- May 12, 2011
- 22,172
- 7,150
The AMNPS is a well tested, great design used successfully by over 10,000 people and works well for it's intended purpose, making a small to moderate amount of TBS over a long period of time. It's earliest application was to allow smoking in a MES over a range of temps. It was found while it performed flawlessly in the MES and some other Electric smokers, any smoker that did not provide a constant supply of fresh air, such as Propane, Charcoal and Pellet Smokers, required a different design hence the Tubes were born. Because the AMNPS works by having a small amount of Smoldering pellets light the pellets above to generate smoke, a fine balance of dry pellets and fresh air must be available. Even with proper storage at your home there is no guarantee the pellets will be sufficiently dry. We have no clue as to how seasoned the wood was to begin with, no idea as to the weather condition at the manufacturing facility, after all they can't be expected to store several hundred TONS of pellets in nicely sealed 1 Gallon plastic containers, and as it is my understanding that Todd purchases by the ton palate loads he too is at the mercy of the weather and humidity in his storage area. That being said the High Heat generated by the pellet burner in a Yoder or any other Pellet Pooper is more than enough to nearly instantly Dry any pellets and burn them without issue...BUT...The tiny pile of smoldering pellets in any row of the AMNPS is a far different story. If the pellets are not Very Dry, I seem to recall reading <8% moisture they will not burn well or continuously. So regardless of how the Pellets are stored by the end user, taking the extra step to Dry the pellets either in the Microwave, Oven or while preheating the Smoker is smart insurance that no matter how they were stored or handled prior to placing them in the AMNPS, they will generate the desired result. I hope this clears up any misunderstanding as you have all made valid points. Even though we were comparing Apple to Oranges we were still all discussing Fruit!...
...JJ
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