Smoking Physics

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Old'N'Slow

Newbie
Original poster
Sep 22, 2024
14
4
Hey Fellers,

I am curious about the process of smoking. Now, I don't mean the protiens, that's easy to find online. I mean, some history and theories around what putting meat in a big barrel and lighting a fire in an offset firebox does to the environment where the magic actually happens.

I KNOW how smoking works, but I crave to know WHY it works in a Smoker. I would love some Links to some lectures and stories about smoking meats. If you have any suggested reading I would love to lose myself into some hours of reading.

I've done a load of research online and YouTube, but it's seriously lacking in details. Seems any article you read just copy pastes the same basic fundamentals and diagrams....

Makes me sad I've yet to meet an old timer in person that loves to talk and talk and talk about everything they've learned when it comes to the physics of thermodynamics in a steel or brick Low n Slow smoker....

Like I said, any and all Links that y'all may have come across in your online journeys I will gladly read!
 
Google "Greg Blonder smoking" if you're interested in the science behind how it works.
His background is mechanical engineering with a PhD in physics. Apparently he like bbq as well.
 
Google "Greg Blonder smoking" if you're interested in the science behind how it works.
His background is mechanical engineering with a PhD in physics. Apparently he like bbq as well.
Yes. Great resource for smoking protien. My Quest is more about the Smoker itself. Still haven't found any good info on that. Watched a bunch on YouTube, no Professors of Smokers on there yet lol
 
Aaron's offset is a " top down " cooker. He wants the air to rise when it enters the cook chamber, then the stack at grate level pulls it across the meats.

There are other offsets, like Horizon and Yoder , that are " bottom up " . Air is funneled under a " convection plate " , can be seen here

https://horizonsmokers.com/shop-for-smokers/ols/products/16-convection-plate-16-cnv-plt1

The plate dispersed the air/heat to rise evenly in the cook chamber, then the exhaust is at the top of the cook chamber to pull the air up and out.
 
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Hey Fellers,

I am curious about the process of smoking. Now, I don't mean the protiens, that's easy to find online. I mean, some history and theories around what putting meat in a big barrel and lighting a fire in an offset firebox does to the environment where the magic actually happens.

I KNOW how smoking works, but I crave to know WHY it works in a Smoker. I would love some Links to some lectures and stories about smoking meats. If you have any suggested reading I would love to lose myself into some hours of reading.

I've done a load of research online and YouTube, but it's seriously lacking in details. Seems any article you read just copy pastes the same basic fundamentals and diagrams....

Makes me sad I've yet to meet an old timer in person that loves to talk and talk and talk about everything they've learned when it comes to the physics of thermodynamics in a steel or brick Low n Slow smoker....

Like I said, any and all Links that y'all may have come across in your online journeys I will gladly read!
Sounds like you are looking for answers more about BBQ meat smoking than traditional meat smoking like hams, bacon and sausage, but if you want a great read about smoking meat in general and how to build various smokers or smokehouses and bbq pits as well you will enjoy Stanley Marianski and his book “Meat Smoking and Smokehouse Design”
Marianski is a very technical writer and very informative while writing in layman’s terms. Check it out.
 
Yep. Guess I'm old an slow lol
I highly suggest a webbrowser called DuckDuckGo. My brother in law is in the IT Security field and he turned me onto it. I no longer receive tageted ads. If a website has ads every few posts it will knock em off. Only thing you might still get is a pop up from a website itself to sign up for a newsletter or something.

I also use a VPN, but I realize that's not in everybodys wheelhouse technology or finance wise...
 
I have a Norton VPN, but when I have it turned on, many websites won't give me access. I do use DuckDuckGo...

Me, too...
Only website I've had issues with is Reddit lol. But I simply turn the VPN off when I log in, and turn it back on, seems to get around that for some reason.
 
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