Proper way to use FB in a 250 RF? Help me!

[dockman]

Guys/Gals I plan to use my newly built 250 RF smoker this weekend. I have already seasoned it with a good hot fire for several hours. I have always used an offset with charcoal and wood chunks/chips. I do not want to over smoke the meat and need some help on how to get the correct amount of smoke. My plan is to get a good amount of coals and CC up to temp using oak, then when I put the meat on adding some hickory (1 hickory log say 5" x 16") and every 30 -45 minutes. I will be soaking the hickory also! Is this a good plan if not, what should I do? Thank you for all your help!

Roger

 

[Dutch]

Yep get a good bed of coals going and then switch to your flavor wood
There is no need to soak your splits. I have a RF smoker and never found the need. I'll sometimes put 2 splits of wood in there if I'm doing beef but I'll stick to single splits with pork unless I'm doing a combo of woods like pecan and cherry.

 

[crazyq]

Ive never soaked my wood before using. To me it seems it could cause the wood to smolder more then it should. And wet wood never burns efficiently that ive seen.

 

[sqwib]

I like subtle smoke at the best and have never had anything oversmoked on my pit.

When I'm pit cooking my goal is not to infuse smoke.

When I'm cooking on my GOSM the goal IS to infuse smoke.

As long as you have a controlled fire, maintain a good coal bed and don't choke it, you will not oversmoke even using hickory as fuel

 

[palladini]

A good rule of thumb. about 1/2 of the entire cook, apply smoke, then just do the heat, no smoke until finished cooking.  Like it has been said, above 140 degrees meat does not take on smoke.

 

[pkerchef]

I start the fire with kingsford blue bag about 5 pounds maybe when this gets going i put 6 forearm sized splits on once in a criss cross pattern to allow for extra air flow. This really gets the fire going good. Then i add about 2 forearm sized splits every hour or so to maintain the temp. Do not soak wood. You want to have a thin blue smoke. I use whatever i have on hand at the time but can do a whole cook with hickory and not oversmoke anything using this method. Pkerchef

 

[eman]

 
A good rule of thumb. about 1/2 of the entire cook, apply smoke, then just do the heat, no smoke until finished cooking.  Like it has been said, above 140 degrees meat does not take on smoke.

I don't know where folks get the idea that any meat quits absorbing smoke at 140 degrees???

 As long as you have meat and smoke in the same container it will absorb smoke.

 

[crazyq]

 
I don't know where folks get the idea that any meat quits absorbing smoke at 140 degrees???

 As long as you have meat and smoke in the same container it will absorb smoke.

it will stop ABSORBING smoke and adding to the smoke ring. smoke will adhere to the outside and add to the flavor in the bark but after roughly 135 degrees sodium nitrite gases out and we all know that's what gives up that nice pink outer layer we call the smoke ring. also, the pores of the meat open up at first absorbing all that nice favorable smoke but once it starts forming that nice tasty bark we all love so much the pores become clogged and can no longer absorb the smoke into the meat but rather it just adds to the flavor of the bark.

 

[eman]

 
it will stop ABSORBING smoke and adding to the smoke ring. smoke will adhere to the outside and add to the flavor in the bark but after roughly 135 degrees sodium nitrite gases out and we all know that's what gives up that nice pink outer layer we call the smoke ring. also, the pores of the meat open up at first absorbing all that nice favorable smoke but once it starts forming that nice tasty bark we all love so much the pores become clogged and can no longer absorb the smoke into the meat but rather it just adds to the flavor of the bark.

So since i use an electric smoker that does not cause the chemical reaction to form a smoke ring and it also produces a good bit of steam which inhibits the formation of bark on meat ,Does.what your saying  not apply to me ?  I could maybe agree w/ you that bark would SLOW the absorbtion of smoke . 

But a smoke ring is a chemical change and that is all, it does not change the taste and does nothing to the meat exvcept to change the color. Sodium nitrite or nitrate have anything to do w/ smoke flavor .They are both curing agents . 

  So in my smoker that causes no smoke ring or a smoker that uses pellets or dust or other fuels that only gets to 250 cooking temps and produces no smoke ring and very little bark, What stops the meat from absorbing more smoke.?????

 

[crazyq]

So since i use an electric smoker that does not cause the chemical reaction to form a smoke ring and it also produces a good bit of steam which inhibits the formation of bark on meat ,Does.what your saying  not apply to me ?  I could maybe agree w/ you that bark would SLOW the absorbtion of smoke . 
But a smoke ring is a chemical change and that is all, it does not change the taste and does nothing to the meat exvcept to change the color. Sodium nitrite or nitrate have anything to do w/ smoke flavor .They are both curing agents . 
  So in my smoker that causes no smoke ring or a smoker that uses pellets or dust or other fuels that only gets to 250 cooking temps and produces no smoke ring and very little bark, What stops the meat from absorbing more smoke.?????

Whats does smoking at only 250 degrees have anything to do with the smoke ring? People cook low and slow at 225 all the time and produce smoke ring. Same goes for pellet cookers. Not to mention the OP is asking about cooking on a 250gl tank smoker with a FB so we are talking about an offset stick burner which makes most of your post irrelevant to this thread. now if you cook your food with no bark and don't care to have the appealing smoke ring then have at it, that's your preference. but there are a lot of flavors and taste that accumulate in the bark that just makes it better. and that's just my opinion.

I never said anything about the smoke ring having flavor?

just tasting a smoked piece of meat that was cooked not foiled, and left open to the smoke the entire cook time is enough to show that the meat doesn't continue to take on smoke the entire cook. when a piece of meat is left in the smoke to much or there is to much smoke and not that thin blue smoke we all shoot for, the bark is left very bitter and not tasty at all. now if the actual meat itself took on smoke the entire cook that would be one bitter piece of meat.

now I'm not going to sit here and go back and forth and tear up the OP's thread about this. I do enjoy talking about this kind of stuff but we don't need to get off track with this thread.

 

[eman]

sorry But i have to disagree . I have smoked briskets and butts for over 16 hrs and bacon for over 36 hours  with smoke being applied the whole time.and have never had a bitter piece of meat.

 Now when i first started smoking many moons ago i smoked some ribs that were 3-2-1 and they were bitter as a persimmon . But that was before i knew what TBS was.

  If you want to believe that smoke quits absorbing at 140 then why not  take the meat to 140 then wrap in foil and finish in an oven?

 

[crazyq]

 
sorry But i have to disagree . I have smoked briskets and butts for over 16 hrs and bacon for over 36 hours  with smoke being applied the whole time.and have never had a bitter piece of meat.

 Now when i first started smoking many moons ago i smoked some ribs that were 3-2-1 and they were bitter as a persimmon . But that was before i knew what TBS was.

  If you want to believe that smoke quits absorbing at 140 then why not  take the meat to 140 then wrap in foil and finish in an oven

that was my point, if smoke sunk in for 16-36 hrs it would be bitter. but its not therefore it doesn't. just my thoughts on it. there is no exact science to what either of us is saying.

actually (the last part of your post) is what a lot of people do when the weather is wrecking havoc on them or their cooker isn't running right or they get in a pinch and have to leave the pit for awhile to go into town or for whatever reason.

actually, if your cooking with an electric cooker and no smoke, and no bark and no smoke ring (as you've stated above) isn't that all your really doing anyways? cooking in an oven? just giving you a hard time man.

guess we can agree to disagree and leave it as is.

Rock on Brother!