Bitter taste / creosote... Help!!!

[dan5047]

So I've been smoking meats for about 5 years or so and have had some really good results with all types of meat. But I've had some problems with bitter smoke flavor.

My setup: Side firebox type horizontal barrel (nothing fancy). I like to use a bed of charcoal to establish a good source of heat and add hickory sticks as needed.

The problem comes during a long smoke when I have to keep adding hickory (or pecan) sticks to keep the temp up. As I add new sticks (or chunks), the new wood produces that billowy white smoke for a while before I get the clean fine blue smoke. How do you guys maintain a long smoke session while adding fresh wood without getting the bitter tasting white cloudy smoke?

 

[TomKnollRFV]

Alot of people will actually start the wood on a seperate charcoal fire and shift it over as needed.

You might try this method. Doesn't take much, just a few chunks of charcoal in a little grill as needed.

 

[foamheart]

Try setting your wood, in or on your fire box before use. Get the wood hot but no combustion. You are going thru this step when grilling, when setting your original bed. just set a split in the firebox, to add to your bed when ready, then add another to take that ones place. Till you decide you've got enough wood.

Or you can use charcoal lump adding just some wood for that smoke. Remember you do not need as much wood to continue your smoke/heat as you do to start your smoke.

Also, temperature (IT) is extremely important in taking smoke. Generally its agreed that the optimum IT for smoke absorption is 90 to 150 degrees. Yes above and below this you will see some smoke but its at a diminished capacity. I was once told that it is due to below 90 degrees the meat or skin pores have not dried and opened up, and above 150 (IT) the pores should be generally mostly full. But if you have been smoking for 5+ years you should well be acquainted with this already.

I'd say if you are a strict wood burner, preheat those splits. If that doesn't solve your problem, try swapping out when adding to lump just to maintain temp for those long term meats like brisket or butts.

I hope that helps, oh and btw its is a prime "discussion" amongst smokers about if smoke should be applied the entire time. But you can see my side of that opinion above.

So bitter smoke taste is not always creosote. Too much or too hard a smoke application can be your most likely problem. Especially when you say on your long smokes.

 

[EdP]

I'm relatively new to smoking, but I started out using all hickory (for pork butt) and thought the smoke taste was too strong.

I switched to post oak, which made a big difference, and now I add a little hickory or apple for pork, and mesquite for beef.

 

[radio]

I am with Foamheart on pre heating the splits.
I know I have temp swings when adding splits, but I add a split or two and leave open the top FB door, but also open the end door a bit until I see the wood just start to flame, the close both the normal position. I had rather have a minor temp swing than taste the effects of the white smoke. If the coal bed gets a bit low, I will add a bit more charcoal
I use both Hickory and Oak, but I prefer well seasoned White oak with most of the bark removed

 

[boardgames4bbq]

How seasoned is your wood? I normally have issues with clean smoke when either my fire isn't hot enough to catch the wood on fire or the wood is too green or damp.

 

[pineywoods]

How big is your firebox and how big are the splits of wood you are using?
Using smaller splits often times will help but it does mean you have to add it more often.

 

[dan5047]

How seasoned is your wood? I normally have issues with clean smoke when either my fire isn't hot enough to catch the wood on fire or the wood is too green or damp.

The wood I use is hickory from a tree that I chopped up about 2 years ago. I would think it's pretty well seasoned?

 

[dan5047]

How big is your firebox and how big are the splits of wood you are using?
Using smaller splits often times will help but it does mean you have to add it more often.

I've been wondering if this is the issue. My firebox is only about the size of a 5 gallon bucket turned on it's side. The chunks I use are roughly 8" long by 2" diameter. Perhaps a little too big for that size box? I seemed to have better luck in the past using the pre-bagged chunks from the hardware store.

 

[dan5047]

BTW... I appreciate the quick replies. Thank you for your help.

 

[banderson7474]

Dan, do you close the firebox immediately after adding chunks? I like the others mention, put my split "on deck" on top of the firebox to warm it up. Then when it's time, I put it in and keep the firebox open for a good min or however long it takes for it to light on fire real good.

If after that I start to get white smoke, I will open the fire box again to make sure it's still caught fire. Also do you keep your door on the right of your firebox open throughout? If you can see my avatar, look at the bottom right of my firebox and see that the entire door is open. I do that so it gets more air.

Next thing I do throughout is scrape the ashes under my firebox grate b/c it tends to snuff out the fire after a few hrs.

 

[dan5047]

Dan, do you close the firebox immediately after adding chunks? I like the others mention, put my split "on deck" on top of the firebox to warm it up. Then when it's time, I put it in and keep the firebox open for a good min or however long it takes for it to light on fire real good.

If after that I start to get white smoke, I will open the fire box again to make sure it's still caught fire. Also do you keep your door on the right of your firebox open throughout? If you can see my avatar, look at the bottom right of my firebox and see that the entire door is open. I do that so it gets more air.

Next thing I do throughout is scrape the ashes under my firebox grate b/c it tends to snuff out the fire after a few hrs.

I've tried to keep the door open a bit until the wood lights, but I'm probably not waiting long enough. My firebox just has an adjustable vent on the side that you can rotate to open or close. Most of the time it's open full, unless my smoker temp starts getting too hot. Then I'll close it about half way or so. I do the same with scraping the ashes through the grate. Perhaps my wood to coal bed ratio is just off. I do like the idea of preheating the sticks first before adding them. I'll definitely try that.

 

[banderson7474]

I only mess with the baffle ontop if I want to change temp. On a perfect smoke day, I keep everything wide open but it's not always a perfect day. But I don't want to risk snuffing the firebox by closing the vents on the bottom.

Another small trick is for my fire box, if you turn the grate 180 degrees, it sits a little higher and gives you more room underneath for air. Not sure if your set up is like that but it's worth a look.

 

[dan5047]

I only mess with the baffle ontop if I want to change temp. On a perfect smoke day, I keep everything wide open but it's not always a perfect day. But I don't want to risk snuffing the firebox by closing the vents on the bottom.

Another small trick is for my fire box, if you turn the grate 180 degrees, it sits a little higher and gives you more room underneath for air. Not sure if your set up is like that but it's worth a look.

I don't have a top vent on my box. I can however, prop the loading door open a bit with a stick. My grate sits a good 2 inches off the floor of the box, so that seems like enough clearance.

 

[banderson7474]

Just to clarify, i'm talking about the baffle where the smoke comes out usually on the other side of the smoker? I assume you have one of those that's adjustable

 

[dan5047]

Just to clarify, i'm talking about the baffle where the smoke comes out usually on the other side of the smoker? I assume you have one of those that's adjustable

My mistake. Yes. I do have that. I typically leave that wide open and adjust temperature by opening or closing the vent on the side of the firebox. I'm starting to wonder (as mentioned by another user) if I'm just using to large / to much pieces of wood to where I need to leave the vent wide open in order for it to burn hot enough, but then causing my smoker temp to run too high. Perhaps smaller / less pieces of wood is the key (again... as mentioned).

 

[radio]

I don't have a top vent on my box. I can however, prop the loading door open a bit with a stick. My grate sits a good 2 inches off the floor of the box, so that seems like enough clearance.

It doesn't take long for that 2 inches to get 1 inch or less with ashes. I would raise the grate in the firebox if at all possible. Mine has a good 4 inches of space so I only clean out the ashes once before every cook.
The length of you splits is not as important as diameter. You mentioned they are about 2 inches which should be just fine

 

[Workaholic]

Qualifying remark: for several years I used a Brinkmann Smoke&Pit Pro. Fire box was the same size as yours, by your description. I had the same issue, until I preheated my splits. I do not, at the current time, have an offset, but do see another one in my future.

I'm going to second some things here. (Or third, as needed). First thing would be the preheating of splits. This usually allows for them to warm up enough so that you don't have white smoke anymore. A lot of times, doing this, you will see the part of the split that was against the firebox has started to blacken. This was proof to me that the piece was pre heated. I sometimes would place the pieces in the back of the firebox, close to the intake to preheat. I didn't like this as much, because I had to use tongs instead of just a leather glove. Also felt like it was to big of a chance of the fire jumping the gap, and starting them on fire.

I realize that you've been smoking for about 5 years. If you are doing this, please forgive my ignorance. My advice on this is coming from assuming you have the exhaust wide open, and are only using the intake (and that other port that I didn't have) for fire/heat control. Doing this, with the pit I had, I usually ran it with the intake at about 25% open.

Troubleshooting this is going to boil down to changing 1 thing at a time. Each smoker has it's own personality, just like every car or aircraft. If the exhaust wasnt wide open, do this first. Then preheat your splits. If exhaust already wide open, then just the preheat should do the trick.

 

[pineywoods]

I would think that splits that size wouldn't be terrible but then again I don't know for sure you might try making the diameter smaller some time just to see if it makes much difference. More than that I would suggest adding just one or two splits at a time and see what difference that makes. The firebox on my smoker is 24x24 and while I use larger splits I only add one or two splits at a time and this means every 30 to 40 minutes I'm adding wood. The thing with adding smaller splits more often is that you should not have wide temp fluctuations when adding wood and hopefully not the billowing white smoke.

 

[krj]

Looks like a lot of people have good results with preheating the splits. The first time I seen/heard of anyone doing this was 6-7 years ago at a BBQ joint in called Woodyard. I was waiting on my order, so naturally I was eyeballing their smoker. At that time the pitmaster was wrapping butts, and I happened to notice him throw some splits into the CC. Didn't really understand at the time what the hell he was doing, until I was able to research later.