How long to smoke?

[disco]

I am a newbie with a Bradley Digital Smoker.

I have made some great Q in the short time I have had it. However, I find it difficult to determine how much smoke to put on different dishes and items. Recently I made Andouille sausage and smoked it for 3 hours it was perfect. (pictures attached). Earlier, I made pastrami and used 3 hours and it seemed a little light on smoke.

I have worse problems with dinner dishes. I smoked pork chops for 1 1/2 hours and they were nicely smoked while some ribs I smoked for 2 1/2 hours tasted too somky..

Is there any advice or recommendations on how to experiment? I would like some minimum times and then I could increase the next time if I want more smoke flavour.

Thanks for your help.

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• disco
• Nov 17, 2012

 

[daveomak]

disco, evening...  smoke flavor has some variables....  type of wood being a big one.... Mild and Strong...  Mesquite is very strong.... I only add a few flakes to mild wood for flavor....   Moisture on the meat will stop smoke penetration as far as I can tell.....  Drying the surface and placing in front of a fan will dry it out nicely and promote great smoke penetration....  Dave

 

[disco]

Great advice. I have tried different woods and that may be part of the issue. Thanks.

 

[so ms smoker]

  To help you find what you like, make sure you always have 'thin blue smoke' coming out of the smoker. Clouds of white smoke will give a bitter taste. Then adjust time in smoke to your liking.

  Mike

 

[disco]

Thanks, more good advice.

 

[so ms smoker]

  Also, diferent meats like different woods for smoke. It is still a personal preference. I prefer pecan and apple for pork, but hickory or mesquite for beef.

  Mike

 

[disco]

I have been getting better results with Hickory. I tried some apple with the first pork I tried but found a mixture of apple and hickory better. However, I will continue to experiment.