Smoke Question

[bigarm's smokin]

Hey Dutch, you got me to thinkin. Yesterday I did some BBQ, (in the rain) in an attempt to keep warm, I raked up some winter bark and wood (we heat the house with wood) and built a fire. The smoke was blue-white, just as any fire with enough air should be. I looked at my smoker and the smoke was thin white, I have never got a blue smoke out of it, its white or clear. The only time I have ever seen the blue smoke was in hunting camp where we had a small wood stove for the tent. I am wondering if I don't have a big enough air intake on my smoker? It is home made, the air intake is about 2 in by 6 in. I keep a small fire with kindling size wood, air intake is usually one half open. Any ideas? Terry

 

[Dutch]

BigArm, if you have billowing white clouds coming out of the smoker, that is way to much smoke. What we're looking for is a thin almost wispy smoke that depending on the light can be white or a light blue/gray color. If you have a homebuilt smoker, chances are you have intake and or exhausts vents that are too small. You might want to ask a couple of the guys that built their smoker what size their vents are and go from there.

I'm thinking 3X6 inch intake with a 4 inch exhaust should give you plenty of circulation and draw if you unit is roughly the size of a 55 gal. drum.