I've been smoking with charcoal since I got into real pit BBQ, but I recently tried my hand in smoking with straight hardwood logs. I got the hardwood from a local hardware store. It was a bundle of firewood similar to what Lowes sells, which is a bundle of kiln dried mixed hardwoods (was that my first mistake?). I used that because i'm having trouble finding a local supply of log hickory or apple, and buying online is way too expensive.
Anyways, I used the wood today in my offest smoker. I kept getting lots of big white smoke and had some trouble maintaining the fire properly. For example. After about 3-4 hours of smoking, I would throw another log in the firebox on the embers and it would start smoking like crazy (which was the cause of the mass amounts of white smoke).
Sorry for the short novel, but some expert advice would be greatly appreciated. I guess this boils down to two quesitons for me?
1. Can I use those bundles of mixed hardwood you get at the hardware store?
2. If so, what is the best way to continue to produce wood embers throughout the cooking process ( It's easy in the beginning, I just burn down the logs before I put the meat on, but what about when I need to refuel)?
Anyways, I used the wood today in my offest smoker. I kept getting lots of big white smoke and had some trouble maintaining the fire properly. For example. After about 3-4 hours of smoking, I would throw another log in the firebox on the embers and it would start smoking like crazy (which was the cause of the mass amounts of white smoke).
Sorry for the short novel, but some expert advice would be greatly appreciated. I guess this boils down to two quesitons for me?
1. Can I use those bundles of mixed hardwood you get at the hardware store?
2. If so, what is the best way to continue to produce wood embers throughout the cooking process ( It's easy in the beginning, I just burn down the logs before I put the meat on, but what about when I need to refuel)?