Nope, just got the first inch burning so they would smoulder well when the flame was blown out. Almost 6 hour of smoke out of the tube, so definitely nowhere near half.

The tubes are designed for the pellets, and I'd recommend that over the wood chips. There are some who have done the woodchips, but the flair up chance on the chips over the pellets is enough that I choose to only use pellets in the tube. I do at time use chips in the standard way (through the side on top of the heating element) but then the side tube is fully seated rather then half out to limit the air flow. The ideal is a smoulder not a flame.

@@ChrisMeirose Good to know! 👍

Yes, a heat gun does a good job, I just happen to own a handful of torches so I use them out of convenience.

Same! I got a ton of creosote too. So glad this was posted, thanks man!

Why are you guys using a smoke tube when your smoker comes with a smoke box?

@@daveharmon8674 you have to reload the box with chips every 45 mins. Pellet tubes last 6+ hours . Masterbuilts are junk anyways. I switched to a traeger

@@zachdelkus thanks

I've had zero issues getting smoke from pellets in the 6+ years of my using them. Pellets are made of compressed wood. The very same woods that the chips are from. So the smoke from an oak/apple/pecan/cherry pellet tastes the same as the wood chips of that varietal. You can literally see the smoke in my video, not exactly sure where the con comes in here.

@@ChrisMeirose that's a universal truth bro that pellets don't give you the same smoke flavor that you get from wood (internet is full of it) which is why people are using amzn tubes filled with pellets or chips and even chunks on top of charcoal. The issue with pellets is that they are full of additives used as binder and lack the wood content though they are full of smoke. I have a pellet grill myself too but could never get the same taste that you get out of stick burner, no matter what brand of pellets i have used.

@@lalkurti I get adequate smoke and excellent flavor. Is it identitcal to wood burner? Potentially no, but that's exactly why I'm using this rig. NO BABYSITTING. I can get a great end result with 6ish hours of smoke using my Amazen Tube in my electric smoker that I can fill, set, and go to bed and wake up to good eats. I don't have to load the fire box. I don't have to soak wood chunks. I don't have to worry about the temperature fluctuations. It is dead simple and delicious. Would I use this for competition? No. But is it ideal for about 95% of the time - absolutely. Will I sacrifice the last 5% of flavor for 200% more convienience? Yep. Because it is still excellent eats, and I can have that day of my life back to do other things rather than going back and forth to a smoker.

@@ChrisMeirose can i ask what brand of pellets you use, or which one you have found that gives the strongest smoke flavor.

@@lalkurti I'm currently using a blend of hickory, pecan, apple and cherry (there's still likely a little maple in the mix too). Pellets of mesquite will give the strongest flavor just as does the chips/chunks of mesquite. Pit Boss would be my suggested brand. For those who don't know how wood pellets are made - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/nZlnisWSl7uYaX0.html No additives, just wood.

Salmon can take more smoke than other fish, but even so I'm still pretty light with it. I prefer Alder for all fish. Fruitwoods (Cherry, apple etc) are fine. Time is not something you can be told, you smoke to temp. Size of fillet, thickness, smoker temp, environmental conditions and more all impact time.

The water pan sits immediately below where I put the tube. I use water 90% of the time and have never had any issues with it negatively affecting the tube. Particularly when doing a bunch of pork butts or a big brisket, there is already a fair bit of humidity in the box regardless. If you get the pellets dry to begin with, and then ensure you have good combustion going before putting it in the smoker, you should be just fine.

The smell of pellets is strong. Burns the eyes something fierce. But tastes great. Try smelling it from 20 feet away and see what you think. When I get a direct hit, it is too much for me. But if I'm on the other side of the house and the smoke drift my way it smells like heaven. The other thing could be you don't like whatever pellet you have. I have a blend of apple, cherry, pecan and hickory that I've found I really like.

For ribs, you probably won't see a whole lot of difference. But do a brisket for 18 hours and having the added moisture can/does have an impact. You have to determine if you prefer that (I do), but the water pan is by no means required.

That's because you don't know what you're doing

I let them burn out dead in the smoker generally. So at that point, it is just cold ash. But if you needed to extract while it was still burning, just use metal tongs. You could then wet them down to put them out, and then dispose of however you see fit.

Famous Dave's is my "standard". For reasonably priced and readily available rubs it is my #1.

I do use numerous others, including a couple from Meat Church. Dave's is just easy and solid.

Produces more smoke than the chips do. But the reason to use the tube is 5-6 hours of smoke - no babysitting. I don't have to keep feeding chips every 45 minutes. Particularly on an overnight smoke for a brisket, not having to feed it is a very nice thing. I do use chips at times though, this isn't to say that. On steaks, fish, even chicken I'll use chips quite regularly.

Vitaliy - this tube does produce heat. You are smouldering the wood pellets and that burning is giving off a fair bit of heat. Not like when the unit is running on the heating element, but certainly some heat. As for doing it for fish, you'd have to experiment, it might be just fine and cool enough (I suspect so). But for things like cold smoking cheese it can be too much heat causing the cheese to melt. Many will do what is called the mailbox mod (you can find good KZfaq videos of it). Basically using a metal mailbox and a short tube to connect the mailbox to the smoker. Then you put your tube in the mailbox, isolating the heat there, but getting the smoke to pass through into the smoker.

Mine is a MES-40.

Tube is the source of the smoke, but the heating element still operates for the smoker. I smoke most things at 275F. Smoke ring is due to a chemical reaction and literally does NOTHING for flavor. You can fake a smoke ring with nitrates if you so desire. I don't.

I smoked a Turkey on Christmas Day. A ham the day before. Beef Ribs are amazing to do. You can do pork belly and make your own bacon. Cold smoke some cheese and you'll never buy the store brands again.

@Adam Austin Always a winner. Hoping to pick one up on Friday.

Some of that is going to be temp dependent. I generally try to keep foods out of the "danger zone" temp range of 40-140F - or at least limit the time the food is in that range. Beef is an obvious exception. Chicken I'd generally not start cold smoking, as I get enough smoke in the time it is on the heat. Pork - particularly larger chunks - could be a place where I can see doing this. I'm not a heavy smoke preference kind of guy, so I generally still get enough smoke from the time on the heat, but if you like a stronger smoke than I do, then I can see this being an option. But with the tube, the smoke is constant and strong so I don't get a drop off when the heat starts - particularly with an electronic element as the heat source.

Quality comment and a great contribution to KZfaq. Well thought out. You went deep on this one showing your intellect and character.

@@ChrisMeirose lol great reply

Sorry, didnt mean to sound so rude to a fellow who is a bit of a newbie to bbq.

Heat doesn't rise where you live? The deck is in no danger.

Bret - haha, good 1. I’m guessin u were born in the 50’s & part of the “hippy - flower gen”. Not to many of us round anymore that can relate.😉👍

Have the 40" awesome machine! Other then having to put in wood chips/lil chunks in like every hr o so it's literally a set it and forget it rig. Since it has a window I can always see what's going on without having to open it and seeing if it drying out, but never has/does! so no needs to be spirits nor need to wrap in aluminum either. It's made smoking way way way easier... Ps. a buddy of mine has a Pellet smoker which ain't bad either (litterly a set it and forget it right) butr 3x the price it has limited space but most of all we have to complain about noticing that even on light windy days it doesn't get as much of smoky flavor...

Apparently you didn't watch it.

With my tube I can have smoke for 4-5 hours from the one load of pellets. The chip tray in an MES-40 needs to be fed every 45ish minutes to keep smoke rolling. The tube is a handy tool to have for set-it and forget-it smoking, particularly for longer smokes overnight for things like a brisket for instance.

ok thats pretty cool then. does a product exist to do the same with chips instead of pellets? i have had bad experience with the flavour pellets give the meat

The Masterbuilt Electric Smokers come with a chip tube and tray that generate smoke. They'll only burn for about 45 minutes before needing to be replenished. The tubes and trays for pellets work longer because of the slower burn rate of the pellets. If you were to pack the Amazen Tube I use for pellets full of wood chips it would just start a fire in your smoker. I'd recommend a bit of experimentation on your part. You might have had bad pellets, or a wood flavor you just don't like. That does happen. You might also have not had good air flow in the smoker. That can happen too. And you may have had the vent closed too much on the smoker causing a buildup of smoke and poorer combustion of the pellets resulting in a bad flavored smoke. The pellets are just compressed wood, and the burn slower because of surface area and density than would wood chips. So I'm inclined to say the pellets weren't your issue unless it was just a flavor of pellet you don't like. I'm not a mesquite fan, so were I to use those pellets I could see where I might not like the resultant flavor. But even then, I don't think I'd hate it, I just much prefer other woods. So I'd suggest trying some Apple, Cherry, Pecan or Hickory pellets and see how it goes for you. Particularly the fruit woods are easy on the taste buds.

thanks. im glad to hear it was likely something else i might be able to figure out

You can buy the masterbuilt cold smoking kit is about $50 on Amazon is for cold smoking but it can also be use for hot smoking and chips can last for up to 4-6 hours without refill

acid3x They both do the same thing. Tray smokes a bit longer because it holds more. Tube is easier to move as it is smaller. Tube is better for when I use it in my propane grill because it doesn't take up a lot of cooking surface. Both are good solutions though.

Also, did you use any liquid in the water pan?

Chicken I usually do at 275F.

Yes, I use water, and sometimes I do add in apple cider vinegar or apple juice. I've tried things like root beer and other flavored liquids and don't notice a difference in the taste of the meat.

Chris Meirose I appreciate your responses. Are you also using wood chips for your smoke, or just the pellet tube?

I use both depending on what I'm cooking (but NOT both simultaneously). So as a rough rule of thumb, if I'm smoking for less than 2 hours, I just use wood chips. Fast, easy, convenient. Anything longer than that gets the tube. The tube is perfect for 4-5 hours of smoke. So large cuts like a brisket, or when I did 60+lbs of pork butts in a single smoke in June for a church event. The other thing for me is that I have more variety currently of wood chips than I do of pellets. I think I'm down to just having pecan for pellets at the moment, so that could be a deciding factor at some point (though hasn't been thus far). I've just been lazy and trying to be frugal so I haven't ordered more since I have 4 bags of wood chips sitting here already.

Recorded at Glory Baptist Church, Aitkin, MN - AitkinChurch.com

+shayna krause I wonder how many transmissions it has had? Depending on the motor, some are really long lasting if well taken care of. But the transmissions they put behind them? Ugh.

+Chris Meirose I have no idea. don't have much info on it but I've always had bad luck with transmissions

Sometimes miracles happen. By 200K my van was on its 3 transmission. Though my father-in-law (original owner) did tow his boat with the van. I got it when he had just put a rebuilt transmission in it - maybe 7k on it at that point. After another 70K that transmission was clearly not working as good as intended.

Good evening your caravan still brings the awd system. Have you not experienced vibrations? thank you very much. town and country 2001 awd 120,000 millas

espiripitiflautico agapito pelayo It hasn't had any vibration problems, I had the whole front done around 180k. Check your rims, I had a bent rim on one of my car that was causing vibration.

Okay, thank you very much, I appreciate it.

These brothers performed professionally for years, so I suspect it is their own arrangement.