Amaze-N-Tube [or something similar] in the 2-star

[Bithlord]

In my two cooks so far (both sub zero temps) I've *loved* the ease of cooking, but been a little disappointed by the lack of smoke flavor coming through on the meat. I'm sure part of it is me getting used to using the MAK, and part is me just liking a heavier smoke flavor. But, in order to supplement it I was thinking of getting/using one of these type of products.

I have a few questions first:

1) does it work to get more smoke flavor?

2) Will it damage the 2-star in any way that you can think of (I can't think of any)

3) How easy/difficult is it to get one of these lit?

Thanks.

 

[TentHunter]

Yes, the tube can help get more smoke flavor into your food. Light it with a propane torch and let it burn for a couple minutes before blowing the flame out and remember, it NEEDS air or it will go out!

But first:

Your last smoker was an offset which can produce very heavy white smoke, which can deposit a lot of carbonyls on your food giving a very heavy smoke flavor. Getting that coveted thin blueish gray smoke with an offset is almost an art form.

Pellet smokers give you that thin blueish smoke with no fire tending on your part. It's a smoke that enhances the food without overpowering it. I Hope that makes sense.

Now there are some other factors to consider:

- The type & brand of pellet can make a difference. Alder based pellets, which are popular because they are generally cheaper, do NOT give as good of smoke flavor as oak-based in my opinion. I love the BBQer's delight pellets. The perfect Mix pellets are good to, but sometimes I want a specific smoke profile that they cannot give me. The BBQer's Delight are without a doubt my go-to pellet.

- The cooks you have done so far were in very cold conditions. Cold air is very dry and is not conducive to smoke absorption. Carbonyls and nitrogen dioxide are both water soluble. Adding a pan or a couple cans of hot water to my winter cooks to keep humidity up makes a HUGE difference for me in terms of both smoke flavor and smoke ring development.

- When I want more smoke absorption I DO NOT pre-heat a pellet grill. I leave if off until I am putting the food on, then I turn it on to Smoke-Mode for at least 30 minutes or so before turning the heat up. Take advantage of all the smoke created while the grill is in "Igniting" and warm-up modes.

Others will add tips as well, but this will give you a good starting point.

 

[MossyMO]

Add a tube smoker, you will not be disappointed... and excellent suggestions from TentHunter! I along with many others have been using tube smokers since they became available so you should get plenty of help if you do have any other questions.

 

[RickB]

Now I know many people will disagree with me on this... But I no longer use my tube smoker and here is why. If you are using the same pellet mix for your tube smoker as you are in your grill how are you getting more smoke flavor. What I find is you do not get as clean a burn in the tube and I don't like the taste or the buildup in my smoker. So here is what I do. You can get 100% flavor wood pellets. But you don't need them except in the early part of the cook. So when I load my smoker I consider how long I am going to cook on smoke setting and load enough 100% flavor pellets for this amount of time first.. Then on top of those I load my oak/flavor wood for the rest of the cook. I find this gives me the flavor profile I am looking for. Give it a try.

 

[TentHunter]

I can vouch for what RickB is saying. I've also used the same 100% flavorwood pellets in the hopper first trick for certain flavors, especially for those where I can't get cooking pellets, such as the 100% Jack Daniels, Italian herb flavors, etc.


Definitely give that a try as well!

 

[MAK DADDY]

Just be aware when using 100% hardwood pellets they can be extremely hard causing potential auger jams and a lot of ash build up in the firepot.

 

[Bithlord]

Just be aware when using 100% hardwood pellets they can be extremely hard causing potential auger jams and a lot of ash build up in the firepot.

I definitely notice the Ash buildup when using pure hickory on Saturday. It wasn't too bad, but it will need to be shopvacced before I can use it again. (the Mak ran for about 10 hours though, so thats not exactly unexpected).

On the ash note: I notice that there are still a lot of pellets in the firepot despite me allowing the grill to do the shutdown sequence. I assume this is most likely due to the use of pure hardwood instead of a mix. Am I correct?

 

[MAK DADDY]

On the ash note: I notice that there are still a lot of pellets in the firepot despite me allowing the grill to do the shutdown sequence. I assume this is most likely due to the use of pure hardwood instead of a mix. Am I correct?

The Pellet Boss dumps some out of the tube at the 10 minute mark during cool down to clear any smoldering pellets.

 

[Saxguy]

Would a 50/50 mix of pure flavorwood and standard pellets alleviate the potential for auger jams and excessive ash buildup in the first stages of the cook?

 

[MAK DADDY]

Would a 50/50 mix of pure flavorwood and standard pellets alleviate the potential for auger jams and excessive ash buildup in the first stages of the cook?

The auger still has to break those pellets when they happen to fall in the cut zone, it would just be less often. The ash would be 50% less but still more than normal blended pellets.

Bottom line, you can still use them (many customers do) just be aware of the differences and potential issues.

 

[TentHunter]

Just be aware when using 100% hardwood pellets they can be extremely hard causing potential auger jams and a lot of ash build up in the firepot.

For that very reason I have avoided 100% hickory in the hopper. I just hear too many complaints about ash buildup.


The two "100% flavor" flavors I typically use in the bottom first are the BBQer's Delight Jack Daniels and the Italian herb pellets. Both of which are actually oak based and I haven't noticed any difference in ash buildup or auger issues with them.

Even those I normally still mix with oak, then add them to the bottom. I have used 100% Apple mixed with oak when there was a temporary shortage of the BBQD Apple pellets.