays rock solid at that temp without any +/- temp devastation. I highly recommend the use of a PID.
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I also have a Big Green Egg but I needed something that would maintain temps between 120 - 170 deg. to make snack sticks, smoked sausage, jerky and bacon. I broke down and bought a 40” Masterbuilt for the sole purpose of making the above listed items. I got fed up with the large temp swings. I would get a +15 to a -15 of the set temp, I finally ripped out the Masterbuilt controller and replaced it with a PID controller. Now when I set the PID to any temp, the temp of the smoker the stays rock solid at that temp without any +/- temp devastation. I highly recommend the use of a PID.
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@Retired-RailRoader Perhaps that would help with my Masterbuilt problems. What controller do you use?
Joe Hell The PID controller I use is from Auber Instruments. The model number is WSD-1501GPH
https://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=14_28&products_id=381
As I don’t know how to post pics here below is the link of the write up of my mod I posted on another smoking forum. Hopefully I’m allowed to link to another site. Jonathan If I’m not please delete.
John Belvedere
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Joe Hell The PID controller I use is from Auber Instruments. The model number is WSD-1501GPH
https://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=14_28&products_id=381
As I don’t know how to post pics here below is the link of the write up of my mod I posted on another smoking forum. Hopefully I’m allowed to link to another site. Jonathan If I’m not please delete.
John Belvedere
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@Retired-RailRoader they are great controllers. Wat to think outside the box on using it with the MB.
Stats77 I also flipped the heating element so it’s in the center of the Masterbuilt so it heats dead center instead of the side. I also screwed in 2 pieces of angle iron into the sides so I could use a real water pan rather then the small original pan.
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Stats77 I also flipped the heating element so it’s in the center of the Masterbuilt so it heats dead center instead of the side. I also screwed in 2 pieces of angle iron into the sides so I could use a real water pan rather then the small original pan.
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I did 25# of snack sticks on the Camp Chef XXL vertical pellet yesterday. I was able to fit the whole batch in the smoker using the racks. The smoker worked great it was 35 degrees out and very windy and had no trouble with temps. The lowest temp setting is 150 so I started there with the vent wide open for the first hour and it held steady at around 120. After the first hr I rotated tracks and left it at 150 with the vent half open and the temp rose into the 130’s. The 3rd hr I rotated racks and turned it to 175 and put the 2 meat probes in. When the meat temp broke 130 I pulled them and finished them in an electric roaster with the water temp 170-180. I was impressed with the Camp Chef, the pellets produce a good amount of smoke while cooking. The sticks turned out great thanks to all the good information on this website!
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Brianh that really blows… . I hope they reply to you.and fix the problem . Did you purchase online or at a store? Possibly be Able to get assistance from where you bought it. I bought a gas grill for my work at Lowe’s . When I got it out of box the side burner was damaged. I called them up to see about getting me a new replacement part and they just repacked the whole grill. Worth a shot
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Brianh The Masterbuilt rep from instagram reached out this morning and also contact the son of the owner. I’m sure they will eventually make it right but we will see. They said if I don’t hear by the warranty department by Monday at 5:00 to let them know. Despite my current and past issues with their products I have always spoke fondly of them. When they work I feel they are the best bang for the buck on the market.
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