New A-Maze-N PS. Couple questions.

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

darthsmoker

Newbie
Original poster
Jun 27, 2017
9
12
Hey gang.

Just finished up my 3rd smoke with my new amazn smoker. Had on odd experience my first time i wanted to ask about.

Having read about folks having trouble keeping thier anmps lot i watched a couple of you tube videos and decided to employ the microwave stir microwave then blow torch method. This was using the pellets that came with it amps pit master pellets i believe.

They lit up fine i let them burn for a few then blew them out and they took on nice coals and started producing smoke. Like a champ.

I went out an hour later to check on them and they were out. I assumed they had just gone out and needed re-lit howver, to my suprise they had all burned up.

I had planned to use the initial pellets as the primary source for this smoke so i was in a bit of a bind and ran to the local store and all they had were treager pellets. I reluctantly bought them and returned home.

Loaded the amns relit and put it back in the MES 40. Again had great smoke but this time i was wary. So i checked in 30 minutes rather than an hour. To my suprise it had not progressed more than an inch into the maze.

Fast forward a bit. The treager pellets were able to carry the whole 12 hour brisket smoke and still had the last tray full.

So here is the question. Has anyone else had thier amnps brand pellets burn so fast? I have since read that the Treager pellets are not the woods they claim to be so id like to go back to full flavor pellets.

Any ideas what may have gone wrong? As i said i comepleted another smoke today woth the treager pellets and the results were the same 10-12 hours of tbs.

Second question. I see alot of pellet comparisons and threads on here and am intruiged by the charcoal infused ones anyone have a relaible source for those? Absent any other recomendations i will probably try the amnps pellets again but dont want to end up with another 1 hour smoke.
 
That's weird. I usually get 11 hours from a tray load of todds pellets. I wonder if perhaps you didn't get the completely blow out when you put them to the smoker.
 
Haven't had them all burn but that was proably becase I caught it in time. I did a test run in open air. A slight breeze fanned the coal and caused it to flame back up. the flame had spread about halfway up the first row when I caught it. About 15 mins had passed. I am reasonable sure, had I not caught it when I did the whole tray might have been gone in an hour or so.

 I have also had the burn progress exceptionally slow as you did in the second burn. The problem seemed to be that I didn't get the burning cherry big enough before I left it to smoke. I removed the tray and blew on it for awhile and replaced it back into the smoker and all was good. 

 Of course all this tending and opening the door cost me dearly on my cook time. Come on say it with me, "IF YOU ARE LOOKING, YOU AIN"T COOKING". A hard lesson learned. 1 smoked (spatchcocked) chicken took 3 1/2 hours at 275. It was at this point I decided to go with a mailbox mod. Now I can tend the tray if needed and not compromize my cook time by opening the door.
 
Thanks guys its possible what you describe is what happened.  i have actually been very impressed by the airflow in the MES put the amnps on the bars to the left of the heat element open the wood chip tray and let it roll.  perhaps this did cause flare ups.  I have been hesitant to do the mailbox mod because i wanted something that was all encompassed in the MES footprint (i have the MES cold smoke kit with a dryer hose attachment for cold smoking or hot smoking but it takes up a ton of space on the deck) I agree Sparky the more time closed the better! I will probably order another run from Todd and try again.  what is smoking without experimentation? 

I will say in defense of the trager pellets i did a cured pulled pork butt, a load of BBB and a roast beef with them and the flavor was quite good. 
 
If you are successful with Treager pellets I say go for it! There is no arguing with success. I haven't had the greatest luck with any other brand of pellets reliably except for Todds. I have experienced both ends of the spectrum of them going out as well as them all combusting into a flame and burning at once. I have fussed around with different things on my MES to dial in the right amount of airflow and I am convinced each type of pellet behaves differently. But again the most reliable burn that I keep going back to is with Todds pellets.

With that said, the next time you set up your AMNPS and is going good, keep an eye on the smoke coming out of your vent. It is easy to tell TBS from Thick White Smoke without having to open the door. Moist importantly- Keep trying! You will get a hang of how far to pull the chip dumper out (if at all), or if you need to pull out the chip tray, microwave your pellets, etc.

I haven't pulled the trigger on a mailbox mod (yet), but I will admit I have considered it when fighting with brand-X pellets. I conceive there is merit to doing so if you have the real estate.
 
Thanks guys its possible what you describe is what happened.  i have actually been very impressed by the airflow in the MES put the amnps on the bars to the left of the heat element open the wood chip tray and let it roll.  perhaps this did cause flare ups.  I have been hesitant to do the mailbox mod because i wanted something that was all encompassed in the MES footprint (i have the MES cold smoke kit with a dryer hose attachment for cold smoking or hot smoking but it takes up a ton of space on the deck) I agree Sparky the more time closed the better! I will probably order another run from Todd and try again.  what is smoking without experimentation? 

I will say in defense of the trager pellets i did a cured pulled pork butt, a load of BBB and a roast beef with them and the flavor was quite good. 
I have Traeger pecan and apple. They're mostly oak with the flavor on the bag and burn just fine in the Amnps. No complaints and I like oak and others mix pellets. Todd's csr said that the garlic spice is oak based like their other flavored pellets when I asked her before I bought them. I haven't had a bad flavored food grade pellet and I haven't looked into walnut that is strong or mesquite.
-Kurt
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Hot Threads

Clicky