A-MAZE-N Cold Smoke Generator

[NDKoze]

I finally got a chance to test out my 18" AMNTS Cold Smoke Generator yesterday. This was a pure dry run with no food in the smoker.

It was a mild ND day with a healthy South wind (smoker on South-facing deck) with ambient temps at start time around 45 or so. Temps went down the 30s overnight.

I removed the smoke box, removed the drip pan, and placed the 18" AMNTS filled close to the top filled with some Jack Daniels Oak Whiskey Barrel pellets about 1" from the smoker wall on the bottom rack of the smoker and put the torch to it around 3:45pm.

I gotta say that the these pellets lit and stayed lit better than the Pitmaster's blend that I got with the AMNPS. I am not sure if it was the tube smoker or the pellets, but for whatever reason it was much easier to light and stay lit than with the Pitmaster's blend in the AMNPS.

The AMNTS stayed lit and ran for 15-16 hours.

It provided a nice heavy beautiful smoke that was a lot heavier than with Hickory Dust in the AMNS. I am pretty sure that this provided a significant amount more smoker than the Pitmaster's pellets in the AMNPS too. But then again, it was hard to tell because I had to run the Jerky Dryer to keep the AMNPS running with the Pitmaster's Blend pellets.

Based on reviews from others, I was expecting it, but the temps did run quite a bit higher than with the dust. My temps ran about 120-130 which would be way to cold for a cheese smoke. I have some cheese waiting to be smoked and can borrow a cold plate, but wondering if the cold plate would reduce the airflow and thus make it harder for the AMNTS to stay lit?

I can definitely freeze some water-filled soda or milk cartons to try to reduce the heat, but not sure if that will reduce the heat enough for a cheese smoke or not. I may have to do another dry test with the frozen bottles/jugs before I try with my cheese.

 

[SuperDave]

Gregg,
My last cheese smoke was so perfect, I don't know if it would work in your #3.  I had a big pan of sand directly over the heat source, a cold plate with a turkey pan full of ice above the sand and then a rack with my cheese.  Cheese rack very near the top resulted in a 20 degree delta from my first cheese smoke where the cheese rack was nearer the bottom.  I used the smoker heat element for my heat source.  I used a foil pan as my chip/pellet pan, turned power on for 20 minutes at a time.  Box temp in the area of the cheese only got to 70 degrees the entire smoke. 

 

[1stlink]

Thanks Gregg, Martin, Mike and all other contributors to this thread as it is very informative. I'm trying to decide which if any A-MAZE-N product to buy for use in my SI #2 here in very warm SW Florida.

I want to create smoke at relatively low temps primarily for smoking fish. I doubt that I will ever want to smoke cheese. (luv cheese, but)

The A-MAZE-N-TUBE-SMOKER 6", 12" or 18" or the A-MAZE-N-PELLET-SMOKER(AMNPS) are relatively cheap and seem to be what I need. I'm not sure if the Jerky dryer is needed or not.

I'm tempted to order the AMNPS! Guidance and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.  :-\

 

[NDKoze]

If you have a SI #2, do NOT get an 18" as it will not fit.

I have had much better luck with my Tube Smoker than with my pellet tray.

If you have trouble keeping it lit, I think I read on another forum that they were able to resolve the problem by not latching the smoker door and just leaving it cracked open as close as they could get it. The other option would be to get a small aquarium pump.

I kind of decided that I am not sure I want to use my jerky dryer when cold smoking because I don't want to pull all of that valuable smoke out of the smoker which is what the dryer would do. I would rather crack my door open or get the aquarium pump to provide some airflow.

My last smoke, I removed all of my unused trays and the smoke box and had enough air flow even with the door closed. This was for a cheese smoke and was my best one yet. If I were doing meat, I would use some foil to cover my element.

Thanks for the suggestion on how to use the smoker element, but I think I will stick to my A-MAZE-N smokers for my cold smoking as I think I have them working pretty well. This is good information for those without the A-MAZE-N smokers though.

 

[1stlink]

Thanks Gregg, I think that I'll order a 12" Tube and give it a try.  8)

 

[NDKoze]

Thanks Gregg, I think that I'll order a 12" Tube and give it a try.  8)

They are pretty affordable, so it is pretty low-risk. The cost comes when you want to start buying all kinds of different wood pellet flavors

 

[1stlink]

Yep, 12" $30 added some pellets to the order in order to qualify for free shipping.. Lots of flavors, Lots of $$$  :'(

 

[Pork Belly]

If you still have that belly in the fridge I would cut a section off then smoke the remaining piece for another 12 hours. You can then do a taste test between the two. I did my last bacon for 24 hours cold smoke and it was wonderful.

 

[coachB]

I have the tray pellet smoker and found it would not stay lit.  I was looking for it to use primarily to smoke bellies.  I ordered the Jerky Dryer from Steve, used it and the cold smoke plate with a tray of ice and the problem was solved.  The Jerky Dryer moves enough airflow through the box to keep the tray lit through the smoke, while the Auber keeps the heating element low.  The only downside I see is that the tray of pellets burned much faster than expected.  A complete tray only lasted 3-4 hrs, but I can live with that to get enough smoke and keep the temps down.  For cold smokes this combination worked fine.  For regular smokes I would use the stock wood box with the chip tray, pellets, and no Jerky Dryer.

The Jerky Dryer really pulls air through the #3 smoke-it box.