I ruined my smoke today.

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$moke!t

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Sep 1, 2020
76
83
Alright yall. I posted a picture of my ribs I threw on this morning. I was excited and curious how my first smoke would go on my new WSM. It turned out to be a learning laughable experience. I thought I'd throw a few things out there in hopes you folks would know what I could have done wrong.
I filled the base with charcoal and used the minon method. I used the water pan About half full. I put 4 fist sized (maybe smaller) hickory wood chuncks. Stayed a little over 225 for the first hour. There was smoke! More smoke then i could ever want and I cant for the life of me figure out why! I posted a picture so you guys could see how much there was.. I closed the bottom vents to about quarter of an inch and left the top vent open hoping it would hold temp. When I came back about 15mins later temp was over 250 and decided to throw my thermometer In my meat and the smoker so I could watch from inside the house. Thermometer read it was done already and my temp was almost 278 in the smoker! These ribs were done within 2 hours and my temp rose over 325!! Smoker smelled my fireworks. Im telling yall. This was a damn disaster! I'm thinking I put too many charcoals in I planned on smoking these for about 5 hours... ish so I used quite a few hoping I wouldn't have to add more later, obviously a dumb mistake. So.... let me have it folks! What were my biggest mistakes today?
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I don't have a WSM but burn charcoal and wood strictly on an offset, same concept. Sounds like you used to much fuel initially, and when you choked the bottom your creating and preserving more heat that is tough to manage. Should have opened everything and let it burn quick then manage the fire accordingly. I typically leave all dampers completely open and manage the fire via adding fuel (wood based on size of desired temp). You'll get it, it just takes practice with the cooker. These things aren't light and forget, it takes your touch. The best thing about cooking IMO.
 
I don't have a WSM but burn charcoal and wood strictly on an offset, same concept. Sounds like you used to much fuel initially, and when you choked the bottom your creating and preserving more heat that is tough to manage. Should have opened everything and let it burn quick then manage the fire accordingly. I typically leave all dampers completely open and manage the fire via adding fuel (wood based on size of desired temp). You'll get it, it just takes practice with the cooker. These things aren't light and forget, it takes your touch. The best thing about cooking IMO.
Thanks for the advice. I'll let burn longer next time before I mess with the vents.
 
You put your chunks on top of the charcoal, didn't ya? Doing so creates ashy whitish/gray smoke. I know the instructions say to do that, but the Weber instructions suck.

It's impossible to overload the WSM with cold charcoal. Adding too much hot charcoal to the cold will cause the temps you experienced in the time you experienced, especially if you are using a grilling charcoal like Kingsford Blue Bag. Water in the water pan will cause more smoke to adhere to the meat. If the smoke is ashy...yuck.

Here's a suggestion. Set your lower vents only 1/8" open, top full open. Bury your chunks in the cold charcoal so they warm gradually and carbonize more cleanly. Only add 8-12 hot briqs to the top of the cold ones (you can reuse used charcoal too). Dry smoke. The water pan is a great heat diffuser and grease catcher.
 
You put your chunks on top of the charcoal, didn't ya? Doing so creates ashy whitish/gray smoke. I know the instructions say to do that, but the Weber instructions suck.

It's impossible to overload the WSM with cold charcoal. Adding too much hot charcoal to the cold will cause the temps you experienced in the time you experienced, especially if you are using a grilling charcoal like Kingsford Blue Bag. Water in the water pan will cause more smoke to adhere to the meat. If the smoke is ashy...yuck.

Here's a suggestion. Set your lower vents only 1/8" open, top full open. Bury your chunks in the cold charcoal so they warm gradually and carbonize more cleanly. Only add 8-12 hot briqs to the top of the cold ones (you can reuse used charcoal too). Dry smoke. The water pan is a great heat diffuser and grease catcher.
You called everything I did, man. You're good. Yes I put the chunks on top of the coal and I added quite a few hot to the cold. I also did use Kingsford blue bag. What kind do you suggest I use next time? Thanks for the advice, man! Much appreciated
 
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What charcoal?

Royal Oak Ridge(ROR) (orange bag has first press briquettes).

Home Depot Embers, Walmart Expert Grill, and any store brand that says on the back bottom "Royal Oak Enterprises" are all the same as ROR but are the "seconds." They work absolutely fine.

ROR and the others are inexpensive options

Weber, B&B, and Trader Joes are all good, but pricier.

I was a loyal Kingsford user for decades, and have tried all their versions, including Competition. They all burn too quickly and don't last as long as the ones mentioned above in spite of their marketing. I've tested KBB against Ridge (test is here in SMF).

Lots of Ridge users here.

Lump has its place, but is better for a hot n fast smokes. It burns hotter due to greater exposure of irregular surface areas.
 
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Well, how'd they taste? If they were good, you didn't ruin anything. 2 hrs for ribs at ~225-278F sounds totally reasonable to me. The thickness of meat on ribs isn't much...they cook fast.

If they weren't smoky enough for you, yes a lower average temp would extend the cook time and give more smoke flavor. But it can be hard to maintain a bullet smoker at a consistent <200F temperature. Yes, it's a skill, can be enjoyable, but involves a learning curve.

For ribs, you don't need a lot of fuel. If that's a 22" WSM, they can hold a LOT more fuel than you need for ribs. A fuel height of just 3 or 4 inches (a couple layers of briquettes, although I prefer lump) is PLENTY. ("Filling the base" sounds like way too much, even for pork shoulders.) I like the minion method but YMMV. For >18" bullets, I use a 3# steel coffee can, opened at top and bottom and placed flush in the middle of your bullet smoker. Pile the cold charcoal around the can. Start the inner coal/lumps in a "chimney" but for ribs, it shouldn't be over 1/3 full. (Or use an electric starter on an equivalent volume.) Pour the hot coals into the coffee can, then pull the can out, and build up your cooker from there.

My rule of thumb is the top vents should be 3x the area of the lower. The Lower vent area is the main knob on temperature. The 1/8" open suggestion sounds about right. But it can be hard to maintain a bullet smoker at a consistent <200F temperature even with tinkering and experience. Many just live with 225...that is relatively easy to maintain with a little practice. Yes, it's a skill, can be enjoyable, but involves a learning curve. And 50degF temp swings is not uncommon in a wood- or charcoal-fired cooker, even with practice. What counts is the average temperature.

I don't know how much smoke you want. An awful lot of folks are perfectly happy with the flavor of food they cook in these only using charcoal. If you want more smoke, chunks are the way to go, but putting direct on coals is not my recommendation. Yes they'll smoke a lot at first, but it's just too much heat and they'll soon be burning, not smoking, and greatly raising your temperature. I suggest putting some steel plate between the coals and the smoking wood chunks. A small cast iron pan works well, or even the lids from that 3# coffee can work if you can keep the wood from sliding off and falling on the hot coals.
 
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Well, how'd they taste? If they were good, you didn't ruin anything. 2 hrs for ribs at ~225-278F sounds totally reasonable to me. The thickness of meat on ribs isn't much...they cook fast.

If they weren't smoky enough for you, yes a lower average temp would extend the cook time and give more smoke flavor. But it can be hard to maintain a bullet smoker at a consistent <200F temperature. Yes, it's a skill, can be enjoyable, but involves a learning curve.

For ribs, you don't need a lot of fuel. If that's a 22" WSM, they can hold a LOT more fuel than you need for ribs. A fuel height of just 3 or 4 inches (a couple layers of briquettes, although I prefer lump) is PLENTY. ("Filling the base" sounds like way too much, even for pork shoulders.) I like the minion method but YMMV. For >18" bullets, I use a 3# steel coffee can, opened at top and bottom and placed flush in the middle of your bullet smoker. Pile the cold charcoal around the can. Start the inner coal/lumps in a "chimney" but for ribs, it shouldn't be over 1/3 full. (Or use an electric starter on an equivalent volume.) Pour the hot coals into the coffee can, then pull the can out, and build up your cooker from there.

My rule of thumb is the top vents should be 3x the area of the lower. The Lower vent area is the main knob on temperature. The 1/8" open suggestion sounds about right. But it can be hard to maintain a bullet smoker at a consistent <200F temperature even with tinkering and experience. Many just live with 225...that is relatively easy to maintain with a little practice. Yes, it's a skill, can be enjoyable, but involves a learning curve. And 50degF temp swings is not uncommon in a wood- or charcoal-fired cooker, even with practice. What counts is the average temperature.

I don't know how much smoke you want. An awful lot of folks are perfectly happy with the flavor of food they cook in these only using charcoal. If you want more smoke, chunks are the way to go, but putting direct on coals is not my recommendation. Yes they'll smoke a lot at first, but it's just too much heat and they'll soon be burning, not smoking, and greatly raising your temperature. I suggest putting some steel plate between the coals and the smoking wood chunks. A small cast iron pan works well, or even the lids from that 3# coffee can work if you can keep the wood from sliding off and falling on the hot coals.
They were over smoked and bitter. Thanks for the tips! Appreciate it.
 
First off, when operating a WSM you never wear socks with sandals :emoji_wink::emoji_laughing:.

Seriously the responses above have you pretty much covered. I will add this: I won't add the meat to the WSM until the smoker has settled in. This means the temps are steady and the smoke coming out of the top vent is lite blue to non-existent. This usually takes about a half an hour to an hour. I normally use Royal Oak briquettes, but at times I do use KBB without any off tastes or smells. When adding the initial hot coals some folks use a coffee can with both ends removed in the middle of the charcoal ring. Once the coals are added they remove the can with a pair of pliers. Me, I just make a dimple in the center of the ring to add the coals. I start with about 10 ashed over coals and all vents wide open. When I'm about 40* from target temp. I start adjusting the bottom vents until it settles.

I hope you didn't toss the ribs. They may taste better in a day or so.

Chris
 
Well I have to say they look darn good to me. I’ve smoked ribs between 225 & 300. The only difference I found was they got done sooner at the higher temps. I usually let my smoker settle in at what ever temp it feels like running that day & adjust the cook time to the smoker temp. If you want to run at 225 then you need to build a smaller fire, if you want to run at a higher temp, you build a bigger fire. If you want to hold a specific temp, then look into getting a BBQ Guru, it will hold any temp you set it at.
Al
 
They were over smoked and bitter...
I misinterpreted your first post as meaning you only wanted lower temps so that you could get longer cooks and MORE smoke. Try your next few cooks with only charcoal. Try some different brands/formulations. If you later want to try a chunk or two of flavoring wood (not 4) start with something mild like apple. Hickory's pretty powerful and leaves a flavor profile that can be described as bitter.
 
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