Acrid, bitter taste results.

[clifish]

Howdy all, I have a 30" smoky hollow electric smoker and have smoked, turkey breast, fatties and yesterday bacon wrapped filet mignons. The turkey and filets had an acrid bite to them, not nearly as bad on the fatty. I am using the Amps 5 x 8 tray with either
Todd's competition blend or camp chef apple pellets. The tray lights and smokes all the pellets without a hitch, I keep the temps at about 225 (bluetooth thermometer, not the gauge on the door).

From my readings here it could be an airflow issue as the unit as no vents anywhere for air in or out that I can see, which I thought strange. Would the mailbox mod be the best thing entering the smoke on the bottom and adding a vent on the back top? I hate to cut into this but gotta do what I gotta do. Or is the problem smoking with the pellets for too long?

 

[JC in GB]

That seems very odd that there is no outlet vent. My first guess would be too much smoke. The venting issue is what concerns me the most. Not sure how an external smoke box would work with no real air flow. Does any air flow through the box?

 

[clifish]

it seems to come out around the upper doors..there might be a very small hole in the upper back now that I think about it, but nothing like the adjustable ones I have seen on lp smokers. Those have 2 3" vents on each lower side and the big one on the upper back. The amps tray does burn nice though.

 

[JC in GB]

I am unfamiliar with that style of smoker. I don't want to give you any unsound advice.

I am sure there is another poster who may have experience with the unit you are using. I am going to fade back and see what they have to say when they show up.... :)

 

[TomKnollRFV]

The smoke that does come out, is it thick and white?

You want the smoke to be thin, more like how the smoke comes off a cigarette. Thin Blue Smoke.

I swear I read about a similiar smoker before that lacked a proper venting and thus when the AMNPS was used, caused the acrid taste.

Do a quality control smoke using the normal method, and then do the same thing again with the AMNPS. I am guessing that this simply put; can't use the AMNPS properly in it's current form.

Hopefully some one else chimes in, as I'd had to say cut into a unit and then it turns out you didn't need to etc etc.

 

[clifish]

This what the unit looks like, seems to be the same as a masterbuilt, those seem to have almost no venting as well. The smoke does not seem overly thick, you can definitely see it coming out of the unit though.

 

[TomKnollRFV]

This what the unit looks like, seems to be the same as a masterbuilt, those seem to have almost no venting as well. The smoke does not seem overly thick, you can definitely see it coming out of the unit though.

The masterbuilt does have a top vent. If you can see smoke that is white, it's producing far to much smoke.

You might want to experiment with how much smoke you use as well. It might be you just need to reduce your smoking time to your taste.

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

There is a smoke tube on the upper back of the smoker that acts as an exhuast.
However, this model does lack vents/dampers for drawing in fresh air.
So you are experiencing the dead smoke issue.
Have you tried just using the stock set up (wood chips in tray etc, etc)?
You could use only enough pellets in the amps tray for an hour or two of smoke.
You could drill hole(s) in the bottom of the smoker. Of course you would need some sort of damper mechanism to control air intake.

 

[clifish]

Yeah I just looked when I got home and there is a 1/8" tube vent...does not seem like enough. I have not tried chips as it seems problematic from a lot I have read. I might have to add vents or mailbox mod, lessen smoke time..more playing.

 

[Winterrider]

I think if it was me, I would use a metal hole saw and cut one in the bottom and top. Would be easy enough to make a damper for it so you could regulate if need be. If large enough (3") on bottom, could easily do mailbox mod if wanted. Airflow is needed to get rid of stale smoke.

 

[JC in GB]

If you are going to add an air intake, I would suggest using a ball valve. That will allow you to have precise control over air intake.

 

[clifish]

If you are going to add an air intake, I would suggest using a ball valve. That will allow you to have precise control over air intake.

what kind of ball valve? most seem kind of small in metal anyway.

 

[TomKnollRFV]

Chips aren't problematic in smokers designed for them. It's just you need to add more chips every 30-45 minutes.

Which if you do over night smokes isn't an option and you can't cold smoke if you need to burn chips.

I'd try the chips before you go hacking holes in the smoker first. If you aren't doing over night smokes or cold smoking, an AMNPS isn't as needed.

But when it comes to mechanical stuff like adding holes to smokers I'll let the experts take over. I'd be afraid I'd punch a hole through a power unit or some thing because I'm dumb with that sort of thing!

 

[Jonok]

Go very easy on the chips though. With a wood tray with that much venting sitting nearly right on top of the element whatever is in the tray is going to likely catch fire rather than smolder, and you may find yourself with, at best a bunch of white bitter smoke, and at worst a “sneeze” wherein the incompletely burned stuff suddenly ignites in the cook chamber and the resulting brief fireball tries to blow off the door. If you see roiling white opaque smoke in the chamber while you are experimenting, unplug the unit and don’t open the door until it goes away (think “Backdraft”)...

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

If you see roiling white opaque smoke in the chamber while you are experimenting, unplug the unit and don’t open the door until it goes away (think “Backdraft”)...

Excellent observation and advice.

 

[JC in GB]

what kind of ball valve? most seem kind of small in metal anyway.

a 2" threaded, lead free, ball valve should work fine as an air intake.

 

[clifish]

OK will try it the way it was supposed to work, getting chips, and might try and use a cast iron pan for bigger capacity and longer burn. Will put a larger water tray on first rack above.

The other thought was to use a larger deep foil pan on the rack where, fill that with 1" of sand and then put a shallow pan on that with the chips? trying to eliminate chip flair ups? any thoughts?

 

[TomKnollRFV]

If you use a handful of chips as most Electric smokers are intended for, you won't have a chip flair up.

The MES has the chips pretty much right on the element as well and I've never had it happen. I don't think I've actually heard of it happening here in any post I read. You'd need to overfill the unit to have it be a concern I'd think.

 

[Bearcarver]

Howdy all, I have a 30" smoky hollow electric smoker and have smoked, turkey breast, fatties and yesterday bacon wrapped filet mignons. The turkey and filets had an acrid bite to them, not nearly as bad on the fatty. I am using the Amps 5 x 8 tray with either
Todd's competition blend or camp chef apple pellets. The tray lights and smokes all the pellets without a hitch, I keep the temps at about 225 (bluetooth thermometer, not the gauge on the door).

From my readings here it could be an airflow issue as the unit as no vents anywhere for air in or out that I can see, which I thought strange. Would the mailbox mod be the best thing entering the smoke on the bottom and adding a vent on the back top? I hate to cut into this but gotta do what I gotta do. Or is the problem smoking with the pellets for too long?

Are you only lighting one end?
How long does it take for your full 5 X 8 AMNPS Tray to burn out?
Or how long per single row?

Bear

 

[clifish]

yes I only light one end, I get the advertised time out of it, I do believe it is lack of ventilation issue.