Anyone use wood pellets in their MES?

[greywolf1]

It might be okay for a shrimp basket  but I set that on the middle rack now in the MES and turn it once , it works fine for me

And I use apple pellets mixed with hickory wood bits

 

[ssajn]

I just bought the MES 30 and thought I'd try pellets because I didn't have the type of chips I wanted.The first load worked fine and produced smoke. After loading a second time I checked again in half an hour and there was no smoke. It seems that pellets do not burn down to ash so when you load more pellets they just sit on top the first load that insulates them from the heat source.The only way I'd use pellets is in my AMNS.

 

[daricksta]

 
I just bought the MES 30 and thought I'd try pellets because I didn't have the type of chips I wanted.The first load worked fine and produced smoke. After loading a second time I checked again in half an hour and there was no smoke. It seems that pellets do not burn down to ash so when you load more pellets they just sit on top the first load that insulates them from the heat source.The only way I'd use pellets is in my AMNS.

I have a MES 30 Gen 1 and only use wood pellets in the AMNPS. I fill up as many rows as I think I'll need and make sure the tray is lit and smoking very well before I insert it into the smoker. For hot smoking I've still had pellets left after 11 hours. Now, when cold smoking I have more of a problem keeping it lit. Still working on a the best resolution for the problem. I've been advised that Dust works better for cold smoking.

 

[oberst]

Cut the border of MES chip pan smaller with a shears so the pan sits directly on the heat coil. The front clip that holds the coil down can be removed so the pan makes more direct contact with the heating coil. That will give you more smoke via the MES, but I still use the Amazn pellet smoker because I like constant smoke for most everything. But if using hickory, for example, I might add some pecan pellets to the MES pan to sumultaneously add that flavor.

 

[mikeg1218]

Love my MeS but tired of feeding it every hour on long smokes. Read a lot of neg's about keeping the amzan lit in the Mes but took the chance.

Get reliable hours of long good smoke every time, only use the onboard unit for the first hour or two if I want to add a different variety of chips for flavor IE Mesquite.

Wrote a summry of my setting the Mes/amazan somewhere in the MeS forum.

MJG

 

[nh meat man]

I use an MES 40 in the winter up here in NH because of the insulation factor, this allows me to maintain a nice even heat even when the wind is blowing.  Having said that I need to say that I am a newbie to this forum.  I use a Smoke Daddy to get the smoke I need as I did not know about the A-Maze-N products.  I have to say that this is a great addition to all of my smokers as it does not add any heat to cold smoking cheese.  I would have to assume that there is some addition of heat with the A-Maze-N products.  I do use pellets when I am making meat sticks as they do not need smoke for a long period of time, and it gives me an excuse to look at these delicious looking sticks more often.  I conclusion yes I have found that pellets work for certain applications in my MES 40.

 

[theboyler]

Question...

Can you use woodchips in AMPS? If not, is there a specific pellet type that work best?

I have a 30' BT MES and just got my AMPS in the mail...

So not sure where to start!

 

[daricksta]

 
Question...

Can you use woodchips in AMPS? If not, is there a specific pellet type that work best?

I have a 30' BT MES and just got my AMPS in the mail...

So not sure where to start!

If you're going to use wood chips you might as well use the MES chip loader and tray. Any brand of wood pellet will work in the AMNPS. I like the quality of Todd's wood pellets so I buy exclusively from him.

 

[foamheart]

Wood pellets are like PVC pipe. There is a price range for what you expect to be the quality purchased. Some guys use fillers, the same as the pipe. The amount of filler affects the smoke. Also you need to check the shelf life on the pellets, old pellets are usually full of moisture unless well packaged. Then you'll hear some one telling you the bake or microwave the pellets before use.

You can shop for low price. I have grown past the frustration of low price, I now would rather be satified with good quality which these days seems to be a dying product. When you find quality I not only stick with it, but I tell my friends.

Todd, that's Ms. Rhonda's love slave at A-MAZE-N sells quality pellets. Matter of fact, I just bought 4 each 5# bags yesterday. See this month they have a special going, you get another 20% off their already discount prices and if spending over 35 dollars, free frt. AND the freight is priority!! I get my pellets fast!

NOW, my one and only suggestion..... unless you live in high altitude or you'll do mostly cold smoking where the AMp's is key with dust instead of pellets. Try the new, yeppers I said new, oval expandable (adjustable) tube.

I love it! I own an AMPs, a Masterbuilt cold smoker, and an adjustable tube. All have a reason and a purpose, but currently I am most enamored with my tube. The masterbuilt cold smoker I use with pecan shells, I have pecan trees on the property so its handy.

Look into the expandable oval tube..... its the bee's knees! 

 

[denmo]

Love my MES 30 with cold smoke attachment.

 

[theboyler]

Do I need to soak my wood chips before putting them into my MES? Or can they go in dry?

 

[brickguy221]

Do I need to soak my wood chips before putting them into my MES? Or can they go in dry?

Put them in dry.......

 

[foamheart]

Do I need to soak my wood chips before putting them into my MES? Or can they go in dry?

I suggest you try both way yourself and see what you think. General consensus around here is dry chips. BUT..... all the manufacturers say wet. The only reason I can see as to why wet is it allows some time from the start of the heat for the meat to warm up. Warmer meat seems to accept smoke better IMHO. So the wet chips allow the meat to heat some prior to smoke. Myself I don't wet, well occassionally just as a test. 

Dry chips are more likely to combust or reach a flash point, so you want to get comfortable with your your air flow especially on your first few smokes. That is the reason why the chip loader on the MES locks in place. If the chips get too much oxygen and combust and the loader is not locked it will shoot out of the smoker, Its pretty neat actually when you are expecting it. LOL

Good luck and looking forward to seeing some of your results!

 

[theboyler]

meat.JPG

• theboyler
• Feb 1, 2016

they turned out great!

Thanks for the help!!

 

[wa0auu]

YES ! we use wood pellets for a very good reason, first the wood chunks are to big and they can touch the heating elements and can short it to ground, and we like to MIX the wood pellets, and you can not do that with wood chips

sparky

 

[denmo]

Sure you mix wood chips

 

[irishpride114]

This it's what I had to do for my MES Gen 2 to get the amnps to work. I took out my vent (3 screws hold it on from the inside). Replaced it with a 3 flexible

YES ! we use wood pellets for a very good reason, first the wood chunks are to big and they can touch the heating elements and can short it to ground, and we like to MIX the wood pellets, and you can not do that with wood chips
sparky

Are you just talking about wet wood chucks grounding out the element?

 

[ickyb0d]

I see a lot of talk here about using the AMPS in an MES 30/40.  Out of curiosity where do you guys position the AMPS in the MES ? I've got an MES 30 and more often than not i'll have the drippings get into the AMPS and either put it out, or ruin the pellets so they don't start.  I'm clearly doing something wrong as it seems like a lot of people are having a lot of success with the AMPS + MES combo.

 

[oberst]

Happened to me at first as well, but then one of the guys suggested putting an aluminum foil tent over the AMNPS and that works great; never had it go out since then.

 

[irishpride114]

I see a lot of talk here about using the AMPS in an MES 30/40.  Out of curiosity where do you guys position the AMPS in the MES ? I've got an MES 30 and more often than not i'll have the drippings get into the AMPS and either put it out, or ruin the pellets so they don't start.  I'm clearly doing something wrong as it seems like a lot of people are having a lot of success with the AMPS + MES combo.

I never had that problem. Mine was it just wouldn't stay lit. I ended up doing the mailbox mod.