new to smoking

[hatchett]

when smoking do you continue to add wood to keep a continous thin smoke through the entire smoking process or is there a time you add no more wood? i have a propane smoker. thanks 4 any help you can give me

 

[fatback joe]

Well, from a smoke ring perspective, you aren't getting any benefit after the internal temp of hte meat hits around 140.

From a taste perspective, it is up to you, but for most taste buds the adding off wood gets to be a little too strong if you do it through the whole smoke.

 

[flash]

 

[sumosmoke]

Hatchett - it also depends on whether or not you're going to foil the cut of meat you're smoking, at any point. Once you foil the meat the smoke doesn't affect the "ring" any longer, and is a waste of wood.

If it's a small cut of meat, or something that may take under 3 hours to smoke, I keep the TBS on the meat for the length of the smoke and the flavor isn't too bad. Depends on the taste buds I suppose ...

 

[capt dan]

Great advice here for ya. It also depends on the smoker that you have. My large smoker uses Wood for fuel, not just flavor. It is a stickburner.I use red oak for my fuel, and different woods in the beginning for different flavors, like apple, cherry, Hickory, crab apple, and mullberry. Once the meats get to 150- 160, I don't add the extra "tasty species" unless I have something else in the cooker that needs it.

 

[travcoman45]

In my opinion, ya can keep addin wood as long as ya like, but once ya foil its a waste, the smoke flavor can be controlled by coverin yer pan with aluminum foil and pokin a few holes in it. Ya wan't just a faint blue smoke not belowin. this way ya get a nice smokey taste and not overbarin. Course, it is a taste thing and yall gonna have ta find out what ya like. I like mine smokeyer so I run my smoke longer. Thats just my two coppers worth. Oh, an different woods are stronger or milder. Apple is mild, hickory or mesquite stronger.