Help on Temps

[hawksbonesbbq]

Hey everyone - I need a bit of help on my smoking. I bought the chargriller a while back and was pretty successful with my smoking by just building a small charcoal fire on one side and meat on the other. I finally bought the SFB a couple weeks ago and I smoked a brisket last weekend. Turned out tender and juicy but was too smoky in flavor. I figured it was because I used these hickory woods chunks from Lowes. So today I am smoking Ribs using just charcoal and some wood chips. The problem is I am having trouble getting my temps up and keeping them there. It almost seems like I should be using wood in the sidefirebox as opposed to charcoal. BUt I want to avoid the over-smoky taste. Any suggestions? Also, I used Hickory last week. I am thinking that is what imposed such a smoky taste, I think Apple is the way to go. Anyone know where I can get apple wood pieces, not just chips. If I do need to use wood over there I want a mild smoking wood. Thanks for the help in advance!!

Hawk

 

[daddyzaring]

Maybe you're using too much wood?  You'll learn on here that, "Less is Good."  Have you tried using lump charcoal?  It burns hotter, and leaves less ash.

Here are a couple links with mods that may help too.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/75110/horizonal-offset-smoker-mods

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/58778/char-griller-smokin-pro-with-firebox-mods

 

[smokinthesmc]

Do you have enough intake at the vent on the SFB. I use charcoal ( Kingsford ) as my fuel source most often and add a little wood on the outside edges just to smolder if they ignight i get a little spike in heat and lots of smoke, so i roll them over and move it a littlle more away and get the just right smoke for me.

 

[soafung]

remember, you want thin blue smoke (TBS).  you don't want thick white smoke.

check out the pic in the 8th post

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/63262/thin-blue-smoke

on a little video for proper smoke release

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/wiki/thin-blue-smoke-aka-tbs