Finally Decided to Get a 40" Bluetooth Yesterday

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OK, I'm tuned but I'm still thinking. I always set my smoker at around 225-235° for whatever I'm smoking. I only smoke St. Louis or baby backs, never a rack of spareribs. Oops--I tell a lie! I bought two racks of spareribs once so I could trim them St. Louis style myself. Watched a couple of You Tube videos first and then found it was fairly easy to do. The last time I smoked ribs I didn't foil them, which convinced me to foil them from then on. Besides that I cooked them for 7 hours when I should have only cooked them for 6. Time got away from me. With grilling, it's such a hassle to get the ribs out of the rack that I haven't foiled them. The last time I grilled ribs in the rack (which was after the smoked ribs) I slightly undercooked them in about 2.5 hours or so.

As far as 3-2-1 or 2-2-1, I also include "variations thereof" because I might go 3-2.5-.5 or whatever if I'm late applying the foil and/or unwrapping the foil for various reasons. But I've read to basically use 3-2-1 for St. Louis and 2-2-1 for baby backs.

I also go by the way the ribs look which is why I knew the smoked ribs were overcooked but was surprised the grilled ribs were not done enough. It's harder to grill ribs because besides the hassling (for me) with the rib rack there's applying the mop and the finishing sauces and having to manage the heat in the BBQ using indirect heat with the lump charcoal (typically I use briquettes) in two Weber charcoal fuel holders on each side of the rib rack. When the ribs are done I just put them on a platter and bring 'em to the dining room and just let them rest for about 15 minutes.

I decided to spray the rib rack from now on. I'll use Weber Grill 'N Spray which I prefer to Pam. I'm an inveterate and compulsive label reader and I just like the ingredients used in the Weber better than other similar sprays.

OK, I'm back to staying tuned and watching this space for some BRICKGUY221 QVIEWS, BABY!!!!! Haven't seen hardly any Bluetooths in action yet.
I have Pellets coming towards the end of this week from A-MAZE-N-PELLETS. Waiting on them. This will be my first expeience with Pellets, so that will be a learning experience for me. I may do some Brats this Sunday. As for Smoking ribs, pork loins, pork tenderloins, etc. that will be the week of 6-21 as we are having a sort of family reunion that week with our 5 kids (all married with kids). Two live locally in OK with one in NY, one in CA, and one in China. 
 
 
I have Pellets coming towards the end of this week from A-MAZE-N-PELLETS. Waiting on them. This will be my first expeience with Pellets, so that will be a learning experience for me. I may do some Brats this Sunday. As for Smoking ribs, pork loins, pork tenderloins, etc. that will be the week of 6-21 as we are having a sort of family reunion that week with our 5 kids (all married with kids). Two live locally in OK with one in NY, one in CA, and one in China. 
Outside of the two local kids, the other three are just about as widespread as you can get.

A few things to keep in mind about using wood pellets: 1. I never nuke mine and have never needed to. Some of the pellets I'm using I've had in my uninsulated garage in their original plastic bags for two years and they light up fine and stay smoking until they turn to ash.

2. You will not--or should not--see the same volume of smoke that you've seen with wood chips. What you will see is the famous Thin Blue Smoke unless you're cooking at high temperatures and the pellets start to burn more quickly. Todd designed the AMNPS to slowly burn wood pellets and it excels at that. With TBS you should never have oversmoked, harsh-tasting meats again (if that's been a problem). My wife didn't start to really like my BBQ until I switched from chips to pellets.

3. I spent two years lighting my AMNPS with a propane torch. This year I switched to gelled alcohol to ignite them (with a flame of course) and that's all I'm using from now on.
 
 
Outside of the two local kids, the other three are just about as widespread as you can get.

A few things to keep in mind about using wood pellets: 1. I never nuke mine and have never needed to. Some of the pellets I'm using I've had in my uninsulated garage in their original plastic bags for two years and they light up fine and stay smoking until they turn to ash.

2. You will not--or should not--see the same volume of smoke that you've seen with wood chips. What you will see is the famous Thin Blue Smoke unless you're cooking at high temperatures and the pellets start to burn more quickly. Todd designed the AMNPS to slowly burn wood pellets and it excels at that. With TBS you should never have oversmoked, harsh-tasting meats again (if that's been a problem). My wife didn't start to really like my BBQ until I switched from chips to pellets.

3. I spent two years lighting my AMNPS with a propane torch. This year I switched to gelled alcohol to ignite them (with a flame of course) and that's all I'm using from now on.
Thanks for the tips- information Rick. Always appreciated. I have the gelled alcohol coming with the pellets.

As for smoking with chips as I have been doing for 2 years on the MES as well as several years prior on a charcoal Hasty Bake Grill,

http://shop.hastybake.com/collections/charcoal-grills?_ga=1.54579563.1399650552.1433914599

I have had complaints at times of "too much smoke", especially with more potent chips such as Mesquite and Hickory.

On the Gell, do you just put a bit on some pellets on the end of the row or how do you do it?
 
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I have had complaints at times of "too much smoke", especially with more potent chips such as Mesquite and Hickory.
Easy fix, learn the smokes characteristics. Any wood can be used with any meat if you teach your hand that there is more than one amount of smoke that can be measured.

A light hand with hickory and mesquite. A gentle hand with Oak and pecan. Most fruits and nuts are your lighter smokes but not always the case. Just learn when to use less smoke.

Our smokes are what we most like but sometimes sepecially with city folk and ladies they have a more delicate pallet. My Mom would eat my smoked food but not my Pop's cause he never thought of going a bit lighter on the smoke. He only had one way. When cooking for a crowd you have to consider thier pallets.
 
 
Outside of the two local kids, the other three are just about as widespread as you can get.

A few things to keep in mind about using wood pellets: 1. I never nuke mine and have never needed to. Some of the pellets I'm using I've had in my uninsulated garage in their original plastic bags for two years and they light up fine and stay smoking until they turn to ash.

2. You will not--or should not--see the same volume of smoke that you've seen with wood chips. What you will see is the famous Thin Blue Smoke unless you're cooking at high temperatures and the pellets start to burn more quickly. Todd designed the AMNPS to slowly burn wood pellets and it excels at that. With TBS you should never have oversmoked, harsh-tasting meats again (if that's been a problem). My wife didn't start to really like my BBQ until I switched from chips to pellets.

3. I spent two years lighting my AMNPS with a propane torch. This year I switched to gelled alcohol to ignite them (with a flame of course) and that's all I'm using from now on.
After using wood and chips in other smokers it was hard for me to grasp the concept of thin blue smoke in a MES  till I saw this picture.

 

There are lots of examples but this one posted by BMUD14474 several years ago is great. Here is some of my TBS.

View media item 336334   Jted
 
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I smoke NY Strip Steaks in my MES using mesquite wood chips. Doesn't take long to smoke the steaks, so a quick smoke is needed.

My question here is ....  for the 15-20 minutes or less that it takes for the steaks, will the mesquite pellets provide enough smoke in that amount of short time?
 
 
Thanks for the tips- information Rick. Always appreciated. I have the gelled alcohol coming with the pellets.

As for smoking with chips as I have been doing for 2 years on the MES as well as several years prior on a charcoal Hasty Bake Grill,

http://shop.hastybake.com/collections/charcoal-grills?_ga=1.54579563.1399650552.1433914599

I have had complaints at times of "too much smoke", especially with more potent chips such as Mesquite and Hickory.

On the Gell, do you just put a bit on some pellets on the end of the row or how do you do it?
I only use wood chips over charcoal briquettes when I grill just to add a layer of flavor. They burn up so fast oversmoking isn't a problem.

I bought my gelled alcohol at Lowes but it wasn't in squeeze bottle form I was looking for. I have to spoon it out of a can. What I do spread a couple of spoonfuls on top of the wood pellets from the front of the AMNPS to about an inch back. I also spoon it over the torch hole in front and for extra measure I apply it under the AMNPS the same way I applied it on top of the wood pellets. All this may be overkill but it gets the flames going around the pellets and lights them so they stay lit. After about 20 minutes I blow out the flames and then blow on the pellets to get the red cherry. Frequently it re-ignites the flame and I blow that out right before I place the AMNPS--lit end toward the rear wall--into the smoker. All this more of less conforms to Todd's and Bear's written procedures for lighting it. I've had zero problems with the AMNPS going out during a smoke after lighting it this way. The only reason I now will not see smoke rising out of the top vent is because the wood pellets have all turned to ash.

I wouldn't spread the gel on a full row of pellets because then you'll have the entire row burning at the same time.
 
 
I only use wood chips over charcoal briquettes when I grill just to add a layer of flavor. They burn up so fast oversmoking isn't a problem.

I bought my gelled alcohol at Lowes but it wasn't in squeeze bottle form I was looking for. I have to spoon it out of a can. What I do spread a couple of spoonfuls on top of the wood pellets from the front of the AMNPS to about an inch back. I also spoon it over the torch hole in front and for extra measure I apply it under the AMNPS the same way I applied it on top of the wood pellets. All this may be overkill but it gets the flames going around the pellets and lights them so they stay lit. After about 20 minutes I blow out the flames and then blow on the pellets to get the red cherry. Frequently it re-ignites the flame and I blow that out right before I place the AMNPS--lit end toward the rear wall--into the smoker. All this more of less conforms to Todd's and Bear's written procedures for lighting it. I've had zero problems with the AMNPS going out during a smoke after lighting it this way. The only reason I now will not see smoke rising out of the top vent is because the wood pellets have all turned to ash.

I wouldn't spread the gel on a full row of pellets because then you'll have the entire row burning at the same time.
Rick you need an empty hand soap pump dispenser, some small flip top container or a $1 marinade injector syringe.  I have marine grease in a marinade injector syringe for hard to reach applications. 

-Kurt
 
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Rick you need an empty hand soap pump dispenser, some small flip top container or a $1 marinade injector syringe.  I have marine grease in a marinade injector syringe for hard to reach applications. 

-Kurt
Those are great ideas, Kurt. Thanks. We're about out of liquid hand soap in a small pump dispenser so when it's empty I'll clean it out and try it on for size as an alcohol gel dispenser. We have a cheap injector but I plan to use it as well, a marinade injector at some point.

I tried to be neat with spooning the gel but that went out the window two smokes ago when I was rushing to start the smoking process since I was running late.
 
 
I smoke NY Strip Steaks in my MES using mesquite wood chips. Doesn't take long to smoke the steaks, so a quick smoke is needed.

My question here is ....  for the 15-20 minutes or less that it takes for the steaks, will the mesquite pellets provide enough smoke in that amount of short time?
Any answers-thoughts on my question in the quote above?
 
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Any answers-thoughts on my question in the quote above?
Some chefs sear steaks then put in the oven to finish. Some set the oven as low as 170*F till they hit the IT they want. Or reverse sear it and put in the oven first then sear.  The reverse sear threads are helpful.  Since you get more smoke into the steak when you sear last.  You just have to lower the temp on the MES so it's in the smoke longer (without cranking up the smoke) till around 110*F IT then throw it on a 1000*F cast iron skillet or charcoal/gas grill till it's done (a minute or so each side.)  Or cold smoke the raw steaks  with the AMNPS with mesquite pellets.  The 40*F to 140*F within 4 hours rule for safe cooking gives you plenty of time in the smoke before cooking it the way you normally grill steaks or finish in the MES.    

-Kurt
 
 
Any answers-thoughts on my question in the quote above?
I think Dr. K has an excellent idea there. I think if you cook the steak low and slow over mesquite or whatever wood you choose for about an hour and then sear it over high heat anyway you choose you'll get the smoky, perfectly cooked steak you're after. I don't know a lot about but I wonder if slow cooking it to an I/T of 110° would be too low? I don't know if a quick sear would give you those extra 25° for medium rare if there's not much of a carryover from cooking it in the smoker. Maybe you should do a test run using a cheap cut of steak.
 
 
Outside of the two local kids, the other three are just about as widespread as you can get.

A few things to keep in mind about using wood pellets: 1. I never nuke mine and have never needed to. Some of the pellets I'm using I've had in my uninsulated garage in their original plastic bags for two years and they light up fine and stay smoking until they turn to ash.

2. You will not--or should not--see the same volume of smoke that you've seen with wood chips. What you will see is the famous Thin Blue Smoke unless you're cooking at high temperatures and the pellets start to burn more quickly. Todd designed the AMNPS to slowly burn wood pellets and it excels at that. With TBS you should never have oversmoked, harsh-tasting meats again (if that's been a problem). My wife didn't start to really like my BBQ until I switched from chips to pellets.

3. I spent two years lighting my AMNPS with a propane torch. This year I switched to gelled alcohol to ignite them (with a flame of course) and that's all I'm using from now on.
I can confirm smoking at high temps is not a good idea with the AMPS.  When I was seasoning my MES 40 BT two days ago at 275, a second row got lit, and when I opened the door, it ignited a flame on the pellets.  I dont think there was a flame until I opened the door, but its bad news if it ignites and flames away inside. 

I need to start posting more vids.  Easily to explain what Im seeing haha.
 
 
I can confirm smoking at high temps is not a good idea with the AMPS.  When I was seasoning my MES 40 BT two days ago at 275, a second row got lit, and when I opened the door, it ignited a flame on the pellets.  I dont think there was a flame until I opened the door, but its bad news if it ignites and flames away inside. 

I need to start posting more vids.  Easily to explain what Im seeing haha.
Where did you have your AMNPS ?

The original AMNS with Sawdust in it used to jump rows at between 210° and 230°, so the heavier tray with double interior walls was invented to use pellets in at higher heat. I have never had my AMNPS with pellets light up or jump rows at any temp I can get from my MES 40. I could see this happening if the rows are filled too full and/or placed too close to the heating element.

Bear
 
Dennis advised using the Cabelas included sausage hanger as a stand for the AMPS on the bottom left of the smoker.  It fit's perfectly.  It was no where near the element.  I also underfilled this one vs maxing it out on that smoke on my grill a few weeks back (which worked fine too), so overloading wasnt the problem.  I have no explanation for why it jumped rows or lit up.  I wrote it off as a fluke but will let you know if it happens again.

Another thing with the AMPS.  At some point my smoke was barely visible.  I opened the door to check the tray, and it was smoking, but the tinest of trickles.  I wish I took a vid.  I dont think that was enough smoke to flavor the meat.  I dont know how long it was like that.  It never went out, but it wasnt producing enough smoke.  I closed the vent a bit, and then after about 10min the smoke stream looked a little better.  What was going on here?  What should I do differently to ensure consistent smoke?
 
 
Dennis advised using the Cabelas included sausage hanger as a stand for the AMPS on the bottom left of the smoker.  It fit's perfectly.  It was no where near the element.  I also underfilled this one vs maxing it out on that smoke on my grill a few weeks back (which worked fine too), so overloading wasnt the problem.  I have no explanation for why it jumped rows or lit up.  I wrote it off as a fluke but will let you know if it happens again.

Another thing with the AMPS.  At some point my smoke was barely visible.  I opened the door to check the tray, and it was smoking, but the tinest of trickles.  I wish I took a vid.  I dont think that was enough smoke to flavor the meat.  I dont know how long it was like that.  It never went out, but it wasnt producing enough smoke.  I closed the vent a bit, and then after about 10min the smoke stream looked a little better.  What was going on here?  What should I do differently to ensure consistent smoke?
Hmmm---Very Strange that it jumped rows then.

As for the amount of smoke:

Mine usually starts out light & gets heavier after awhile.

I have names & abbreviations for the smoke I get & take notes:

It usually starts at VLS (Very Light Smoke) Barely visible

Then gets to LS (Light Smoke)

Then LMS (Light Medium)

MS (Medium) Perfect----Visibility cut in half

My AMNPS Smoke very seldom gets higher than this Point, and I consider anything below this to be Great

MHS (Medium Heavy)  Sometimes on a bend I get this, and it's still nice smoke.

HS (Heavy Smoke) Can still see everything inside through the smoke-----If it gets here I pay close attention to make sure it doesn't get heavier.

2HS (Too Heavy Smoke) Can't see through it or barely can see through the smoke. I never get this with my AMNPS or my AMNS with Pellets or Dust.

Bear
 
 
Thanks for the tips- information Rick. Always appreciated. I have the gelled alcohol coming with the pellets.

As for smoking with chips as I have been doing for 2 years on the MES as well as several years prior on a charcoal Hasty Bake Grill,

http://shop.hastybake.com/collections/charcoal-grills?_ga=1.54579563.1399650552.1433914599

I have had complaints at times of "too much smoke", especially with more potent chips such as Mesquite and Hickory.

On the Gell, do you just put a bit on some pellets on the end of the row or how do you do it?
This is the first I've heard of Hasty Bake Grills. They're not cheap so apparently they're made in the U.S., at least the Hasty-Bake 256 Gourmet Dual Finish Charcoal Grill is. Why don't you use yours as anymore, Brickguy?

I spread the gel on top of the pellets about an inch in from the fire hole. I also slather it inside the fire hole and on the bottom of the AMNPS similarly to how I do it on top of the pellets. It might be overdoing it but I want to surround the pellets with fire so that in about 10-20 minutes they're completely lit and stay lit even after I blow out the flames. I always blow on the pellets to get that bright red cherry before I insert it into the MES. Many times it re-ignites the fire which I then just blow out again. The whole idea is to get the pellets sufficiently going outside the smoker so that, with adequate airflow, it'll stay lit inside the smoker until either you're done cooking or all the pellets have been used up.

I've used both hickory and mesquite wood pellets in the AMNPS and I haven't add any problems with too much smoke like I did when using chips. I use hickory for pork ribs, turkey breast, and cheeses, mesquite for tri-tip, and I've used both oak or hickory for beef brisket. Using the AMNPS none of them came out oversmoked.

That's why I think the maze design makes it perfect for the MES because the smoke is released slowly but steadily as the pellets burn up the rows. I smoked a beef brisket for 11 hours two weeks ago but only about 6-7 hours of it was unfoiled and the smoke was beautifully infused into the meat instead of being overpowering and harsh. I was never able to achieve that with wood chips in the MES.
 
 
I can confirm smoking at high temps is not a good idea with the AMPS.  When I was seasoning my MES 40 BT two days ago at 275, a second row got lit, and when I opened the door, it ignited a flame on the pellets.  I dont think there was a flame until I opened the door, but its bad news if it ignites and flames away inside. 

I need to start posting more vids.  Easily to explain what Im seeing haha.
I think you're the 2nd guy--or maybe the same one!--who wrote about the AMNPS flaming up when the MES door opened. As I've posted a few times, one time I had a dirty hi temp cutoff switch on my MES 30 and the temp went up to 295°F degrees. The AMNPS was burning in both directions and I have no idea how that happened. I filled it up again after letting the heat escape from my smoker but the temp shot back up to 295° and the pellets were again all burnt within 30 minutes. After the smoke was over I remembered both Todd telling me about the hi temp switch previously so I cleaned it and have never had that problem again.

But my point is that despite all that high heat and burning wood pellets (which is also a testament to the great airflow inside the MES 30 Gen 1) I had no flames raging inside the smoker. Perhaps I was just lucky. I blame it all on @Bearcarver anyway. He was the one who motivated me to try smoking a chucky/chuckie and it was my first and (to date) only one. It stalled at 160° for something like 5 hours and despite being in the smoker, my kitchen oven, AND my convection microwave oven, the IT never got above 190° over two days of cooking. I think that if that evil chuck roast could have set my smoker on fire it would have...
 
 
Hmmm---Very Strange that it jumped rows then.

As for the amount of smoke:

Mine usually starts out light & gets heavier after awhile.

I have names & abbreviations for the smoke I get & take notes:

It usually starts at VLS (Very Light Smoke) Barely visible

Then gets to LS (Light Smoke)

Then LMS (Light Medium)

MS (Medium) Perfect----Visibility cut in half

My AMNPS Smoke very seldom gets higher than this Point, and I consider anything below this to be Great

MHS (Medium Heavy)  Sometimes on a bend I get this, and it's still nice smoke.

HS (Heavy Smoke) Can still see everything inside through the smoke-----If it gets here I pay close attention to make sure it doesn't get heavier.

2HS (Too Heavy Smoke) Can't see through it or barely can see through the smoke. I never get this with my AMNPS or my AMNS with Pellets or Dust.

Bear
Bear, I assume you know exactly how much smoke is generated by the AMNPS at various points because of your R&D days with Todd. As for me, I can tell you how much smoke I see wafting out of the top vent and I can tell you how it looks when I open the smoker door to do whatever has to be done. It always looks the same to me and that's a nice flow but not an overflow of smoke. But then I spend my time during the smokes inside the house on the computer or watching TV with my trusty ET-733 Receiver right beside me!

I thought I had a problem two smokes ago with lighting the AMNPS. I couldn't seem to get it to stay lit. Only later on did I figure out that on that nice, bright sunny day, during the 20 minute burn before sticking it inside the MES, the AMNPS was producing light but textbook TBS which I couldn't see in the bright sunlight. I was used to heavier amounts of smoke to start off with. Once I figured that out, I inserted the AMNPS into the smoker and it performed flawlessly to the end of the cook.
 
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