Recent content by plume-o-smoke

Perfect. The tube smoked *perfectly* for 6 hours, down to white ash. 1 reloaded & went off to bed w/ not the slightest concern. I'm at ~185 IT right now and climbing. It's hard to see in the picture, but there is a constant upward slope from the mailbox to the smoker inlet. I can understand how...

Ahhh, life is good. I tossed a properly loaded & lit tube and an hour later I'm at stable TBS. Barely visible in the picture. Huge shout out to Bear & Dave. I've been fighting my AMNPS tray for 4 years, mostly here in Colorado. That has to be close to a hundred smokes. Now I know why. I've...

THANK YOU for that insight. I'm on it, I have one and will check back in a while.

Please hear me out, I have done *everything* in this thread and all other threads to get my AMNPS mailbox mod to stay lit. Especially posts from daveomak (dude has game!). That's hours of reading, and a ton of testing, but still it goes out shortly after I close the mailbox door. I know this has...

​Thanks Noboundaries. ​ ​That is very consistent with what I am seeing. ​ ​I'm going to give this a try. 80% of beef-jerkey bark would be A-OK with me. I'll try that, and nixing the sand. Thanks a ton.

Hey guys. And gals. ​I've done ~20 or more pork shoulders on my MES and get cook times up to 30 hours. I have adjusted the chamber temp upward from 225 to ~260-265 and no longer get the 30-hour marathons, but 22-25 hours is the norm on an 8-lb shoulder. Never less than 19 hours. I set the MES to...

No doubt, cooking times are just a meal-planning guideline. I *always* use my Maverick 732 for temps. BBQ is done when the temp is right. Period. 

Thanks Jimmy, good advice re: keeping it simple. And the cook times. I always pay particularly close attention to your posts.

​I'm smoking a turkey for Christmas, I can do it in my MES 30 or my Weber. The MES is by far a more controlled environment (read: easy to use) but I'm worried it won't get hot enough, topping out at ~270 on a good day. My chicken skins have always been awfully rubbery w/ the MES. The Weber, of...

​A day to brine doesn't seem like overkill by any means. PROVIDED you have a turkey that hasn't been packed in a salt solution as most birds are. At least most of the cheap ones. I wouldn't want to double-salt, but if you have a salt-free bird 24 hrs brine seems perfect to me. ​ ​Cook time...

I am suspicious that you are jumping rows to burn down that fast. I have done that a couple times. And my goodness, if you can get the cherry to burn you are doing better than I did. I had to mix cherry to get any real smoke out of it. As far as staying lit, I have issues too. I typically light...

I totally agree. My 'stick burner' is a weber kettle. One of many options, it's probably not the best, but it works for a good sear, and has a cult following. And dang do I see a lot of them pushed out to the curb (how I got my last 2) or cheap used. Tough to beat the MES30+Weber Kettle combo at...

So far I'm planning a route spending nights in St. Louis & K.C. with a leisurely day in between. I could also go across further north and hit rural areas... Like Hannibal->Cameron->K.C. Anyone have thoughts on must-stops?

I have always been struck at the emphasis on premium knives, particularly for wedding gifts. I'll take a well-sharpened crap chef's knife from my mother-in-law's knife drawer over a dull any-brand-in-the-world knife. Problem is, it's a PITA to sharpen knives. I have been looking for a good...

Just curious what you all have planned for Sunday. And looking for ideas.