Broke in the smoker today

[bigwalk]

Hi all! New to smoking and new to this site. I got a Brinkman vertical gas smoker for Christmas and I used it for the first time today to smoke two pork tenderloins. I have to say that for my trial run, it was pretty good. It turned out well with a little smoke flavor and got good reviews from my family. Here are a few of my questions. First of all, I had a lot of problems with smoke/temp control. My thermometer on the front read a steady 150 degrees and I was getting light white smoke. I know you want the temp around 200 or 250, but when I tried to turn it up even the smallest amount, my chips started smoking fairly heavy white smoke, that burned my eyes. the chips went from charring to smoldering with embers. I kept it at 150 for a few hours to get some smoke flavor and then took the chips out and turned it up to finish it off. I was using Cherry chips. what can I do to keep that steady light blue smoke I am looking for? Also, when you look at finished pictures, everyones meat has that blackened, almost burnt looking exterior. Mine did not have that. Do you get it from heavier smoke or higher temps? thanks for any input. I cant wait to get good at this stuff!!

 

[tyotrain]

Hi there nice to see you are getting into smoking.. First off don't trust that door thermometer you are better off putting a prob in the chamber to get a more accurate temp reading. for example i use a maverick. now for the nice dark color on the outside of the meat most people think is burnt but it is not its called bark and it is sooooo gooooood. When using sugar basted sauces or rubs you will get a darker bark and it will caramelize. So if you want a dark bark try putting some brown sugar in your rub..

 

P.S a good smoke temp is between 220 degrees and 240 for most meats .