A-Maz-n pellets

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snausageman

Newbie
Original poster
May 22, 2014
20
10
New Castle, IN
I recently completed my mail box mod on the masterbuilt. .. My problem was that I couldn't keep the A-Maz-N pellets to stay smoking.  I followed the directions with the pellets.  

Fill tray to the top but not overflowing

Light with propane torch for 45 seconds

let the flame burn for 10 minutes

blow out and let it smoke

Only problem I had was keeping them smoldering.  I tried full flow through my vent hole, cutting it to half and 1/4 flow.  The best it got was about 3 hours of smoke and burning up one side of the tray and quitting at full vent.  I have a 2" vent hole covered by a magnet on the front door of the mailbox. 

SO.. any ideas?  It was getting a good draw, because when they were actually producing smoke it was working great even at 1/2 & 1/4 venting.  Maybe some holes underneath the tray to vent right up into the coals?


 
What about propping the AMAZIN up on something that will let air flow up from its bottom? I always have mine sitting on a rack in my electric smoker to let air flow freely up from below over its entire bottom surface. I haven't built my mailbox mod yet.

I also microwave the pellets for a while before lighting them to drive out any moisture that may be in them.

Doing that, I get complete burns.

Here's what I'd probably do when setting up a mailbox unit:

I'd put the air inlet hole(s) in the bottom part of the front door of the mailbox. I'd put the smoke outlet near the top of the back end of the mailbox. I'd put a rack or thin bars across the mailbox a couple of inches up from the bottom so that I could set the AMAZIN unit on that rack (or cross bars) so that the air coming in the front could come up under the AMAZIN to supply air anywhere that the burning was taking place.

The steel "X" at the bottom of the AMAZIN probably chokes off the combustion air to the underside of the pellets because the walls of the mailbox are so close to the width of the AMAZIN. So as the pellets in the first row burn towards the back, they get to a place where there's not a lot of air flow moving over them when the cherry is near the back of the row.

Propping the whole thing up will let air come up from below over the whole surface of the pellet tray so it can get good oxygen.

From my experience, one of the main secrets to getting complete, even burns in the AMAZIN pellet tray is to let it breathe very freely. Airflow is super important, especially at higher elevations where the air density is lower. We're at about 5300 feet here.
 
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Thanks for the good ideas Sigmo.. I will try them all.  Now that  you mention all that it makes perfect sense.  Just like a grate in a fireplace lets air in under the logs.  And great idea on the microwave.  Will update on the next smoke and see how it goes.
 
Yeah, I had similar problems with my GOSM mailbox mod and all of Sigmo's suggestions are right on the money. 
 
Exactly what Sigmo said about the air flow. I've been preaching that & getting it lit properly for years!!

I never had to Nuke my pellets, but I keep them very Dry, and I don't live at 5,300 feet !!

Bear
 
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