Snake method hardwood strategy

[scrumtiousruckingBBQ]

Hi all,
Former electric smoker chump here, just moved to charcoal (22” Weber Kettle). I’m doing ribs for the first time on charcoal, and used the snake method. As I’ve seen in every video and article about the snake method, I put some hardwood chunks on my snake to get some good smoke as the cook progresses.

It seems like when the chunks light, they spike the temp pretty bad. Like 40-50 degrees. What do you recommend to prevent this? My instinct is to not play with the vents much if it’s holding 220-40 most of the time, and instead to set my snake/chunks up differently.

Should I use smaller chunks or chips? Should I plan on closing the vents down when a new chunk lights up?

I’ve attached a picture of my snake at the beginning of the cook. Well, about an hour AFTER I started the cook and had to rearrange the snake. I started off with just a row of 2 with a row of 1 on top and could not get the temp above 200 degrees. So I rearranged it to a 2x2x1 and got good temps after that.

Any advice would be appreciated

 

[texomakid]

What I've experienced is as long as I've got the lid on, the wood smokes but really doesn't ignite even with the top vent open and bottom vents set accordingly. Now that's doing a minion method in a 22" WSM but I've also noticed it recently just gilling with a few wood chunks. I'd just set the vents as needed for your desired temps & roll. I plan to try the snake method very soon on the kettle. I bet they turn out great.

No pic that I can see?

 

[chopsaw]

Look through this . Might be something of interest to you .

Snake and Minion burn time and Temp data?

Hi All, I hope this post finds you ALL well and having great smokes. I was wondering if there is any data out there that tells us how long a snake or minion will burn for and at what temperatures for say a, 22" WSM or a 26" kettle? Just thought it would be interesting to know as I did a cook...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

This is my basic setup . Just depends on what I'm doing .

 

[normanaj]

Curious,what exactly makes one a chump for using an electric smoker?

 

[scrumtiousruckingBBQ]

Curious,what exactly makes one a chump for using an electric smoker?

Nothing! I am just a chump that happens to also be a former electric smoker user