Bad Q, ummm it doesn't have that taste!

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deltadude

Master of the Pit
Original poster
OTBS Member
Jun 3, 2008
1,529
37
Sacramento Area
I have been experimenting lately twice on BB Ribs and on Pork Butt, different woods and procedures.  I just got a AMNPS & Maverick 732.  So far I have over cooked the ribs on both cooks, and couldn't keep the AMNPS lit, so resorted to trying some BIG chunks of wood, which produced too much heavy white and slightly dark smoke, leaving a slightly bitter taste (not quite creosote).  Of course those eating the ribs say they tasted great, (I had heavily sauced them to hide the defect).

Overcooking shouldn't be a problem with the new 732 monitoring the temps, (how nice to sit in the house and know what the temp is outside inside the MES).  Yet I managed to overcook em.  It is very frustrating to hope that small changes (hopefully improvements) in procedures / equip would produce a better product, but fail to deliver.

Don't get me wrong this is NOT a knock on the AMNPS or the Maverick 732, it is a knock on me, I have some playing around to do to get back to the quality tasting Ribs I have been doing for years.  The 4th of July is only a month n half away, we do a BBQ for 35+, this year will be close to 50, I have served smoke ribs & bbq chicken for the past 6 years, something must be right they all keep coming back.  I have enough time to dial in using the new gear.

Since I like using the water tray with water,  I don't intend to stray to far from that which is a problem using the AMNPS.  Thus I will experiment by making some kind of external enclosure for the AMNPS & piping the smoke into the MES.
 
Howdy Dude, I am curious if the Humidity with using the water pan is affecting the AMNPS. I have been using the AMNPS since Feb and after a 5 minute minimum burning flame time, blow it out, put in on the rails of the MES 40, Chip drawer out 1", Loader in if windy and 1" out if calm. I have not had a problem in the last 6 smokes with this set up. This is how far from the top I fill it...



Position in the MES 40...



I wish you luck...JJ
 
Chef JJ has you covered.  Keep trying, GOOD LUCK!!! Gotta go, gonna do my own brisket!

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Jimmy.....in the first pic it looks like your MES is within 1 degree of your Mav's temps.  Wow!  Mine is is 15 degrees cooler than the built in one says....according to my Mav, which I've tested. 
 
 
Jimmy.....in the first pic it looks like your MES is within 1 degree of your Mav's temps.  Wow!  Mine is is 15 degrees cooler than the built in one says....according to my Mav, which I've tested. 
 
 Yeah it is all good. I think the 12X12 Tile helps...It does get a 20* spread if too big a drip pan is used for Au Jus...JJ
 
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Thus I will experiment by making some kind of external enclosure for the AMNPS & piping the smoke into the MES.
There are many users here having great success with the AMNPS using a water pan and without using an external enclosure. I am sure that you will be one of them soon too if you play around with your technique some more following the advice you will find on this fourum. I had some problems at first too but solved them. My problem was using a small pen-style butane torch to light the AMNPS instead of using a larger propane torch. I just didn't get the pellets burning hot enough with enough hot embers to keep it all going after removing the butane torch flame.

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Of course, tinkering with the MES and adding mods can be fun just for the sake of it, but an external enclosure is not necessary at all to get the AMNPS to work OK.
 
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I have had some problems keeping my AMNPS going with water in the tray so I stopped using water.  Lately, I have been able to add water 45min-1hr into the smoke once the AMNPS is established.  That being said, I'm not sure that I can tell any difference between water and no water.
 
 
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You may want to try to dry out your pellets in the microwave.  Being in the Delta, you may be humid enough to need to dry them out. 
 
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