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T.G · 02-03-2015, 08:50 AM

Dom, bearing in mind that I'm using the A-Maze-N smoker for just one or two specific things, the A-maze-N smoker is pretty good, it's not perfect for me, but I think it will be ok for the time being. The irons burn up eventually and have to be replaced, I've been though about 5 or so over 3 years, I couldn't tell you how many hundreds of pounds of cheese was smoked, but it was a lot. They changed the design of the SP23L iron I was using, which probably would work, but I also wanted to see if I could get away from the user intervention that is required with the soldering iron, shaking the can to drop new chips against the iron every 20-25 minutes isn't that big a deal, but it gets old when you have many batches to smoke and you have to lift out the grate with the food each time.

Anyway... I'm burning traeger pellets in it, lighting it takes a few times to get the hang of, getting enough of them lit and burning so that it will sustain itself. Aside from that, they work quite well in it. I tried some sawdust type stuff and the more standard quarter sized wood chips in it, neither really worked that well - the sawdust shreds I had wouldn't sustain a burn and the chips didn't smolder properly, they just flamed the whole time.

I'm still dialing in the times and such. With the iron, the smoker was completely sealed, with this, it needs an air inlet and and open exhaust so for cheese where you need a fair amount of smoke because it's not as absorbent as other foods, I've found that I need to have two ends lit.

I also discovered that the height of the pellets is important, you have to fill it almost to the top rail or it won't burn properly.

My biggest concern when getting it was it heating the chamber up too much and melting the cheese, this has yet to occur with any of the batches of cheese and as easy as velveeta melts, it didn't happen, so that's probably a non-issue.

Taste wise, there is no noticeable difference between it and the iron that I can attribute to it.

02-03-2015, 08:50 AM	#4715
T.G Grrrrrr Join Date: Mar 2009 First Name: The Other Adam Posts: 15,550 Trading: (37)	Re: What's in your smoker? Dom, bearing in mind that I'm using the A-Maze-N smoker for just one or two specific things, the A-maze-N smoker is pretty good, it's not perfect for me, but I think it will be ok for the time being. The irons burn up eventually and have to be replaced, I've been though about 5 or so over 3 years, I couldn't tell you how many hundreds of pounds of cheese was smoked, but it was a lot. They changed the design of the SP23L iron I was using, which probably would work, but I also wanted to see if I could get away from the user intervention that is required with the soldering iron, shaking the can to drop new chips against the iron every 20-25 minutes isn't that big a deal, but it gets old when you have many batches to smoke and you have to lift out the grate with the food each time. Anyway... I'm burning traeger pellets in it, lighting it takes a few times to get the hang of, getting enough of them lit and burning so that it will sustain itself. Aside from that, they work quite well in it. I tried some sawdust type stuff and the more standard quarter sized wood chips in it, neither really worked that well - the sawdust shreds I had wouldn't sustain a burn and the chips didn't smolder properly, they just flamed the whole time. I'm still dialing in the times and such. With the iron, the smoker was completely sealed, with this, it needs an air inlet and and open exhaust so for cheese where you need a fair amount of smoke because it's not as absorbent as other foods, I've found that I need to have two ends lit. I also discovered that the height of the pellets is important, you have to fill it almost to the top rail or it won't burn properly. My biggest concern when getting it was it heating the chamber up too much and melting the cheese, this has yet to occur with any of the batches of cheese and as easy as velveeta melts, it didn't happen, so that's probably a non-issue. Taste wise, there is no noticeable difference between it and the iron that I can attribute to it.