Switching from charcoal to splits?

[davecs1]

I have been smoking with Charcoal forever. I am pretty confident in doing so. I bought my offset at the beginning of the summer and did a list of mods. Last weekend I smoked using Hickory splits. I got the temprature to maintain pretty good, but my brisket was a bit smokey in the lean part.

With charcoal I get it going in a chimney and then dump it in and get my dampers set right and go to town. When I used splits lat time I dumped a chimney of charcoal in to light about 4 splits. Once I dumped the charcoal in I left the dampers wide open and let the smoker come to temp. There was quite of bit of bollowy white smoke in the process. While the smoke eventually thinned out it never got to the almost invisible smoke I am used to with charcoal.

Couple questions. 1. Is smoking with splits going to create a more smokey flavor? Can that be controlled

2. What is the best way to get splits up to cooking temp. I watched a couple videos and the pit operator is letting the wood burn with all the doors open and once the first couple sticks are about 75% consumed they throw another stick on and let it catche then close everything up. Will the wood burn ok with the reduced airflow?

I wanna try splits again as my temp was stable for much longer periods without tendjng, but I would like to avoid super smoking my eats?

 

[3montes]

The key is to have a clean burning fire. My exhaust is always wide open and so are the vents on my firebox most of the time. If it's windy out I will close the vents halfway to 3/4's of the way shut on the side the wind is coming from. I use red oak almost exclusively because it's readily available and it just happens to be one of the best woods for smoking. It's not a heavy tasting smoke like hickory or mesquite so I never have a problem with overly smoked tasting meat.

Make sure your wood is dried properly. If it's too wet you will get a lot of smoke and you will be fighting it the whole time. Much of this is learning how your smoker runs. I can remeber just burning wood in my first stick burner without anything in it just to get some basic fire building skills and to learn how the smoker ran.

Don't be afraid to experiment and even get frustrated once in awhile. Stick burning is a art that anyone can learn with some patience.

 

[3montes]

Oh, your second question on bringing sticks to temp. I don't always do this unless the sticks are a little green or if they are wet from rain. I used to put a stick at the back of the fire box away from the fire as a pre warm. But once I would roll that stick onto the fire it would flare up and burn too hot causing a spike temp in my smoker so I quit doing that. Now if anything I will lay a stick on the outside of the firebox 10 minutes or so before I want to add into the fire.

But truthfully I don't see a particular advantage to pre warming splits. If you built your fire right and your wood is dried properly they will start and burn fine without the pre warm.

 

[davecs1]

Yea I lost 4 splits to warming them on the firebox. I got busy prepping meat and when I came out to check the fire my splits were on fire on top of my box! So lesson learned, only do that while tending the rig

 

[joe black]

I agree with 3montes....somewhat....sorry about that. My wood is always well seasoned and dry, but I always pre-heat my splits. An offset will not operate at an exact temp. They will usually only operate within a range. My smoker likes to run at around 250-275*. When my smoker gets close to 250*, I will add a pre-heated split and a couple of things will happen. First, it will ignite quickly and this will eliminate any billowy white smoke. Second, the quick ignition will stop the temp fall and turn the temp around. It may sneak above 275* but it will settle down to its best range. One of the most important things for an offset is to keep a full bed of coals. I think you should continue to pre-heat your splits.

This leads me into your #1 problem. IMO, Oak is absolutely the very best cooking wood. It burns very clean, very hot and produces good coals. Besides that, Oak flavor is very smooth. Aromatic woods like hickory, mesquite, pecan and the fruit woods are primarily used for flavor. These woods, if used for a full cook time, will produce a much too heavy smoke in the meat. For that reason, I only use the aromatic woods for about the first hour to hour and a half.

Do some experimenting and find your own preference. The learning curve for offset smokers can be stiff and difficult, but it is really a lot of fun.

3montes gave you some great advice and he always will. Stick burner folks all have their own personal methods. Find yours and have a great and fun time smoking, Joe. :grilling_smilie:

 

[h2so4ca]

The thing you will learn about running a stick burner is for a low heat around 225 you want a small fire. And for a cook at 275 you will want a bigger fire.

I have two Lang stick burners and it is just a learning curve. Years ago when I started with my first stick burner I was always playing with the vents and spending a ton of time chasing temps. Now by just managing the size of my fires I can hit just about any temp I need. With my vents wide open.

As to smoke taste if your fire is clean it will be a lighter smoke then most other smokers because your are fully burning wood and not just smoldering it. 

 

[davecs1]

I appreciate the input guys. I found a place down the road that sells oak and different fruit woods.

http://www.goodforesttimber.com

I am going to buy oak and a couple other kinds, enough so I can experiment and work on my fire building skills with wood.

Yea seems like wood is a bit different. I am used to building a raging inferno with charcoal and just letting it ride for a few hours. That is not a good strategy with wood.

Now I need to grab some easy bbq chow to cook with all this testing :-) lol!

 

[davecs1]

Well I went and got a half cord, cherry and oak.

I have been halving the sticks so they lay in my charcoal basket easy

I started with a chimney of Hard Lump and let it go nuclear. Then dropped two oak sticks in, which may be a bit much for my rig. I got it to settle on 230-240 which is a bit higher than I usually cook pork loin at.

I have to keep the damper door open or it starts to smolder, I would like to add some cherry but I am worried the temp will go to high so I will wait

 

[davecs1]