I'm brand new to the world of smoking meat, and am trying to do this right. I bought an analog MES30 off of QVC, thought I'd start with a basic unit and work my way up. Anyways, I tried to season the smoker today, and here's what happened. I filled the AMNPS with two rows of pellets and got it burning and wound up with pellets smoldering nicely. I took the rack that holds the water and chip tray out and put one of the regular racks in the bottom position. I put the amnps in the back left corner with the burn hole facing the door. I set the heater control to med, put in the pellet tray and closed the door. I checked on it after about 15 minutes just to make sure the pellets were still smoking, which they were. When I checked after about an hour, smoke was coming out of the top vent and around the door, mainly on the latch side and top. I checked again at the two hour mark and all of the pellets were burned to ashes. Now according to Todd a full tray of pellets should burn up to 11 hours. So I figure two rows should burn for at least 6 hours.
My guess is that the door seal is not sealing the door and letting too much air in, causing the pellets to burn too quickly. I can adjust the latch but do I need to raise the amnps higher to get it further away from the heating element? I really want to get on with some smoking, but I need to feel confident that the pellets will burn long enough to do the job. Any and all help is appreciated. Thanks.
My guess is that the door seal is not sealing the door and letting too much air in, causing the pellets to burn too quickly. I can adjust the latch but do I need to raise the amnps higher to get it further away from the heating element? I really want to get on with some smoking, but I need to feel confident that the pellets will burn long enough to do the job. Any and all help is appreciated. Thanks.
