3rd Smoke....Not pleased with results

[birdman080]

I did my third smoke today on my 14.5" WSM.  I was not very pleased with the results.  Weather was sunny, light winds, and temp in the upper 40's

I purchased some thick pork chops and country style ribs... Seasoned simply with S/G/P.

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• birdman080
• Feb 5, 2017

I used the minion method like I have been doing.  KBB was the charcoal of choice and wood for today was Pecan and I used the weber light cubes for the first time.  I was pleased with them and will use them in the future. I did end up removing two pieces of wood.

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• birdman080
• Feb 5, 2017

I put them on at around 250.  I mainly had TBS, but also had periods of TWS, which I assume is just when the lit charcoal has reached  piece of wood.  Left them on the smoke for just under 2 hours

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• birdman080
• Feb 5, 2017

Overall though, I was not impressed this time.  I definitely left them on too long and the taste was more on the bitter side than the Yum Yum side.  I am not sure why.  Top vent has always been wide open when smoking, making vent adjustments with the three bottom vents.  I don't know if I should wait until I have a good bed of burning coals to put the smoke wood in, or what.

The chops really didn't pick up much smoke flavor, but the ribs definitely did.  I did bring the smoker inside Friday night to let it warm up to my temp inside the house (70) so I didn't have to use so much energy just warming up the inside of the smoker.

 

[SmokinAl]

They sure look good from here!

Al

 

[remsr]

I'm just repeating what someone told me about wood chunks and splits, heat them up on top of your charcoal starter with a few bricks don't let them catch fire just get them hot. Place them inside the unlit charcoal then dump the lit coals in the center of the unlit coals. Assemble your smoker with lid and let it smok until the white smoke stops and it's up to temp then put your meat on. The smoke you are looking for is bearly noticeable thin and blue from smoldering wood not not burning wood.

 

[ab canuck]

They do look good, Too bad they didn't turn out to your expectation. Good luck on the 4th smoke.....

 

[remsr]

Internel temp for country style ribs 180, at 225 recommend time for thick cut pork chops 1 to 1 1/2 hours at 225

 

[remsr]

Oh! And darn, does that look good.

 

[firemanjon]

They look awesome!! I have noticed that my 18.5 wsm when first starting up does make very heavy white smoke no matter how I load it for first half hour or so...takes that long to get it up to temp anyway so I generally load my wood with the charcoal as it's just getting started and let it come up to temp...usually by then the white color is fading into thick blue smoke...I generally wait at least until the color starts changing to put my meat on.

 

[birdman080]

It is supposed to be in the 60's Saturday (20's and snow today), so I thought I would try again.  I think this time I am going to try to get about a half chimney of burning charcoal in the bottom to help get it up to temp, then put unlit on top and the smoke wood.  See how that works out as I have read posts that do this (about half and half...minion method and non)

I thought about pre-heating my wood, but wasn't sure how to do it since the WSM top is rounded.  I thought about my oven, but that would be a little unpractical every time I smoked (which I plan to do 2-3x/week once I get this down and spring starts).  So, do I put the bricks on top of the chimney and the wood on top of that?

 

[remsr]

I just put the charcoal in the starter and fire it up then put a screen over the top of the starter and put the wood on top of that so I can move it around so it don't catch fire while the charcoals turns white.

 

[remsr]

Build small fires rather than large, small fires are easier to control. And never trust that temp gage in the dome of your smoker.