Any experience with Masterbuilt smokers?

As a holding oven? I'm real careful not to use a heated holding over (at least very long) I think it continues to dry out the meat.

Are you cooking so much Q you need to hold meat for long periods?

The question I'd ask is how well insulated it is, how dry the environment is and how well it maintains the holding temp you want. Don't know much about this new version out there from that aspect.

Todd
I bought one of these units at closeout at my local Sams Club. Very cheaply made but it holds temps very tight- I use mine as a unit to do test cooks on with new recipes etc.-should work great as holding oven

Herman

Thanks for the info. I actually ran into one today at Grills Galore when I went by to pick up some wood chunks. I agree it didn't look like it was over built like CS, but I was pretty pleased with the quality/money ratio. I hope it works well for a holding oven.

Hi Smokin', I don't need to hold meat very often, but every now and then I need to get the butts out of the cooker early so I can cook chicken or ribs. This is only a problem when I also have to serve a large crowd, like this week when I have to feed 450-500 on Friday. Being able to hold 60-80lbs of pulled meat for a few hours gives me a lot of wiggle room to accomodate a customers needs, wants, wishes, etc. But I'm with you, given a choice, I would prefer to pull straight from the cooker and serve.

Understand. Go for it, everyone always wants more toys to play with, and they're not too expensive.

If I'm doing multiple butts (4 or more) I just hold them in a small ice chest. I've done that as long as 6 hours and they're still too hot to touch.

I've known 2 people who've owned these and in both cases, the rubber stripping has worked loose and came off. I would say that as long as you're not expecting durability, you should be okay. From what I hear, they do work well though.

I think Smokin' hit it on the head with his "toy" comment. I do love toys, but it's nice to be able to "time shift" some tasks since I work most events alone, hence the need to hold already pulled meat, or re-heat beans.

And yes, I thought the strip around the door looked cheap in person. It is basically a thin magnetic strip like a fridge door. I'm surprised it holds up to heat at all. It also seems odd that their electronics don't have a therm built in. You can set the oven temp, and the cook time, but no meat temp or cook/hold feature. I don't car how long it takes to cook, but I sure want it to be done before it shuts off.

One thing that's nice is that the Masterbuilt will hold a disposable turkey pan(just slightly smaller than a hotel pan) as it seems to be about 17-18" wide internally. I don't know why smoker mfg's seem to be in love with roughly a 14"x14" internal dimension. In most cases you can't smoke a whole shoulder on a shelf that size. That's why I bought my AmQ's, bigger shelves.

Like Smokin says,I'd never be the one to discourage more toys.

We have cambros,and the 120 quart coolers from Sam's that can hold large sizes and quantity.

Just a thought from my post yesterday,which was in about a $20 cooler.

I like to get mine done several hrs early and foil,maybe with a spritz of apple juice,or some of Smokin's vinegar sauce.

Cooler for several hrs,and pull just before serving.I never worry how long they are in the hotbox,as long as they are temp safe.

As an example, Ribdog and I put a large case of 7 to an eight lb butt in Sat night, about 6-6:30PM around 225º.

They came done about 6:30-7:30 AM.

We double foiled them,into a cooler,and about 6:30 PM Barbara and drbbq pulled them.

They were still too hot to touch.

They were close to perfect.At least 3-4 hrs resting is a great thing.

Just a thought for folks that may not need a holding oven.