# My AMNPS experience



## patinlouisiana (Aug 2, 2019)

I received my AMNPS the other day and did a test run in my smoker. lit both ends and let it go. Lasted at least 8 hours but I went to bed before it went out. So I loaded it up again and lit both ends again. gave it a good 10 minutes before blowing it out. Placed it in the MES with a pair of butts. in less that half an hour it went out?????
Any suggestions?


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## smokerjim (Aug 2, 2019)

was your top vent all the way open, did you pull your chip loader out a little, was there any liguid dripping on it, sometimes there just might be to much moisture in the mes.some people have trouble keeping them lit inside their mes me being one of them, I went to the mailbox mod now no problems


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## SmokinVOLfan (Aug 2, 2019)

Any reason you are lighting both ends? Just trying to get extra smokey? Just curious.

Were all the pellets burnt up or it just went out? Like Jim said above could be many factors. Make sure the chip dumper is pulled halfway out in the dump position and top vent wide open. I had trouble for a little while when I first got mine but normally don't have any problems keeping it lit anymore. MES40 put it in the bottom left corner under the water pan.

I always run my pellets in the microwave for 60 seconds before I light them to draw out any moisture that might be in there. Give that a try next time.


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## patinlouisiana (Aug 2, 2019)

I have a pan on the shelf above it so no dripping.
Had to close the vent as the MES would not get above 150 with it open.
Never thought to take out the side loader.


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## patinlouisiana (Aug 2, 2019)

SmokinVOLfan said:


> Any reason you are lighting both ends? Just trying to get extra smokey? Just curious.
> 
> Were all the pellets burnt up or it just went out? Like Jim said above could be many factors. Make sure the chip dumper is pulled halfway out in the dump position and top vent wide open. I had trouble for a little while when I first got mine but normally don't have any problems keeping it lit anymore. MES40 put it in the bottom left corner under the water pan.
> 
> I always run my pellets in the microwave for 60 seconds before I light them to draw out any moisture that might be in there. Give that a try next time.


L lit both ends in case one end went out ;-)

I don't know what the pellets did as it is still cooking. just never got any smoke coming out except the initial hour or so. I'll try the relocation next time. Thanks


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## SmokinVOLfan (Aug 2, 2019)

patinlouisiana said:


> I don't know what the pellets did as it is still cooking. just never got any smoke coming out except the initial hour or so. I'll try the relocation next time. Thanks



If you still got meat in the smoker pull the tray out and light it again then put it back in in about 10 minutes.



patinlouisiana said:


> Had to close the vent as the MES would not get above 150 with it open.
> Never thought to take out the side loader.



That's your problem right there. There's no air flow getting to the pellets so they are just smoldering out. Pull the chip dumper out halfway in the dump position and open the top vent all the way and you should be good to go!


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## patinlouisiana (Aug 2, 2019)

SmokinVOLfan said:


> If you still got meat in the smoker pull the tray out and light it again then put it back in in about 10 minutes.
> 
> 
> 
> That's your problem right there. There's no air flow getting to the pellets so they are just smoldering out. Pull the chip dumper out halfway in the dump position and open the top vent all the way and you should be good to go!


Why did it burn for 8+ hours on the test run? Anyway it is too late this time I wrapped the butts after 7 hours.


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## smokerjim (Aug 2, 2019)

sounds like you closed the vent pretty early in your smoke, sometimes when you put cold meat in the smoker it will take some time to get back up to temp.


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## patinlouisiana (Aug 2, 2019)

smokerjim said:


> sounds like you closed the vent pretty early in your smoke, sometimes when you put cold meat in the smoker it will take some time to get back up to temp.


It has not been opened in 3 1/2 hours but it has only reached 201F. Set at 175F


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## smokerjim (Aug 2, 2019)

patinlouisiana said:


> It has not been opened in 3 1/2 hours but it has only reached 201F. Set at 175F


i'm assuming you meant set at 275, are you using a independent thermometer, don't trust the mes thermometer they are not accurate. did you check the internal temp of the butt


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## smokerjim (Aug 2, 2019)

yeah I just read your other post about the thermometers and set temp


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## patinlouisiana (Aug 2, 2019)

Yep I actually have 4 probes going. one in each butt. One on the middle rack and one down the vent hole.


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## hoity toit (Aug 2, 2019)

Open vent wide open on all smokes, pull the chip loaded out, don't use the water pan until after the smoke is to your liking (3-5hrs). heavy moisture especially during the first part of the cook along with not enough air flow will dampen the AMPS and snuff it out. Also no air flow tends to create creosote deposits that tastes bad on the meat product you are trying to smoke. Be thinking about doing a modification to an external smoke boX (MAILBOX) and you will solve this forever and be pleased.

HT


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## Bearcarver (Aug 2, 2019)

Don't put water in the water pan of an MES---EVER!!!!
Never close your top vent. Run it wide open, unless it's windy, then close it 1/2.
No Extension cord!
Pull chip dumper out about 3".

Try emptying you smoker, do what I said above & see what happens with your Temps.

BTW: Lighting one end of an AMNPS should give you between 10 & 12 hours of light smoke.
If you're getting 8 hours with both ends lit, something else is wrong.

Bear


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## johnmeyer (Aug 2, 2019)

If you close the MES vent, the AMNPS will go out. It is as simple as that.

The AMNPS needs air. Some people even modify the chip loader tray to enlarge the air holes. When I still used my AMNPS inside the MES (I now use it in a popcorn tin and feed the smoke into the MES), I replaced the no-longer-needed chip loader with a tin can that had big holes punched into it.

You need to fix your temperature problem. The MES should be perfectly capable of getting to the 275° F max temperature and maintaining that, even if full of food. It sounds like you have a bad unit. Also, if you close the vent, the smoke won't exchange very often and you'll get less than great results.


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## patinlouisiana (Aug 2, 2019)

hoity toit said:


> Open vent wide open on all smokes, pull the chip loaded out, don't use the water pan until after the smoke is to your liking (3-5hrs). heavy moisture especially during the first part of the cook along with not enough air flow will dampen the AMPS and snuff it out. Also no air flow tends to create creosote deposits that tastes bad on the meat product you are trying to smoke. Be thinking about doing a modification to an external smoke boX (MAILBOX) and you will solve this forever and be pleased.
> 
> HT


Thanks!


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## BuckeyeSteve (Aug 2, 2019)

Bearcarver said:


> Don't put water in the water pan of an MES---EVER!!!!
> *Never close your top vent. Run it wide open, unless it's windy, then close it 1/2.*
> No Extension cord!
> Pull chip dumper out about 3".
> ...



I put a 3" aluminum 90 on my vent for when it's windy.  It fits perfectly and holds tight.  The MES vents well in the wind.  Haven't tried it in any really strong winds yet.


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## patinlouisiana (Aug 2, 2019)

This is as far as it went.


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## pc farmer (Aug 2, 2019)

What pellets?


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## patinlouisiana (Aug 2, 2019)

You need to fix your temperature problem. The MES should be perfectly capable of getting to the 275° F max temperature and maintaining that, even if full of food. It sounds like you have a bad unit. Also, if you close the vent, the smoke won't exchange very often and you'll get less than great results.[/QUOTE]

So you are saying the MES with the vent open should still be able to reach 275 F?


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## zwiller (Aug 3, 2019)

Agree with others that lack of air flow is why the AMNPS went out.  Also no water, foil the pan for drippings, vent wide open, no wrap, and chip loader out 1-2".  I actually leave it out altogether for a while and once I am confident its running I insert and throttle it down a bit.  

WRT temps, 2 butts in MES is a big job (thermal mass) and would easily take the MES a few hours to catch up.  That is, assuming you had pre heated.  I think this might be a factor on this smoke.  I turn it on, load the AMNPS, light it, put in MES, and proceed to get meat.  Temps are 275 by then.  FYI when I ran 2 butts it was a 25.5hr smoke and there is a post here by a poor guy that ran 4 once and he was in the stall around 40hrs.  

Hang in there, you'll get it and the results are worth the effort!


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## patinlouisiana (Aug 3, 2019)

zwiller said:


> Agree with others that lack of air flow is why the AMNPS went out.  Also no water, foil the pan for drippings, vent wide open, no wrap, and chip loader out 1-2".  I actually leave it out altogether for a while and once I am confident its running I insert and throttle it down a bit.
> 
> WRT temps, 2 butts in MES is a big job (thermal mass) and would easily take the MES a few hours to catch up.  That is, assuming you had pre heated.  I think this might be a factor on this smoke.  I turn it on, load the AMNPS, light it, put in MES, and proceed to get meat.  Temps are 275 by then.  FYI when I ran 2 butts it was a 25.5hr smoke and there is a post here by a poor guy that ran 4 once and he was in the stall around 40hrs."
> 
> Hang in there, you'll get it and the results are worth the effort!


The buts were boneless so not quite so much mass. Done to 195 in 12 hours then 2 hours in the dry ice chest to rest.


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## zwiller (Aug 3, 2019)

Looks good!  Did you pre heat?


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## patinlouisiana (Aug 3, 2019)

Yes, about 40 minutes


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## chopsaw (Aug 3, 2019)

It does look good . 12 hours for 2 butts in an MES is doin pretty good I think . 
I just put in a 6 lber at 250 . See how long it takes .


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## Bearcarver (Aug 3, 2019)

BuckeyeSteve said:


> I put a 3" aluminum 90 on my vent for when it's windy.  It fits perfectly and holds tight.  The MES vents well in the wind.  Haven't tried it in any really strong winds yet.



Sounds good Steve!!

Bear




patinlouisiana said:


> This is as far as it went.



It's hard to tell in that picture, but another problem you might have could be you're filling your AMNPS too full. That can block Air From getting to the fire too.
I fill mine to about 3/8" from the top.

Bear


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## patinlouisiana (Aug 3, 2019)

I will keep that in mind.


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## johnmeyer (Aug 3, 2019)

patinlouisiana said:


> So you are saying the MES with the vent open should still be able to reach 275 F?


Absolutely, positively, yes. 

If you want to get it to that max temp more quickly, you can close the vent. However, I *always *leave my vent open, even during preheat, to let some of the odors and gunk from the previous smoke burn off and get out of the enclosure before I add food. It is actually a little worrisome to see the amount of smoke that can come out of an empty smoker while it is heated to 275. I've written about this before:

Cleanliness Is Next To Godliness ... But Does It Taste Good?

I'm actually not sure why there is an adjustable vent in the various MES models. These cabinet electric smokers have such a minuscule airflow that they are on the border of not being a very good smoker. Here's a link to one of my favorite BBQ science sites, describing the limitations of _any _electric smoker, including the MES:

 Smoke Quality in an Electric Smoker

As you'll see if you read that, the air turnover in a cabinet electric smoker is a very small fraction of what you get with other smoking methods, and this can lead to substandard taste results.


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## patinlouisiana (Aug 4, 2019)

I just finished smoking the house. Forgot the pellets in the microwave.  How stupid!


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## drdon (Aug 4, 2019)

patinlouisiana said:


> I just finished smoking the house


Not necessarily a bad thing! I have a Gen 1 40 that I used both the AMNPS and the Tube in with very few problems. Once I changed to an outside smoke source like the mailbox mod I never had a failure.  I use a file cabinet under the MES so I can add pellets without opening the heated box.


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## normanaj (Aug 4, 2019)

I've always had issues the maze.Went with the tube using u-bolt mod and crushed pellets and have never looked back.


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## mooncusser (Aug 4, 2019)

Haven't really had issues yet with the AMNPS in my Gen 2.5 MES30.  Bearcarver gave solid advice where to put it and pulling out the chip loader.  Hasn't gone out on me yet. It did flare up during one cook. Easily dealt with, just unexpected.


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