- Mar 31, 2016
- 1
- 10
I've had my grill for two years now and have finally decided to start up with smoking. I have the Char-Griller Duo with side box. I believe these are called off-set smokers.
I plan my first smoke this weekend. Going to try my hand at some ribs. So leading up to it, I had a couple of test runs so I can gauge the temperature and try to keep it steady. This is a pretty tricky process I see.
I have a few questions. I use coal to start the fire and will probably use something like apple wood to continue the fire/smoke and have coals on stand by if need be.
I think my biggest question at this time is when I add a piece or two of wood, do I let it burn down a bit to coals before closing the fire box lid or do I just drop them in and play it by ear?
How much smoke should accumulate or does that matter? In my test runs, the cooking side never really bellowed out the smoke but maintained a small amount of blue smoke. At one point the smoke went white after adding a piece of wood and I just opened the fire side to let it burn down a bit before closing it again.
With minding temps, I know when it starts dropping, I need to add more coal or wood. I let it get to 200 before doing this. After adding the new coals/wood, it wasn't uncommon for the temp to jump to 300 and I would have to open the fire box to let things cool down. Is this normal? will the temp fluctuation bother anything? I believe the goal is around 225-250 right?
I'll stop there for now to catch a breath. lol.
Thanks again for the assistance.
I plan my first smoke this weekend. Going to try my hand at some ribs. So leading up to it, I had a couple of test runs so I can gauge the temperature and try to keep it steady. This is a pretty tricky process I see.
I have a few questions. I use coal to start the fire and will probably use something like apple wood to continue the fire/smoke and have coals on stand by if need be.
I think my biggest question at this time is when I add a piece or two of wood, do I let it burn down a bit to coals before closing the fire box lid or do I just drop them in and play it by ear?
How much smoke should accumulate or does that matter? In my test runs, the cooking side never really bellowed out the smoke but maintained a small amount of blue smoke. At one point the smoke went white after adding a piece of wood and I just opened the fire side to let it burn down a bit before closing it again.
With minding temps, I know when it starts dropping, I need to add more coal or wood. I let it get to 200 before doing this. After adding the new coals/wood, it wasn't uncommon for the temp to jump to 300 and I would have to open the fire box to let things cool down. Is this normal? will the temp fluctuation bother anything? I believe the goal is around 225-250 right?
I'll stop there for now to catch a breath. lol.
Thanks again for the assistance.