Missing smoke flavor

[jackd]

Hello everyone.  Thanks in advance for any help and guidance.  I am having trouble getting smoke flavor into my meat.  The flavor and tenderness is great but only a very mild smoke flavor on the outer portion of pork shoulder or brisket.  I have a master forge vertical propane and an offset that I used with charcoal for a while then converted to propane.  I have used wood chips and wood chunks.  I keep smoke going the entire cooking time (unless foiled).  I have tried them soaked in water and dry. 

Ribs-3-2-1 method @225

Pork shoulder- smoke to 160 then foil to 205.   Brisket similar.

My next step is to do two identical pieces of meat, one is the smoker and one in a regular oven and see the difference if any.  I have tried hickory,apple,pecan and mesquite. 

I have smoked many other things but still doesn't seem to absorb much smoke flavor. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jarjarchef]

Have not run into that issue with my offset smoker. I use 3"-4" round oak branches in it with charcole.

Now the MES we have at work I find that sometimes it is light on the smoke. We will make sure we are adding the chips every 30 min, but never as strong of a flavor as my offset. But to get a stronger flavor in the MES we will use a strong flavored wood like hickory or misquite.

Just shooting out thoughts:

How accurate is your thermometer for the cook chamber? You may not be cooking at the temp you think so the time in the smoke is thrown off....

How old is the wood? I know you should have seasoned wood, but sometimes old bags of chips may loose some of the strength.

Check the brand of wood chips and chunks. Maybe fillers are in there and it cuts the flavor of the true wood.

Maybe try one of Todd's smoke mazes or tubes. I do not have one yet, but hear lots of great reviews on them. He also has great quality of pellets to use as well.

Just some random thoughts...

 

[jackd]

Thank you for your thoughts.  I am confident in my cooking temperature.  I use a digital probe and two oven thermometers.  I have been using wood chips from local grocery market.  I never thought to check for fillers or how old they are.  I will look into that and try a different brand/kind.  Thank you very much.

 

[weberlamp]

Most meat will only accept smoke during the first quarter of the cooking time.  Once the pores of the meat close up it is hard to get the smoke flavor in to the meat.  

First thing I do is get my smoker (WSM 18.5) up to temp.  I then add my wood and make sure that I have a good smoke rolling out of the vent.  Then I put the meat on, that way I ensure that the meat is getting a heavy dose of smoke as soon as it goes on

Are you using a heavy rub?  Are you putting on a mustard or oil slather on the meat prior to the applying the rub.

Keep smoking, the best part about this is you get to eat all of the practice.

 

[mike johnson]

Get the AMNPS!! Its wonderful

 

[damon555]

Try doing 2 identical cuts of meat but instead foil one as you've been doing and leave the other one alone until it's cooked to temp. And don't open the door on the smoker until it's time for the meat to come off for foil or it's done.