Cold weather,tube and dust

[normanaj]

So Jane and I went to a concert at a local venue last night and we got home at 11:30pm and I was still wound up so I fired up the MES for a picnic to have for pulled pork today.The outside temp was 12℉ and it got as low as 8℉.

Filled a 12" ubolt modded tube with dust and lit it and put in the mailbox and smoke started flowing,I've done this many,many times without issue.Last night I just could not keep it going so I switched to whole pellets for the first time in years and smoke flowed fine for the duration,just had to do a second 6" tube for some additional smoke.

I've never used the mailbox in weather this cold before but with long smokes I always use it so I don't have to screw around with opening the door to the MES.I've done many shorter smokes with the MES in even colder weather but the difference is on those short smokes I would just put a modded 6" tube with dust in the smoker.

These were brand new pecan shell pellets.I did use dust from these pellets last week for that bottom round I did and I used the mailbox but the temps were in the high 40s and the entire 6" tube burned for the duration.My guess is the cold weather can affect how the dust burns in comparison to whole pellets in really cold weather.

 

[gmc2003]

I'm glad it worked out for ya Norm, and boy am I jealous of your weather. In this part of New England it hit -11*. Our furnace rarely stopped running. If this keeps up I'm going to have to fire up the pellet stove again.

Chris

 

[Winterrider]

By chance was the dust exposed to any humid conditions lately ?
That seems to be the only time I've had issues with dust and I use mailbox all the time, even in well below 0° temps

 

[normanaj]

By chance was the dust exposed to any humid conditions lately ?
That seems to be the only time I've had issues with dust and I use mailbox all the time, even in well below 0° temps

Used dust from same batch last week without issue. All my pellets are stored in sealed containers in my shop area which has a dehumidifier running 24/7.

Will have to see what happens next smoke.