Still having problems with the AMNPS....

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Meat Mopper
Original poster
Sep 22, 2012
152
13
Glendora, Ca.
Hi Folks.  Hope everyone had a great Super Bowl Sunday.  Here's my problem.........again.  I have completely given up on using the smoking tray that comes with the new 40" digital MES since it caught the chips on fire during the seasoning process, and then was very close to catching fire during the smoking of our Thanksgiving turkey.

Bought the AMNPS with 4 sample bags of pellets and a torch.  The torch worked once and would no longer allow the fuel to flow.  I thought I had ran out of propane in the tank, but after going to Home Depot and buying a torch that ignites automatically, I found out differently.  Maybe Todd will send some more pellets. 
icon_wink.gif
    I digress.  

Thinking I had the timing about right to put a couple Boston Butts in on Saturday night for it to smoke all night long, go to church in the morning, and have them ready and pulled just before kickoff; I got the butts ready, pre-heated the smoker, microwaved (separately) some cherry and some hickory from the samples Todd sent, put them in the AMNPS with the hickory on the bottom as suggested because the cherry is apparently harder to get going, followed the lighting instructions, and put it in the smoker.  I had TBS just like you're supposed to, and I kept wondering if it were too good to be true, and was constantly going outside to check and make sure the pellets were still smoldering.  They were, so after 12:30am, went to bed only to wake up the next morning about 7 and find NO smoke.  The pellets stopped burning before they got to the end of the first row.

I thought, "well, that sucks".  It was cooking all that  time with no smoke.  Anyway, pull out the AMNPS, light it up again with the torch, let it go for 10 minutes and put it back in the smoker.  I don't see TBS for the entire remaining 4 hours of cooking time.  All I see is white smoke, and sometimes very thick white smoke.  And nothing I do, from completely closing the chip loading thing on the side, to shutting the chip tray all the way, stopped it.  And now I have pulled pork that I spent over $25 on that tastes like a forest fire when you put it in your mouth. 
icon_evil.gif


I LOVE smoked meat, and bought a smoker because I wanted to smoke my own.  I am getting VERY discouraged.  First, at spending almost $500 on a smoker that is supposed to be really easy to use, but the temperatures are WAY OFF; and so far I've had them send a new chip assembly that was supposed to help keep the chips from catching fire (same exact thing that came originally), two new remote controls because they won't work at all, and a new control panel so hopefully the remotes WILL work (and it's been back ordered for over a month), and then for buying the AMNPS, that no matter what I do, will not light, stay lit, and produce the TBS for the meat to taste like it came from a BBQ restaurant.

Sorry for the novel, folks; but what's next?
unsure.gif
 
Hi Folks.  Hope everyone had a great Super Bowl Sunday.  Here's my problem.........again.  I have completely given up on using the smoking tray that comes with the new 40" digital MES since it caught the chips on fire during the seasoning process, and then was very close to catching fire during the smoking of our Thanksgiving turkey.

Bought the AMNPS with 4 sample bags of pellets and a torch.  The torch worked once and would no longer allow the fuel to flow.  I thought I had ran out of propane in the tank, but after going to Home Depot and buying a torch that ignites automatically, I found out differently.  Maybe Todd will send some more pellets. 
icon_wink.gif
    I digress.  

Thinking I had the timing about right to put a couple Boston Butts in on Saturday night for it to smoke all night long, go to church in the morning, and have them ready and pulled just before kickoff; I got the butts ready, pre-heated the smoker, microwaved (separately) some cherry and some hickory from the samples Todd sent, put them in the AMNPS with the hickory on the bottom as suggested because the cherry is apparently harder to get going, followed the lighting instructions, and put it in the smoker.  I had TBS just like you're supposed to, and I kept wondering if it were too good to be true, and was constantly going outside to check and make sure the pellets were still smoldering.  They were, so after 12:30am, went to bed only to wake up the next morning about 7 and find NO smoke.  The pellets stopped burning before they got to the end of the first row.

I thought, "well, that sucks".  It was cooking all that  time with no smoke.  Anyway, pull out the AMNPS, light it up again with the torch, let it go for 10 minutes and put it back in the smoker.  I don't see TBS for the entire remaining 4 hours of cooking time.  All I see is white smoke, and sometimes very thick white smoke.  And nothing I do, from completely closing the chip loading thing on the side, to shutting the chip tray all the way, stopped it.  And now I have pulled pork that I spent over $25 on that tastes like a forest fire when you put it in your mouth. 
icon_evil.gif


I LOVE smoked meat, and bought a smoker because I wanted to smoke my own.  I am getting VERY discouraged.  First, at spending almost $500 on a smoker that is supposed to be really easy to use, but the temperatures are WAY OFF; and so far I've had them send a new chip assembly that was supposed to help keep the chips from catching fire (same exact thing that came originally), two new remote controls because they won't work at all, and a new control panel so hopefully the remotes WILL work (and it's been back ordered for over a month), and then for buying the AMNPS, that no matter what I do, will not light, stay lit, and produce the TBS for the meat to taste like it came from a BBQ restaurant.

Sorry for the novel, folks; but what's next?
unsure.gif
call Todd 952-736-7678 and tell him your problem. he will get you fixed up and TBS
 
Last edited:
sorry for the dumb question....what is TBS?
FlareMan - TBS = thin blue smoke, which is what all smoking/bbq enthusiasts aim for.  This is when the smoke is doing its job of penetrating the meat and imparting flavor.  Heavy white smoke is not good and will leave the meat tasting more like creosote than like meat.

Hope that helps
 
I'm another newbie. Just waiting for my smokin-it 3 to arrive. Thanks for the define on TBS. How about AMNPS? I wonder if their might be a glossary of terminology on the sight for us green horn smokies? Thanks and good smokin, Jimmy
 
I'm another newbie. Just waiting for my smokin-it 3 to arrive. Thanks for the define on TBS. How about AMNPS? I wonder if their might be a glossary of terminology on the sight for us green horn smokies? Thanks and good smokin, Jimmy
AMNPS is a-maze-n pellet smoker. it burns saw dust and pellets. it is a smoke generator. they work great for cold or hot smoking. amazenproducts makes them. look at the bottom of this page for their site.
 
I am happy to report that since Todd gave me further instruction on the use of the AMNPS, that I have had 4 successful smokes in a row where my pellets all burned as desired, and didn't once have to take out the AMNPS to relight it.  One time it smoked from 6:30pm until about 11:30 the following morning.  All TBS the entire time.  So thrilled to get it to work and not have to make a mailbox mod.  Happy Smoking, guys and gals. :)
 
I am happy to report that since Todd gave me further instruction on the use of the AMNPS, that I have had 4 successful smokes in a row where my pellets all burned as desired, and didn't once have to take out the AMNPS to relight it.  One time it smoked from 6:30pm until about 11:30 the following morning.  All TBS the entire time.  So thrilled to get it to work and not have to make a mailbox mod.  Happy Smoking, guys and gals. :)
tell us all what Todd told you to do. it will help a lot of people out.

happy smoken.

david
 
tell us all what Todd told you to do. it will help a lot of people out.

happy smoken.

david
For my particular smoker, which would probably be the same for the earlier model 30" and 40"ers, all I had to do was put my AMNPS on the drip tray above where the water pan hole is, put an 8x8 disposable tray on the rack above it to keep drippings from getting on the pellets, pull out the chip tray about two inches and the chip loader the same distance, making sure the vent on the left side of the unit is open fully.  Hope that helps.  Be sure to follow the instructions on lighting the pellets to the letter!!!!
 
Glad to hear Todd fixed you up.  As anyone here will tell you, Todd is awsome...great products and great customer service. 
 
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