- Apr 18, 2022
- 4
- 0
Hey all, Newbie here.
I'm on my 5th smoke with a 40" MES (no window).
1st Smoke: Chicken gizzards using Oak in the stock chip tray. Total failure - too much smoke and the Oak tasted terrible.
2nd Smoke: 8# Pork Butt using AMNPS and Traeger Hickory pellets. Started before I went to bed. Made two mistakes - set cook temp to high (275) and the AMNPS went out 1/4 through the burn. Next morning lowered temp on MES and used stock tray for Mr Bar-B-Q Hickory chips. Next to Woody's (Nikki's) pork shoulder in Clinton KY, best pulled pork I ever had, but a little dry in some spots.
3rd Smoke: 6-hour Pork Belly. Totally awesome and perfectly done. Had trouble with the AMNPS going out so loaded the stock tray again with Hickory.
4th Smoke: Beef ribs. Added the MES cold Smoker attachment. Used Mr Bar-B-Q chips. Attachment spewed way too much smoke. Was able to regulate it somehow by opening lid on attachment (not the chimney). Ribs were very good.
5th Smoke: Baby back ribs. Windy day today. The attachment put double the smoke out than before. I had installed a rheostat to lower the cold smoker element temp, but with it all the way down, it still puffed like a steam engine - billows of thick white smoke. I went back to the AMNPS and Traeger Hickory pellets but have had to relight it 4 times during the smoke.
I am willing to do the mailbox mod, but not if I cannot keep the AMNPS lit. And, does anyone know the theory of how the MES Cold Smoker works? If I take off the chimney - more white smoke. Today I had filled the cold smoker with chips and when I pulled it out and emptied it (after a half-hour) all wood to the top was black and smoldering - that was at the lowest setting of the rheostat. Ugh!
So far the only true method of TBS has been the stock chip tray but it is a PIA to keep feeding it.
Ideas????
Thanks,
John
I'm on my 5th smoke with a 40" MES (no window).
1st Smoke: Chicken gizzards using Oak in the stock chip tray. Total failure - too much smoke and the Oak tasted terrible.
2nd Smoke: 8# Pork Butt using AMNPS and Traeger Hickory pellets. Started before I went to bed. Made two mistakes - set cook temp to high (275) and the AMNPS went out 1/4 through the burn. Next morning lowered temp on MES and used stock tray for Mr Bar-B-Q Hickory chips. Next to Woody's (Nikki's) pork shoulder in Clinton KY, best pulled pork I ever had, but a little dry in some spots.
3rd Smoke: 6-hour Pork Belly. Totally awesome and perfectly done. Had trouble with the AMNPS going out so loaded the stock tray again with Hickory.
4th Smoke: Beef ribs. Added the MES cold Smoker attachment. Used Mr Bar-B-Q chips. Attachment spewed way too much smoke. Was able to regulate it somehow by opening lid on attachment (not the chimney). Ribs were very good.
5th Smoke: Baby back ribs. Windy day today. The attachment put double the smoke out than before. I had installed a rheostat to lower the cold smoker element temp, but with it all the way down, it still puffed like a steam engine - billows of thick white smoke. I went back to the AMNPS and Traeger Hickory pellets but have had to relight it 4 times during the smoke.
I am willing to do the mailbox mod, but not if I cannot keep the AMNPS lit. And, does anyone know the theory of how the MES Cold Smoker works? If I take off the chimney - more white smoke. Today I had filled the cold smoker with chips and when I pulled it out and emptied it (after a half-hour) all wood to the top was black and smoldering - that was at the lowest setting of the rheostat. Ugh!
So far the only true method of TBS has been the stock chip tray but it is a PIA to keep feeding it.
Ideas????
Thanks,
John
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