Hi all!
I posted in the Charcoal forums if you're looking for a bit of background (didn't notice the wood section at first). Otherwise, here goes:
My background: I started on a Smokey Joe, then went to the Weber Kettle Grill and then the WSM. I used the WSM for all my smoking and Kettle for all my grilling for the last few years. As a result, I have a basic understanding of what I'm doing. With the WSM, I would light the charcoal using the minion method, and add about 4 chunks of wood for a full day brisket or pulled pork. I got to the point where I could achieve and hold my temps, and thin blue smoke is not a problem. The only thing really lacking was a strong smoke flavour and a large smoke ring, but food still tastes much better, and it's a fun hobby.
Well about a month ago I was at Lowes and saw this Broil King XL offset on sale from $1,000 to $499 and just couldn't pass it up. Probably got in over my head but if we're not getting in over our head what are we even doing? :P I probably should've sourced hardwood before buying an offset, because so far I have come up dry. My current method is to light a charcoal fire and use that to get up to temp, then sacrifice a chunk of hardwood to calibrate the heat in the firebox to achieve perfect smoke, then get the food on! I use charcoal to maintain temp and wood chunks to produce smoke.
When I first bought the BKXL, I decided to do a quick cold smoke on some bacon that I had cured and hot smoked to 150 on my WSM (I like to double smoke my bacon after curing so I do one hot smoke then follow up with a cold smoke), so I fired up 4 briquettes and put them on a piece of maple as I usually do. ALL of the lids leaked like crazy: the main chamber, the main firebox door and the side door, as well as a bit around where the chimney connects. Yikes! Turns out that the smoker didn't (and doesn't!) come with a seal around the firebox main and side doors (I checked out a couple other floor models and there was no insulation around those doors either).
So, I went and bought some fibreglass insulation and sealed up the main door, main firebox door and side door; chimney is on my hit list but I ran out of the insulation.
After sealing, I did a couple of factory-oil cook-offs: I ran a charcoal fire in the firebox, and then a charcoal fire in the main chamber. The sealed worked well and got rid of that glue smell from the insulation and factory oil residue.
Since sealing it up, I've run a few smokes and grilled grilled a few times, but nothing too low and slow.
I put on a pork butt yesterday for my first long smoke. My approach was as follows:
1. Put some charcoal in the firebox, then fill up and light a full chimney starter.
2. Once the chimney starter is almost fully lit, I dumped it in the firebox and mixed it with the charcoal that was in there.
3. I let the firebox get nice and hot and all the charcoal lit, then closed the main chamber to let that start to heat up.
4. Once the smoker was close to my desired temp, I closed the firebox main and side door, with all vents wide open.
5. I let it run for a bit to maintain the correct temp, then sacrificed a piece of wood to test out the ignition. This is where the problem starts.
In order to get the wood to ignite, I have to open the firebox main door and side door all the way, which is fine as that was my understanding from all of the videos and tutorials I've watched. I can get it to the point where I can close the firebox main door and continue to produce nice smoke. However, within 30 seconds of closing the firebox side door, even with all vents open, thick white smoke begins to instantly billow out of the chimney. If I open the side firebox door and blow on the wood, it reignites and is fine, but then again as soon as I close the side door again, thick white smoke begins again.
What I ended up doing is just keeping the side firebox door open the entire time: I fed handfuls of charcoal every hour or so, and 1 chunk every 30-45 minutes.
The problem doing it that way is twofold:
1. It burns a lot more fuel than I think it would normally; and
2. The temp is way higher than I want it because the firebox door is always open.
TL;DR: my smoker is too hot to slow cook my food but too cold to maintain thin blue smoke.
As an aside, about 2/3s of the way through my smoke I decided to stop adding wood chunks. Doing it that way, I was able to perfectly maintain the temp. So I know that I can cook on my new offset, but creating and maintaining nice smoke is the issue.
I posted in the Charcoal forums if you're looking for a bit of background (didn't notice the wood section at first). Otherwise, here goes:
My background: I started on a Smokey Joe, then went to the Weber Kettle Grill and then the WSM. I used the WSM for all my smoking and Kettle for all my grilling for the last few years. As a result, I have a basic understanding of what I'm doing. With the WSM, I would light the charcoal using the minion method, and add about 4 chunks of wood for a full day brisket or pulled pork. I got to the point where I could achieve and hold my temps, and thin blue smoke is not a problem. The only thing really lacking was a strong smoke flavour and a large smoke ring, but food still tastes much better, and it's a fun hobby.
Well about a month ago I was at Lowes and saw this Broil King XL offset on sale from $1,000 to $499 and just couldn't pass it up. Probably got in over my head but if we're not getting in over our head what are we even doing? :P I probably should've sourced hardwood before buying an offset, because so far I have come up dry. My current method is to light a charcoal fire and use that to get up to temp, then sacrifice a chunk of hardwood to calibrate the heat in the firebox to achieve perfect smoke, then get the food on! I use charcoal to maintain temp and wood chunks to produce smoke.
When I first bought the BKXL, I decided to do a quick cold smoke on some bacon that I had cured and hot smoked to 150 on my WSM (I like to double smoke my bacon after curing so I do one hot smoke then follow up with a cold smoke), so I fired up 4 briquettes and put them on a piece of maple as I usually do. ALL of the lids leaked like crazy: the main chamber, the main firebox door and the side door, as well as a bit around where the chimney connects. Yikes! Turns out that the smoker didn't (and doesn't!) come with a seal around the firebox main and side doors (I checked out a couple other floor models and there was no insulation around those doors either).
So, I went and bought some fibreglass insulation and sealed up the main door, main firebox door and side door; chimney is on my hit list but I ran out of the insulation.
After sealing, I did a couple of factory-oil cook-offs: I ran a charcoal fire in the firebox, and then a charcoal fire in the main chamber. The sealed worked well and got rid of that glue smell from the insulation and factory oil residue.
Since sealing it up, I've run a few smokes and grilled grilled a few times, but nothing too low and slow.
I put on a pork butt yesterday for my first long smoke. My approach was as follows:
1. Put some charcoal in the firebox, then fill up and light a full chimney starter.
2. Once the chimney starter is almost fully lit, I dumped it in the firebox and mixed it with the charcoal that was in there.
3. I let the firebox get nice and hot and all the charcoal lit, then closed the main chamber to let that start to heat up.
4. Once the smoker was close to my desired temp, I closed the firebox main and side door, with all vents wide open.
5. I let it run for a bit to maintain the correct temp, then sacrificed a piece of wood to test out the ignition. This is where the problem starts.
In order to get the wood to ignite, I have to open the firebox main door and side door all the way, which is fine as that was my understanding from all of the videos and tutorials I've watched. I can get it to the point where I can close the firebox main door and continue to produce nice smoke. However, within 30 seconds of closing the firebox side door, even with all vents open, thick white smoke begins to instantly billow out of the chimney. If I open the side firebox door and blow on the wood, it reignites and is fine, but then again as soon as I close the side door again, thick white smoke begins again.
What I ended up doing is just keeping the side firebox door open the entire time: I fed handfuls of charcoal every hour or so, and 1 chunk every 30-45 minutes.
The problem doing it that way is twofold:
1. It burns a lot more fuel than I think it would normally; and
2. The temp is way higher than I want it because the firebox door is always open.
TL;DR: my smoker is too hot to slow cook my food but too cold to maintain thin blue smoke.
As an aside, about 2/3s of the way through my smoke I decided to stop adding wood chunks. Doing it that way, I was able to perfectly maintain the temp. So I know that I can cook on my new offset, but creating and maintaining nice smoke is the issue.
