Dialing in temperature on stick smoker

[Musty Rusty]

I made the plunge and got an offset smoker. I am super excited about it, but so far the learning curve has proved to be a steep one. I mostly am having a very difficult time getting my fire under control. Can someone please walk through their methodology of building a good fire that gives you a temperature between 250 and 275?

When I try to go that low by adding in fewer sticks or chunks, the fire doesn’t seem big enough to keep the flames going and I get nasty white smoke, or the fire doesn’t give off enough heat and my temp plummets to 180 or 200.

I have tried starting with a bed of charcoal, and adding wood on that. I have tried just building a fire from scratch with only wood, but it always comes back to if I want to maintain a good smoke it seems I have to have a good size fire, but then I can’t get the low temperature. when I try to use the dampers to control the temp, it just snuffs the fire out unless I have the vent door all the way open.

other info. I am using a chargriller medium sized smoker.

 

[ozzz]

Make sure you have wood that has been seasoned for a year. Have the vent on the chimney wide open. Get a good coal base from lump charcoal. Then add a couple splits and have vents on fire box door wide open also. Leave the fire box door open until you have no white smoke coming from the chimney. Then close the door and let the temp rise. You will have to keep a eye on the fire to be sure it has a nice flame this will prevent the white smoke. Try and maintain a nice fire not to big just enough to get the temp to 250 with a light blue smoke to clear from there you can add 1 to 2 splits at a time to maintain the temp. Not all offsets are the same you will have to learn your smoker to see what works best. You may have to leave the fire box door open a bit to prevent white smoke. Most offsets run better at 250 to 300. Some offsets run better with the fire box door open also. You will need to play with it to see what works best for yours. Practice without food for a day playing with the fire ,the vents, fire box door and having a cold beverage.

 

[daveomak]

Use the air inlets to regulate the heat.....
Lower inlets add air to the fire...
Upper inlets move the heat from the FB to the CC.....

 

[sawhorseray]

Welcome to SMF Rusty! There are a ton of tricks and tips in learning heat control on a offset, it takes a little time and experimentation to find what's going to work for you and your smoker. The best place to start is with YouTube, there are dozens of videos to explain what you need to learn. Here's one, check it out, and then look at more. It will be advantageous to learn how to control your heat while leaving the exhaust stack wide open. I will often control the temp on my SQ36 by leaving the door open, anywhere from a tiny crack to 2-3 inches. You are going to have to babysit your offset, adding splits or chunks every 30-45 minutes. As was mentioned before make sure you are using good dry wood, don't be in a rush, make small adjustments and be patient. Once you've learned to control your temp you'll be making the best Q possible, nothing compares to the flavor one can achieve on a offset smoker. RAY

 

[JWFokker]

My advice:
Get a moisture meter and make sure the wood is under 20% moisture content in the center. You will want to cut or split one of your splits to get a good reading in the center.

It's better to use smaller splits and more of them than try to burn larger splits and try to control temps.

You can cheat and add lump charcoal to keep your coal bed hot and keep the temperature steady. Easier than fighting with vents and trying to figure out if the wood is the problem.

 

[daveomak]

In my stick burner, I have found, splits about golf ball size work very well... About every 15 minutes or so...

 

[lancep]

Since I didn’t see it mentioned, preheating splits on top of the firebox helps them ignite instantly which makes control a little easier. Honestly though, I would worry about smoke quality before exact temp. Every smoker is different and they all seem to have a temp range they like to run at. Figure that out and adjust from there.

 

[Musty Rusty]

Since I didn’t see it mentioned, preheating splits on top of the firebox helps them ignite instantly which makes control a little easier. Honestly though, I would worry about smoke quality before exact temp. Every smoker is different and they all seem to have a temp range they like to run at. Figure that out and adjust from there.

Thank you, I was curious about smoke quality control as well. I have found how to get clear smoke, but I wonder if I would get better smoke if it was not as clear. I just cannot tell where the line is between thin blue smoke, and the nasty white smoke that has the creosote. I had a traumatizing experience once where I thought I had thin blue smoke, and then it had the nastiest bitter taste. Any suggestions on how to tell the difference for those of us that might be a little colored blind??

 

[ozzz]

Thin blue to clear smoke is better. If you get the thick white smoke for a long time it will taste bitter. Key is to keep an eye on the fire when you look in the fire box there should always be a nice flame going so the sticks are burning clean. The fire does not have to be to big 3 or 4 splits and add 1 every 15 to 30 minutes as the fire dies down . Keep poking at the wood every 10 to 15 minutes to keep the flame going and the wood burning clean.

 

[lancep]

So unfortunately, I had to delete a lot of pictures from my phone and don’t have any tbs pictures left. For me, I look for clear to just barely visible blue tint. Remember that smoke is gaseous fuel that you actually want to burn. That’s why you want flames. That means you’re burning the gasses as well. If it’s smoldering, those gasses aren’t burning and you risk them condensing on your meat. Don’t worry, if you’re using wood for your heat source, the meat is going to get smoked. So keep the fire as hot and clean as you can and only big enough to keep your cooking chamber in the minimal temp range. Mine runs between 275-290 and 325-350 with a very small fire. My splits are typically the size of a Red Bull can and I add two every 25 minutes. Yours may be different so experiment there. Also, experiment with your airflow, both above and below the fire.