Thin Blue Smoke? How??

[johngil]

I am using a large Green Egg to smoke ribs and brisket. I am not sure, now that I have been reading, that I am not making a basic mistake. My smoke is usually white not "thin" OR "Blue". Whats the trick the achieving this? I use lump charcoal and usually oak or hickory chunks.


Thanks,
Johngil

 

[abelman]

First question, do you soak the wood in water for at least a half hour to an hour before you put it on the coals?

 

[johngil]

No, "to soak or not to soak" is a topic debated often on this forum. I fall into "not to soak" category. I subscribe to the concept that soaking is good for preventing flair ups, but to avoid this, I use a soak box. I would contend that soaking only causes the wood to produce steam as the additional moisture added from the soaking evaporates. What are your Thoughts?

 

[abelman]

Maybe it's more complicated than I know.

I always soak and at the end of the day, I don't have wood on fire and burning but after all is said and done, when looking at the ashes, you can't tell the difference between the wood and the charcoal.

Maybe I opened Pnadoras box

 

[geek with fire]

Honestly, I personally don't think it has anything to do with wet or dry wood. It has more to do with the level of combustion. You really only want the wood to char. That char develops a fully combusted wood smoke that is dry and flavorful. When you are getting plumes of white smoke, it has 2 problems: 1.) it's simply too much smoke and 2.) the smoke is not fully combusted which will impart a bitter flavor to the meat.

Simply stated, you really don't even need to see the smoke. If you can smell it, the meat will soak it in. Start there, and introduce more smoke as your taste desires.

Suggestions: use chunk or log but not chips. Chips are too thin and once all of the moisture is gone (very quickly) they will burn as both sides of the thin surface reach the cumbustion point at roughly the same time. As a result, they flame up. Chunk and log have more surface area, therefore, they char as opposed to burning. Also, keep your wood out of direct contact with hot coals. I put mine to one side of the firebox, and keep the hot coals at the other side. Hot enough to get smoke, but not burn the wood.

Hopefully this will get you started.

 

[fireguy]

Hey Brother, have you tried wrapping the chunks in foil with hole poked in the ends? It seems to helps me keep the smoke down on my electric/fridge smoker the more I use it, just another simple approach to maintain a thinner smoke. Good luck

 

[fireguy]

oh ya, wether right or wrong, I usually soak ovenight.. Cant tell if it does any dif than not soaking at all..

 

[white cloud]

Which brings us to........ When I just turn my well used smoker on......... It Smells Like Smoke, if it has any wood in it or not. And so does my carhart jacket. Which of course is a thin blue cloak. lol

 

[wavector]

I find the smoker thinner when there is plenty of air for combustion, which may result in unwanted temp spikes. For me, it's all according to which smoker I' using. For the BGE, I'm not sure about how it's designed, so I really can't give much input. But, what will offer is a suggestion. Pile the hot coals to one side and the soaked wood chunk(s) on the opposite side which would allow for the heat to produce the smoke rather than fire burning the wood chunks. I find using aluminum foil can sometimes catch on fire. It's either this or a preburn. I would probably choose the preburn method because I am addicted.

 

[desertlites]

yup both my smokers smell of smoke as most of my clothes-with the windows open daily Allie is always asking if I smoking somthing-perhaps thats why she dosn't hang her clothes on the line anymore.I do both-soak and un-I with Geek to much heat under your wood is gonna burn to fast,and cause white,low & slow on the side gives me tbs. good luck.

 

[Dutch]

John, how much wood are you using? Are you using soaked wood chips layered between layers of lump charcoal as recommended by BGE or are you just placing wood chunks or chips directly on top? If your producing a lot of white smoke, try cutting back on the amount of wood that you're using and see if that helps.

Enjoy

 

[packplantpath]

If you are not using too much wood, billowing smoke would seem to be related to a lack of airflow and a smothering fire or too much airflow and a billowing fire.

I know, that helps alot. I suspect one of the two is the problem, and would bet it is smothering.

 

[reflect]

On my BGE for a brisket smoke I only use around 4 or 5 chunks of dry wood. Do not soak as the BGE has enough moisture, you really do not want to introduce more. I normaly, once up to temp, close the intake damper down to 1 inch. The top metal daisy wheel I leave 1/2 open.

Here is a great site for BGE users in general. The link takes you to a FAQ on the fire building portion:

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/ceramicfaq.htm#loslobuild

Take care,

Brian

 

[johngil]

Thanks, To all who replied.

I may have a combination of too much wood and a smoldering fire. I will try reducing the wood and bringing up th air flow (without increasing temp, thats the trick.) One of the great things about the BGE is it is amazingly controllable but is designed is such a way that the fire is directly under the food. I place a square piece of granite (cut from an old solid granite counter top) in the grill above the fire. Since the grill is round and the granite is square, the smoke rolls up to the cooking grate through the gaps between the granite and the walls of the grill. This offsets the harshness of the fire on the meat.

 

[reddog]

This has been good info. I have been getting to much smoke. This weekend I did a meatloaf with oak for fuel and heat. Smoked it at 375. The smoke was over powering.

I like the idea of coals on the side of the fire box and the wood on the other. I was alway thought I needed wood for heat too. The best meat so far was smoking for 3-4 hrs then wraping it in foal to keep the smoke out.

What do you vets think??

Mike

 

[geek with fire]

It's also important to keep in mind what you are smoking. Meatloaf will suck in a ton of smoke. Poultry takes on smoke easily as well. However, it's awful hard to over smoke a dense beef like chuck or brisket.

 

[isosa]

Honestly, I personally don't think it has anything to do with wet or dry wood. It has more to do with the level of combustion. You really only want the wood to char. That char develops a fully combusted wood smoke that is dry and flavorful. When you are getting plumes of white smoke, it has 2 problems: 1.) it's simply too much smoke and 2.) the smoke is not fully combusted which will impart a bitter flavor to the meat.

Simply stated, you really don't even need to see the smoke. If you can smell it, the meat will soak it in. Start there, and introduce more smoke as your taste desires.

Suggestions: use chunk or log but not chips. Chips are too thin and once all of the moisture is gone (very quickly) they will burn as both sides of the thin surface reach the cumbustion point at roughly the same time. As a result, they flame up. Chunk and log have more surface area, therefore, they char as opposed to burning. Also, keep your wood out of direct contact with hot coals. I put mine to one side of the firebox, and keep the hot coals at the other side. Hot enough to get smoke, but not burn the wood.

Hopefully this will get you started.

Do you think the separation of wood and charcoal method can be done regardless of the fire box size? I am including a picture of the smoker I use:

Picture 002.jpg

• isosa
• Nov 7, 2012

On the side of the fire box that can't be seen there is an oppening -actually the original filling hole of the drum with its screwable cap- and it is at the 6 o'clock position. There are two 6" diameter tubes -with dampers- connecting both drums the chimney pipes have dampres too. Would you set up charcoals on one end of the drum and wood on the other end or both along each other paralel to the axis of the drum? I hope I explained myself! :)

     I always have had white smoke out of my smokes, I did not know the best is to have thin blue smoke.

Oooooops!

I speak smoke but my words don't go up in it!

 

[bama bbq]

I don't have an egg but here's how I do it in a 22" WSM: With all vents wide open, I use a layer of unlit coal, 2 to 3 chucks of wood (not soaked chips), another layer of unlit coal, the lit coal, and if beef or pork another chunk or two on top (if chicken or ribs I don't add the second layer of chunks).  Meatloaf, a fattie, or other ground food - I wouldn't add any chunks - the smoke from the coal will be plenty. When putting the lit coal on top on the unlit coal and the cpl of chunks of unlit wood, I get white thick smoke at first but if you let it settle down about 10-15 minutes (rarely - but sometimes this takes a little longer) it will calm to a clean burning thin stream of blue smoke. When you add lit to unlit it takes a few minutes for the unlit to catch and stop billowing nasty thick smoke.  That thick smoke can cause food to taste like an ashtray.  After about 10-15 minutes when the unlit catches and the smoke thins, I put the center section and lid on so the temp will start building. I start closing vents around 225* to get in the temp range I am looking for (usually 250* - 275*) and that's when I add the food.  This all takes about 30 mins.  Later in the cook the smoke is so thin its almost nonexistant.

 

[ccpropilot]

Bama..... When you do that instead of the minion method about how long does your fire go?? When I tried to do layers like that my fuel seemed to go a lot quicker than when I did the minion method!

Thanks,
Chris