smoke coming out of my smoker

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

dannylang

Master of the Pit
Original poster
while i am smoking on my lang 36 smoker and i have a blue smoke coming out and cooking with embers, then i add some wood, my smoke changes from a thin blue smoke to a whiter smoke. not messing with any dampers or air flow., but after a while the smoke will go back to a thin blue smoke. the pieces of wood that i am adding is the size

of a coke can in diameter, and the length is 8-10 inches. will this hurt the flavor of my meat.
 
You get the thin blue smoke when the wood has burned down to embers and such. The white smoke is a combination of steam and other stuff in the wood as it is burning. Probably want to open your exhaust stack full with the white smoke when you put in new wood and then readjust as it becomes thinner. Hope that helps. Heavy white smoke can be bad and create creosote on your food if not regulated. Creosote just tastes bad!
 
This is something that comes up from time to time. I think the key is to minimize the amount of billowing white smoke. It's impossible to eliminate it all together. Some folks recommend preheating the splits either on top of the firebox or in the firebox, just inside the door, in order to get the fire burning cleanly as quickly as possible. I think if you're using well seasoned wood and the white smoke dissipates within a few minutes, you shouldn't have a problem. Have you noticed any off flavors?
 
i have not noticed any bad flavors in the food, just when i look at the white smoke coming out it makes me think that my food will come out tasting bad. sometimes it takes more than just a few minutes for it to disappear. maybe i will put some pieces of wood that i am going to put into the firebox on the top, and let it heat up to see if that will help.

dannylang
 
I have white smoke billowing out of mine every where at times I run damper wide open and most people will suggest that you don't want to control temp or smoke with you exhaust damper. Mine is just there to keep rain out.
 
Just one of the things that happens when wood is added . This won't hurt , but may be decreased by heating the wood. I place mine on the top of

the FB and I only get a couple of minutes of white , as TP stated. Closer to ignition point , the less change. Small , hot , fire... good combustion .

I've tried doing it in my FB , but it always catches fire too...

 
i finally figured it out why the white smoke comes out when i add extra wood to my smoker. i first tried putting the wood on the firebox to preheat the wood first, did not help, but i noticed that when i add extra wood to my embers, i though i needed at least 2-3 pieces at a time. so i tried to only add 1 piece at a time, and my little blue smoke continued, then about 5-6 minutes i added another piece. my though was that when my embers was cooling down and i needed to add wood to keep the temp right, i would add enough. but three pieces was 2 to many. thats just what i figured out from my smoker. i hope that will help you, with your smoker if you have the same problem..

thanks

dannylang
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Hot Threads

Clicky