Can't Keep The Pellets Lit!

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jangell2

Newbie
Original poster
May 27, 2017
10
11
Maumelle, AR
I have the Masterbuilt 40" Bluetooth electric smoker and wasn't fond of having to load wood chips every 30-45 minutes, so I decided to try the the maze version of the amnps.  I can't keep them lit.  In a 4 hour period I had to lite them three times.  

I've put it on the botton of the smoker on the drip tray.  I light them with a kitchen torch and get a real burn going.  I do like using the water pan and I typically put beer in it.  It's above the amnps.

I am using the  Cooking Pellets Perfect Mix.  I was surprised to read here that the pellets still have moister in them and I have done a little reading here on the forum.  The oven baking seems like a good idea, also the microwaving.  There was the suggestion to put them in the smoker an hour before lighting them.  I'm not a handyman at all, so the mailbox mod is not an option.  It would also take to much space on the patio.

Is using the water pan adding too much humidity and causing the pellets to go out?  Should I put the pellets up on one of the grates to improve circulation?  I'd appreciate your ideas.

How full do you get your amnps?  Almost to the top of the row, halfway up...?

This week, I'm going to smoke a 4lb brisket.  Also happy to hear about how to smoke that.

This is my first post on the forum.

johnny

PS: What is this MES people are always writing about?
 
I'm new here and others can probably help more but here goes:

As per Bear he puts the AMNPS on the first rack all the way to the right on gen 2.5. That way you can use the chip loader to regulate smoke. Fill it about 3/8 from the top. As for the water pan Bear has also advised against adding water to it. You have to use the pan but really don't need water in it. I followed these rules today on my first try with the AMNPS and it stayed lit for 10 hours. I did not do anything to the pellets before adding them.

Hope this helps you.

MES= masterbuilt electric smoker
 
I'm new here and others can probably help more but here goes:

As per Bear he puts the AMNPS on the first rack all the way to the right on gen 2.5. That way you can use the chip loader to regulate smoke. Fill it about 3/8 from the top. As for the water pan Bear has also advised against adding water to it. You have to use the pan but really don't need water in it. I followed these rules today on my first try with the AMNPS and it stayed lit for 10 hours. I did not do anything to the pellets before adding them.

Hope this helps you.

MES= masterbuilt electric smoker
Thank You Rambo!!

Mrs Bear is ready to watch a movie, but I was going to start a reply to "Johnny".

Then I read your comment, and it was perfect.
icon14.gif


Thanks,

Bear
 
Trying to learn from the Master, I've learned so much from your posts. Your the main reason I bought the mes 2.5. Just trying to past the info along. Enjoy your movie.

Thanks for all you do.

Daniel

Or call me grasshopper
 
I'm new here and others can probably help more but here goes:

As per Bear he puts the AMNPS on the first rack all the way to the right on gen 2.5. That way you can use the chip loader to regulate smoke. Fill it about 3/8 from the top. As for the water pan Bear has also advised against adding water to it. You have to use the pan but really don't need water in it. I followed these rules today on my first try with the AMNPS and it stayed lit for 10 hours. I did not do anything to the pellets before adding them.

Hope this helps you.

MES= masterbuilt electric smoker
Ok, no liquid in the water pan, put the amnps on the first rack all the way to the right,  No prep for the pellets.  I will give it a try.  Thanks very much.  It will take some will power not to put beer in the water pan, I really like to do it.
 
Don't sweat the beer. It does nothing for the flavor. The water evaporates and leaves 99% of the beer flavor essence in the pan. Of the remaining 1%, 99% of that goes out the exhaust. So the actual flavor gain from .01% is covered by smoke and the rub flavors. You don't taste them unless you are a Super taster that can sense in Parts per Million. You will get far more flavor from eating the meat and washing it down with a Cold One!...JJ
 
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Ok, no liquid in the water pan, put the amnps on the first rack all the way to the right,  No prep for the pellets.  I will give it a try.  Thanks very much.  It will take some will power not to put beer in the water pan, I really like to do it.
Just in case---When you & Rambo say "First" Rack, you do know Rambo means the "Bottom" Rack, and not the Top?  Right?

Thought I'd make that clear.

I call my Top rack #1, and go down from there, making the bottom Rack #4 in most MES units, and #6 in my New MES 40.

Bear
 
 
Just in case---When you & Rambo say "First" Rack, you do know Rambo means the "Bottom" Rack, and not the Top?  Right?

Thought I'd make that clear.

I call my Top rack #1, and go down from there, making the bottom Rack #4 in most MES units, and #6 in my New MES 40.

Bear
Yes, I was thinking bottom rack, but it never hurts to be clear.
 
I had written to the Pellet Guy about his pellets and he replied:
Hi Johnny, 

Thanks for the kind words.  We use that exact device and I have found that it needs to be packed full and you have to let it get a good flame going like 5- 8minutes .. Then blow it out. Sounds like the air flow is good so try that. We have had that old maze and newer tube and both work well with a good hot start. 

Cheers

Chris

The Pellet Guy. 
So next time I'm going to use a dry water pan, put the amnps on the first rack on the bottom to the right, no prep for the pellets, and some extra effort for the initial lighting.  I'll let everyone know how it turns out.
 
 
I had written to the Pellet Guy about his pellets and he replied:

So next time I'm going to use a dry water pan, put the amnps on the first rack on the bottom to the right, no prep for the pellets, and some extra effort for the initial lighting.  I'll let everyone know how it turns out.
You can probably find me saying this at least 50 times on this forum, but here goes:

Most of the problems people have with keeping their AMNPS going are either "Not enough Air Flow", and "Not getting it lit properly before putting it in".

When I light my AMNPS, I fill it to about 3/8" from the top.

Then I light one end real good with my torch.

Then I let it go a few minutes.

Then I blow on the lit part until the flame comes back up.

Then do something else for a few minutes & come back & blow on it until the flame comes back.

I'll keep com,ing back & doing that for usually about 20 minutes before I put it in.

If the flame is still there when I'm finally ready to put it in, I'll blow the flame out with a short blast of air.

Then in it goes!

Bear
 
Bear nailed it!  I had the same problem on my MES 30"  Yesterday, I pulled the chip tube open on the bottom right to allow air to get sucked in.  WOW!  Barely a 1/2 tray, filled shallow, burned great for 4 hours!  It's all about getting it air to breath.
 
How long do you typically run the torch to light the pellets?  I've run it long enough to blacken the pellets in the flame.
 
I too had to learn how to lite and vent my MES. I talked to Todd and he walked me through the right procedures for successfully using his smoke generators.

The keys for me were steps 3,4 and 5 in his instructions. ( http://www.amazenproducts.com/v/vspfiles/downloadables/AMNPSInstructions.pdf  )

3. Light the AMNPS through the hole, with a Propane Torch on “Low”, for 45 seconds. A small flame will appear on top the pellets. Allow this flame to burn for 10 minutes. A good bed of coals is necessary to keep the AMNPS burning properly. You can lightly blow on the embers to make sure it’s burning well. Do Not Rush This Step!

4. Blow the flame out, and make sure your AMNPS is smoking well, before you place it in your smoker. Make sure it’s in an area that will have good ventilation.  (Chip tube opened two inches)

BTW - I use the A-MAZE-N-TUBE-SMOKER and love it. I light and put the tube in the very bottom of my MES 2nd gen smoker.  When I do the "steps" I can  walk away confident the smoke will keep going for the hours I packed in the tube.

I have not had any problems keeping the pellets lite since following these steps. That is... until last weekend! I had forgotten to open the filler tube to provide the necessary ventilation and quit!!  My Fault
 
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How long do you typically run the torch to light the pellets?  I've run it long enough to blacken the pellets in the flame.
Like I explained above, I don't usually take a chance, because I don't like it going out on me----I usually go at least 15 to 20 minutes before I put it in, and only when I have a good Deep Glowing Red Bed of burning coals.

Bear
 
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How long do you typically run the torch to light the pellets?  I've run it long enough to blacken the pellets in the flame.
I hold the torch in place until a good flame crops up about an inch deep into the channel.  Once the first inch or so of pellets have a good flame, I let that burn themselves for a good 10 mins.  That's it.  Just make sure the top vent is fully opened and a bottom vent as well to suck in air.  On a MES that would be the chip tube.  Pull it out and couple inches.  As the heat/smoke rise through the top vent, air is sucked through the bottom.  That convection fuels your pellet burn.  Got that tip from a SMF poster, whom I'm very grateful of.

In the case of the chips in the tray with the chip tube pushed in....those aren't "burning".  They're smoldering and kept smoldering by the heating element, therefore not needing O2 through convection that's required by the pellets.  The pellets need to self-propagate, thereby needing to pull in the O2 as there's no heating element to keep them going. 
 
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I put mine on the floor on the left-hand side.  I remove the water pan and the chip loader.  That gets me a great burn on the pellets.  I let them burn for a good 5-10 minutes before placing them in the smoker.  I light from the bottom because I found that works better than going from the top or side.
 
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Here's my couple of cents worth in regards to keeping the pellets lit.

I too was having all sorts of problems with my AMNPS and kept annoying the Bear with my silly questions (on the quiet) and eventually came up with the following solution.

Mind you I am not saying to go against the Bears advice or anyone else's for that matter.

I discovered that I was not lighting enough pellets at the start of the light up and once I put them into my Gas powered smoker they would die out after a while. I also was using the cheap gas Bar Be Que lighting unit and blowing my heart out to keep the flame going. Frustrated I purchased a decent gas blow torch, reasonably cheap, and started using that, this seemed to solve the problem of almost passing out blowing on the pellets to keep them alight. I then decided to light an area of about 2 inches at the start of the AMNPS and allowing that to burn for a few minutes, as Bear described, and then placed it into the smoker at the bottom to my left. Yahoo! no more die outs, I can now smoke with confidence knowing it will burn 'till I run out of pellets.

We are always learning and when someone else can make it easy for us then it's a plus, that is the beauty of this forum.

Thanks to all the Masters on the forum for all the help that has come my way.

Cheers from Down Under.
 
My pellets are smoking just wonderfully 3 hours into the smoke.  I've getting a very generous amount of smoke too.

Thanks to the forum members I did the following: 1) ensured tope vent was wide open; 2) pulled out the chip tube; 3) took extra special care to light the pellets.  Probably spent about 15' before I put them in the smoker.  This included using the torch on low for about 45 seconds, blowing on the pellets to ensure a red hot smolder; 4) put the pellets on the bottom rack over the heating element.

That's pretty much covers it.  At first I checked every half hour and now I'm checking every hour.  The smokin' is on.
 
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