Need help with MES 40 and a-maze pellet smoker
- Thread starter stan welch
- Start date
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palladini
Smoking Fanatic
Are you using heat from the smoker, example, doing ribs at 225 degrees or anything like that.
Also could we some images or video of you filling the AMNPS? That would help us greatly.
Is it going out or burning up all the chips that fast?
More info would be needed to find out what is going on here.
My AMNPS will give me about 8 hours of good smoke, either with or with out heat.
Also could we some images or video of you filling the AMNPS? That would help us greatly.
Is it going out or burning up all the chips that fast?
More info would be needed to find out what is going on here.
My AMNPS will give me about 8 hours of good smoke, either with or with out heat.
No video I was trying to smoke ribs at 225 the pellets burn about half a row and went out. I UAE a alum. pna to set the pellet smoker and dump pellet in and level off with straight edge then lite with torch and let burn about 12 min. Then put in smoker burn for 23 min and went out.
You can let in all the extra air you want but if it can't escape then there is still restricted flow. What worked for me is taking out the stock exhaust vent and replacing with an adjustable elbow that fits exactly into the hole. I put a butterfly damper in the vent and she was good to go. About 12 bucks. Not only does flavor fron smoke improve and AMNPS burn right; the the tendency for the mes to overshoot the set temp was reduced. You can also dremel out the stock exhaust vent to get extra flow.
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X2 ... next time try a dry chamber.. no water.... Also, where do you purchase your pellets ?
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It looks to me like that aluminum drip contraption is the problem. Not to mention trapping the heat below it. Id keep the foil on the very bottom and throw out all the rest. You only need a small domed piece over the amnps to stop the drippings from putting it out. There was a post a while back where a guy used a piece of tile over the element to redistribute the heat and when he opened up his MES the insulation was burnt by the sides of the tile. IMO you are stopping good air flow with all that foil...
upon further review... I have to agree with this... the rack with foil on it is restricting air flow.. If you want to protect the burner assembly, just put a small piece of foil on top of the assembly... do not drape it down over the sides as that will block air and heat as well....
Guys, in Stans defense those racks he has covered are solid anyway. The top one is a solid slanted drip catcher that leads to the water pan. The bottom piece on the floor is another removeable drip pan that is solid.
ok... welp.. I'm gonna bow out of this one then since I've never used the 40 before... didn't think the grate above the heat element would be solid...
Yeah its part of the reason the new gen 2 design is a bit of a problem. Heat and air both rise signifigantly higher on the right side. I'm still trying to figure why masterbuilt went to such a radical design change from the older model.
Would it hurt or help to just remove the drip catcher and put pellet on the bottom of the smoker.
Stan
I'm going to say it once more and then leave you to try whatever you like.
AIRFLOW!
Best of luck to you.
I'm going to say it once more and then leave you to try whatever you like.
AIRFLOW!
Best of luck to you.
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mbogo
Meat Mopper
Hi Stan, I 've got a MES 30", and while I understand there are some differences with the 40", some things remain the same. The AMNPS needs a good, relatively draft free supply of air to operate properly..
I did a report on some mods on my unit, I'm fairly new on here, so not sure how to post a link to the report. I think if you just click on my username, it will list it??
Anyways, what I found was the AMNPS works well if it is above the fresh air intake. due to the shortness of the 30" model, I had to make the mods I describe in the above referenced post. It also has to be free of drippings, so whatever you need to do to protect it w/o restricting airflow will suffice. I love my MES, for certain things. (Like fish) Course I just got a new Yoder, so I'm concentrating all my meat there now!
Good luck, fool around with it, it's all good!!
I did a report on some mods on my unit, I'm fairly new on here, so not sure how to post a link to the report. I think if you just click on my username, it will list it??
Anyways, what I found was the AMNPS works well if it is above the fresh air intake. due to the shortness of the 30" model, I had to make the mods I describe in the above referenced post. It also has to be free of drippings, so whatever you need to do to protect it w/o restricting airflow will suffice. I love my MES, for certain things. (Like fish) Course I just got a new Yoder, so I'm concentrating all my meat there now!
Good luck, fool around with it, it's all good!!
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