My A-Maze-N review

[SuperDave]

I used my new A-Maze-N today on my first cheese smoke of the season in my model 4.  I filled .5 with sawdust and .5 with pellets.  I then torch lit all three lines to see how it went.  As you can see, my sawdust smoked very well and burned to the very end of the sawdust by the time it was done.  The pellets however didn't last more than about 10 minutes.  What really made me happy about using this device is that I was able to drop ambient box temp about 5 degrees. 

I'm wondering if pellets in an old coffee grinder would make sawdust that would stay lit.

 

[NDKoze]

Hey, Dave. I am surprised that you had trouble keeping the pellets lit. I have exactly the opposite issue where I have trouble keeping sawdust lit, whereas the pellets stay lit very well.

What kind of ignition source are you using? At first, I tried using a mini-torch, but after trying and failing many times, I switched over to a propane torch and have had much better luck when lighting with this. I am not sure I have tried the sawdust again since getting the propane torch, though. So, I may have to try this again.

The benefits of the dust over the pellets is that they will generate a lot less heat. I have had some issues with the pellets generating too much heat even when smoking cheese with relatively cold ambient temperatures.

I think I may need to try some dust again with my propane torch and see how that goes. Assuming that it does, I think I would use dust for cheese and pellets for cold smoking bacon.

It is definitely getting close to cheese smoking time again.

 

[SuperDave]

Gregg, I did use a plumbers torch to light the pellets and sawdust.  The pellets even had a good flame for a few minutes so I thought they were well ignited.  I'll continue to experiment with the device in a non food smoking situation to see if there is something I'm missing.  But crumbling the pellets just a little bit will be one of my first tries. 

I'm also wondering if lighting at the side hole is critical since I didn't do that on the pellets like I did on the sawdust.

 

[NDKoze]

Gregg, I did use a plumbers torch to light the pellets and sawdust.  The pellets even had a good flame for a few minutes so I thought they were well ignited.  I'll continue to experiment with the device in a non food smoking situation to see if there is something I'm missing.  But crumbling the pellets just a little bit will be one of my first tries. 

I'm also wondering if lighting at the side hole is critical since I didn't do that on the pellets like I did on the sawdust.

Not lighting on the side hole "could" be the issue since you are mainly lighting the top of the pellets versus lighting and burning from the bottom up.

I would try a test where you try lighting from the side hole.

I am going to give my sawdust a try again I think with my propane torch and see if I have better luck.

I need to start building my cheese supply up again too.

 

[coachB]

Dave,  I had problems with my unit the first couple of times out, but propane from both end holes and the pellets worked fine.  I was, however, also using the Jerky Dryer when I had good success. The Jerky Dryer definitely made the difference in creating the necessary air flow through the box to sustain the pellets producing good smoke.
This was with bacon however, not cheese.  With the cold plate and the Jerky Dryer there was no problem with high box temps. 
Good Luck!