smoke is underwhelming

[mikey]

Yes, that would be correct.

 

[scottlindner]

Wouldn't that cause even more of an open flame problem?

There must be something I'm doing wrong to get such massive flare ups. I clean out the grease every couple of smokes so I am fairly confident it isn't a grease fire. It looks like it's coming directly from the wood.

Could it be how arid it is here and there is less of a flare up problem in areas that are more humid?

Scott

 

[rickw]

When I had a gasser I normally used soaked chunks without the foil. Mind you it does not take much to produce a lot of smoke. Just one chunk every so often.

 

[justpassingthru]

I have GOSM Big Block, when I first started to smoke in it I had the same problems you are having, at first I filled the wood box full and it would catch on fire and I would have to remove it from the smoker.

I now use 3-4 golf ball sized chunks of lump and 2 golf ball sized pieces of wood, I don't soak it and I use the wood tray and cover that came with the unit.

I cooked alot of chicken and started out with 1 piece of lump and 1 piece of smoke wood, increasing the amount of lump and wood until I arrived at this amount.

Last weekend I smoked a leg of lamb for 6 hours at 230°, it had a 1/4" smoke ring, the smoke flavor was almost equal with what I can produce with my WSM and I still had wood and lump left in the tray.

I guess what I'm trying to say is you need to experiment with your smoker to find out what works for you with the conditions where you live, my smoker came with gaps in the joints that I sealed with hi temp silicone sealer, my door leaks a little and I have ordered some gasket rope to seal it, I figure that I want to be able to control the cooking environment and that wasn't possible with the leaks.

You might want to try some short cooks using the original wood tray and just a little lump and wood and increase it until you find what you like. Try to elimanite any varibles that might exist so that you can control the smoker and then dial it in to you liking.

I hope this helps a little, Gene

 

[scottlindner]

That does help a lot. Especially since you confirmed that the situation I am experiencing is normal. That's at least half of it.

I will start trying some lump. I would think that would take away from the good smoky flavor, but I will trust the smoke goods on this forum. Out of curiosity, do you use the charcoal lump that is very common, or do you use the high quality oak lump?

Scott

 

[justpassingthru]

Scott,

I don't know what kind of a wood tray you have, mine is a heavy cast iron one that heats up very quickly, maybe yours is different, that is why I said you need to find out what works for you.

My lump is..., see where I live, we don't have those kinds, what I use is a locally produced lump and I don't have the slightest idea what kind of wood they use, that being said, lump is wood that has been turned into charcoal, so burning lump will give you a smoke flavor, I started smoking with my WSM using just lump and had a smoky flavor, it wasn't until a couple of months later that I found a dead mango tree and started to use it.

This is just a suggestion, but why don't you just try using lump to begin with until you learn how much to use and the taste that particular lump imparts, after you are comfortable with that then add some other wood to augment the flavor of the lump, by then you should be able to taste the difference, then change to a different wood and see what that does.

As it has already been stated you don't need alot of lump or wood in the tray to have a smoke taste and if I understand it correctly it's a chemical reaction from the wood or lump burning that imparts the smoke flavor, if I'm wrong I hope someone will correct me.

This is what I did, maybe it will work for you, I smoked 1 chicken breast at 325° with the wood box loaded to the gills, I had white smoke pouring out of the exhaust, took it to 167°. Let it rest and took a bite, I new it wouldn't be edible, but I wanted to have the information of what too much smoke, the bitter, numbness of the lips, tasted like, it was for a point of reference, that is how I have arrived at how much to fill my wood tray, if I put too much I knew immediately what the slight bitter taste was, like I said I cooked alot of chicken and it took some time, but now I know what works in my smoker.

Smoking is an art and it takes time to learn what works, but ahhh..., the rewards are worth it.

Glad to be of service, Gene

 

[justpassingthru]

Scott,

Here are a couple of pics from today’s smoke, leg of lamb, temp of 235° for 6 hours, wood tray filled like I said.

Smoke ring.


Here is what’s left of the lump and guava, guava in upper left corner, the other piece burned up and the last of the 4 pieces of lump.


I hope this helps too.

Gene.

 

[hoser]

Scott...I also have the GOSM big block, and I guess we have just about all experienced these little glitches. There are some good threads around about installing modifications to get it just the way you want it. With mine, the main problem was keeping temps low enough for some smokes. I installed a $5 needle valve to keep the gas flow low enough and that worked just fine, but now the heat wasn't enough to produce the nice smoke I wanted.
The solution wound up being a "Smoke Daddy" installation which has worked out just great for me. 4 hours uninterrupted smoke, and regulated just the way you want it.

http://www.porkypas.com/smokers.htm

 

[scottlindner]

Gene,

Is that the original wood box that came with it or is it something larger you installed? Did you have to lower the stand it sits on?

Scott

 

[tasunkawitko]

scott - i do apologize - the suggestion i made for you was based on my ASSumption that you ahd a charcoal smoker - i missed the fact that it was a gasser. this might be part of the problem.

the only other thing i can think of is that it is important, if using foil pouch, to only poke one or two very small holes. you'd be surprised how much smoke will come out, but because of the very small holes, the smoke builds up too fast for oxygen to be present and ignite the fire. also, when the actual "smokey" smoke is gone, a person can then open up the pouch a bit and let the now-charcolaed chunks burn clean and hot with wonderful aroma and flavor imparting. this works on a charcoal smoker this way and might be worth a try in combination with the cast-iron surface recommended above.

in any case, my apologies again for the incorrect assumption!

 

[scottlindner]

I lost sleep over this and you carelessly post charcoal solutions in the propane group?! I will never forgive you!

Was that at all believable?

Thanks for the help. You gave me a tip I hadn't heard before. 1 to 2 tiny holes. I didn't exactly follow that very well. May have been my problem. From talking to another smoker at work, I think I used way too much wood which may have also contributed to my inferno.

Cheers,
Scott

 

[rickw]

Most likely the case, as I remember it takes only a bit of wood to achieve a decent amount of smoke. When I first started I used WAY to much wood in my gas unit. After getting used to it I would only through in a chunk or three for the entire cook.

 

[scottlindner]

I mean.. I think I really used way too much wood. Another very good tip!

Cheers,
Scott

 

[justpassingthru]

Scott,

That is the wood box that came with the smoker sitting on the rack it came with, it has a lid that is not shown, I haven't made any modifications to it.
Do you have the small or the large smoker? I'm not certain if they are the same.

What I've been picking up from reading here is there is a difference between the older units made by GOSM, who went out of business, and the smokers the company that took over is selling.

I'm not certain, but it seems that the early model had alot of problems producing smoke, I read all the posts here and when I bought the smoker I filled the wood box full, after about 15 minutes it was smoking so bad that I removed the box from the smoker. The next smoke I filled it 3/4 full of smoke wood and had the same problem, that is when I started reading and learned about using a mixture of lump and smoke wood, I learned to use more lump than smoke wood and that has been satisfactory, now my smoker will have the thin blue for maybe the first hour and then after that you can't see any smoke, but you can sure smell it.

What everone is tell you about not needing much wood is right on, that is how I learned, by smoking alot of chicken, it's a quick cook and you can do 3-4 smokes in a day adjusting the amount of lump and wood you use each time until you find what works.

Gene