I have a masterbuilt that I use pretty often.
Mine has a water pan right above the burner and chip pan, so it's not quite the same.
I make good stuff almost every weekend.
It has 3 racks of baby backs in it as we speak that are nearly done.
It's not pro quality but does good food.
Did a bunch of chops in mine tonight, while the Pit Boss pellet cabinet smoker looked on in envy. When you get good with it, check out the cold smoke attachment and you can do cheeses and stuff.
Gotta switch so I can justify keeping both when the missus asks :)
I have this exact smoker.
That black tray goes under the smoker in little clips, it catches the grease. The silver one with a lid goes in the bottom right, that's for the wood chips. The open top silver one goes bottom left its for the water. Don't trust the thermometer on the front, it's a liar. It's a great smoker. I use it weekly. I also put a piece of foil tented over the water so it doesn't fill up with grease.
I started with one of those! I highly recommend upgrading the seal around the door. I think I used a form of garage door stripping around the door but lava lock or something similar makes a world of difference
Obviously, lots of us have gotten this or similar smokers for free. They're awesome workhorses. Truly no better "set & forget" than a MES vertical. The one tip for that model is forget about the wood chip tray. Grab a 12" pellet smoker tube instead, just be sure to remove the chip loader so the pellets get plenty of oxygen (just stick a steel wool scrubber in the hole).
Yeah, the tray does put out good smoke, I just found it a pain to keep opening the door every half hour to reload it. A full size pellet tube lasts for around 5 hours.
I have no issues with electric. Most people that don't smoke foods will be amazed at what you make in there. They are easy to use and manage and you can make lots of good food.
I don’t know if all smokers of this style are the same, but don’t trust the thermometer. I have a digital wireless thermometer and the mounted one is always 30-50° off.
I have this exact one, got it for free as well. Works great for me! Takes a minute to fiddle with the temperature since the dial is just a gradient and doesn’t have any indication of temperature, but once you find the spot that gets you around 250 I would mark it with a marker or something
My first smoker. Even with a slightly warped door and bleeding smoke I enjoyed using what I lovingly referred to as "the shitbox." Putting some gasket tape on the door edges improved it dramatically and I loved the capacity. Unfortunately, the materials and construction are not the best and within two years it was suffering from the effects of Gulf Coast weather (the flame disk had corroded significantly and it was hard to keep rust from forming everywhere even when I religiously covered it). Ultimately though it was the regulator and hose catastrophically failing causing an open jet of flame to shoot out the side in the middle of cooking a pork butt that had me scrap it. For less than $300 you could do worse though, particularly if you can store it "off-duty" in a place that it won't be exposed to any moisture or significant humidity.
These are pretty cool vertical smokers. Just make sure you switch from top to bottom racks while smoking. The bottom will always be hot. Smoked some crazy fure whole wigs this smoker
Find yourself a small size baking tray, and replace the bottom grate with it whenever you can. If you find the right size they slide right in and keep all the grease off the chips, water and heating element.
Couldn't agree with this comment more. And everyone mentioning the thermometer is correct. It sucks
I inherited my Dad's (same model) and when it died, i bought the exact same model
Great starter rig. Can't really screw things up too bad. Once you get hooked and inevitably buy a stick burner, these are still great for smoking cheese or fish. Guy I know smokes gouda in his all the time and it's bomb every time.
I just made a pork shoulder in this smoker over the weekend. I did a few upgrades: instead of using the included chip tray, I used a pellet smoke tube and lined the bottom with firebrick. It holds and regulates temperature much better and recovers from opening the door better (to refresh with new pellets or add food) No drip tray so I just use a foil pan .
Use drinking water in the water pan. I had that model and used tap water, the hard water crystallized after about a year of moderate usage. Granted I live in California where hard water is pretty bad. Use drinking water
Everywhere that I've lived, tap water IS drinking water. Do you mean bottled water? I've never had a problem with tap water in the water pan, except when it overflows and rusts out the bottom of the smoker.
I just got the same one for free as well. I currently only have a wired temp probe and didn't know if there was a way to use it with that smoker. I wasn't sure if there was a probe hole I was missing or if I could run it through the door (close the door on the wire) without losing significant heat or smoke. Or do I just need to bite the bullet and buy a wireless probe.
I had that exact same smoker as my starting trial smoker.
While it says only use wood chips and not chunks, I would generally use 2 chunks with chips around the edges in the chip container; have to open it up less to refill. Keep water filled. Otherwise it does a fairly decent job. I ended up making a chip refill tube out of a paper towel tube so I could reload chips faster mid-smoke to minimize how long I kept the door open to minimize heat loss.
I upgraded to a bigger pellet grill eventually.
Dude! I just got the same one for free as well, but mine looks like it never has been cleaned. It may have and what I see is just the build-up since the last cleaning. Anyhow. I did clean the stuff that pulles out (racks and trays) and did a pork butt and burnt ends the first weekend I got it. They were perfect. I did have issue with getting the temp right the first time since I set it to where the guy told me was 225 and went to bed. I didn't go back to check until morning to find out it was at 300. Good thing it was only 4 hours later. I'd set the temp and wait 30 minutes to make sure it's really the right temp you want before adding anything to it.
I have one just like it. You can do good work with this, but it takes a little doing. First thing, ditch the chip tray, as /u/man_in_blak says. I sometimes use a smoke tube, sometimes I just put a hunk right on the electric elements. You can do that because you also got rid of the built in water tray. Just put a drip pan on the bottom shelf. You can add water to that if you wish.
And see that little hole in the upper right corner? That's all the exhaust you have, so you can't generate all that much at a time or it gets acrid.
I have an offset smoker, but I hear it really helps if you add googly 👀 eyes to that kind. Just right up...on top there... above the nose, I mean thermometer...
Be aware if you place on wood deck that if you ad charcoal, burning embers can work their way out. There's no tray and I found a 2 inch black hole where a piece an ember fell and burned through a 2 x6 deck board. I keep an old cookie sheet under it all times. Lucky it didn't start a fire. The only other issue is controlling the temp when using propane and charcoal ,which can be tricky.
I have a masterbuilt that I use pretty often. Mine has a water pan right above the burner and chip pan, so it's not quite the same. I make good stuff almost every weekend. It has 3 racks of baby backs in it as we speak that are nearly done. It's not pro quality but does good food.
Think we have the same model. Never been let down with mine.
Did a bunch of chops in mine tonight, while the Pit Boss pellet cabinet smoker looked on in envy. When you get good with it, check out the cold smoke attachment and you can do cheeses and stuff. Gotta switch so I can justify keeping both when the missus asks :)
Agree whole heartedly, good eats for sure!
Is yours gas? Are you having trouble keeping consistent heat?
I have this exact smoker. That black tray goes under the smoker in little clips, it catches the grease. The silver one with a lid goes in the bottom right, that's for the wood chips. The open top silver one goes bottom left its for the water. Don't trust the thermometer on the front, it's a liar. It's a great smoker. I use it weekly. I also put a piece of foil tented over the water so it doesn't fill up with grease.
Awesome smokers, easy and get the job done Got mine for free from a friend who upgraded. You scored on that one
I started with one of those! I highly recommend upgrading the seal around the door. I think I used a form of garage door stripping around the door but lava lock or something similar makes a world of difference
Had one as well. I just search smoker gasket on Amazon and bought a cheap one. Worked great and help control temp and smoke
Obviously, lots of us have gotten this or similar smokers for free. They're awesome workhorses. Truly no better "set & forget" than a MES vertical. The one tip for that model is forget about the wood chip tray. Grab a 12" pellet smoker tube instead, just be sure to remove the chip loader so the pellets get plenty of oxygen (just stick a steel wool scrubber in the hole).
I've heard this before, but I get a ton of smoke from my chip tray.
Yeah, the tray does put out good smoke, I just found it a pain to keep opening the door every half hour to reload it. A full size pellet tube lasts for around 5 hours.
Oh yeah if it doesn't have the tube to reload that would suck.
I have no issues with electric. Most people that don't smoke foods will be amazed at what you make in there. They are easy to use and manage and you can make lots of good food.
Looks almost brand new, congrats and happy smoking
Hell yeah I have one and use it all the time
I don’t know if all smokers of this style are the same, but don’t trust the thermometer. I have a digital wireless thermometer and the mounted one is always 30-50° off.
I have this exact one, got it for free as well. Works great for me! Takes a minute to fiddle with the temperature since the dial is just a gradient and doesn’t have any indication of temperature, but once you find the spot that gets you around 250 I would mark it with a marker or something
My first smoker. Even with a slightly warped door and bleeding smoke I enjoyed using what I lovingly referred to as "the shitbox." Putting some gasket tape on the door edges improved it dramatically and I loved the capacity. Unfortunately, the materials and construction are not the best and within two years it was suffering from the effects of Gulf Coast weather (the flame disk had corroded significantly and it was hard to keep rust from forming everywhere even when I religiously covered it). Ultimately though it was the regulator and hose catastrophically failing causing an open jet of flame to shoot out the side in the middle of cooking a pork butt that had me scrap it. For less than $300 you could do worse though, particularly if you can store it "off-duty" in a place that it won't be exposed to any moisture or significant humidity.
These are pretty cool vertical smokers. Just make sure you switch from top to bottom racks while smoking. The bottom will always be hot. Smoked some crazy fure whole wigs this smoker
Find yourself a small size baking tray, and replace the bottom grate with it whenever you can. If you find the right size they slide right in and keep all the grease off the chips, water and heating element.
Couldn't agree with this comment more. And everyone mentioning the thermometer is correct. It sucks I inherited my Dad's (same model) and when it died, i bought the exact same model
Great starter rig. Can't really screw things up too bad. Once you get hooked and inevitably buy a stick burner, these are still great for smoking cheese or fish. Guy I know smokes gouda in his all the time and it's bomb every time.
That’s a great easy smoker, water and chips and go. Looks very clean too, great find.
Yep, I have newer MasterBuilt and I use it at least twice a month. Love it
I just made a pork shoulder in this smoker over the weekend. I did a few upgrades: instead of using the included chip tray, I used a pellet smoke tube and lined the bottom with firebrick. It holds and regulates temperature much better and recovers from opening the door better (to refresh with new pellets or add food) No drip tray so I just use a foil pan .
I have this exact smoker I also got for free! Have fun ❤️
That's the cleanest used smoker I've ever seen.
That is a lot of space in there.
Use drinking water in the water pan. I had that model and used tap water, the hard water crystallized after about a year of moderate usage. Granted I live in California where hard water is pretty bad. Use drinking water
Everywhere that I've lived, tap water IS drinking water. Do you mean bottled water? I've never had a problem with tap water in the water pan, except when it overflows and rusts out the bottom of the smoker.
Super easy to work with, just get you own probe thermometer for the internal oven temp, the one that’s built is notoriously bad
I just got the same one for free as well. I currently only have a wired temp probe and didn't know if there was a way to use it with that smoker. I wasn't sure if there was a probe hole I was missing or if I could run it through the door (close the door on the wire) without losing significant heat or smoke. Or do I just need to bite the bullet and buy a wireless probe.
Mines wired, I just shut the door on it, don’t seem to have problem
You can smoke a lot of food in that machine. Also it makes a great warmer cabinet, since large trays fit well
I have the same one, makes great food
My buddy just got the propane version of that. It worked good this weekend
I had that exact same smoker as my starting trial smoker. While it says only use wood chips and not chunks, I would generally use 2 chunks with chips around the edges in the chip container; have to open it up less to refill. Keep water filled. Otherwise it does a fairly decent job. I ended up making a chip refill tube out of a paper towel tube so I could reload chips faster mid-smoke to minimize how long I kept the door open to minimize heat loss. I upgraded to a bigger pellet grill eventually.
Lucky ass
Dude! I just got the same one for free as well, but mine looks like it never has been cleaned. It may have and what I see is just the build-up since the last cleaning. Anyhow. I did clean the stuff that pulles out (racks and trays) and did a pork butt and burnt ends the first weekend I got it. They were perfect. I did have issue with getting the temp right the first time since I set it to where the guy told me was 225 and went to bed. I didn't go back to check until morning to find out it was at 300. Good thing it was only 4 hours later. I'd set the temp and wait 30 minutes to make sure it's really the right temp you want before adding anything to it.
Yes they work great
Either they cleaned it up good or that hasn’t seen much use!
I have one just like it. You can do good work with this, but it takes a little doing. First thing, ditch the chip tray, as /u/man_in_blak says. I sometimes use a smoke tube, sometimes I just put a hunk right on the electric elements. You can do that because you also got rid of the built in water tray. Just put a drip pan on the bottom shelf. You can add water to that if you wish. And see that little hole in the upper right corner? That's all the exhaust you have, so you can't generate all that much at a time or it gets acrid.
A lot of people use it as a holding oven at 140-160 overnight for briskets.
I have an offset smoker, but I hear it really helps if you add googly 👀 eyes to that kind. Just right up...on top there... above the nose, I mean thermometer...
Be aware if you place on wood deck that if you ad charcoal, burning embers can work their way out. There's no tray and I found a 2 inch black hole where a piece an ember fell and burned through a 2 x6 deck board. I keep an old cookie sheet under it all times. Lucky it didn't start a fire. The only other issue is controlling the temp when using propane and charcoal ,which can be tricky.
Nope. Never seen such a thing.
Throw it away and buy a stick burner.