- Feb 28, 2016
- 48
- 35
I have a 30" analog MES with the mailbox mod and a AMNPS. I get wonderful thin blue smoke for hot smokes and the meat turns out absolutely amazing. I'm still dumbfounded by the results I'm getting. I mean, I'm a complete smoking noob but I am turning out meat better than anything I've had at a BBQ restaurant on this setup and it's all thanks to this forum and Todd's AMNPS! Besides that I'm having an absolute blast doing it. Thank you all for the help! Here is the smoker I'm using:
OK, now for my problem. I have tried three nights in a row to get thin blue smoke while cold smoking and all I can get is white smoke. I have tried everything I can think of. I added a fan to the mailbox and that just creates thicker white smoke. In fact the smoke gets thicker the faster the fan speed is turned up. I tried covering the ventilation holes on the mailbox one by one and that just made nasty choking smoke that burned my eyes and lungs. What am I doing wrong? I don't understand why the same setup makes TBS at 225f and white smoke at 60f. Here is what the cold smoke looks like coming from the chimney:
And this is what I see when I open the door:
I stuck some cheese in for an hour just to see what would happen and it tastes absolutely horrible! It's like licking an ash tray! From what I have read this is probably normal, so I have it vacuum sealed in the fridge and will try it every week to see how it changes. From what I have read it is normal for it to taste really bad right after smoking, but if there is one thing I have learned from brewing it is to try your products at every stage so you can develop a feeling for what is normal. It may not taste good at any given stage, but at least you can know what it 'should' taste like at that stage.
So, what am I doing wrong? Why can't I get TBS while cold smoking? I apologize if this is a stupid question, I scoured the forum for a few hours and couldn't find any info on what I am doing wrong.
OK, now for my problem. I have tried three nights in a row to get thin blue smoke while cold smoking and all I can get is white smoke. I have tried everything I can think of. I added a fan to the mailbox and that just creates thicker white smoke. In fact the smoke gets thicker the faster the fan speed is turned up. I tried covering the ventilation holes on the mailbox one by one and that just made nasty choking smoke that burned my eyes and lungs. What am I doing wrong? I don't understand why the same setup makes TBS at 225f and white smoke at 60f. Here is what the cold smoke looks like coming from the chimney:
And this is what I see when I open the door:
I stuck some cheese in for an hour just to see what would happen and it tastes absolutely horrible! It's like licking an ash tray! From what I have read this is probably normal, so I have it vacuum sealed in the fridge and will try it every week to see how it changes. From what I have read it is normal for it to taste really bad right after smoking, but if there is one thing I have learned from brewing it is to try your products at every stage so you can develop a feeling for what is normal. It may not taste good at any given stage, but at least you can know what it 'should' taste like at that stage.
So, what am I doing wrong? Why can't I get TBS while cold smoking? I apologize if this is a stupid question, I scoured the forum for a few hours and couldn't find any info on what I am doing wrong.