Maintaining smoke

[dallasag85]

Howdy all. Bought a Masterbuilt electric smoker a week ago and am smoking a boston butt today. Lots of good gouge and recipes here have been a great help, but I'm experiencing one problem I can't overcome. Smoke. First load of hickory chips smoked nicely, but when I added chips the next time, I wasn't able to get any smoke. Any ideas?

 

[backyardchef]

Switch to chunks, which will burn longer and give you more smoke and value. The chips are probably just igniting completely and burning up on you. One way to slow their ignition is to double wrap the chips in heavy duty foil and poke a few holes in the top of the foil packet. Place the packet off to the side of the fire, rather than right on top of the burner, if possible. That's my guess, anyway....

 

[Bill-Chicago]

Is there ash build up on the heating element?

 

[dallasag85]

No, no ash buildup. The Masterbuilt is set up so that the burner doesn't come in contact with the wood. No ash buildup on the box either.

 

[dallasag85]

Figured Out The Problem - Thanks For The Help

Howdy all. Thanks for the prompt advice. Took another look and realized that the problem was a combination of ventilation, positioning of the woodchip box, and a loose wingnut in the brain housing group of the guy trying to smoke his first BB.

Thanks again for the help.

Semper Fi,

Jim

 

[Bill-Chicago]

I'm not too familiar with the Masterbuilt, but how are your temps holding?

Matt suggests the chips are ignighting. Is this a smoker that on the second load, you need to have had chips that were soaked in water, or go with chunks?

Hopefully someone with electric similar to yours will find this thread before your butt is cooked.

Edit:

Glad you found your answer.

Airflow was the next thing I was looking at on the Masterbuilt site

 

[Solidkick]

I think the Masterbuilts are electric with a thermostat and just designed for chips and not chunks....I may be wrong though.....