Thin blue smoke question

[thsmormonsmokes]

I've been trying to figure out what factors into generation of TBS, as opposed to thick billowy white stuff that's no good for your smoke.  Is it an issue of burn temps, stage of burning of the wood, oxygen availability, or a combination of all that?  I've used apple in my wood burning stove on the elk hunt before, and I've noticed that when I put new logs in, I get thick smoke at first, but it thins out as the flames start dying down and it starts to look more like charcoal burning.

And for smokers that are straight stick burners, do you get more thick smoke every time you stoke the fire?  Or is that just something that doesn't make a big difference as long as the white stuff doesn't last too long?

I'm just trying to get a better understanding of what is going on in my firebox during a smoke so I can control it a little better.

 

[bama bbq]

My opinion: thin blue smoke is a result of a hot, very slow burning fire (o2 starved).  When a lot of fuel is added at once, it allows unlit fuel to catch quicker which produces a thick smoke.  

Not alloying cold meat to come to room temp, adding a lot of cold meat to cooker at once, adding chunks, chips, or coal onto a bed of coals all add to thick smoke. 

I believe stick burners have to warm their wood before adding it.

 

[cliffcarter]

I've been trying to figure out what factors into generation of TBS, as opposed to thick billowy white stuff that's no good for your smoke.  Is it an issue of burn temps, stage of burning of the wood, oxygen availability, or a combination of all that?  I've used apple in my wood burning stove on the elk hunt before, and I've noticed that when I put new logs in, I get thick smoke at first, but it thins out as the flames start dying down and it starts to look more like charcoal burning.

And for smokers that are straight stick burners, do you get more thick smoke every time you stoke the fire?  Or is that just something that doesn't make a big difference as long as the white stuff doesn't last too long?

I'm just trying to get a better understanding of what is going on in my firebox during a smoke so I can control it a little better.

I start the fire in the SFB with charcoal and put a split of wood off to the side away from the lit charcoal. As the charcoal heats the cooking chamber it also heats the wood I have in the SFB. When the smoker is up to temp I put the meat on and then add the preheated wood to the charcoal fire, the wood catches fire almost immediately-which is what you want it to do. You want a small, hot fire in the SFB when using wood to cook with, this will give you plenty of smoke flavor, but the "thin blue" may not be readily visible much of the time.

I use splits 8-10 inches long in my CharGriller and keep at least 1 split preheating at all times.

 

[thsmormonsmokes]

I start the fire in the SFB with charcoal and put a split of wood off to the side away from the lit charcoal. As the charcoal heats the cooking chamber it also heats the wood I have in the SFB. When the smoker is up to temp I put the meat on and then add the preheated wood to the charcoal fire, the wood catches fire almost immediately-which is what you want it to do. You want a small, hot fire in the SFB when using wood to cook with, this will give you plenty of smoke flavor, but the "thin blue" may not be readily visible much of the time.

I use splits 8-10 inches long in my CharGriller and keep at least 1 split preheating at all times.

So do you do much smoking with your Chargriller in cold-ish weather?  Things seem to be warming up for us out here, so it's unlikely to be an issue for a while, but I do a lot of my work in cold weather.  I'm not sure a fire as small as the one in your pic would keep temps up during cold weather out here.  

Also, do you leave your intake vents that wide open?  I usually clamp mine way down, but I also typically have a lot more fuel on deck than you do in your picture and I don't want a melt down.  I built a huge basket, and I usually fill it most of the way full with lump, and start with the Minion method from there.  

I've been using the Minion method in the hopes of achieving set it and forget it consistency.  But I've had spotty results and recently realized that checking in on it is half the fun.  So I'm starting to think about trying your method or something similar.  Time to get down to my grandpa's fruit orchard with a chainsaw and cut up a cord of wood to get it curing, I guess.

 

[cliffcarter]

When I took that picture the temp outside was about 10°F, I maintained cooking temps for about 6 hrs(225°-255°) with that amount of fuel. The high temp that day,Superbowl Sunday BTW, was 30°.

Temp when I started was 5°, with a wind and I used a bit more fuel getting started than I usually do and the wind plays havoc with temp control. But the wind died down after a couple of hours and I got things settled in to a fairly consistent routine of feeding the fire and maintaining temps.

To your vent question, I adjust the vent opening as needed to maintain my target temp. Once you get a feel for the way the fire is acting you can make minor adjustments and get fairly even, consistent temps. In summer 1 split of wood will give me my desired cooking temp for up to 40 minutes, if the outside temps and wind conditions are right.

I think you are correct about tending the fire being fun and, if you can get free wood, it's a lot less expensive than using charcoal. 

 

[thsmormonsmokes]

When I took that picture the temp outside was about 10°F, I maintained cooking temps for about 6 hrs(225°-255°) with that amount of fuel. The high temp that day,Superbowl Sunday BTW, was 30°.

Temp when I started was 5°, with a wind and I used a bit more fuel getting started than I usually do and the wind plays havoc with temp control. But the wind died down after a couple of hours and I got things settled in to a fairly consistent routine of feeding the fire and maintaining temps.

To your vent question, I adjust the vent opening as needed to maintain my target temp. Once you get a feel for the way the fire is acting you can make minor adjustments and get fairly even, consistent temps. In summer 1 split of wood will give me my desired cooking temp for up to 40 minutes, if the outside temps and wind conditions are right.

I think you are correct about tending the fire being fun and, if you can get free wood, it's a lot less expensive than using charcoal. 

No kidding?  That's much better performance for a lot less fuel than I've been getting, and in colder temps than I'm working with.  I must be really underestimating the temperature difference of having active flames, as opposed to coals.  

I've had a similar experience with the wind, and I've been draping a piano blanket over the top of the cooking chamber to mitigate the wind impact, which seems to help, but a little bit of wind in cold conditions still makes things pretty difficult.  

Looks like I've got some new experiments to try out.  Thanks!!  I'm also going to look into a pretty serious wind break when things cool off again next fall.

 

[Dutch]

TMS-to help keep the wind from stealing your heat, build yourself a wind screen to block the wind.

Click here  to see a pick of a wind screen made from OSB and a couple of hinges.