Featured Am I smoking or making Charcoal?

[Mayor]

Just got a new Digital Electric Smoker by char-broil. Did my first smoke and did not see much smoke but the ribs were good, When doing a cleanup the next day I was surprised to find my smoker tray did not have ash in it but the chips I started out with that looks like charcoal. I'll try and attach
a picture but is this normal? Thanks for any help. Leon

 

[tropics]

what temp were you smoking at
Did you soak the chips?
Richie

 

[Mayor]

No soaking the chips are dry. Smoking temp is set at 225 but it runs hot from around 230 to 260. tray was not full if that matters maybe 1/3 to 1/2 full.

 

[tropics]

No soaking the chips are dry. Smoking temp is set at 225 but it runs hot from around 230 to 260. tray was not full if that matters maybe 1/3 to 1/2 full.

I am not familiar with your smoker,check the IT with a digital probe,sounds like you are getting a bad reading.
Richie

 

[Mayor]

Yea I have a probe to check the temp of the smoker it shows 230 to 260 when set for 225. Mostly it stays around 250 to 260 or so.

 

[gmc2003]

How long of a smoke did you do before shutting it down?

Chris

 

[Mayor]

I was doing ribs so around 5 hours.

 

[gmc2003]

I would say you got a clean burn out of the chunks. Did you smell the smoke during the cook?

Chris

 

[gmc2003]

I'm not a electric smoker, but I've seen that in both my kettle and WSM. You said your ribs were good - did they have any smoke flavor?

Chris

 

[Mayor]

some but not much. It did smoke for around 30 - 40 mins when I first added the ribs but I think it was the rib juice or the addition of air to the smoker chips. the smoker tray has a cover the fits tight not much in the way of air flow to them that I can determine. Kinda like making charcoal get the wood up to temp and starve the oxygen.

 

[fivetricks]

Don't worry about it. I've had that result in several types of smokers. You got all the goodness out of the wood, it just didn't burn up all the way.

So to answer your original question: yes to both :-)

 

[Mayor]

Well then thanks to all for your help. Just seemed kinda odd to me.

 

[noboundaries]

Nothing wrong at all. The volatile elements of the wood have cooked off and flavored the meat.

When I bury my wood chunks in the charcoal of my WSM, they never catch fire, but carbonize exactly like your handful.

Now you need to find a use for the charcoal.

 

[Mayor]

Well I guess I’ll save it up and use it in my Weber Kettle. It’s a bonus! Thanks again to all

 

[dr k]

Kamados make charcoal as well from low oxygen, keeping the vents almost closed to keep temps down. If there is an opening to the chip burner to let more air in then it should burn to ash with top vent fully open..

 

[old sarge]

That has happened occasionally with my old Amerique and the Smokin-it #3. Not a big issue. Over on another forum, users of SI frequently complain that all they are left with is ash because the wood caught fire. I get mostly ash with just a little charcoal after a smoke. As long as the food tastes good, I am happy!