Been reading this thread and have learned a lot. I use an electric smoker now but am having a stick burner built. I would have added cold charcoal to the fire box instead of lighting it first in a chimney, I plan an using straight wood instead of charcoal but if I choose to use charcoal I will get it going before I put it in the fire box. But now I have the question that-----if I am using wood only, how do I add more wood without getting the white smoke?
You will always get white smoke when the wood first heats up and begins smoking...just like charcoal.
For smoke woods:
Here's a trick you may consider for your electric rig, which I use very frequently with my gassers: Use varying sized pieces of smoke woods, from small chips of about 1/2 to 3/4" thick by an inch or so across or smaller, to 3/4 to 1" thick by 1 -1/2 to 2" across, to chunks of 1 -1/2" to 2" thick by 3 to 4" across and thicker. Place the smallest pieces on the bottom of the heap, closest to the heat source.
Here's what will happen: the smallest pieces will ignite and smoke faster, but don't last long. When they're about through smoking, the next size up should already be taking over the task, and so on. The largest pieces will last the longest, and if there are lot of the larger pieces left over (not completely charred or burned up) when you're finished with the smoke, just toss 'em into a clean metal can with a lid, or an air tight charcoal grill, etc, to snuff 'em out and use at a later date for smoking.Or, you can toss 'em directly into your grill for grill searing and smoking. This method will greatly reduce, or may even eliminate the need to add smoke woods, even during a long smoke with butts or briskets.
For fuel woods:
Get a hot fire started (either with a few briquettes or wood) and let it burn down to coals, then feed smaller pieces at frequent intervals to keep a small, hot fire which burns cleaner. Also, pre-burning of your fuel woods will greatly reduce the smoke when you add them to the fire. Having no smoke at all when adding fuel to the fire box is not likely, but you can drastically reduce the smoke by heating and igniting the fuel quickly. With adding wood fuel, the onset of the smoke it generates is not necessarily a bad thing, as long the heavy smoke doesn't linger on and on for extended periods.
It's all about the initial heating/ignition which flashes off volatiles from the fuel or smoke wood which creates the white smoke.
Eric