I recently purchased an MES 40 gen 2 and AMNPS and started cold smoking cheese and bacon. I received a pound of Hickory pellets(Todd's) with the AMNPS and bought a bag of Myron Mixon pellets off Amazon. I figured they couldn't be that different than the pellets I received with the AMNPS.
I think I was very wrong. My cheese smokes with the Myron Mixon pellets have been ok, but my first batch of bacon was gross. I decided to do a test and fill the first half of a row with the Myron pellets and the second half with Todd's. I smoked some end pieces I had cured during this test. I removed one of the chunks at the transition and left the other piece in the whole time.
There was a clear difference in the smoke produced. The Myron pellets put out heavy white smoke while Todd's pellets put out a nice light TBS. I was amazed at the difference. Also, the piece I pulled out halfway had the same acrid smoke smell and taste. The piece I left in through the end turned out better. Still had a bit of the acrid smell but Todd's pellets seemed to cover some of that up and produced a better smelling and tasting bacon.
I am currently running a similar test with the Myron pellets and Bear Mountain pellets. I picked up the bear mountain on the fly just to try the test again against the Myron pellets. The Bear Mountain is in first and is putting out some nice smoke. Will update again later after the transition to Myron pellets.
Some general observations on the appearance of the pellets. The Myron pellets are noticeably darker than the other two. Todd's pellets are a smaller diameter than the other two. Could the darkness of the Myron pellets be due to included bark? Could this be what caused the gross cold smoked bacon?
I hot smoked some salmon with the Myron pellets and the salmon turned out great. Seems strange that they would be great for a hot smoke but terrible when cold smoking. Anyone have any ideas on that?
I'm planning on saving the Myron pellets for hot smoking and buying some of Todd's pellets and mixing with the bear mountain.
Hopefully after trying a bacon smoke this weekend I'll be able to confirm my suspicions that the Myron pellets are what made my first bacon smoke a failure. Anyone else experienced any of these issues with pellets?
I think I was very wrong. My cheese smokes with the Myron Mixon pellets have been ok, but my first batch of bacon was gross. I decided to do a test and fill the first half of a row with the Myron pellets and the second half with Todd's. I smoked some end pieces I had cured during this test. I removed one of the chunks at the transition and left the other piece in the whole time.
There was a clear difference in the smoke produced. The Myron pellets put out heavy white smoke while Todd's pellets put out a nice light TBS. I was amazed at the difference. Also, the piece I pulled out halfway had the same acrid smoke smell and taste. The piece I left in through the end turned out better. Still had a bit of the acrid smell but Todd's pellets seemed to cover some of that up and produced a better smelling and tasting bacon.
I am currently running a similar test with the Myron pellets and Bear Mountain pellets. I picked up the bear mountain on the fly just to try the test again against the Myron pellets. The Bear Mountain is in first and is putting out some nice smoke. Will update again later after the transition to Myron pellets.
Some general observations on the appearance of the pellets. The Myron pellets are noticeably darker than the other two. Todd's pellets are a smaller diameter than the other two. Could the darkness of the Myron pellets be due to included bark? Could this be what caused the gross cold smoked bacon?
I hot smoked some salmon with the Myron pellets and the salmon turned out great. Seems strange that they would be great for a hot smoke but terrible when cold smoking. Anyone have any ideas on that?
I'm planning on saving the Myron pellets for hot smoking and buying some of Todd's pellets and mixing with the bear mountain.
Hopefully after trying a bacon smoke this weekend I'll be able to confirm my suspicions that the Myron pellets are what made my first bacon smoke a failure. Anyone else experienced any of these issues with pellets?
