Questions

When hot smoking wood should burn, not smolder.  Smolder means bad tasting smoke.  If you use smaller, dry pieces of wood you shouldn't have a problem maintaining the temps you are looking for.

The best fuel is after the flame has died down in you wood fire and you have a nice thick bed of hot coals or embers.

We like to say that a smaller hotter fire is better then a large cool fire

If you are having problems with pure wood fires why not try building a charcoal fire and supplementing it with wood splits.  Once you get that thick bed of embers you should be able to go all wood. 

If you are having problems building a wood fire you may not have sufficient air getting to the fire. Make sure your dampers are wide open and that your fuel is nice and dry.   I like to start my fires with charcoal then I go to very small splits, 1 or 2 inches in diameter and then move to the larger 3 - 4 inch splits

Welcome to the forum

alblancher said:

 
When hot smoking wood should burn, not smolder.  Smolder means bad tasting smoke.  If you use smaller, dry pieces of wood you shouldn't have a problem maintaining the temps you are looking for.

The best fuel is after the flame has died down in you wood fire and you have a nice thick bed of hot coals or embers.

If you are having problems with pure wood fires why not try building a charcoal fire and supplementing it with wood splits. 

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Welcome

I am not sure exactly what you mean by "smolder" as this could mean different things to different people, however as Al says burning embers are great for providing heat. I usually take the second option though and use the log splits on a bed of coals as I find this much more controllable in my smoker.

Big Holmes your terminology problem is with 'smolder'. Fire burners and electrics operate differently. As Al said, in an offset, smolder is not what you wish to see. You have the ability to achieve things an electric can not. Electrics require that ability to smolder to maintain a smoke because an electric can not be tended after the start whereas a fire burner requires it.

A fire burner operates at higher temps and is adjusted by the perfect combustion through the firebox then thru the chamber by the inlet vent and the fuel.

An Electric operates at lower more stable temps and is adjusted looking for a slow smolder using the discharge vent if possible. Even having a vent on an electric is a relatively new development.

So unless you are operating an electric or "jury Rigging" a charcoal pit to use the minion with tin foil pellets you should never worry about smoldering.

BigHolmes said:

I wasn't leaving my stack fully open i will try that to.

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Within limits, increased air flow over the wood/coals = greater heat. In general it is better to leave the stack fully open and control the air flow at the air intake. This will depend on the type of smoker that you are using though.