Discussion, how to produce smoke ring in electric smokers?

[khnry]

This is a great article
http://playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com/1996/03/smoke-rings.html?m=1

pretty interesting

 

[chef jimmyj]

Smoke Ring is like Make-up on your Grandma! Adds a little color but makes no difference to how Great a Lady she already is!...JJ

 

[travisty]

So I've tried the briquette in the chip pan trick a few times now, including on 2 racks of ribs and a brisket last week, and had no luck in the MES. Yeah I get it does nothing for the meat, but it is pretty and people like to see it.
Anyway I also did a Fatty after the other stuff was done with no briquette and I did get the ring, as others have speculated I think it is due to the nitrites in the cured bacon boosting the chemical reaction with the myoglobin. I would say that is why fatties usually have smoke rings in electrics.

 

[chef jimmyj]

You nailed it exactly. The Cure in the Bacon reacts with the sausage. As a student chef, I ran a Luncheon with a German theme, Rouladen, Spaetzle, Braised Red Cabbage. The Beef rolls were filled with Bacon, Onion Mustard and a Pickle spear. Browned and Braised for HOURS!. I still had a few people call me over to ask if the beef was cooked through because they were Pink in the center. You cound cut it with a fork...

...JJ

 

[jjlnyc]

Ditto!

 

[smoketrailsteve]

Just re-visiting this article as its got some great information. I am having a tough time getting a smoke ring in my MES without using charcoal.

 

[bbqwillie]

 
Just re-visiting this article as its got some great information. I am having a tough time getting a smoke ring in my MES without using charcoal.

And you won't get a smoke ring without the charcoal (unless you cheat with some Tenderquick). You need Nitrogen and heat to get the desired reaction to form the smoke ring. Briquettes are the easiest way (and the best source) to get Nitrogen into your electric cook.

I take 4 to 5 briquettes and put them in a cloth bag and bash them against the concrete walkway. Then I mix all the little tiny chips with the pellets and load that mix in my A-maZe-N and fire it up. As long as the pellets are burning so are the charcoal bits. When the charcoal bits are burning I'm making Nitrogen.

Start your meat when it's cold, right out of the fridge, straight to the cooker.  

 

[megabrisket]

This is a great post I've been reading. I'm going to try the briquettes with some hickory pellets. I'm not worried about a smoke ring as much as smoke quality. I have a hard time getting that thin blue smoke with my MES. Last time I smoked the smoke was okay but not how I wanted. After I took the meat out I cranked it up to max 275 to burn off the excess and looked out a few minutes later to nice blue smoke lol. Slightly off topic but anyone with an MES have advice on getting better smoke quality at a lower temp? I've read that pellets really help and I've got some, just haven't had a chance to try them out yet.

 

[Rings Я Us]

This is a great post I've been reading. I'm going to try the briquettes with some hickory pellets. I'm not worried about a smoke ring as much as smoke quality. I have a hard time getting that thin blue smoke with my MES. Last time I smoked the smoke was okay but not how I wanted. After I took the meat out I cranked it up to max 275 to burn off the excess and looked out a few minutes later to nice blue smoke lol. Slightly off topic but anyone with an MES have advice on getting better smoke quality at a lower temp? I've read that pellets really help and I've got some, just haven't had a chance to try them out yet.

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/smoke-ring-using-masterbuilt-electric-pic-heavy.272259/

:cool:

 

[tallbm]

This is a great post I've been reading. I'm going to try the briquettes with some hickory pellets. I'm not worried about a smoke ring as much as smoke quality. I have a hard time getting that thin blue smoke with my MES. Last time I smoked the smoke was okay but not how I wanted. After I took the meat out I cranked it up to max 275 to burn off the excess and looked out a few minutes later to nice blue smoke lol. Slightly off topic but anyone with an MES have advice on getting better smoke quality at a lower temp? I've read that pellets really help and I've got some, just haven't had a chance to try them out yet.

Hi there and welcome!

There is a device called the A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker (AMNPS). It is basically a tray made of perferated metal built with a 3 row "maze" design. You full the rows up with wood pellets as much or as little as you want and light the end and let it burn for 10 minutes. Blow it out and the pellets instantly produce perfect Thin Blue Smoke (TBS).
The pellets will continue to burn down the row in a maze/snake like fashion for like 9+ hours so you don't have to mess with adding wood.

Almost every MES owner on here uses the AMNPS. Some put it inside their MES to generate smoke others built a Mailbox Modification that hooks into the chip loader hole and you put the AMNPS into that and the smoke is funneled into the MES.

My suggestion is to get you an AMNPS tray and start using pellets you will have perfect smoke every time no matter the smoker temperature :)

 

[zwiller]

Anyone have any pics of finished product using the AMNPS and charcoal? Also, when cheating with cure, is the flavor impacted much or minor? Aaron Franklin makes it a point to talk smoke ring in his book and say it doesn't happen often for him. Regardless, I think it looks cool.

 

[indaswamp]

FWIW, one of the ingredients in charcoal briquettes is nitrates, which when burned create nitrous oxide gas and that gas is responsible for smoke ring formation....

 

[zwiller]

Sprinkle a loaded AMNPS tray with pink salt?

 

[indaswamp]

Dunno...I've never tried it....

 

[zwiller]

Honestly, I am shocked that I am even looking into this. A year ago I could barely get stable temps yet alone TBS.

Just learned there are charcoal pellets. Should be fun fooling around and trying things. I think I will start and try and fake it. Sprinkle TQ on meat, wait 10-20m, then rinse off.

 

[SonnyE]

FWIW, one of the ingredients in charcoal briquettes is nitrates, which when burned create nitrous oxide gas and that gas is responsible for smoke ring formation....

I sometimes get smoke ring formation in my underpants...
Am I snorting too much nitrous oxide at the Dentist??? :confused::eek::oops:o_O

I smoke for taste primarily.
Anything else is banana pie.

 

[tallbm]

Honestly, I am shocked that I am even looking into this. A year ago I could barely get stable temps yet alone TBS.

Just learned there are charcoal pellets. Should be fun fooling around and trying things. I think I will start and try and fake it. Sprinkle TQ on meat, wait 10-20m, then rinse off.

Lumberjack has their CharBlend option which I think is a combo of Hickory and Charcoal. That would be interesting to try :)

 

[dr k]

The BBQ'ers Delight Jack Daniels charcoal pellets is the Sugar Maple mellowing charcoal they drip the whiskey through and is blended with a little Oak. Maybe from the barrels the whiskey is aged in. I like the charcoal flavor which is light in flavor and lightens other pellets flavor. It's super easy to light. I fill the AMNPS half with this then any other flavor pellet on top or all Jack Daniels pellets. I do like regular charcoal briquette flavor and put them in close proximity to the open heating element. This will produce enough heat to affect the MES stock sensor so I will try lining up six in a row and have them touching to more less burn one at a time. I believe Foamheart did this to get a smoke ring. I have gotten a ring but did it more for flavor profile.

 

[megabrisket]

So I tried a version of the charcoal and pellets in my MES 30 this weekend and got a pretty nice smoke ring on my ribs and they tasted great. I don't have a AMNPS yet so I broke a charcoal briquette with a hammer and and used hickory pellets. When I'd add pellets to my smoker I'd add a small handful and one or two small pieces of charcoal every 30-45 min. For the first 4-5 min after adding each round the initial smoke would be white, not terribly dirty, just mostly white. Then it would clear up to a nice TBS for the rest of the 30-45 min. They tasted awesome, not overly smokey, and I got a smoke ring. I was stoked! I'll re-post the pics here so you don't have to go looking for the other thread :P The smoke ring isn't super dark but it's def there, and it showed up better in real life than on the camera too. When I get an AMNPS, I'll probably try filling it with pellets and mixing in bits of charcoal.