Too clean of a fire?

[smokin peachey]

Maybe our moisture meter is inaccurate? I will have to borrow my dad's once and maybe compare

As long as there isn’t a lot of moisture bubbles coming out of the wood you are ok. Even a little bit of moisture bubbling out will be ok. No need to buy a meter. Been burning wood a lot of years and have never used a moisture meter.

 

[Chasdev]

I got "burned" several times by chainsaw drivers who claimed their wood was "fully aged" and turned out not to be as advertised, and I did not know what was wrong until I bought one, cut a few splits in half, and measured the internal moisture.
Found out my $600 worth of firewood was at 40%, so in addition to having to buy storage racks and stacking splits, I had to buy MORE wood.
I would like to see pics of the inside of the choo choo train cooker, perhaps the problem is down to a strange placement of the cook grate in relation to the fire box opening?
Frankly I've never seen a "Gimmick" cooker that was much more than yard art.

 

[HalfSmoked]

I can't give any input as I don't have a stick burner I can say there are some interesting inputs here.
Hope you get your problem solved.

Warren

 

[Displaced Texan]

During my brisket cook 2 days ago that I documented in a thread, I had some hickory wood delivered. Supposed to be seasoned, but the splits feel pretty heavy. They also seemed to smolder and have trouble catching fire, even with prewiring the splits. And, I split the splits, lol, with a maul to promote better burning. I don't have a mere, but I question if the are down around 20% moisture.

Anyway, I suppose I am so used to the store bought kiln dried stuff, that it will just be an adjustment for me. The smoke, once they wood did catch, was still pretty clean looking.

 

[JBinGB]

I got "burned" several times by chainsaw drivers who claimed their wood was "fully aged" and turned out not to be as advertised, and I did not know what was wrong until I bought one, cut a few splits in half, and measured the internal moisture.
Found out my $600 worth of firewood was at 40%, so in addition to having to buy storage racks and stacking splits, I had to buy MORE wood.
I would like to see pics of the inside of the choo choo train cooker, perhaps the problem is down to a strange placement of the cook grate in relation to the fire box opening?
Frankly I've never seen a "Gimmick" cooker that was much more than yard art.

For a "gimmick cooker" it holds temps incredibly well. We can dial it in to whatever temp we want and it will hold. We just can't get the smoke flavor of our other cookers.

I have a feeling as posted above our splits are too small, and burn up and turn to coal before being able to do their job. We are going to try cutting the logs so the fit into the firebox, but not splitting them. Hopefully this will give us more mass and more smoke

 

[JBinGB]

Here are some additional pics

 

[JWFokker]

I think everything is configured correctly and the fire is burning too clean as you suspect. The KBQ C-60 has a setting on the firebox to allow the fire to get a little 'dirty' rather than the super clean default setting. Pellet smoke suffers from a similar effect.

As someone else suggested, a larger diameter split will burn slower. Temps may not be as stable (larger swing) but you should get more smoke flavor. Throttling the intake airflow would likely help as well, allowing for a larger fire that isn't burning as hot as a small unrestricted fire.

 

[JckDanls 07]

Try throwing a split/log NEXT to the fire... not in the fire... in the corner of the firebox.. this will just smolder then and not flame up.. for a while ...

 

[daspyknows]

Try throwing a split/log NEXT to the fire... not in the fire... in the corner of the firebox.. this will just smolder then and not flame up.. for a while ...

This is what I tend to do. Then after awhile I push it on to the coals and add another split.

 

[baronvk]

I am very new to smoking, but I ran into this over the weekend I think. I have an OK Joes Highland to play with while I wait on my Lonestar Grillz offset. I am getting some good practice with the OK Joes and learning to navigate its numerous shortcomings well. Anyway, I learned that if I add small, not even really splits of wood, more like 2-3"x6" pieces on hot coal beds and open the firebox door until they are burning cleanly, I can entirely avoid the white smoke. After they are burning, I close the firebox door and get nothing but clean blueish smoke.

This weekend I wanted to smoke a mac n cheese. I had it in a 12" dutch oven with lid off. Ran it for 2 hours with the above method with hickory and pecan. Kept the temp properly and ran clean blue through the cook chamber the whole time. It BARELY had any smokiness to it at all!? I tasted it again yesterday and I could detect a little smokiness, but not enough to justify the time spent. SO, my thought is that on foods with shorter smoke times, I may WANT a little of that smoldering, early combustion smoke, and the "clean blue" is likely more important for food left on for longer periods which may otherwise get harsh.

 

[sacedbysapp]

I bet your taste and smell was affected by the smoke from running the cooker.