My AMNPS experience

[zwiller]

Agree with others that lack of air flow is why the AMNPS went out. Also no water, foil the pan for drippings, vent wide open, no wrap, and chip loader out 1-2". I actually leave it out altogether for a while and once I am confident its running I insert and throttle it down a bit.

WRT temps, 2 butts in MES is a big job (thermal mass) and would easily take the MES a few hours to catch up. That is, assuming you had pre heated. I think this might be a factor on this smoke. I turn it on, load the AMNPS, light it, put in MES, and proceed to get meat. Temps are 275 by then. FYI when I ran 2 butts it was a 25.5hr smoke and there is a post here by a poor guy that ran 4 once and he was in the stall around 40hrs.

Hang in there, you'll get it and the results are worth the effort!

 

[patinlouisiana]

Agree with others that lack of air flow is why the AMNPS went out. Also no water, foil the pan for drippings, vent wide open, no wrap, and chip loader out 1-2". I actually leave it out altogether for a while and once I am confident its running I insert and throttle it down a bit.

WRT temps, 2 butts in MES is a big job (thermal mass) and would easily take the MES a few hours to catch up. That is, assuming you had pre heated. I think this might be a factor on this smoke. I turn it on, load the AMNPS, light it, put in MES, and proceed to get meat. Temps are 275 by then. FYI when I ran 2 butts it was a 25.5hr smoke and there is a post here by a poor guy that ran 4 once and he was in the stall around 40hrs."

Hang in there, you'll get it and the results are worth the effort!

The buts were boneless so not quite so much mass. Done to 195 in 12 hours then 2 hours in the dry ice chest to rest.

 

[zwiller]

Looks good! Did you pre heat?

 

[patinlouisiana]

Yes, about 40 minutes

 

[chopsaw]

It does look good . 12 hours for 2 butts in an MES is doin pretty good I think .
I just put in a 6 lber at 250 . See how long it takes .

 

[Bearcarver]

I put a 3" aluminum 90 on my vent for when it's windy. It fits perfectly and holds tight. The MES vents well in the wind. Haven't tried it in any really strong winds yet.

Sounds good Steve!!

Bear

This is as far as it went.

It's hard to tell in that picture, but another problem you might have could be you're filling your AMNPS too full. That can block Air From getting to the fire too.
I fill mine to about 3/8" from the top.

Bear

 

[patinlouisiana]

I will keep that in mind.

 

[johnmeyer]

So you are saying the MES with the vent open should still be able to reach 275 F?

Absolutely, positively, yes.

If you want to get it to that max temp more quickly, you can close the vent. However, I always leave my vent open, even during preheat, to let some of the odors and gunk from the previous smoke burn off and get out of the enclosure before I add food. It is actually a little worrisome to see the amount of smoke that can come out of an empty smoker while it is heated to 275. I've written about this before:

Cleanliness Is Next To Godliness ... But Does It Taste Good?

I'm actually not sure why there is an adjustable vent in the various MES models. These cabinet electric smokers have such a minuscule airflow that they are on the border of not being a very good smoker. Here's a link to one of my favorite BBQ science sites, describing the limitations of any electric smoker, including the MES:

Smoke Quality in an Electric Smoker

As you'll see if you read that, the air turnover in a cabinet electric smoker is a very small fraction of what you get with other smoking methods, and this can lead to substandard taste results.

 

[patinlouisiana]

I just finished smoking the house. Forgot the pellets in the microwave. How stupid!

 

[drdon]

I just finished smoking the house

Not necessarily a bad thing! I have a Gen 1 40 that I used both the AMNPS and the Tube in with very few problems. Once I changed to an outside smoke source like the mailbox mod I never had a failure. I use a file cabinet under the MES so I can add pellets without opening the heated box.

 

[normanaj]

I've always had issues the maze.Went with the tube using u-bolt mod and crushed pellets and have never looked back.

 

[mooncusser]

Haven't really had issues yet with the AMNPS in my Gen 2.5 MES30. Bearcarver gave solid advice where to put it and pulling out the chip loader. Hasn't gone out on me yet. It did flare up during one cook. Easily dealt with, just unexpected.