Small little pieces of unburnt wood on grate

[Paulie Walnuts 440]

I am burning hickory in an offset standard flow smoker. and i keep noticing on the grates closest to the fire that there are particles of wood on the grates. Any ideas? Fire appears to burn clean

 

[thirdeye]

Are you burning wood that's a little green? It could be exploding in the firebox??

 

[Paulie Walnuts 440]

Maybe some pieces are? This is a new batch of wood i got from a different person so maybe..

 

[mike243]

Looks like saw dust to me, knock the splits off good before putting them in there, bet the draft is pulling it up there

 

[thirdeye]

Looks like saw dust to me, knock the splits off good before putting them in there, bet the draft is pulling it up there

You might be on to something..... wood boring critters will get under the bark and when you remove it there are little tunnels filled with fine sawdust, this could be the source. So the draft may be carrying it.

 

[Paulie Walnuts 440]

Oh wow thank you for the info!

 

[SmokinAl]

It seems like I always have some unburned wood left in the firebox of my Lang, even though when the food is done I open the dampers all the way to really heat it up & burn off anything on the grates. It usually gets up to 350+, but in the morning when I clean it out there are still a few unburned pieces of wood in there. Just usually pitch them cause they are so small, but I was expecting just ash.
Al

 

[Paulie Walnuts 440]

Oh ok ya it's something that just started happening with this new batch of hickory I had bought. I'm going through the growing pains of learning how to properly manage a fire in this offset smoker. It's challenging but fun at the same time.