Creosote/proper smoke flavor

[s2k9k]

Click on the words "Roll Call" in my last post.

 

[eyesrwindows]

I have to disagree here. Sorry. If that was the case then there would not be any safe meats to eat. I did some checking on this and ran across a scale on "die time" of pathogens at different temps and translate that scale to the long slow smoking process nothing is going to survive. I serciously doubt there are any meats free of pathogens when you bring them home from the store but they darrn sure are once they have been slowly taken to 185 plus.  More important is how you handle the meat before you place it on the smokler.. Lots of hand washing and cleaning of the board and knives and being darn careful about contamination of stuff you aint gonna smoke, I'll try to dig up the chart with the scale and post it if you are interested. Time for bed now.. got everything ready to go on AM.  Stay safe and have a great holiday.

 

[venture]

I can't believe there is so much discussion on this topic.

I plead GUILTY!

In my early days with the ECB, I experienced that. I just followed the instructions that came with the unit. It was awful, and it took time to get it under control.  There was no internet back then.  There was no real way to learn from experienced people unless you were lucky enough to know them.

Folks, just don't do it.

For beginners, it is easy to think that is how smoked food should taste.  I have a neighbor like that.  He brings me meat. We thank him and throw it away after one taste.  (We should know better, but we keep hoping he will follow advice?)

Ya don't even have to see the smoke.  The more smoke you see, just means you are doing it worse.

If I see nothing and just smell the sweet goodness when I walk out the door?  I think I am about right on.

For newbies only.  The rest knew that.

Good luck and good smoking.

 

[eyesrwindows]

Gosh when I think of all the beautiful meats I have totally screwed up it almost makes me cry. I recall some hens I "smoked".. that came out with that dark rubbery skin, discolored flesh, with an aroma of an ashtray. One bite and in the trash it went. I could have gotten that same "smoked" flavor basting em in the oven with fuel oil.  Then I "helped" an old school NC master with a whole hog the old fashioned way.  Hog on a rack with a big cover.. and a 50 gallon drum beside it and lots of split wood. His method was to burn the wood in the 50 gallon drum in the top half ( that had rebar shoved thru it about half way down.) at the bottom the side was cut out. as he burned the wood we kicked the barrel and the embers would fall to the bottom..and we shoveled them under the hog. There was very little "smoke" under the hog.. but plenty from the 50 gallon drum. The end result was one of the best tasting hog I have ever put in my mouth. I can get somewhat close with good ole lump charcoal. Tonight I am trying a dif brand.. Wicked Good. It has been going since noon today and lemme tell ya.. it burns.. and burns.. and burns some more. This stuff is dense and puts off a very sweet perfume when its cookin.

 

[garand555]

Yeah, the key is a nice clean burning fire. I get more smoke out of mine than oldschoolbbq, but mine is still blue. If I get white billowing smoke for more than a short time, I'm in there with a propane or mapp gas torch getting things hotter. It's normally not a problem though. If I do have any green wood that I am using, it gets mixed with whatever I have on hand that is well cured to make sure that it still burns well. My smoker is a giant homebuilt pile of bricks, so I'll have a bigger fire to keep things warm than oldschool, but the key with me is I've learned how mine behaves. I run mine different than he described ITT, but I'm working with my smoker's characteristics. I'm also a bit more caviler in my attitude about heat control, but I still have people regularly tell me that my BBQ is better than stuff from a restaurant.

Play with your smoker and learn its characteristics. Do it without any food in it some afternoon. You built it, so it may have some quirks that some of the commercial smokers don't have. If they exist, learn what they are, e.g., if you can't keep the temperature as stable as others can, learn to work with it. I personally pick a range (the range varies with the kind of wood I'm using), and if it gets a little above that range, I wait until it gets a little below that range before I throw more wood on. If you can get great heat control, then great, use it. The key with good Q is time, and offsetting a short temperature spike with letting the temp drop a little further to keep it from powering through the plateau seems to work pretty good for me.

Also, I echo the sentiment that you should stick to cured wood for now. I've been a firebug all my life and have spent many a night up where my only heat is a fire, so I'm pretty good at getting a nice clean burning fire. Because of this, I know not only how to get green wood to burn clean, I also know that it is harder to do so than it is with nice dry wood.

 

[benny australia]

Hi Fellas, I love reading your forums. I recently went to the US and loved the idea of your smokers. When I came home I build one with all the research I could possibly find. I ended up with a reverse flow pit, using lump charcol in a decent sized basket using the minion method. I did how ever (I know this is cheating) buy a rocks BBQ stoker to run it. With how I have it set up (and I have only had dry runs to try and learn as much as I can about this type of cooking) I can get about 8-9 hours at 220 degress on one basket. When I built it I built a tray (from 1/8") that sits above the charcol in the firebox to put wood chips in. When I run it just with charcol it burns very very clean, how ever if I put the chips in the tray it blows white smoke and fills up the chamber with creosote. Would putting chunks instead of chips directly on the charcol, once it is red hot, get a blue smoke do you think? Thanks for any advice! Ben

 

[benny australia]

Hi Fellas, I love reading your forums. I recently went to the US and loved the idea of your smokers. When I came home I build one with all the research I could possibly find. I ended up with a reverse flow pit, using lump charcol in a decent sized basket using the minion method. I did how ever (I know this is cheating) buy a rocks BBQ stoker to run it. With how I have it set up (and I have only had dry runs to try and learn as much as I can about this type of cooking) I can get about 8-9 hours at 220 degress on one basket. When I built it I built a tray (from 1/8") that sits above the charcol in the firebox to put wood chips in. When I run it just with charcol it burns very very clean, how ever if I put the chips in the tray it blows white smoke and fills up the chamber with creosote. Would putting chunks instead of chips directly on the charcol, once it is red hot, get a blue smoke do you think? Thanks for any advice! Ben

 

[ribwizzard]

iI would mix the chips in with the charcoal, so as the charcoal is burning down , a chip will burn now and then to keep a light but steady hint of smoke going.  Or you could just use all wood in the smoker instead, just cut it into sizes that fit your smoker and let it dry out real good.

 

[tony80]

Thank you everyone who has helped with this thread. I have become so comfortable with my smoker and I owe it to your input. I now only preburn at times because it uses so much wood, but I must say, it makes the best meat when all the fuel is preburned and then added to the firebox. If you take a look at my pics, I built a pre-burn pit which has been awesome. I saw a show on TV where the pitmaster had this huge preburn set up for his restruant.... I saw that and a couple weeks later my pit was born!

I have the itch to do a long smoke here soon..... I'm thinking my second try at a brisket, I think the family is getting tired of pulled pork and ribs!

 

[3montes]

I'm a dedicated stick burner too. Keep the thin blue going and use seasoned wood and you will be fine. Everyones smoker runs differently so no one here can tell you specifically how to run yours. Do some dry runs and learn your smokers tendencys.

Thin blue times two!!

100_0133_zps1dee20a5.jpg

• 3montes
• Dec 15, 2012

 

[ribwizzard]

You can always pre burn the wood and store it for later use. Kind of like making your own lump charcoal to what ever size you want. Just have to keep it dry.

 

[tony80]

With the minion method you can simply incorporate chunks in with the coal before you start your fire. If you feel like you need more smoke during the process, you can always throw a chunk or few directly on the hot coals and you'll be good to go. I have a WSM that I use when I'm being lazy, and this is what I do.

I always feel like I'm cheating when I use the WSM, it nearly runs itself! The stick burner in my opinion makes the best meat with the best bark. You just can't beat the taste wood imparts into the meat....

 

[pthefree]

gentlemen this thread was extremely helpful. I purchased my stick burner yesterday and am doing my second trial run. Everything I read here is making sense as I go outside and play with the FB, intake, flute, and wood. Thank you all.

 

[pthefree]

gentlemen this thread was extremely helpful. I purchased my stick burner yesterday and am doing my second trial run. Everything I read here is making sense as I go outside and play with the FB, intake, flute, and wood. Thank you all.

 

[smokinclt]

New to the forum (I did post to roll call). I just bought my first "real" smoker its a LANG 60" Original. I get it saturday 

. I have been struggling for years with my COS and one thing I have done in the last year and a half is got myself a cheap firepit at the local store and now I burn my hickory down to coals and use a shovel. Man what an amazing difference that has made. I use pure wood in my cooks and I will say that the flavor is definitely much better with no charcoal in the firebox. So I guess in essence I am just saying what those that have much more experience than I do are saying. Its a bit of a bummer I had to figure this out on my own. I too ruined a lot of meat. Now even on my COS I get compliments from everyone. I just wish I had actually started reading about smoking a few years back when I was getting started. Anyhow just thought I would add my $0.02.

Doug