I must be doing this wrong.

[Nefarious]

I took off the mailbox this morning and got the smoker, now named Frankenstein, mostly sealed up. I wanted to see how it would work with a smoke tube. I placed the tube on the heat deflection plate, where I put the chips. There was an enormous amount of smoke and when it cooled down the pellet tube stuck to the heat deflector because of the creosote that came from the pellets.

I assume that is where the pellet tube goes because just above it is the water pan. It doesn't make sense to put it above the water pan as more water will cause the pellets to burn worse.

The other alternative would be to replace the water pan with a rack and have a different water pan, half the width, and put the smoke tube beside it. The smoker inside looks like:

 

[912smoker]

Light it and let it burn for 5 mins or so then blow it out. Place the tube on the bottom rack. You should get a nice, clean smoke. I'm sure it got too hot on the deflector . Or that's what I did with mine. Others will be along with more help.

Keith

 

[kilo charlie]

Prop the tube up on the edge of the heat deflection plate.. give it some room to breath and drop out the ash.

What brand of pellets are you using? Some brands are known to use flavored oils.

Light the pellets and let it burn for 10 minutes then snuff out the flame. They will smolder, creating the smoke. Depending on the length of tube, you'll get smoke for close to 5 hours on a 12 inch tube based on my experience.

You will not need a water pan if you're just cold smoking, but you can add ice to it if you're cold smoking cheese, butter or bacon.

 

[kilo charlie]

Here's an example, except now I prop the lit end up on the ledge to give it more air.

 

[Nefarious]

Here's an example, except now I prop the lit end up on the ledge to give it more air.

View attachment 528420

so you don't use water? Are the two pans filled with ice?

 

[Nefarious]

Prop the tube up on the edge of the heat deflection plate.. give it some room to breath and drop out the ash.

What brand of pellets are you using? Some brands are known to use flavored oils.

Light the pellets and let it burn for 10 minutes then snuff out the flame. They will smolder, creating the smoke. Depending on the length of tube, you'll get smoke for close to 5 hours on a 12 inch tube based on my experience.

You will not need a water pan if you're just cold smoking, but you can add ice to it if you're cold smoking cheese, butter or bacon.

I'm using traeger pellets. I found a source for lumber jack but would like to use the ones I have up.

 

[kilo charlie]

so you don't use water? Are the two pans filled with ice?

When I'm cold smoking I use the ice to keep the chamber cooler... and no water.

If I'm hot smoking, no ice, just water in the pan and no tube in the propane smoker.

Trager is one of the brands known to use flavored oils in their pellets. They also cost almost three as much.

I buy Pit Boss brand pellets at Walmart for $14.96 for a 40 pound bag. Around here a 20 pound bag of Traeger is $19.99. That comes out to $1/pound for Traeger or $0.37/ pound for Pit Boss.

 

[Nefarious]

I'll just dump the pellets. I grabbed the tube a nd still cant get the color off my finger. I only bought them because I was.unprepared and the y sell them down the street at ace. I can get some lumber jack.

 

[indaswamp]

Cold smoke overnight; your results will be better....higher RH% at night, better draft while cold smoking.

 

[indaswamp]

I highly recommend pellet dust for cold smoking....creates clean TBS.

 

[Nefarious]

I buy Pit Boss brand pellets at Walmart for $14.96 for a 40 pound bag. Around here a 20 pound bag of Traeger is $19.99. That comes out to $1/pound for Traeger or $0.37/ pound for Pit Boss.

I can get lumber jack pellets at $11 for a.20 lb bag. So they are more then the traeger pellets. I have a neighbor that will take the traeger so they won't go to waste.

Are the Pit Boss pellets 100% mesquite or hickory? They call it a blend, not sure what the ratio of mesquite to other is, whatever the other is. This is just like lumber jack pellets.

 

[kilo charlie]

https://pitboss-grills.com/smoke-science/back-to-basics/wood-pellets-for-smoking-and-grilling

 

[Lonzinomaker]

For smoking cheese, look for 100% fruitwood pellets like apple or cherry. If it says "100% natural", or "100% all hardwood" those aren't "100% apple or 100% cherry". I think AMAZN still has some fruitwood pellets. I bought 50# of lumber jack pellets several years ago when they were available without filler wood.