Questions about the WSM????

[alcoasmoker]

Just pulled a pork shoulder off the WSM after about 10 hours at 225-250 degrees. The meat inside is to die for. The bark on the other hand is a different story...it has just a slight bitter taste to it. So my questions for the gang is this.

1) I used the Minion method with Kingsford Blue bag charcoal and about 3-4 chunks of Hickory wood. I dumped my lit coals into the middle of the unlit coals and assembled the WSM. As it was smoking the smoke rolling out was heavy and white. I feel like this might be part of the bitter problem...thoughts? How do I prevent this in the future when I use the WSM?

2) I began this cook at 4 am this morning with the shoulder on the smoker a good 45 minutes before I noticed that the top vent was completely closed. Could this have also been a problem along with the heavy smoke?

Thanks for any tips you can offer.

AS

 

[browneyesvictim]

Sounds like you answered your own question on the smoke being too much. Thick white is not good. Thin blue is good.

You are going to use your vents to maintain the desired temp for the long cruise period. Your experience will tell you where they need to be and dial them in accordingly for heat-. Not so much for smoke control. You might try soaking your hickory wood chunks a bit. An alternate perhaps fool-proof Idea/method would just be to use a different smoke generator instead of chunks. For some- doing that is just sacrilege!

 

[alcoasmoker]

After having enjoyed the fruits of my labor I found that the bitter was on the bottom only and so slight that when the pork was pulled it wasn't noticible. But I still have some mental notes for the next time I smoke.

 

[JckDanls 07]

Alcoa... there's a couple of things here that sound iffy...


1st... sounds like you started your fire correct... but it also sounds like you put the meat on as soon as you dumped coals in and assembled the smoker... Here's the problem with that ... when you first fire up the smoker the white smoke is going to billow out until you get it up to cooking temp and dial the intake vent in to hold your temps where you want to cook at.. once temp settles in and holds steady is when the white smoke will settle and turn into the thin blue smoke we look for... the white smoke is what gives it that bitter taste ...

2nd... I don't know how you kept your fire going with the top vent fully closed... The only time that vent should be closed is when not in use to keep the critters out of the smoker... in other words.. top vent should be wide open when cooking... There is also no need to soak wood chunks in water.. for one.. the chunks will not absorb water.. and 2.. if they did they would put out white smoke until they dried out and started smoldering properly ...

 

[worktogthr]

Alcoa... there's a couple of things here that sound iffy...


1st... sounds like you started your fire correct... but it also sounds like you put the meat on as soon as you dumped coals in and assembled the smoker... Here's the problem with that ... when you first fire up the smoker the white smoke is going to billow out until you get it up to cooking temp and dial the intake vent in to hold your temps where you want to cook at.. once temp settles in and holds steady is when the white smoke will settle and turn into the thin blue smoke we look for... the white smoke is what gives it that bitter taste ...

2nd... I don't know how you kept your fire going with the top vent fully closed... The only time that vent should be closed is when not in use to keep the critters out of the smoker... in other words.. top vent should be wide open when cooking... There is also no need to soak wood chunks in water.. for one.. the chunks will not absorb water.. and 2.. if they did they would put out white smoke until they dried out and started smoldering properly ...

This is exactly what I was going to say. The wsm always puts off some thick white stuff as its getting up to temp and just like you, I have experience that slight bitterness. Just wait until it's thin and blue or barely visible but smells like the wood you are using.

 

[SmokinAl]

Yep, I think the guys have you covered!

Al