Too smoky flavor

[mdmucf]

So I have used my Weber 18 a few times now - chicken wings, baby back ribs and a turkey breast. All 3 of them came out okay but the flavor had a little too much smoke compared to when I cooked on a propane smoker. I am using a charcoal starter and then putting wood into the pan with the charcoal. I am using mostly hickory, cherry and apple chunks in with the charcoal. Once I get to temperature, I am closing the bottom vent and leaving the top vent about 1/4 open. Any thoughts on how to get a little less smoky flavor?

 

[greatfx1959]

go with a lighter flavored wood, apple, pecan?

 

[Dafish13]

So I have used my Weber 18 a few times now - chicken wings, baby back ribs and a turkey breast. All 3 of them came out okay but the flavor had a little too much smoke compared to when I cooked on a propane smoker. I am using a charcoal starter and then putting wood into the pan with the charcoal. I am using mostly hickory, cherry and apple chunks in with the charcoal. Once I get to temperature, I am closing the bottom vent and leaving the top vent about 1/4 open. Any thoughts on how to get a little less smoky flavor?

You did not say how much wood or what temp you’re running but using less wood and a slightly hotter temp may help too.

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

You might want to consider leaving the top vent wide open and closing the bottom vent down by 25% to 50%. You want to keep some air flowing. Do you add more wood chunks during the smoke? If you are, try only using enough for the first hour or two during the smoke.

 

[chef jimmyj]

^^^^^^ What he said. ^^^^^^...JJ

 

[fivetricks]

I would consider doing a chicken cook with no added wood for a test run. This would be your base level of smokiness. Then do additional cooks starting with very small amts of milder wood like apple or cherry and build from there.

 

[crazymoon]

You might want to consider leaving the top vent wide open and closing the bottom vent down by 25% to 50%. You want to keep some air flowing. Do you add more wood chunks during the smoke? If you are, try only using enough for the first hour or two during the smoke.

Ditto !! on that answer

 

[SmokinAl]

Top vent wide open!!!
Al

 

[fuzz415]

what everone else said, top vent open 100%, 100% of the time, bottom vents control temp.

if temps runnning too hihg, try less lighted charcoal

 

[noboundaries]

Yep, top vent open, control temp with the bottom vent(s). Also, make sure your smoke isn't white or grey. There is a lot of ash in white/grey smoke, not the good stuff you find in blue smoke (and not the blue smoke of charcoal ashing over).

I only use my top vent as a last resort to control temps if the bottom vents won't do it, and it often doesn't take very much at all to make a difference.

When I first started smoking with my Kettle I had my bottom vents full open and controlled temp with the top vent. Man oh man, I was chasing temps all day and often had black looking meat. Once I made the switch, all those problems went away.

 

[RRR]

On start up top vent 1/2 open for first hour then full open after that control the temperature with the bottom vent.

 

[gmc2003]

So I have used my Weber 18 a few times now - chicken wings, baby back ribs and a turkey breast. All 3 of them came out okay but the flavor had a little too much smoke compared to when I cooked on a propane smoker. I am using a charcoal starter and then putting wood into the pan with the charcoal. I am using mostly hickory, cherry and apple chunks in with the charcoal. Once I get to temperature, I am closing the bottom vent and leaving the top vent about 1/4 open. Any thoughts on how to get a little less smoky flavor?

Hickory can have a strong smoke profile for poultry - so use it sparingly. Apple and cherry should be fine as they're considered milder woods. Any of them should work well with BBs.

A couple of questions come to mind:
1. What temp are you shooting for?
2. Are you using a full charcoal starter or a partially filled starter?
3. Lump or briquettes?
4. Water in the pan or not?
5. Are you relying on the Weber therm or an aftermarket?
6. Color and density of smoke?

Just guessing here, but it sounds like you used a full charcoal starter of lit coals, and dumped them over the top of the charcoal ring full of unlit coals and your wood chunks. With all your vents wide open the wood probably caught fire and temps rose quickly then you tried to snuff it or choke it down using the all the vents including the top vent. Creating stale bitter creosote taste in your food.

Next time try filling the charcoal ring up and create a dimple in the center of the ring(right down to the charcoal grate). Bury a couple of chunks of wood a various places in the charcoal. Use your starter and lite 6 to 8 briquettes. Open all your vents including the top vent. Dump the lit coals into the dimple. When your temps are about 35* from your target temp start shutting down the bottom vents. Make one adjustment at a time until the temps stabilize(takes about 15min.). When your temps are stable and your at your desired temp then add the meat. It will take a little bit of time the first few tries you do this but it will go quicker once you know what temp your WSM likes to baseline at. Once you know how your WSM works you can make adjustments to run it at high or lower temps.

Things to remember, top vent is always open except in extremely rare circumstances, and just because you don't see the smoke doesn't mean it's not there. Use your nose.

If I'm incorrect with how I think you started your WSM then disregard this message. If you have any other questions please ask. We've all been there at some point, and want to help folks out by sharing our experiences both the good and bad.

Chris

 

[mdmucf]

Thanks everyone! I definitely appreciate the feedback. I was using about 12-15 charcoal briquettes in the starter but then pouring it over a full pan of unlit charcoal briquettes and wood. The person from whom I bought it included a fan/thermometer so that is sealed onto one of the vents on the bottom and I have been trying to use that to help regulate the temperature along with the vents. I am still learning how to keep the charcoal temperature up without adding more for a long cook so maybe I am overdoing it but it feels like i am having to add more charcoal on the longer cooks.

 

[fivetricks]

12-15 seems like a lot. I use 16 starter coals in a full bucket of cold coal to run about 350-375 in a UDS. 12 coals gets me about 310-325 ish.

 

[fuzz415]

Thanks everyone! I definitely appreciate the feedback. I was using about 12-15 charcoal briquettes in the starter but then pouring it over a full pan of unlit charcoal briquettes and wood. The person from whom I bought it included a fan/thermometer so that is sealed onto one of the vents on the bottom and I have been trying to use that to help regulate the temperature along with the vents. I am still learning how to keep the charcoal temperature up without adding more for a long cook so maybe I am overdoing it but it feels like i am having to add more charcoal on the longer cooks.

my startup set up goes like this, and it takes me to 240-260 F, cruising non stop for at least 6 hours i usually only fill up 1/2 to the whole top grate of food, when cooking for my wife:

• place wood chunks down first, usually 4-6 chunks
• place between 5-9lbs of Kingsford Blue charcoal (this is about half to 2/3 full of the charcoal ring)
• set up minion method, dig crater out
• literally only 8-12 briquettes, doesn't even cover the entire bottom of the chimney
• assemble smoker, i always add cold water, always use a full water pan
• bottom vents open 1/4, top vent open 100%
• wait 25 minutes, throw some soaked wood chips in just for the hell of it (something psychological about knowing your meat is getting "the smoke")
• wait 10 more minutes, put meat on
• wait designated time for meat to be done and win!

when i first started with the WSM, i would place half a lit chimney in the crater and temps would be sky high, i was forced to fiddle with the vents and water would all boil out. i have found low amount of starting lit briquettes and patience is the key. before i would go out there every 10 minutes to fiddle with the vents. Now i just basically throw everything on there and set my temp probe to alarm if it goes over 300, target cooking goal of 250 or so, and walk away.

 

[Dr. Dobbins]

Guys, the vent advice is vital keeping airflow thru your grill is essential for making great smoked meats. Also, another IMPORTANT concept is knowing how much wood, and how big of chunks your adding. Large chunks of wood will release the magic smoke at a lot slower rate than small chips (more surface area makes the wood burn quicker). I weigh my wood, using a small digital scale, this has proven to be the most reliable and consistent method. I chose the size of the wood based on the temperature I am cooking at. If I am cooking at a lower temperature I use bigger pieces. Higher temperature I will use smaller chips. The reason behind this is higher temp cooks don't last very long, and I want to blast the meat with quick dense smoke. Slower cooks I want to slowly infuse the meat with smoke. I also believe that once you get your meat above 100 deg F the meat doesn't absorb smoke as quickly when it is colder. Since the smoke will condense more on colder meat than hotter meat. So my advice to who posted is weigh your wood, and use about less than 6oz for your poultry, and items that don't need a lot of smoke, and use 6-8oz of wood for large cuts that can absorb more smoke without becoming ash tray flavored.