After 6 years using my old masterbuilt analog smoker and my propane SV24 decided it was time to upgrade on the electric side. After lots of research on this site I decided the Cabelas MES40 along with an AMNPS was the best choice. Never used an AMNPS but after seeing the size of the wood chip pan on the MES I knew loading chips every 15 minutes wasn't going to work. Got the new rig all seasoned up the night before(while having a couple cold ones of course). Whipped up some BBQ sauces(Carolina Mustard, Vinegar, KC style, and a finishing sauce) and tossed them in the fridge. Next morning grabbed a couple 9 pound butts and injected them with apple juice, rubbed them with yellow mustard, and applied my pork rub. Got a late start so the smoker was up to 225 and the butts were ready to go before I could even nuke the pellets and pack up the maze so I started out with wood chips. Bad Idea. My old analog smoker had a whole pan I could put chips in and could usually get 2-3 hours of smoke at 225. This thing and a small handful of chips in the side loader didn't last 15 minutes. So after messing with that for a couple hours I decided it was time to get the AMNPS out of the box. Nuked the hickory pellets for a couple minutes and then loaded up the tray. Did two rows because I always wrap my butts at 165 and figured I could get 6 hours of smoke out of it. Let it burn for about 10 minutes and then blew out the flame and p ut it in the bottom of the smoker lower left on the sausage accessory that came with the smoker. Butts took about 6-7 hours to get to the stall 165. Double wrapped them in foil with a little apple juice and took them another 6 hours to get to 200. I pulled them and tossed them in a cooler full of towels around midnight. Unfortunately I had to work early the next morning and wouldn't be home till the evening so I had my buddy swing by the house and pull them for me around noon the next day. He only snapped one pic of the finished product for me and I forgot to get some when I got home but the pork was moist and had great flavor. Not as much smoke flavor as I got with the analog smoker and in the SV24 but this could have been due to me messing with wood chips for 2 hours at the beginning of the smoke. Overall happy with the new smoker looking to fire it up again this weekend.
