AMNPS ... I Give UP

brickguy221 · Feb 2, 2016

tjones96761 said:
I'm new to playing with the AMNPS also, I'm just east of Stillwater. I think I know what your problem is... You're a Sooner fan.

I didn't try and look back through your previous posts. Are you against a separate box for the pellet tray? I didn't really like the looks of the mailboxes (just me personally, no offense to you guys that have them), so I'm going to do an ammo can. If you go that way you want a S.A.W. 50cal aka the "fat fifty". This is the only one the tray will sit in the bottom with adequate air flow all the way around with the lid on top. Otherwise the door opens sideways and sits on the edge of the lid. Probably a dozen surplus shops in OKC that have them on the shelf.

By going to a separate box you eliminate any "stale air, no draft, starving for O2" issues that MAY be present because all the air coming into the smoker must first come past the pellets. I can't say this is your problem, but you can eliminate the possibility.

I don't know about keeping the tray inside the smoker. Might have to drill holes in it where the tray sits to get air coming in past the pellets. Kinda sketchy though, not telling where all the wiring is in those things. Good luck Okie!

Edit: I read 19 Points as 19 Posts. I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. Sorry.

lol ... hey tjones, you are correct on one thing and that is... I am a Sooner Fan ...

For whatever reason, I was a Sooner fan before I ever moved from KS to TX and then to OK in 1969

I don't want to go to the mailbox thing unless forced to. I am going to try the Tube next time per Todd Johnson's suggestion to me today when I talked to him by Email.....( I will be 79 this month and am hearing impaired, so have to talk by emails and not by phone.) He said to put it on bottom shelf ... back side ... I wrote him back asking if back side or if he meant left side and am awaiting on his reply.

My pellets are stored inside of my house, I do nuke my pellets ... 2 minutes two times and have on occasion tried three times @ 2 minutes per time. Some people never nuke them and claim they have no problems, but based on all of my problems, I am skeptical about those claims.

daricksta · Feb 2, 2016

Brickguy221 said:
I give up on these pellets smoking and ready to go back to wood chips, even as bad as I hate adding chips every 15 - 20 minutes.Today was the umpteenth time that I couldn't keep my AMNPS lit. I would lite it initially ... let it burn 30 minute plus ... blow on it like Bear says until I get a red rose ... put it in smoker and 10 minutes it has died ... take it out and rel-light it, put it back and it goes out again... did that 4 times, so I finally gave up and added pellets a few at a time every 15 minutes to the chip loader.

I tried setting it on the bottom shelf on left side ... I tried setting it on a wire rack the same size as the maze to elevate it off the bottom pan ... I tried the chip loader closed ...I tried the chip loader dumpside down and out approx 1 1/2 - 2 inches ... I tried vent wide open ...tried vent half open ... and I tried everything I could think of and the chips still died ... I even nuked the pellets prior to light them the first time today.

I don't know how in the world you people that love these pellets keep the pellets smoking as I can't. This is the main reason I haven't tried smoking a Brisket and Pork Shoulder because of the length of time and the pellets won't stay lit, so I can trust the pellets to smoke for 7-8-9-10 hrs and I am not going to baby sit the smoker adding wood chips for that many hrs.

Sorry about my rant here, but I am really "P" off about this pellet thing and am sorry I ever invested $100+ into them.

I really feel for you. I've got my little MES 30 Gen 1 and the AMNPS has worked superbly for over 3 years. I only have problems keeping it lit during cold smokes. Still, I manage to get it to produce enough smoke during those cold smokes so that the end product is really, really good. I won't smoke with anything else. But then the airflow in my MES 30 Gen 1 appears to be better than that in the latest models. Bear owns a MES 40 BT 2.5 and he has no problems with the AMNPS inside it.

brickguy221 · Feb 2, 2016

daRicksta said:
Bear owns a MES 40 BT 2.5 and he has no problems with the AMNPS inside it.

I have the same MES BT 2.5 that Bear does and I have problems, so I don't know why he supposedly doesn't and I do.

That is why I am questioning if the 4 slabs of ribs in a rib rack on one shelf might be chocking off the upward draft. Even though I have had problems off and on with other things, it seems ribs are the worse when I do 4 slabs.

I don't think that Bear even adjusts the chip loader. I think he simply places the Maze on the bottom shelf on left side with chip loader closed and exhaust wide open. Didn't work for me there nor anywhere else I mentioned in my original topic.

As I said, something strange with 2 of us having the same smoker and opposite results.

I will be trying the tube next time as Todd feels that might do the job and to let him know if it doesn't

daricksta · Feb 3, 2016

Brickguy221 said:
I have the same MES BT 2.5 that Bear does and I have problems, so I don't know why he supposedly doesn't and I do.

That is why I am questioning if the 4 slabs of ribs in a rib rack on one shelf might be chocking off the upward draft. Even though I have had problems off and on with other things, it seems ribs are the worse when I do 4 slabs.

I don't think that Bear even adjusts the chip loader. I think he simply places the Maze on the bottom shelf on left side with chip loader closed and exhaust wide open. Didn't work for me there nor anywhere else I mentioned in my original topic.

As I said, something strange with 2 of us having the same smoker and opposite results.

I will be trying the tube next time as Todd feels that might do the job and to let him know if it doesn't

Has Bear been posting lately? I don't know anything about the newer models but Bear has owned them all and to be is the authoritative voice of experience.

brickguy221 · Feb 3, 2016

daRicksta said:
Has Bear been posting lately? I don't know anything about the newer models but Bear has owned them all and to be is the authoritative voice of experience.

He has posted what I said on where he places his AMNPS and I "think" but not positive that he also said he leaves the chip loader closed.

mummel · Feb 3, 2016

The pic below shows where I put mine.

image.jpg

mummel
Jul 1, 2015

mummel · Feb 3, 2016

And I have about a 50-60% hit rate.

IMG_2530.jpg

mummel
Aug 5, 2015

mummel · Feb 3, 2016

Chip loader position.

IMG_2151.jpg

mummel
Jun 15, 2015

brickguy221 · Feb 3, 2016

I place mine in the same exact place as you and at the same height on a open wire rack so it can get air all the way around. Todd says the 2.0 and 2.5 smokers don't have good air flow. Since my problems are more severe on ribs with 4 slabs being on one shelf in a rob rack, I keep wondering if they are blocking the air flow by forcing air to go up the sides of smoker and not thru the smoker.

brickguy221 · Feb 3, 2016

mummel said:
Chip loader position.

IMG_2151.jpg

mummel

Jun 15, 2015

That is the same exact same position I run mine.

dockman · Feb 3, 2016

How long does it burn before going out? I light mine and then use the heat gun or a blow dryer. Every since I started using a heat gun I have not had any problems keeping pellets lite. My problem is the pellets catching on fire after a short time. However I do have the mailbox mod. Hope you get it figured out.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

mummel · Feb 3, 2016

Try what I said. Pre-heat the smoker and leave the pellets in there to get nice and hot. They will burn better.

daricksta · Feb 3, 2016

Brickguy221 said:
He has posted what I said on where he places his AMNPS and I "think" but not positive that he also said he leaves the chip loader closed.

Bear is a minimalist like me. Yes, he leaves the chip loader closed as well as the chip tray. We both do no more than is necessary to produce consistently good Q. Bear uses a heat baffle (or whatever he calls it) to equalize the temp between the two sides of his MES 40. I don't need to do that with my MES 30. I used to recommend inserting the AMNPS lit end first toward the back wall. I've seen done some experimenting and found that, in my smoker, it doesn't make any difference how it faces when it comes to burning pellets for hours without snuffing itself out during hot smokes. For me the AMNPS has worked well facing either way.

mummel · Feb 3, 2016

daRicksta said:
Bear is a minimalist like me. Yes, he leaves the chip loader closed as well as the chip tray. We both do no more than is necessary to produce consistently good Q. Bear uses a heat baffle (or whatever he calls it) to equalize the temp between the two sides of his MES 40. I don't need to do that with my MES 30. I used to recommend inserting the AMNPS lit end first toward the back wall. I've seen done some experimenting and found that, in my smoker, it doesn't make any difference how it faces when it comes to burning pellets for hours without snuffing itself out during hot smokes. For me the AMNPS has worked well facing either way.

So you guys close the chip loader and the AMPS still burns? What the heck?

daricksta · Feb 3, 2016

mummel said:
So you guys close the chip loader and the AMPS still burns? What the heck?

That's right. Bear has a MES 40 BT 2.5 but I think he's owned every Gen made. My MES 30 Gen 1 works fine with everything closed (except cold smokes have been problematic). I think that Masterbuilt had a great original design and mucked it up in the attempt to be innovative and also competitive. The Gen 1 units for the most part were never broke except for some selected production runs. My understanding is that MB made good on those bad units.

mummel · Feb 3, 2016

I just dont get it. If airflow is the MES 40 BT problem, how the heck does it work with the chip loader closed?

Only variable left is the choice of pellet if thats the case (and obviously how you start it up). But assuming you know what you're doing with the latter, the pellet may be the key variable here. Cant wait to try out my PitBoss Comp blend this spring.

dward51 · Feb 3, 2016

Another thing to keep in mind is some pellets burn better than others. Have you tried to sit the tray in the open air and see if a load of pellets will stay lit? If they go out then, you know it's the pellets (but it may be a combination of pellets and pit).

I know some flavors of wood are harder to light and keep lit than others.

brickguy221 · Feb 3, 2016

dward51 said:
Another thing to keep in mind is some pellets burn better than others. Have you tried to sit the tray in the open air and see if a load of pellets will stay lit? If they go out then, you know it's the pellets (but it may be a combination of pellets and pit).

I know some flavors of wood are harder to light and keep lit than others.

My pellets smoke good in the open air.

redheelerdog · Feb 3, 2016

I have never had a problem since I drilled an air hole.

MES Hole.jpg

redheelerdog
Feb 3, 2016

dward51 · Feb 3, 2016

Brickguy221 said:
My pellets smoke good in the open air.

Now you know it's an airflow problem. Just curious, but did you try the lit tea candle test in the cold smoker? If a candle won't stay lit that's the final diagnosis you have a lack of fresh air flowing in (it may take a while for the candle to go out - just like the pellets. The flame will need to use up all the oxygen in the cooking chamber and that's a pretty good volume for a candle).

AMNPS ... I Give UP

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