Smoke, vapor, condensation?

[kinoz]

I put a pork shoulder in this morning at 7:10, adding a second wood tray of hickory/apple.  Had started a wood tray at 6:15 as smoker warmed up.  At 1:15 it appeared it was still smoking, with a nice continuous thin column of what I took to be smoke.  I finally opened the smoker to insert thermometer and check the wood tray.  There was only a smattering of white ashes in the tray.

What was I confusing with what I thought was smoke?  I'm in Pennsylvania and it was 0 degrees when I started and is now 15 degrees.  I'm smoking at 230 degrees.  The stuff coming out of the vent looked exactly like the smoke did earlier in the day.  It's doing it again after my open-door probing.  Now I wonder just how long the meat actually took on smoke.

Is this an anomaly or a routine occurrence?

 

[timberjet]

Do you have water in the water pan? If so lose the water. Did you soak your wood? If so take it out and use dry wood. Do you have the top vent partially closed? If so open up the top vent all the way. I find that chips burn way too fast unless you make a foil pouch for them with some holes poked for air. This allows the chips to smolder with limited oxygen supply for quite a bit longer. I don't have that smoker, but I am sure someone will be along shortly to help you more.

 

[kinoz]

No water in the pan.  Dry wood, not soaked. Vent is opened 2/3.  I have the 2nd gen. MES30 with integrated electronics.

 

[timberjet]

You will get condensation if your top vent is not all the way open. Most people use an auxillary smoke generator like the AMPS and such because the chip tray just doesn't work that well. Keep in mind that the best smoke is barely visible, light, thin and blue tinted. You don't want heavy smoke. If you are using the factory thermometers in there then you should check them for accuracy. Most of us use Maverick probes or Igrill probes because they are accurate within a few degrees out of the box. Your smoker is known for having shotty thermometers.

 

[timberjet]

I think you need to add chips pretty often in that smoker. That smoke you saw could have been something dripping on the element. Try making a foil pouch for your chips. Poke some holes for air. They don't burn up as fast and smolder like they are supposed to.

 

[grillmonkey]

Timberjet just exactly described how I smoke on my ECB (with electric mod) smoker.

 

[kinoz]

Thanks for the insights - I'm buying a Maverick tomorrow and will experiment with the pouch.  So much to learn.... so little time.