Noooo!! 1st Butt - A little anxious now...

[SGMan]

Well, in my first attempt at a pork butt I also had my first (lesson learned) messup...

My external MB mox/AMNPS tray caught fire. I came home from lunch to find this - (thank you windy day)

I think the most of the saving grace here is the fact that most of the nasty smoke, went out of the tube and not into the smoker itself. (Although I cant be entirely sure)

This happened in the realm of 4 to 4.5 hours of smoke (I cant be sure) but at least my butt came to temp in time :p

Time to clean the MB of the black soot and find a better hose setup. Apparently this one was high temp but not flame resistant temp!

Should I be worried on the butt being too creosote'd because of this flare up?

 

[banderson7474]

It's pretty hard to mess up a butt. You should be good. Don't forget to use the famous finishing sauce posted in here!

 

[indaswamp]

use a vent pipe...and you do not want a sag in the line, you will be trying to push hot air down, won't work properly, will interfere with your draft.

 

[SGMan]

use a vent pipe...and you do not want a sag in the line, you will be trying to push hot air down, won't work properly, will interfere with your draft.

So I should be using a vent pipe on the exit port of the MES correct?

Or be using vent pipe to route my mod into the MES?

 

[indaswamp]

So I should be using a vent pipe on the exit port of the MES correct?

Or be using vent pipe to route my mod into the MES?

from the tin can to the MES... I would not go shorter than a 3' run, but that's just my opinion... The old timers hung the meat no closer than 5' to the fire....and 3' will give the smoke plenty of time to cool off...

 

[fivetricks]

I might even consider turning your popcorn tin in it's side. Keep the pipe where it's at. That way if it flames up in the future the flames will burn towards the top of the tin rather than towards your pipe

 

[indaswamp]

Yep....but to do that, the hole would need to be moved to the top with the bottom of the can vertical. Not centered as shown.

 

[indaswamp]

You will get better cooling because of smoke contact with the metal can as it rises, then turns to go to the MES along the pipe....But that's my opinion....I'm sure there are guys using tin cans like you have set up and it's working fine for them.

@johnmeyer should be able to help you...

 

[SGMan]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I think a big part of my issue today was the strong winds. Although I have my setup in an enclosed screened porch, the winds seemed to cause enough of a draft to ignite my pellets and catch the aluminum flex hose on fire (thus causing more holes and even more airflow)

Still getting down some of the basics - but thank you all for your continued help!

 

[chopsaw]

So I should be using a vent pipe on the exit port of the MES correct?

Or be using vent pipe to route my mod into the MES?

To the inlet of the mes , 3 " fits like a glove .

 

[indaswamp]

To the inlet of the mes , 3 " fits like a glove .
View attachment 391540 View attachment 391541

Nice stand chop....Did you make it?

 

[chopsaw]

Thank you ,,, I did . You know what that is ? The final remains of and old chargriller off set . I re did the base and added some off fall from a fence project . The stack fit perfect in the exhaust as well .

 

[indaswamp]

Nice...

 

[gmc2003]

Should I be worried on the butt being too creosote'd because of this flare up?

SGMan I'm not a safety expert, but creosote from the poorly smoking pellets may be the least of my worries. Dryer vents just don't flame-up and extinguish themselves. They tend to smolder/burn relatively slow for a while. Personally if it were me I'd cut my losses and toss the butt.

Here's a video of someone lighting one up intentionally


Chris.

p.s. I'm not meaning to come off as an alarmist. Just want to make sure folks have information to make their own judgement.

 

[JJS]

Your dryer vent isn’t even rated for a gas dryer let alone something burning underneath it, if you are going to use a flexible dryer vent in the future use the actual aluminum flex not the foil type. You can pick them up for sub $10 at Lowe’s or HD.

 

[Winterrider]

And I am hoping you have good insurance, if that fire took place in an enclosed screened porch. Please be careful...

 

[indaswamp]

Good catch JJS ...I missed that.

 

[SGMan]

And I am hoping you have good insurance, if that fire took place in an enclosed screened porch. Please be careful...

It wasn't really a fire (per se) as much as a controlled burn in my popcorn tin/AMANPS. Trust me, I thought ahead of the risk of this spot catching fire. I made attempts to minimize the risk. (I want to be able to smoke again another day!)

 

[JJS]

I have seen gas dryers do that to them, makes a lot more of a mess in a laundry room than on the porch I’m sure.

Thankfully for you all ended fairly well