Creosote/proper smoke flavor

Tony80 said:

Hello,

I'm a novice at smoking meat and I have a few concers regaurding creosote and proper smoke flavor. I'm cooking with a home made offset smoker similar in size and design to a lang 48 patio. I've been using pecan as my base wood and adding fresh peach or seasoned hickory. Both seem to produce the same spicy flavor... Perhaps it's normal.... Don't get me wrong, the taste is not bad but I'm unsure of what a good smoke flavor should taste like... Any help would be greatly appreciated...

1) Can it be harmful to your health? Most Likely NOT GOOD!

2) What does it taste like? Metalic

3) can you visually see it on the meat? Not Really

4)My ribs and pork butt both finish with quite a spicy flavor... I imagine the type of wood used will create a spicy flavor or do all woods produce this effect. Define "Spicy"

Thank you,

Tony

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My Answers in RED

Todd

Creosote tastes "Metallic", can leave your lips & tongue numb.

TJ

If Creosote is a concern, you get more from Green wood than Seasoned wood.  Try some simple Smokes, like Chicken, with each wood and see what is giving the objectionable taste, my quess will be the green peach wood...JJ

Normally you will dry the wood before you use it but I believe I have heard of people using freshly cut wood before if my memory serves me right. Maybe  try using a lighter wood such as apple or cherry. One other question I have is what does your smoke look like? Is it heavy and white or light/thin blue? You want thin blue smoke. If you can smell the smoke you are smoking. To much heavy smoke isn't such a good thing especially if it is heavy and white then you will have creosote for sure.

I think you are on the right road.  When "choking down" a fire, do not do it with the chimney or exhaust vent.  That will trap the smoke.  Also, sounds like the wood could use a little more seasoning.  Billowing white smoke is a great way to get bitter meat.

Stick with it, you will find that perfect combo!

Good luck and good smoking.

I have used Green wood for smoking fish. (Alder)

You do have a higher chance of getting Creosote with green (Damp Wood) and slow volume of air.

I prefer using aged wood chunks and or Sawdust.

Today i am trying out some wood Pellets as i have never used them before and so far the smell and look seems OK





On thing to try is to rub your finger inside the exhaust whole and if it comes out wet and yucky that i think would show if you are having a creosote problem. I must stress that i am guessing though about that.

Have fun and Happy smoken.

Karl

If it tingles like this



do this

SQWIB said:

If it tingles like this

do this

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Now That's Funny!

TJ

LOL... Sqwib!

Tony - a good way to find out if it is the wood smoke is to use lump charcoal for a run instead of straight wood. If the "spicy" flavor is not there when using the lump, then chances are you are getting a small amount of creasote - maybe not enough to numb the tounge, but just enough to notice. A lot of us use lump charcoal for the main heat, then toss a few small chunks of flavor wood in every so often to get the smoke.

    Tony, I am a dedicated stickburner, and it sounds like you are getting a lot of "White"smoke as you cook,this carries the creosote you get a taste on your meat. A pic of your smoke would be helpful. I doubt if the Spices are the suspect. May I suggest an alternate direction to your Smoking

    Try bruning your wood to embers before you introduce it to your SFB...  

 like this; I do this when I have an overnioght smoke, friends over and drinks flowing.

   This way you only get the clean burning fuel and heat you want without chasing temps. up and down. As in this pic,I have a small-hot fire of all embers (preburnt). My smoke looks like this-  and stays around 225*f.,and when controled with the intake,the temp . can be manipulated to be hotter or cooler.(My exhaust stays wide open).

My results are yummy looking and have no Creosote taste.

    Don't know how big your Smoker is ,but in mine I can toss in a (heated) chunk of wood about 3'X3'X 8"and it catches almost immediately giving very little to  no white smoke.(I keep some sticks on top of my FB to get hot ,helps in ignition).

     The white is bad JUJU.

    The difference can be seen here better here-

 This was not bad , but not what I like. Yes I use a lot of wood,but I search the neioborhood for someone cutting a tree and ask if I might have a bit;all they can say is no.Just sayin',

Have fun and...............

I couldn't echo Johnny and Stan more!  I use the amns for most of my smokes now.

When I use chunks I do a "pre burn" as Stan has described.  We like lighter smoke flavor, so I will put a chunk of wood a little way down from the top in my chimney starter when starting a load of "lump" or "natural wood charcoal".  If you want to use more wood, a "burn barrel" is helpful.  Burn the wood down to embers before adding it to the smoke. 

The white smoke will kill your meat.

Good luck and good smoking.

It's the exhaust you don't want to close down, if you pre-burned long enough (to coals) you should not be getting the heavy white smoke, but definately pick Stan's (OldSchool) brain. He actually uses all wood, I just use lump or briquets and add small chunks of wood.

SQWIB that is funny but right on...LMAO....

    Tony,pictures say a thousand words,from what I am reading,you are putting too many embers in the FB. Overcrowding the FB will cause less air to get to the Embers/Wood and create a whiteout...Green wood is tricky to use and I suggest not trying it (later when you get handier with fire you can sneak in a green stick.

    Your Smoker is about mine's size,so your fire should look something like this:

 The fire itself is about 8"X8"   in a 20"SFB(I have fire brick for mass and help in cold weather),

but my point is to size your fire to your smoker. When you said you shut the intake I knew you had no other answer.your smoker needs air and will go into a smolder without it and you then may think 'open it all the way' but that's wrong too!The blaze will return and you are on a temp. chase;up and down.

    Say you have a fire like the one shown,glowing as it is,the proper setting for your intake will be open about 1/4 way;just enough air to come under the fire and stoke the embers.Also.you need 4" or so space below the fire grate to allow circulation of the air from the intake.

    The ONLY time I completely close my intake is when I put in a stick that blazes too long;the wood then gets hotter and burns cleaner when I open the vent again.By that time it's started to go to embers itself;you will have a short time of white,but will go to Blue soon.

     Another thing I do is leave the lid shut on the Cooking Meat and only feed the FB.

     A small glowing fire as this one will need no tending for about an hour, and the temp. will stay steadier(I watch my therms. at grate level for changes of +/-10*f of my cooking temp. So,when I cook at 220*f; I can let it drift (down say) to210*f,open the inlet a little and watch to see if it continues to drop, I add a stick,open the intake to, say 1/2 and give it a little boost of air and when the stick catches,close the air back down to 1/4.

     point is,a large fire can get out of hand and take an hour or more trying to control it,a small fire is easier to control and working in "small" increments of the intake.

      Patience is your greatest asset,settle down,have a drinkand some good conversation and let the lid stay shut...that meat won't go anywhere and you conserve a lot of good cooking heat.This is what you want:

 These were in for 15hr. @ 220*(+/-10*or so), and

  see,tender and juicy;and no I did not wrap them

Hope this helps and...