Can't get TBS while cold smoking with MES 30" and AMNPS

  • 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.
 
You might consider buying Dust from Todd. Will save you time grinding and messing with the fine powder...JJ
yeahthat.gif

Exactly---Todd's works best.

I Tried all kinds---Dust from:

Planer----------------Too big chips.

Jointer----------------Too big & Fluffy.

Shaper---------------Chips too big.

Table Saw-----------Pretty good when crosscutting---Not too good when Ripping.

Radial Saw---------Pretty good.

Miter Saw-----------Pretty Good.

Sanders (Edge, Wide Belt, Drum, Spindle)----------Works, but Too Fine & Powdery to burn properly.

Todd's Dust-------Perfect.

Bear
 
Last edited:
Agree with Bear, Todd's pellets do work best for turning into a very fine powder that burns well.  With a full load you can expect a 17 hour or longer burn.

T
 
 
Agree with Bear, Todd's pellets do work best for turning into a very fine powder that burns well.  With a full load you can expect a 17 hour or longer burn.

T
I'm not talking about pulverizing pellets. I just get Todd's Dust & it's perfect right out of the bag. Been using it since before the AMNS came on the Market.

Bear
 
 
I'm not talking about pulverizing pellets. I just get Todd's Dust & it's perfect right out of the bag. Been using it since before the AMNS came on the Market.

Bear
 
This has been a very busy week, but I did get to play a bit.  The first thing I did was load up a full row of pellets into the AMNPS and load it in the mailbox.  I wanted to confirm that my problem still existed....it did.    Next I put some pellets in the blender and reduced them to powder.  The only difficulty with this method was keeping the stuff in the AMNPS.  I put a tray under the AMNPS to catch what fell through and then poured it back in.  I had to repeat this 5-6 times until the larger pieces formed a bed and the dust and powder stayed in.  This method was the most trouble, but it produced the best results by far.  The smoke it produced was thin, light blue, and smelled sweet and delicious.  My wife even commented on how good it smelled.  I loaded more nuts into the smoker and after 30 minutes i could barely detect smoke flavor.  I checked them every hour for another 6 hours, which is when the AMNPS burned itself out.  The resulting peanuts are delicious, so much so that it made me wish I had done a full batch.  They have a mild smoke flavor with absolutely no bitterness or harshness.  I want to try this method with cheese now as I bet it would be delicious right out of the smoker this way.  It's supposed to be cool on Friday, so hopefully I can give it a try then.

The next thing I need to do is make/find a stand for the smoker so it can be higher above the mailbox.  Then I can see about replacing the flexible ducting with stove pipe.  Those things combined might remove the need for an exhaust fan.  Thanks again for all your help!
77.gif
 I love tinkering with stuff, and I"m really enjoying this hobby. 
 
Exactly,

Just clearing up that I wasn't talking about pulverizing pellets in my case. I was actually agreeing with Jimmy.

Then I gave my experience with testing every kind of Dust in my Cabinet Shop. Figured some may be interested.

I get Todd's Pellets for my AMNPS, and I get Todd's Dust for my AMNS. Both work perfectly for me for over 6 years.

Bear
 
Thank you for the kind words!  I definitely fall into the 'tinker' category.  I have done everything from rebuilding engines to adding rooms onto the house and enjoy it all.  I will definitely let you know how the cheese comes out.  I'm excited to give it a try.  

I will definitely get more pellets and some dust from Todd.  I have only tried 2 types of pellets: cookingpellets perfectmix, and Todd's.  Todds did better in the AMNPS, which you would expect, it being his creation and all.  For this next attempt at cheese I will just blend up some more of Todd's pellets and use that.  Thanks again!
 
I've been smoking for 2 hours now with Todd's pellets blended to a powder.  The cheese was cut into 1' pieces and I have been trying them every 30 minutes.  Good grief is it good at the 2 hour mark!  I just thought of something though, how much will the flavor mellow? Do I need to overshoot a little?  In other words, if I really like the flavor at 3 hours, do I need to let it go a bit longer since it will mellow?  Will a 3 hour cheese taste like a 2 hour cheese after a month of aging?
 
 
I've been smoking for 2 hours now with Todd's pellets blended to a powder.  The cheese was cut into 1' pieces and I have been trying them every 30 minutes.  Good grief is it good at the 2 hour mark!  I just thought of something though, how much will the flavor mellow? Do I need to overshoot a little?  In other words, if I really like the flavor at 3 hours, do I need to let it go a bit longer since it will mellow?  Will a 3 hour cheese taste like a 2 hour cheese after a month of aging?
You know what I'm going to say. You are testing, note the time and color of the cheese when it reaches your desired taste, then go beyond for some amount of time. In one month you will have a very good idea as to what color and time to take it. 

The surface taste will seem to mellow a bit as the smoke flavor permeates deeper into the cheese, but the flavor will still be there. 

You are doing a fine job of learning your equipment and what it can do for you, keep going. You have already discovered that cheese does not need to have an off taste right out of the smoker and that alone puts you in a very small percentage of smokers.

Keep us up to date.

T
 
  • Like
Reactions: setesh
 
You know what I'm going to say. You are testing, note the time and color of the cheese when it reaches your desired taste, then go beyond for some amount of time. In one month you will have a very good idea as to what color and time to take it. 

The surface taste will seem to mellow a bit as the smoke flavor permeates deeper into the cheese, but the flavor will still be there. 

You are doing a fine job of learning your equipment and what it can do for you, keep going. You have already discovered that cheese does not need to have an off taste right out of the smoker and that alone puts you in a very small percentage of smokers.

Keep us up to date.

T
Yup, that's what I figured you would say.  Since I know this is working at this point I'm going to put in more cheese, not just sample cubes, and make it a real test.  I have a few 1lb blocks.  I'll cut them into 6 pieces, and take a piece off every 30 minutes starting at the 2 hour mark.  The longest smoke will be 5.5 hours.  After a month I will be able to tell what I like best.   And of course I will update with the results!  Thanks again!

Edit - And I still have 8 cubes in there, which I will continue to sample every 30 minutes.  I might just change my minimum time depending on how the samples come out.
 
Last edited:
Thanks Bear!

So I had 1 lb of Monterrey Jack, 1 lb of extra sharp cheddar, and 8 oz of pepper jack.  I decided to cut them all down to 4 oz blocks and pull one every hour starting at 3 hours as the differences I am noticing in the taster cubes at 30 minute intervals are so minor.  I haven't hit a wall yet.  I just tried one the tasters at the 4.5 hour mark and it took real self control not to go back out and get another one!  I have been bringing them in and letting them sit for a few minutes so the smell of smoke gets out of my nose and I can taste them properly.  I also stuck some 1/4 sticks of butter on the rack where the cheese was removed from because smokey butter sounded pretty good.
 
I ended up liking the cheese at 4 hours the best, but who knows if that will change after it ages.  Even the 6 hour cheese had none of that bitter acrid flavor of the first cheese I made, but the smoke flavor was too strong for my taste.  It covered up the cheese flavor instead of complimenting it. Again, who knows what I will think a month from now when it has aged. The AMNPS is a champ!  It burned for a little over 9 hours and used a little more than 1 and a half rows doing it.  I figure it would run for 16-18 hours.  That was with dust filled just shy of the top.

I vacuum packed and and labeled each block of cheese with the brand, type, time smoked, temperature smoked at, smoke method, and dust used, and the date.  I put them in my kegerator which stays at 42 degrees and will let them age there.  The two cans in the picture are mixed nuts that went in at the same time as the block cheese.  I also have two 1/4 sticks of butter that I smoked for 2 hours, just to see how that is.


Thanks again for all of the help!  It's amazing how much more fun a hobby is when there are knowledgeable and friendly people you can learn from.  You guys are great!  
thumb1.gif


One of the first lessons I remember my father teaching me was that there are two ways to learn things in life: the hard way, or talking to someone who has already learned the hard way.  The second way, of course, is MUCH easier!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bearcarver
Very good job of packaging. It's good the improvements are working for you. We still have a couple more mods to do to improve what you are doing now though. One at a time. 
icon14.gif


Will be getting with you.

Tom
 
Great Job, Setesh!!-------------
points.gif


Good job on the notations on the packages!!
icon14.gif


Keep up the good work!!

Bear
 
Thanks guys!  I ended up making a cart for my MES to sit on, with storage for the mailbox underneath.  I think I'm really going to like the MES being taller, and I'm hoping it will improve the drafting from the mailbox.  I just lit some pellets and when they have hit 10 minutes aflame I will begin testing.  Here is what she looks like now:


Obviously the stack comes off for cold smoking.
 
Last edited:
Looks Great, Setesh!!

Mine sits on top of two 12" high boxes----That 24" of height saves wear & tear on the old back!!

Bear
 
This stand is 24" as well, and I think I will like the added height a lot.  'Saving the old back' is becoming more convenient every year!  I intended to add a folding shelf to the right side, but it started raining on me as I was making the last cuts for the base stand, so that will be a future mod.

The increased height seems to have made a big difference in the draft, much more than I would have thought.  Here is the smoke density now with a full depth row of pellets in the AMNPS, immediately after opening the door:


Before it was so thick I could barely see the shelves when I opened the door.
 
 
This stand is 24" as well, and I think I will like the added height a lot.  'Saving the old back' is becoming more convenient every year!  I intended to add a folding shelf to the right side, but it started raining on me as I was making the last cuts for the base stand, so that will be a future mod.

The increased height seems to have made a big difference in the draft, much more than I would have thought.  Here is the smoke density now with a full depth row of pellets in the AMNPS, immediately after opening the door:

Before it was so thick I could barely see the shelves when I opened the door.
I like the shade of smoke you got in that pic. 

That's about what mine looks like after I open the door, until I can snap a pic. (a second or 2).

BTW: It seems to me every year the ground gets a little farther away!!!

Bear
 
Here is version 3.0 of the piping from the mailbox


The smoke in the food chamber wasn't clean enough in version 2.0.  I know this because the section of pipe where it entered the smoker had a layer of tacky creosote on it.  I don't want that on my food, so I need more pipe to allow that creosote to condense in the pipe and not in the smoker.  Today I added three 3 foot sections of rigid pipe.  I originally planned on having the rigid pipe run horizontally, but it would have stuck out on each side of the stand and I didn't want that, so I installed it vertically.  I didn't know how this setup would flow, but it flows and drafts very well!  Since this flows so well and I have room for 2 more sections of rigid pipe I will get 2 more sections of rigid pipe and some more flex for a total of ~21 feet of pipe.  Besides, It isn't symmetrical right now, and we can't have that now can we? 
icon_mrgreen.gif
  More pictures and results to follow after I get more pipe.
 
Last edited:
You have the right idea of which I was referring too although the positioning is 90° off. The pipe should be laying horizontally with a slight incline so the condensation can flow away from the smoker and toward the generator. Will send pic of another's setup whom I am working with.

Tom
 
  • Like
Reactions: wduguid
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Hot Threads

Clicky