Question about thin blue smoke on a uds

[greg84]

Hey there

Im new to smoking and I've been reading a lot about how to get thin blue smoke on my uds and most people say to wait an hour or so for the smoke to change from thick white to thin blue. I've tried that and it does work sorta, but it seems like what's really happening is the wood is pretty much burned through, so its stopped smoking as much. If that's what I'm looking for then why use big chunks instead of chips like most people recommend? They'll burn through much faster than big chunks. I mean it takes about an hour to get tbs using big chunks. Unless I'm doing it wrong or dont understand? Could someone clarify? Thanks

 

[kruizer]

thin blue smoke is the product of a good hot fire. The wood should be pre heated before going into the fire. Preheating will cause the wood to ignite quickly and yield a nice clean smoke and that is what you are looking for.

 

[greg84]

thin blue smoke is the product of a good hot fire. The wood should be pre heated before going into the fire. Preheating will cause the wood to ignite quickly and yield a nice clean smoke and that is what you are looking for.

I've read that too and today I placed a big chunk of hickory on top of my pizza pan heat diffuser for an hour while I dialed in the temp. The wood was so hot I needed gloves to pick it up. I then placed it right in the centre of the hot coals and even then it took an hour for the white smoke to stop.

Does that makes sense to you?

Thanks

 

[thirdeye]

The one hour of pre-burn is getting rid of the VOCs ( volatile organic compounds) and letting the charcoal and wood chunks settle down. I have my flavor wood deep in the basket, but use layers of flavor pellets mixed within the charcoal. Once the white strong smoke settles into a lite gray or even blue smoke, the fire is ready for the meat. But once the little flavor bombs of fat drip into the coals, you only get white smoke.... but it's light. Here is a good example of light smoke and this is probably 6 or 7 hours into a cook.

 

[greg84]

The one hour of pre-burn is getting rid of the VOCs ( volatile organic compounds) and letting the charcoal and wood chunks settle down. I have my flavor wood deep in the basket, but use layers of flavor pellets mixed within the charcoal. Once the white strong smoke settles into a lite gray or even blue smoke, the fire is ready for the meat. But once the little flavor bombs of fat drip into the coals, you only get white smoke.... but it's light. Here is a good example of light smoke and this is probably 6 or 7 hours into a cook.
View attachment 499184
View attachment 499185

Ok but that brings me to something else. If you have to wait until the wood has burned quite a bit before the voc's are gone, then what about wood chunks further away from where you start the fire that only start burning once the fire spreads? The food would already be in there, and those wood chunks are only just starting then.

Thanks

 

[noboundaries]

One of the issues new smokers do not understand is the nature of smoke in a low air flow environment like a UDS or WSM. Additionally, the instructions that come with a lot of those smokers indicate the people who build the smokers are using "that's just the way it's always been done" thinking when they tell you to put the wood chunks on top of the charcoal. They also recomnend WAAAY too many hot briquettes to start the fire. Wood on top will ignite at some point and carbonize way too quickly.

Short recommendation, bury the wood chunks in the cold charcoal. Don't try to hurry the meat placement by using too many hot charcoals to start the fire. Smoking is about patience. I often let my smoker take 2-3 hours to come to temp, 75-90 minutes is on the short end.

When you bury the chunks, the wood chunks preheat as the cold briquettes above them absorb heat from the hot starting briquettes. Pre-heated wood buried in the briquettes carbonize slower and burn longer because there is less surface area exposed to available air. You will see some white or gray smoke the closer the chunks are to the top of the charcoal pile. I bury mine in the bottom. Often I won't see any white or gray smoke, or a short period if I try to hurry it along.

And after a couple of hours of loading meat, there is often no smoke at all. BUT, whiff your hand through the exhaust heat plume toward your nose and you'll smell perfect flavoring smoke. I smoke 15-18 hours and smell wood smoke the entire time. The chunks may look like charcoal when I take a peak at the fire, or knock off the ash, but I can still smell the kind of smoke that flavors the wood.

Give it a try. Your choice.

 

[greg84]

One of the issues new smokers do not understand is the nature of smoke in a low air flow environment like a UDS or WSM. Additionally, the instructions that come with a lot of those smokers indicate the people who build the smokers are using "that's just the way it's always been done" thinking when they tell you to put the wood chunks on top of the charcoal. They also recomnend WAAAY too many hot briquettes to start the fire. Wood on top will ignite at some point and carbonize way too quickly.

Short recommendation, bury the wood chunks in the cold charcoal. Don't try to hurry the meat placement by using too many hot charcoals to start the fire. Smoking is about patience. I often let my smoker take 2-3 hours to come to temp, 75-90 minutes is on the short end.

When you bury the chunks, the wood chunks preheat as the cold briquettes above them absorb heat from the hot starting briquettes. Pre-heated wood buried in the briquettes carbonize slower and burn longer because there is less surface area exposed to available air. You will see some white or gray smoke the closer the briquettes are to the top of the charcoal pile. I bury mine in the bottom. Often I won't see any white or gray smoke, or a short period if I try to hurry it along.

And after a couple of hours of loading meat, there is often no smoke at all. BUT, whiff your hand through the exhaust heat plume toward your nose and you'll smell perfect flavoring smoke. I smoke 15-18 hours and smell wood smoke the entire time. The chunks may look like charcoal when I take a peak at the fire, or knock off the ash, but I can still smell the kind of smoke that flavors the wood.

Give it a try. Your choice.

You said "You will see some white or gray smoke the closer the briquettes are to the top of the charcoal pile." Did you mean the closer the wood is to the top? If not I'm totally lost.
Thanks

 

[noboundaries]

Ooopsie. That should read wood chunks. Will edit. THanks for pointing it out.

 

[RCAlan]

Hey there

Im new to smoking and I've been reading a lot about how to get thin blue smoke on my uds and most people say to wait an hour or so for the smoke to change from thick white to thin blue. I've tried that and it does work sorta, but it seems like what's really happening is the wood is pretty much burned through, so its stopped smoking as much. If that's what I'm looking for then why use big chunks instead of chips like most people recommend? They'll burn through much faster than big chunks. I mean it takes about an hour to get tbs using big chunks. Unless I'm doing it wrong or dont understand? Could someone clarify? Thanks

Here’s a good read for you about Smoke Management.. It’s a long read with very valuable information about TBS and TWS that’ll hopefully answer and solve your questions and issues. Good luck

Understanding Smoke Management - updated 12/08/14

Understanding Smoke Management Recently, on several meat smoking and BBQ forums, including this one, I’ve noticed an uptick in the number of threads pertaining to the color of the smoke being produced, specifically Thin Blue Smoke (TBS) vs. Thick White Smoke (TWS). Various posts on the threads...

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