Masterbuilt digital electric smoker

[Bmastro777]

Just bought one of the Masterbuilt digital electric smokers! Just curious how long you guys are normally smoking your fish and how many pans of chips throughout the process? Im gonna smoke some pinks that I've filleted and cut in half. They are in the brine right now. Looks like an awesome smoker and I'm going through the preseasoning right now. Thanks for the help!

[gonnahookit]

Not having an actual smoker, I was using my gas grill, 3 fillets at a time on the upper rack. Lava rocks under the main grate, with an aluminum foil roasting pan turned upside down on the lower grate. Small holes punched through the aluminum with a 16d nail.

Pink fillets were taking about 12 minutes, but unfortunately were being cooked more than smoked this way, and thats with the flame as low as it would go, using the heat in the rocks to cook the chips (not shavings).

Try experimenting, starting with shorter times. You can always smoke it more, but you cant undo what you've done (kind of like seasonings!)

Oh yeah, a couple handfuls of soaked chips would last me long enough to do 6 fillets. (2 rounds of smoking) Using an electric smoker is going to be a lot more efficient though.

[Bmastro777]

Thanks gonnahookit,
Also forgot to mention that this model has a slider thing to let smoke escape. How open/closed should I have this?

[MotoBoat]

Not having an actual smoker, I was using my gas grill, 3 fillets at a time on the upper rack. Lava rocks under the main grate, with an aluminum foil roasting pan turned upside down on the lower grate. Small holes punched through the aluminum with a 16d nail.

Pink fillets were taking about 12 minutes, but unfortunately were being cooked more than smoked this way, and thats with the flame as low as it would go, using the heat in the rocks to cook the chips (not shavings).

Try experimenting, starting with shorter times. You can always smoke it more, but you cant undo what you've done (kind of like seasonings!)

Oh yeah, a couple handfuls of soaked chips would last me long enough to do 6 fillets. (2 rounds of smoking) Using an electric smoker is going to be a lot more efficient though.

How large a Gas Grill are we talking here....ie: how many burners? I have a gas grill. Has 6 burners. Point being, the further you get the fish from the burner that is on. The longer you can cook something. If unaware, it is considered "indirect" cooking. I can place smoker pellets in a soup can, place that directly on the 3rd or center burner. Place meat, fish, chicken as far right or left from that burner as possible. Steak will take 30 to 40 min. Chicken 60min to 75min, fish 20min. I do use foil over the wood pellets and food. Kind of a cocoon, to trap head and mostly the wood smoke. A beer can chicken took 90 minutes. With burner on low, a digital thermometer indicates a head range of 275 to 300 degrees. This method works good for a decent smoke flavor, and border line taking to long for dinner to cook. Just a thought when cooking and imparting a smoke flavor, using a gas grill.

Bmastro, if you can locate a blog of a member "Rseas". He has the same smoker....I think anyway. Has a blog on smoking fish. Includes the brine, drying for pellicle, and smoking times at indicated temperatures. He maps it out for you, start to finish. Check it out.

[G-Man]

I have the same smoker and end up using one load of chips every hour for the first 3 hours for fish. I start out at 100 degres for an hour and then ramp up the temp slowly so I don't get those curds to form. No need to provide smoke the entire time, especially with mild flavored fish.

[MotoBoat]

I have the same smoker and end up using one load of chips every hour for the first 3 hours for fish. I start out at 100 degres for an hour and then ramp up the temp slowly so I don't get those curds to form. No need to provide smoke the entire time, especially with mild flavored fish.

I wondered how much temp would affect the curd formation. Especially when smoking Salmon with high fat content. What is the temp sequence used G-man? Have you noticed if a longer dry time on the fish, will greatly reduce curd formation?

I have tried a multiple day dry in the fridge with some success.

[gonnahookit]

MotoBoat: I do know about indirect cooking, I cook for a living.

That said, it's an older CharBroil grill with two oval burners, and is worn out from heavy BBQ'ing over the years. It's hard to keep it on a very low flame without it sputtering out, so it's a tradeoff; I get smoked fish, but it's done quickly and the smokey flavor doesn't penetrate well. I went to longer brine times to help with flavor-building, and it seemed to work well enough.

I use what I've got until I can upgrade, at which time I'll have to readjust my brine/drying times again, and possibly my recipe as well. I do know I've gotten good reviews and advice from my fellow chefs, so I'm on the right track, at least with Pinks. Cant wait to try some Coho!

Bmastro: you'll have to follow MotoBoat and G-man's advice, and experiment some. The more closed that vent, the more/longer the smoke stays in the smoker, but the more heat will stay in as well. With the ability to adjust your temp on a digital smoker, that issue wont be as much of a concern though.

[Gringo Pescador]

I do 3 pans in the 1st three hours also. I run mine about 150-170 for 5-7 hours (depending on the temp and thickness of the fish)and just brush off the curd once an hour. I also rotate my racks (4) each hour so they get equal heat time (hotter on the bottom) unless I have some that are far thicker than others - if that is the case I just leave the this ones on the bottom.

As far as venting the smoke, I vent as little as possible

All of my process (temp/time/venting) is due to heat control. I have a gas smoker and also had issues with keeping the temp low enough. What I ended up doing to dial it in was to add two more 2" vent holes on the top (with a means to open/close them) and found that I could actually get a lower (and stable) flame by turning the gas knob between "OFF and HIGH". I found the sweet spot and marked it on the knob so now I don't have to search for it anymore. I mainly smoke in the winter which also helps keep the temp down, if I do smoke in the summer I have to keep feeding ice in the drip pan to keep the temp down.

I can smoke 4-6 fish at once (8-12 fillets) so I stock up each fall - got 20 fillets vac-packed and frozen so far this fall.

[G-Man]

Kippering is what the process of bringing up the temperature slowly is called. The end results are pretty much the same, maybe a little less moist, but a better looking product. One starts out at a low temp, 100 degrees is fine, and happens to be the lowest the Masterbuilt will go, for a couple of hours and then you ramp up the temperature over course an hour or so to around 175. So what I do is bump up the temp 15 degrees every 15 minutes until I reach 175. Once you reach 175, keep it there until the fish is done to your liking. I don't always take the fish to 175 though, depends on the thickness of the fillets. For pinks, I've been stopping at 160 and getting good results. These fish aren't that thick and don't have a lot of oils, so unless you want a crumbly product, keep the temps a bit lower. By the way, a crumbly product isn't always a bad thing, it goes great in salads!

[Bmastro777]

Thanks for the replies guys, some great advice! I've read that once the internal temp of the fish reaches 140F its done. Is that a correct statement? For some reason I was thinking 160F was the correct temperature?

[G-Man]

160 is the temp that is touted as killing parasites and most bacteria. I'm usually comfortable eating fish that aren't cooked to a higher temp as long as I'm the one that prepared the fish.

[Bmastro777]

Ok, so I brined a good 17 hours, formed pellicle and popped in smoker at 140F for the first hour, swapped chips and bumped up to 150F for 2 hours, swapped a smaller chip load and now bumped up the temp to 175F for the last 2 hours. Should be done around 9 I'm hoping. Hope this works! Thanks for the tips

[oneshot]

I too have a masterbuilt digital.. love it!!

I do a steady 165 for 6 to 8 hours and chips every 2 hours or so.. real simple.. hard to fail with the digital

[Bmastro777]

I was waiting for you to chime in oneshot! I remember you posted a pic stating you had a model similar to mine. Thanks for the info!

[rcthepirate]

I have a masterbuilt, and one suggestion that I have is to make a foil pouch to put your chips in and poke holes in it instead of just dumping them straight in. This will smother the chips so they won't flare up, and make it much easier to control the temperature. They will still smoke okay though.

[oneshot]

I was waiting for you to chime in oneshot! I remember you posted a pic stating you had a model similar to mine. Thanks for the info!

yeah man! seriously since day one its been a no fail operation.. just don't get too hot and i always make sure i have the water pan at least half full.. I just smoked up another 8 or 10lbs yesterday.. simple dry brine of brown sugar and salt for 24 hours, then smoke..

[Bmastro777]

OMG! I completely forgot about the water pan! SH*t! I went out and checked on them at 9pm and they weren't done yet. put them on for another hour, checked, still not done. Maybe it has something to do with the water pan? What is the purpose of the water? Ugh. Im used to my lil chief. Sigh....

[oneshot]

water pan keeps moisture in there. if you run too long with out it your fish can really dry up.. I always prime the smoker at 270 for 30 minutes with full smoke before dropping fish in.. then sometimes i will keep a temp of about 210 to get an initial cook for about 45 to an hour maybe.. then i drop to a steady 165 for the duration which all depends on how thick your fllets are..i have never done it exactly the same twice..

[Gringo Pescador]

I have never done it exactly the same twice..

Now that I have a base recipe and the smoker dialed in, that's the fun of it for me.

Right now I have "Gringo Original", "Gringo Chipotle", "Gringo Ancho Pepper" & "Gringo Black Pepper" all smoked up and ready to choose from

[Bmastro777]

So I was up until 11 when the fish was finally done. For some reason the taste was much better than my little chief? Anyways, thanks for the tips guys, I'll get it down soon. Got some pink and some sockeye from the kenai in Alaska thawing