not impressed with amns

[nickatdadvsfood]

I am using the a-maze-n smoker maze.

image.jpg

• nickatdadvsfood
• Aug 23, 2015

bought it for pellets in my mes30. I am also having trouble keeping it lit. Tried nuking and letting it burn 10 min. Also have the tray pulled out for air flow. I am burning pecan pellets. Any suggestions would be helpful.

 

[nickatdadvsfood]

Well, it's working great now. Just took a little patience.

 

[daricksta]

Well, it's working great now. Just took a little patience.

You're right, there is a slight learning curve to using the AMNPS but it's sure worth it. I've been using mine for over 3 years now. I now light it using gelled alcohol and a BBQ lighter instead of a propane torch. I still blow on it to get a bright red cherry before inserting it into my MES. I never have problems with it going out and always get really good smoke. Sometimes, too much.

I got a kick out of seeing the AMNPS new and shiny in its packaging. I can't remember back to when mine looked like that or even the packaging it came in. What I do know is that the food I smoke raised in quality after I started using it and stopped using wood chips.

 

[brickguy221]

 
You're right, there is a slight learning curve to using the AMNPS but it's sure worth it. I've been using mine for over 3 years now. I now light it using gelled alcohol and a BBQ lighter instead of a propane torch. I still blow on it to get a bright red cherry before inserting it into my MES. I never have problems with it going out and always get really good smoke. Sometimes, too much.

I got a kick out of seeing the AMNPS new and shiny in its packaging. I can't remember back to when mine looked like that or even the packaging it came in. What I do know is that the food I smoke raised in quality after I started using it and stopped using wood chips.

+1 on the learning curve ... I was overly disappointed the first 2-3 times I used mine, but after some tips from Todd Johnson and also on this site, I like it now.However, with my being a lover of a stronger smoke taste than some people, I do think though the wood chips have the edge in flavor as long as a person doesn't over do it in using them, but the adding of them every 20 minutes or so is a pain in the "A", thus I will now take the pellets over the chips any day since I learned how to use the pellets. 

 

[siege]

When I ordered my AMNPS, I went over to Harbor Freight, and bought a propane torch. For under 20 bucks I got a propane torch that screws on a standard 16 oz disposable cylinder. It is piezo start, so your fingers are away from the flame. This hand held torch, part # 91061 is like a blow torch on steroids. It will light your pelet smoker ( or anything else ) so fast it will amaze you. My only issue the first time I tried it, was that it fully lit 2 rows in about 30 seconds with the tip of the flame aimed into the lighting hole. Well lit, fast ? On yeah.

 

[mummel]

It's a great gizmo but requires some babying.  I made a vid on how you can light it with a hairdryer (page 2).  I made a butt this past weekend.  It took 3 attempts to get the tray going but after about an hour it was off to the races and saved me from having to load chips for 15 hours.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/232596/any-issues-with-your-mes-40-bt-amps-cast-your-vote

 

[Bearcarver]

 
It's a great gizmo but requires some babying.  I made a vid on how you can light it with a hairdryer (page 2).  I made a butt this past weekend.  It took 3 attempts to get the tray going but after about an hour it was off to the races and saved me from having to load chips for 15 hours.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/232596/any-issues-with-your-mes-40-bt-amps-cast-your-vote

Great Video---Just watched it.

One thing I noticed is the size of the flame. I never had such a large flame, and mine never goes out.

It would be nice if you could pin-point the wind your getting there to get it to only blow on the small area where the bottom of the row of pellets is, to make that cigar-like cherry deeper & deeper into the bottom of the row. All that width of wind & all that fire is a waste.

If you could neck that wind down, you could turn it on low & get the job done much more efficiently.

Just my observations & thoughts.

Bear

 

[mummel]

Thanks bear.  Yeah that one worked, but the one this past weekend, I used exactly the same technique, and it took 3 attempts to get going.  Granted we had 100% humidity again (huge rains in the northeast).  I did nuke the pellets for 3.5min in the microwave.  But yeah, still learning.  Love my AMPS, but I need to be able to trust it too.

 

[daricksta]

 
+1 on the learning curve ... I was overly disappointed the first 2-3 times I used mine, but after some tips from Todd Johnson and also on this site, I like it now.However, with my being a lover of a stronger smoke taste than some people, I do think though the wood chips have the edge in flavor as long as a person doesn't over do it in using them, but the adding of them every 20 minutes or so is a pain in the "A", thus I will now take the pellets over the chips any day since I learned how to use the pellets. 

If you want a strong smoke flavor, I suggest you place meat on the 3rd rack (with a 4-rack MES). If you're cooking two hunks o'meat then you want to use the 2nd and 3rd racks. The closer to the AMNPS the meat is, the more smoke it will absorb. Of course the 4th rack is the closest you'll get but then you're too close to the heating element and run the risk of cooking the meat too quickly. However, I imagine that the MES designers took this into consideration so perhaps it still might be OK to put the meat there. If you did, you might remove the water pan just to go full bore smoky. Apparently according to MB customer service, the water pan is in there just to provide added moisture. The response that was printed by someone in a thread last week (I think) didn't say anything about the water pan being essential for heat disbursement.

Also, if you want really strong smoke taste, go for hickory or mesquite. I think you were the one who said he likes to use mesquite with brisket. Also keep in mind that home-smoked foods typically taste more smoky if stored in plastic baggies or--better yet--vacuumed sealed. That happens every time I smoke meat and cheese. It's really cool.

 

[daricksta]

Continuing the discussion about the AMNPS, this is my 10 cents (used to be 2 cents but with inflation...). There are guys who have trouble keeping it lit. I have the opposite "problem". When I finish smoking I have to separate the unlit pellets from the smoking ones or the tray will keep burning the rest of the pellets. This is especially true when I remove the Maze from my smoker and place it on the ground. The thing won't stop burning! I move the unburnt pellets away from the smoking ones and the tray goes out usually within 5 minutes. I always leave it out for a few hours or overnight before putting it back in the garage with my MES 30.

As for nuking wood pellets beforehand--never needed to do it. I've used leftover pellets that have been exposed to grease and steam inside my MES 30, to the night air, and also stored in my uninsulated garage. All the pellets I've bought from Todd are stored in their original plastic bags. I've got pellets over a year old. I never have problems lighting any of them or keeping them lit. Never. I used to light the tray with a propane torch but this year I switched to using gelled alcohol. I'll never use a propane torch again.

I don't know why other guys have problems. Some of that can be attributed to the design of the MES Gen 2 smokers and their restricted airflow. I have a Gen 1 and the AMNPS has been more than great, it's been essential to producing the great "Q" I put on the table.

 

[Bearcarver]

 
Continuing the discussion about the AMNPS, this is my 10 cents (used to be 2 cents but with inflation...). There are guys who have trouble keeping it lit. I have the opposite "problem". When I finish smoking I have to separate the unlit pellets from the smoking ones or the tray will keep burning the rest of the pellets. This is especially true when I remove the Maze from my smoker and place it on the ground. The thing won't stop burning! I move the unburnt pellets away from the smoking ones and the tray goes out usually within 5 minutes. I always leave it out for a few hours or overnight before putting it back in the garage with my MES 30.

As for nuking wood pellets beforehand--never needed to do it. I've used leftover pellets that have been exposed to grease and steam inside my MES 30, to the night air, and also stored in my uninsulated garage. All the pellets I've bought from Todd are stored in their original plastic bags. I've got pellets over a year old. I never have problems lighting any of them or keeping them lit. Never. I used to light the tray with a propane torch but this year I switched to using gelled alcohol. I'll never use a propane torch again.

I don't know why other guys have problems. Some of that can be attributed to the design of the MES Gen 2 smokers and their restricted airflow. I have a Gen 1 and the AMNPS has been more than great, it's been essential to producing the great "Q" I put on the table.

Yup----The Gen #1 makes it easy.

I have the same track record, but for 5 years:

Never Nuke my pellets.

Never touch the Chip Dumper or Chip Drawer.

Just get one end lit right, top vent open, place it on the support rods.

Smokes for up to 11 or 12 hours non-stop.

LOL----Yup, hard to stop---Gotta get every little burning pellet away from the unburned pellets.

Bear

 

[mfreel]

Here's a video I did on how to light the AMNPS.  Sorry Mods if this isn't appropriate.  Please delete.

 

[Bearcarver]

 
Here's a video I did on how to light the AMNPS.  Sorry Mods if this isn't appropriate.  Please delete.

Nice Video!!!

Bear

 

[dr k]

 
Continuing the discussion about the AMNPS, this is my 10 cents (used to be 2 cents but with inflation...). There are guys who have trouble keeping it lit. I have the opposite "problem". When I finish smoking I have to separate the unlit pellets from the smoking ones or the tray will keep burning the rest of the pellets. This is especially true when I remove the Maze from my smoker and place it on the ground. The thing won't stop burning! I move the unburnt pellets away from the smoking ones and the tray goes out usually within 5 minutes. I always leave it out for a few hours or overnight before putting it back in the garage with my MES 30.

As for nuking wood pellets beforehand--never needed to do it. I've used leftover pellets that have been exposed to grease and steam inside my MES 30, to the night air, and also stored in my uninsulated garage. All the pellets I've bought from Todd are stored in their original plastic bags. I've got pellets over a year old. I never have problems lighting any of them or keeping them lit. Never. I used to light the tray with a propane torch but this year I switched to using gelled alcohol. I'll never use a propane torch again.

I don't know why other guys have problems. Some of that can be attributed to the design of the MES Gen 2 smokers and their restricted airflow. I have a Gen 1 and the AMNPS has been more than great, it's been essential to producing the great "Q" I put on the table.

I wonder if all MES 30" and 40 " chip loader hole and top vent hole are the same size.

-Kurt

 

[daricksta]

 
I wonder if all MES 30" and 40 " chip loader hole and top vent hole are the same size.

-Kurt

I think @Bearcarver has both the MES 30 and 40 so I hope he weighs in on this.

 

[daricksta]

 
Here's a video I did on how to light the AMNPS.  Sorry Mods if this isn't appropriate.  Please delete.

What impressed me the most was the flame coming out of the lighting hole (or whatever it's called). I've had flame on top of the pellets but never shooting out of the hole towards me. But I could hear the wind in the video and we rarely get that strong a wind in my area. But the important thing is that you know how to light the pellets and keep them lit.

 

[daricksta]

 
Yup----The Gen #1 makes it easy.

I have the same track record, but for 5 years:

Never Nuke my pellets.

Never touch the Chip Dumper or Chip Drawer.

Just get one end lit right, top vent open, place it on the support rods.

Smokes for up to 11 or 12 hours non-stop.

LOL----Yup, hard to stop---Gotta get every little burning pellet away from the unburned pellets.

Bear

Our AMNPS styles are very similar--just about identical. I never touch the Chip Dumper or the Chip Drawer either. I place the AMNPS where you do except I put it inside the MES lit end toward the rear wall. Top vent wide open? Check! The next thing I'm going to try is leaving the water pan out and see how that affects the AMNPS and general heat distribution.

I don't mean to sound elitist or anything but I truly think about all the guys posting on SMF about problems keeping the AMNPS lit and temp swings with their MES while during every one of my smokes I'm getting that same 6-12 hours of smoke from the AMNPS (depending on if I fill 2 or 3 rows with pellets) and the temps per my ET-733 are fairly stable over the entire smoke. Bear, I think your smokes go the same way as mine.

 

[Bearcarver]

 
I wonder if all MES 30" and 40 " chip loader hole and top vent hole are the same size.

-Kurt

I never measured the diameters of these holes, but other than some differences in the interior portion of the chip dumpers between various units, I would guess the diameters were the same.

Bear

 
Our AMNPS styles are very similar--just about identical. I never touch the Chip Dumper or the Chip Drawer either. I place the AMNPS where you do except I put it inside the MES lit end toward the rear wall. Top vent wide open? Check! The next thing I'm going to try is leaving the water pan out and see how that affects the AMNPS and general heat distribution.

I don't mean to sound elitist or anything but I truly think about all the guys posting on SMF about problems keeping the AMNPS lit and temp swings with their MES while during every one of my smokes I'm getting that same 6-12 hours of smoke from the AMNPS (depending on if I fill 2 or 3 rows with pellets) and the temps per my ET-733 are fairly stable over the entire smoke. Bear, I think your smokes go the same way as mine.

What Masterbuilt says about why you're supposed to leave the water pan in when smoking means nothing to me.

My reason for leaving it in when smoking is "HEAT".

In as much as we both know that the lower the rack in the MES, the hotter the rack due to how close they are to the direct heat of the heating element.

Remove that water pan & they all get even more direct heat from that heating element.

I want as even a heat as I can get throughout my smoker, and the less direct heat I get from the heating element the more evenly the heat will be distributed.

Hope this makes sense.

Bear

 

[daricksta]

 
I never measured the diameters of these holes, but other than some differences in the interior portion of the chip dumpers between various units, I would guess the diameters were the same.

Bear

What Masterbuilt says about why you're supposed to leave the water pan in when smoking means nothing to me.

My reason for leaving it in when smoking is "HEAT".

In as much as we both know that the lower the rack in the MES, the hotter the rack due to how close they are to the direct heat of the heating element.

Remove that water pan & they all get even more direct heat from that heating element.

I want as even a heat as I can get throughout my smoker, and the less direct heat I get from the heating element the more evenly the heat will be distributed.

Hope this makes sense.

Bear

Everything you post always makes sense, Bear. But as I've posted elsewhere around here, this whole thing about the water pan aiding in heat distribution calls for an experiment on my part. The next time I smoke ribs I'm leaving the water pan out. I'll write down what my set point is and also record the temps on the two racks throughout the smoke. I already know how the MES 30 works with the water pan and the temps to expect. I'll compare those figures with what I find out during the experiment and post the results in my Water Pan thread.

 

[mfreel]

 
I wonder if all MES 30" and 40 " chip loader hole and top vent hole are the same size.

-Kurt

Yep.  I have both.  I use a 3" elbow on both.