MES30 + A-maze-n Tray: Are pellets supposed to turn black?

[charliebrown2]

Smoking a pork shoulder right now with the subject combo. temp set to 250 F. I opened the MES to check on the pellets a few hours in and notice that the pellets have ALL turned black (about 2 rows) while only 2 or 3 inches of where the fire started has turned to ash.

Is this normal? Should I let it be? Or did something go wrong and I should dump the tray and re-fill it with fresh pellets?

 

[GaryHibbert]

The pellets in an AMNPS will often burn black ahead of the burning ones--they're just charring from the heat. Now, you didn't say whether the pellets, where the ash is at the beginning, are still burning or not. If they're still burning and producing smoke, then you're good to go. If they've gone out, just dump or blow away the ash, rearrange the pellets (move some from the rear to refill the burnt area, and relight the pellets. The black ones are fine--they will burn when their time comes. I always save any unburned or black pellets to reuse the next time when I'm done a smoke.
Gary

Edit: I just realized that you had 2 rows of black pellets. So now, what I would do is get rid of the ash an nuke the pellets for 1 or 2 times for 2 mins apiece. This will ensure that they're dry. Then relight the AMNPS, let it burn for about 10 mins, blow out the flames and put it back in the smoker or mailbox. That should solve the problem--just keep an eye on thing for the first half hour or so.
G.