Smoke generators!

[Wakulla]

Does anyone out there have any experience with the masterbuilt cold smoking attachment?

We all want more smoke. I have been looking at options. The one most recommended here seems to be a tray loaded with pellets that is lit and sits in the bottom of the smoker. Well it makes me nervous to have burning pellets exposed to all that grease drripping down inside the smoker. Anyone had a problem with this?

If this thing works it will keep the grease and fire separated and is pretty economical compared to other smoke generators.

Your thoughts

 

[Braz]

I have both the M/B cold smoke attachment and the Amazen pellet tray. I end up never using the M/B attachment. That might tell you something. If you get grease dripping into the pellet tray it would be easy enough to make a shield out of foil or a little piece of sheet aluminum. I have not had that problem. I suppose it might be somewhat dependent on your model of smoker and placement of the pellet tray.

 

[Wakulla]

Thank you for your response. The amazen products seem very popular here. An economical solution to the problem. You saved me from another failed experiment. Ordering the tray today.

Now what are the best 100% wood pellets to use?

 

[Jonok]

This works well for me. All the smoke you would ever need without having to reload (and it burns chunks if you want) Drippings managed with their own tray, (no mess on the driveway)
Sufficient thermal mass that general temp stability and recovery after opening door is much better.

 

[gmc2003]

Thank you for your response. The amazen products seem very popular here. An economical solution to the problem. You saved me from another failed experiment. Ordering the tray today.

Now what are the best 100% wood pellets to use?

Order your pellets from Todd also. Unless your looking for bulk.

Chris

 

[Wakulla]

I have been reading a lot. Order tray and pellets from todd. Combo package 5×8 tray and sample packages of all the different pellets. What is your favorite flavor?

Been reading about this mailbox mod. Looks a little rube goldberg. Might see what i can come up with to keep the pellets out of the smoker. Have you tried it?

 

[Bearcarver]

Does anyone out there have any experience with the masterbuilt cold smoking attachment?

We all want more smoke. I have been looking at options. The one most recommended here seems to be a tray loaded with pellets that is lit and sits in the bottom of the smoker. Well it makes me nervous to have burning pellets exposed to all that grease drripping down inside the smoker. Anyone had a problem with this?

If this thing works it will keep the grease and fire separated and is pretty economical compared to other smoke generators.

Your thoughts

All I do is cut a foil pan in half, and put it above the AMNPS--Upside-Down. Keeps any drips out.

Bear

 

[Wakulla]

I see i will try that first. Pretty ribs

 

[kit s]

All I do is cut a foil pan in half, and put it above the AMNPS--Upside-Down. Keeps any drips out.

Bear
View attachment 394963

Good idea Bear...ah may I ask what type of smoker you have? Als how do you keep the tray lit? Have problems with mine going out.

 

[kit s]

Does anyone out there have any experience with the masterbuilt cold smoking attachment?

We all want more smoke. I have been looking at options. The one most recommended here seems to be a tray loaded with pellets that is lit and sits in the bottom of the smoker. Well it makes me nervous to have burning pellets exposed to all that grease drripping down inside the smoker. Anyone had a problem with this?

If this thing works it will keep the grease and fire separated and is pretty economical compared to other smoke generators.

Your thoughts

Have a smokedaddy and don't use any more. Use a tray and also two cubes

 

[rexster314]

The MB smoker attachment isn't worth the money. Always gums up, have to keep an eye on it every 15 minutes or so to push the chips down to the burner element. Total waste of money. I use the tube smoker, never could keep a tray lit in it

 

[johnmeyer]

What is your favorite flavor?

It depends on the food. Hickory is sort of the "default" for many people and it works well with beef and pork. For fish many people use Alder or Apple. For nuts and many other smokes I like to use Todd's "Pitmaster Blend." In fact, if you only want to carry one set of pellets, that would be what I'd use.

Been reading about this mailbox mod. Looks a little rube goldberg. Might see what i can come up with to keep the pellets out of the smoker. Have you tried it?

About two years ago I too went through the same set of questions and did the same set of things that you are doing now. The AMNPS solved the problem of having to add chips every 30-45 minutes, but having it in the smoker didn't always produce great-tasting smoke, and it was a little bit of a pain to have to make sure stuff didn't drip on it.

I then started several threads in this forum where I complained about not getting good-tasting food with the MES. I asked for help and everyone said, "build yourself a 'mailbox mod'." So, I created my own version:

Mailbox (Popcorn) Mod

The difference, once I went to this, was night and day. The food tastes better because the creosote (black, shiny, bitter stuff) condenses in the external can; I can use it for cold-smoking; I never have to worry about drips; I can check the AMNPS without having to open the smoking cabinet; I can let the AMNPS burn down while I clean out the smoker and leave it open to dry out, before I put it away. Also, I never have any problems with the AMNPS staying lit because it is much easier to control the airflow over the AMNPS when it is in a can.

 

[Wakulla]

It depends on the food. Hickory is sort of the "default" for many people and it works well with beef and pork. For fish many people use Alder or Apple. For nuts and many other smokes I like to use Todd's "Pitmaster Blend." In fact, if you only want to carry one set of pellets, that would be what I'd use.

About two years ago I too went through the same set of questions and did the same set of things that you are doing now. The AMNPS solved the problem of having to add chips every 30-45 minutes, but having it in the smoker didn't always produce great-tasting smoke, and it was a little bit of a pain to have to make sure stuff didn't drip on it.

I then started several threads in this forum where I complained about not getting good-tasting food with the MES. I asked for help and everyone said, "build yourself a 'mailbox mod'." So, I created my own version:

Mailbox (Popcorn) Mod

The difference, once I went to this, was night and day. The food tastes better because the creosote (black, shiny, bitter stuff) condenses in the external can; I can use it for cold-smoking; I never have to worry about drips; I can check the AMNPS without having to open the smoking cabinet; I can let the AMNPS burn down while I clean out the smoker and leave it open to dry out, before I put it away. Also, I never have any problems with the AMNPS staying lit because it is much easier to control the airflow over the AMNPS when it is in a can.

I am getting the picture. All you really need is a metal box that you can easily put the AMNPS in, a damper on thr box to control airflow, an outlet from the box preferably at the top and a piece of flexible metal duct to pipe it into the chip loader hole.

Set the box low, open up the dampers and watch the smoke rise through the smoker. Use the damper on the box to control volume of smoke.

Pretty simple!

 

[Bearcarver]

Good idea Bear...ah may I ask what type of smoker you have? Als how do you keep the tray lit? Have problems with mine going out.

Right now I use a Generation #2.5 MES 40.
Before this I used a Gen #1 MES 40, and before that I used a Generation #1 MES 30.
That covers over 9 years, and they all are still working, and they all worked hand in hand with an AMNPS inside of them.
You can find all kinds of tweaks on this forum, but the main things are use Dry Pellets, Put it in the right place for your specific Model & Generation, and Spend the time to get it lit properly before you put it in the MES.
If it's not lit properly to the point of a nice thick Cigar-like Cherry deep into the pellet row, it will more than likely go out.
Once you learn to get it started like that, you'll find out it's even hard to get it to stop when you want it to.
Sometimes I want to stop it & save the unburned pellets, and the only way is to completely separate the burned pellets from the ones that are not even started. Then maybe in about a half hour it will stop smoking.

I tell people if they tried everything else to no avail, try the Mailbox Mod.
However, I don't have much room for more things, like a mailbox, and I don't like to play games with Mods that I don't need, and I don't need to be having to take it apart so I can cover it. I'm too lazy to play games, when All I have to do is Fill it, Light it, stick it in, and sit back & relax. I have never noticed any bitterness (creosote) on any of my Meat, but I only ever light one end, and I always make sure it doesn't get out of hand.
A Light to Medium smoke for hours + hours + hours makes Awesome tasting Meat.
But even a short time of Heavy Smoke, no matter what color it is, can be a Bad thing.

Note: The only Pellet I can't keep going is Straight Cherry. If I want Cherry, I'll use Cherry Dust. I use Hickory Pellets about 95% of the time.

Bear

 

[R Blum]

I use the MB cold smoker unit for hot and cold smoking. Ran a short piece of stove pipe from it to the hole where the chip loader was. I put a router variable speed control on it, which is just a dimmer like switch. Load it up with chips and turn it on high until I get a good smoke going then turn it down to medium or low. Burns for hours with nice clean smoke.

 

[smokerjim]

I have a mes30, with amnps tray, never had much luck keeping it lit inside the smoker like some of the others, so I went to the mailbox mod, now no problems what so ever.

 

[brayhaven]

Hmm, I’ve been using the MB cold smoker attachment for 5 or 6 years and don’t know what I’d do without it. I did install an inline rheostat to control the amount and intensity of the smoke.
Had tried other things, but this is the easiest, most effective smoke generator I’ve tried.