i think i know what i'm doing !! when it comes to smoking !!

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kiwijumper

Newbie
Original poster
Mar 29, 2012
11
10
New York City
Okay brief synopsis of what ive been doing with my smoking !! im from New Zealand were not a big smoking culture down under but i am SO interested in how smoke works and how my attempts have turned out , i currently have a weber 22.5 smoky mountain bad boy that has been producing some killer ribs and brisket, but theres a few things id like to get clear  firstly when you start your smoker how soon should you put your meat on ?? it takes my smoker about a good hour ( i am burning charcoal and brickets ) doing the mignion method and am smoking with apple and cherry,i let it get to a near 250 then put the meat i am smoking on this session on, what happens is the temp of the smoker drops ... i also have a pan with apple juice and beer  so i understand that it will drop a bit  but then i notice about a hour later the temp is 350 ... with a bit of messing with the bottom air intake i can get it sorted out and it finally gets to around 225 so my next question is...............   how much wood should i put on? i have been using bet 5 and 9 good size chunks about fist size and its worked out kinda okay.i know if you put too much wood it gets gnarly and creoasty and bitter so is there a formula? or am i just being a pain in the arse

thanks 

Pauli
 
Welcome to SMF Pauli

It isn't the amount of wood you use that creates creosote, it is how it burns.  With that smoker I recommend using the charcoal to fuel the fire and add wood chunks for flavor.  If you can use a pure wood fire all the better but I find charcoal more controllable.

As far as the temp of the smoke chamber you may want to stabilize the smoker at about 300 before loading the meat.  The temp will drop when you open the door and load her up,  that's fine because you want to smoke between 225 and 240.  Chicken you might smoke at 300.  The goal is to keep the temps steady by adding small amounts of fuel and regulating the dampers in the smoke box.

We have several great members from that part of the world, I'm sure they will be checking in!

Al
 
thanks Al, i am the keenest downunder smoker i know here in NYC and i love it , but you yanks know how to do it right !!
 
Do me a favor and update your profile with your location.  You threw me off when you said NYC now I don't know where the heck you are!
 
Welcome Kiwijumper........
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 and glad you are here..Here are my ideas. Using a WSM, you can get a fire going using the minion method. Stagger your wood so you don't get too much smoke going at once. I have a kamado and must use the minion when smoking. I usually put all the hot coals on each side of the unlit coals when smoking and let the hot coals slowly burn their way. I use a smoking stone over the coals so the heat is uniform. Makes a hot clean fire on the kamado. You may want to try placing your coals similar. I usually get a half of chimney going to start the fire then slowly bring it up to speed. Good idea going over the mark a bit on the temp before putting on the meat,  but not too much, It is hard to bring down the fire and easy to go up. Avoid the temptation of putting on too much wood. I use two to three at most.  In a WSM it is easy to add wood and more coals for that matter so try to avoid the urge of one more piece of wood. I think the best way to get a truely hot fire throughout for the truely thin blue smoke is to use an offset smoker. A really hot SMALL fire first, then add one piece of wood at a time. I want a Lang smoker personally. Some day I will get one shipped to me from Lang smokers in GA. Why do i live so far away from Georgia?...1400 miles...
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Good luck and remember everyone needs to experiment with their own grill/smoker and see what works best for them....
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Hello and 
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to SMF - glad to have you here and it looks like you already got some great info.

Please do us a favor and update your profile with your location 
 
Thanks for the info, i do use the minion method and have found it great for a longer smoke ie Brisket etc. so you recommend only 3 chunks of wood to start okay i'll give that a shot .i have also heard that the first 3 hours are when all the smoke is drawn into the meat and after that it is just really cooking the meat up to the desired temp. is this true?
 
That topic gets discussed quite a bit and to this day I don't know the answer!
 
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I don't let the fire get to 300* before starting to tame it.  I let it get to about 250* and put the meat on (about 30 minutes for me).  I give it a few minutes to settle and then if required start throttling back with the lower vents.  I use a bout 4-5 half fist sized chunks of wood for a full ring of charcoal.
 
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 to SMF . You have come to the right place for smoking info. This site is loaded with great info just use the search bar at top of page to find what you are looking for. If you can't locate the answer just ask folks here are willing to share there knowledge. Check out  the 5 day e-course on smoking its chuck full of great info, and may help ya out. Smoking  5-Day e-Course  
 
Yes, that is true. Most of the smoke is absorbed during the first few hours. Once the meat gets to 140° or so there is a pretty good outside skin  Most of the pours are sealed. You will still get smoke on the external portion of the meat but but not much more into the meat unless you are doing poultry. Smoke will still travel inside the cavity so you have smoke entering from the inside and outside. That is why I like to only put on smoke the first few hours expecially on birds. It's easy to over smoke poultry. Another reason fruitwood is good on birds. Milder smoke compared to hickory, oak and even mesquite.....Why burn the expensive wood if you are not getting much benefit....My thoughts only of course...
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Thanks Bama, for the info i am such a nube but really love smoking and how damn good it tastes , i will back off on how much wood i put on for a smoke,question i fill my pan with beer and apple juice do you think it makes a difference what liquid you have in your pan during a smoke?

cheers

Pauli
 
Thanks mate for the info, question when you smoke poultry A, do you have it standing up in a beer can type of style and how long do you recommend smoking a chicken for? B, also should i cut back on the amount of wood i use for a poultry smoke?

thanks for helping out here

Pauli
 
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