Maintaining a clean fire for offset smoker

[banderson7474]

Ever since I learned there was a right and wrong way to have a fire in an off set smoker (thanks to SmokinAl and others) I've been researching. Well I found two good videos and I'm probably going to combine them on my next attempt.

The first one is a shorter video and the second is longer but also very informative.





I never heard about the blue smoke goal. I just thought throw another log on the fire and maintaining the temp was the only goal. In fact, I thought the more smoke the better actually. My wife isn't a huge fan of smoked meat so when she said it was too smoky, I just chalked it up to that. Then I heard it again from my neighbor and that got me thinking. Then I learned from the great folks in here that I shouldn't ever burn pine wood. (I did it a handful of times b/c I had extra fire wood nearby and didn't need smoke wood, just heat so I didn't think much of it.

So now I'm going to pressure wash all the black junk out of my Joe and wash the grates and basically start over.

 

[foamheart]

Instead of "washing" your pit, I would suggest killing 2 birds with one stone. Buy a weed burner or build one. I have a couple in the barn and one at the pit. Below is a picture so you can see what I am talking about.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Lincoln-Electric-Inferno-Propane-Torch-Kit-KH825-01/100341111

If you have creosote in your pit, fire that baby up and burn it clean.

OK, I did say 2 birds, didn't I. Well....... they are how most folks I know, including myself, lite their pit . Saves a lot of time and since its Propane there is no residual smell or taste.

Lastly listen you may not ever have a problem. My Mom would not eat my Pop's smoked foods. He had no conception of amount of smoke. When I smoked for Mom, I used a lot less than Pop. I suggest everyone learn to balance their smoke and then take into account the tastes of those you are serving. You will never hear someone say, "I can't eat this, it doesn't have enough smoke on it". But far to often, especially with the fairer sex you'll hear the opposite. Try less some, or milder smoke flavors if you are doing all hickory or oak or mesquite. Or you can use charcoal and feed it splits at the appropriate time.

Just some ideas. I hope you get it where your bride begs you to fire it up. It makes life a whole lot easier.

 

[banderson7474]

thanks for the input. I already have a weed burner but I haven't used it on the smoker yet. I figured that with 2 yrs of black goop in the smoker, that burning it off wouldn't work. I was going to try and use it to clean the grates but was afraid I would warp them so I was just gonna soak them for a bit and then put them in the dishwasher.

 

[banderson7474]

I'm also going to seriously consider wrapping meat earlier so they are not getting smoke the entire cook but first I want to figure out a clean fire and then see how the tastes differ.

 

[hardcookin]

Chicken thighs is good for practicing. Cheap and not a long cook.
Also Cherry,pecan and fruit woods give off a milder smoke.

 

[daveomak]

A very good solution to clean smoke is using 2 air inlets on the FB.... Lower is for controlling the air to the fire for temp control and the upper is to move heat from the FB to the CC... That also adds oxygen to the smoke, to consume the creosote, giving you good clean blue smoke...

..

 

[daveomak]

A recent post and improvements a member noted....

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/the-fire-management.276835/