Pellets catching on fire in small smoke house

[Forester579]

Hello Everyone

Just looking for a little advice regarding a small smokehouse I built a couple years ago.
I’ve attached a picture so you can get an idea of what the setup looks like.

So I’ve been using a smokin it tray with pellets for the smoke. Heat is provided by a 240v oven element. The problem I’m having occasionally, is the pellets in the tray catch on fire causing the temps in my smokehouse to skyrocket. I’ve ruined at least one batch of Kabanosy due to this issue and a few jerky batches have suffered as well.

It seems to happen more often when I make jerky because I allow more airflow through the smokehouse.

Just wondering if anyone else has run into this issue? If so, what was your fix?

Could it be due to older pellets? Or maybe I can change the smoker set up a little bit to keep this from happening?

Thanks in advance to anyone that chimes in here.

 

[chopsaw]

Did you try lighting the tray away from the heat source .

 

[Forester579]

I light the tray outside the smoke house and then when it is only smouldering I put it inside. It will work as intended for an undeterminable amount of time and then suddenly catch.
I haven’t tried moving the tray any further away from the heat source yet, as that would take some new fabrication.

 

[normanaj]

Another suggestion would be to put the tray outside the smokehouse and do something similar to the "mailbox mod" that many of use with our MES smokers.

These give you the gist of the idea:

 

[sandyut]

Or maybe try the smoke tube Ubolt mod from @normanaj. I would get the pellets off the heat source. Or the mailbox mod above.

 

[BigW.]

I agree, if all the pellets are all lighting at once they are to close to heat source. Mailbox mod would also give you cleaner smoke. Another possible suggestion would be a piece of metal to divert the smoke for even distribution. Without whatever is directly above tray will get more smoke that meats than the sides.

 

[chopsaw]

You can buy the enclosed tray for burning pellets / wood chips . They choke off the air flow to the contents .
Could also use a cast iron skillet with wood chunks . To much surface on pellets to sit it on the heat source in my opinion .

 

[Forester579]

Thanks for the replies guys. Sounds like the consensus is that the pellets are just too close to the heat source. I will make some variation of that u-bolt set up and see how that works. And possibly look into building one of those mailbox mods in the future.

Thanks for the help

 

[Fueling Around]

I'm going to tag Keith @JckDanls 07 and hopefully he will reply.
He joined 2 smoke tubes end to end and props it in the corner of his smokehouse.
I don't have any photos.

...
Sounds like the consensus is that the pellets are just too close to the heat source.
..

Yes

 

[JckDanls 07]

Looking at the picture... Looks like the easiest fix is going to be putting a few more of the firebricks in the back right corner near the air vent (I'm assuming that's the vent back there) and setting the maze on them, off the heat sorce... If the heat sorce is still movable I would try moving it a little to the left and put maze in the corner off the difuser...

For my smokehouse, pretty much the same as yours but wider... I made a difuser plate (with a bunch of holes) the same size as the smokehouse but with about a 1-2 inch gap around the outside... But I use the expandable tube and stand it straight up in the corner of the smokehouse... I'll see if I have a pic somewhere...

 

[Forester579]

Looking at the picture... Looks like the easiest fix is going to be putting a few more of the firebricks in the back right corner near the air vent (I'm assuming that's the vent back there) and setting the maze on them, off the heat sorce... If the heat sorce is still movable I would try moving it a little to the left and put maze in the corner off the difuser...

For my smokehouse, pretty much the same as yours but wider... I made a difuser plate (with a bunch of holes) the same size as the smokehouse but with about a 1-2 inch gap around the outside... But I use the expandable tube and stand it straight up in the corner of the smokehouse... I'll see if I have a pic somewhere...

The diffuser is meant to give you better smoke distribution? Like BigW mentioned earlier?

I originally thought of putting my maze in the corner by the air intake but I was worried that it being so close to the walls, it might light the whole smoke house on fire if the pellets lit up.

Would definitely like to see a picture of your set up JckDanls, if you get a chance.

 

[Steve H]

More air flow can also be a problem. I'd try reducing that.

 

[chopsaw]

If you set it up and run it like in your picture , is grease dripping on the pellets causing the flare up ?

 

[Forester579]

If you set it up and run it like in your picture , is grease dripping on the pellets causing the flare up ?

If I made something greasy it definitely would drip on the pellets. When I make jerky or kabanosy nothing drips on them. So I don’t think it’s a grease issue.

 

[Forester579]

More air flow can also be a problem. I'd try reducing that.

I agree Steve. I haven’t had the pellets ignite when I have my intake dampener closed almost all the way. The issue with that is, when making jerky I like to have a lot of air flow to help with drying.

Chopsaw mentioned they make enclosed pellet trays. Seems like that would give me the best of both worlds. Good airflow in the smokehouse but less air to the pellets.

 

[chopsaw]

Chopsaw mentioned they make enclosed pellet trays. Seems like that would give me the best of both worlds. Good airflow in the smokehouse but less air to the pellets.

I want to adjust that suggestion . Those boxes work good with wood chips , but might not be the best with pellets . Smoldering pellets can become volatile in that situation , meaning they can cause a " rich " enviroment inside the smoke house or smoker , then when that " leans " out enough it can cause combustion all at once . I had that happen when trying pellets in my MES 30 .

So if you try an enclosed box use wood chips instead of pellets .

Do a test run with a cast iron skillet and a couple small wood chunks .
I do it in my MES 30 when smoking at higher temps .

I like the bricks by the inlet idea , but didn't mention it for the same reason Steve stated .

Do some test runs and see what happens .

 

[BugHunter]

You can buy ready-made external smoker attachments that have a port for the smoke and can be attached to anything. I have the Masterbuilt one for my MES and it works flawlessly. Smokes forever too, and the amount of smoke is astonishing. You do have to be careful when assembling it to make sure there's no air leaks inside, but mine smokes 3-4 hours on just a cup of pellets. Of course if I don't have it all seated correctly and air gets in, it smokes for a few minutes and then catches fire... lol. Only had that happen once and learned my lesson.

The sell generic smoke generator gizmos you can buy for your homemade smokehouse. Search online.