Too Much Smoke

[beebeq]

I know this must be a common issue that is tackled by some stickies on this forum and some training but I have a few specific questions that I'd like to know before I spend hours reading (which I will do).  I just want to get ready for this weekend.

I have an Oklahoma Joe's Longhorn and a one year seasoned and split stack of Hickory.  I tried just getting some coals going and throwing on a log whenever the thermometer started going south.  Well, that food was way nasty with smoke flavor.  The next weekend I tried getting the coals going again with the wood until the temp got right, then put the food on.  I then started logs in a separate el-cheapo vertical smoker until they got nice and charred-up before I threw them in the okie joe.  I did that all day, maintaining the temp and trying to keep that smoke looking blue.  Man!  That was a lot of work and attention, but oh boy did the pork shoulder taste mighty fine!

My simple questions to tide me over until I can read all you guy's wisdom on here...

Can I continue to use just the hickory to smoke & cook with? 

Why do I see them throwing fresh logs on the fire at Arthur Bryant's and Gate's and on TV and I know their stuff tastes fine?  Is it the size of those pits vs me using an offset?

If I can continue using the hickory to provide my coals is there a better way to start them than using my el-cheapo smoker that I burned all the paint off of last weekend?

My apologies in advance for asking questions I'm sure are covered elsewhere, but these will tide me over until I get the time to sit down and seriously read through this site.

-Beebe

 

[cliffcarter]

Buy a bag of quality lump charcoal, such as Royal Oak and a charcoal chimney. Start a full chimney of the lump charcoal and when it is fully lit dump it in the firebox near the intake vent. At the same time put a split of hickory in the firebox away from the lit coals and near the cooking chamber to preheat. When the smoker gets up to temp, add your meat when the charcoal shows signs of dying out(the temp will drop) add the preheated hickory to the fire, it should begin burning almost immediately. Let it burn, you want a small, hot fire. At this time add another piece of wood to preheat, from here on out it just a matter of repeating these two steps until the meat is done.

This is mine before adding wood to the coals.

Hope this helps.

 

[jimpam]

Excellent Idea!  Going to try that this weekend
 

 

[jirodriguez]

Also remember your wood has to be DRY - rule of thumb is 1 year of drying for each inch in diameter. So if you left your logs in 4" rounds unsplit to dry them then they need approx. 4 years to dry, but if you split them into 1 or 2 inch squares they dry a lot faster. That first attempt of yours probably tasted nasty due to creasote - makes your toung tingle.

 

[backwoods bbq]

yea and the fact that creosote is a poison used to cover telephone poles to protect the wood not a good idea to eat! you may want to allow even more time to get a good bed of coals from wood before adding your meat. Sometimes 'coaling' your smoker 30 mins to an hour before hand will save you hours and frustration down the trail when your fire gets too low and you have to start more charcoal thus delaying your cook time. also, something i find might be important that MOST people (even some seasoned pros) may not know. Hickory is a HARD wood, that means it will burn long and slow but not as hot compared to soft woods such as OAK. Oak will burn hotter and FASTER...see where Im going with this? so to answer your question, yes you can use just hickory but that is like playing checkers with Bobby Fischer. find oak wood and use that to start a good bed of coals! It will burn hot and fast so dont put your meat on too soon! when you get a good bed going with a good temp later you can put smaller pieces of oak and hickory on together and keep the temp perfect on the smaller smokers! It takes practice and a trained eye to know how much wood to add cutting off air with dampners so on and so forth..practice, practice, practice, just remember that:

'the mark of a good BBQ cook is NOT the attention to meat but his knowledge of controlling his fire'

if you need advice or help with what woods burn with which qualities and properties just message me as there is not enough room on this page to divulge its entirity.

Hope this helps...keep on smokin'

 

[cliffcarter]

Also remember your wood has to be DRY - rule of thumb is 1 year of drying for each inch in diameter. So if you left your logs in 4" rounds unsplit to dry them then they need approx. 4 years to dry, but if you split them into 1 or 2 inch squares they dry a lot faster. That first attempt of yours probably tasted nasty due to creasote - makes your toung tingle.

Most hardwoods 4" diameter and stove length will be dry enough to use in 1 year, no matter where you live. Some, such as Northern Red Oak, may take up to 3 years. Unsplit stove length fire wood with the bark on will lose moisture from the cut end first and then will continue drying toward the center of the stick. I know this because I have access to a moisture meter and have checked how splitting wood effects drying rates. I have some maple that we cut down 7 months ago, I tested some of the ends of my pieces in March and they tested from14% to 18%, then I split them and tested the center of the split equidistant form each end and got values from 34% to 40%. One month later the same centers tested at 18%-20%, in the usable range.

 

[backwoods bbq]

alot of factors...also remember it depends if the climate is dry or humid. This may not pertain to most people but if your doing competitions and traveling around different parts of the US humidity will play a vital part in your Q if you stay there long enough...there is a big climate difference in Las Vegas NV and Houston Texas. I have lived in Both. Smoked in Both. Won and lost in Both. keep your wood covered and out of the snow for people living up north.

'Da' dryer da wood da cleaner da smoke' 

 

[caseyp]

I had this same problem today. I had a water pan on top of my wood and coals. Could the water pan have caused the taste that it had? My brisket didn't have near the bitter taste as my ribs did. The brisket was closer to the fire box than the ribs were. Could that have been another factor in the way it turned out? All in all the meat was tender and juicy but the outside had that funky taste. Nobody else in the family tasted it but me, but I read that this could happen and I tried not to let it happen but it did. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out for my first time smoking either of the 2 meats.

 

[backwoods bbq]

casey,

  thats a big No No. Bigger smokers arent that big a deal. But on smaller smokers you want to put your brisket as far away from the fire/fire box as possible. Sounds like your meat "turned" you dont want a bitter taste on BBQ you want a 'Bite' or you want it to 'Pop' let me guess your brisket had an aftertaste also? If so, you may want to move your water pan mine is positioned below any meat that will cook. You may have used the wrong type of wood as well. Mesquite is to BITTER and string for brisket especially if you use more than a tiny bit. Other woods that may have properties that can turn meat are Blackjack (similar to mesquite) Fruit woods (yes fruit woods can turn meat) or a number of woods that may have had too much moisture in them. I like to put the fattiest meats closest to the fire and leaner meats away from the fire.

 hope this helps

 

[oldschoolbbq]

Beebe, read this , it's quicker than me re-stating it all. Let me know if it helps.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/search.php?search=Wood+Burning+101

Cut your sticks down to fit your Pit... you are choking her with a large stick. Yeah, more work ,

but 

.

This is my only way to go:

Have fun and...