When to put the meat in?

[SherryT]

I know...

Anyway...here's what I've been doing and I think I might have to adjust...

Fill water pan, insert cabinet temp probe, fire up the smoker (MB propane), allow to come to temp and stabilize, add wood chunk/s (in foil pack placed into the chip tray in the door), allow to start smoking, put the meat in, insert meat probe and rock on.

Here's my question...should I wait for TBS before I add the meat or is what I'm doing OK?

Thanks!

 

[chilerelleno]

As long as you're not pumping out thick clouds of dirty smoke you should be okay initially.
A light, steady flow of bluish white smoke is not going to ruin the meat.
When TBS be better? Well of course.

 

[SherryT]

As long as you're not pumping out thick clouds of dirty smoke you should be okay initially.
A light, steady flow of bluish white smoke is not going to ruin the meat.
When TBS be better? Well of course.

Well, I'm not sure! The smoke billowing out at first is white (not gray or sooty looking) and there's a lot of it, bit after a few minutes, it begins to subside. Within about an hour from the start, I can BARELY see anything, if at all. When I check the chunk, it seems to be mostly a "coal", so to speak.

I just don't know...I've never been around anyone who smokes before, so I don't have a solid frame of reference, KWIM?

 

[chilerelleno]

Let the billowing subside and you're good to go.
After that first hour flip the coal over and add another chunk.

 

[SherryT]

Let the billowing subside and you're good to go.
After that first hour flip the coal over and add another chunk.

OK...will give it a go.

Thanks!

 

[SmokinAl]

Honestly on my propane smoker I just fire it up & put the meat on cold, right out of the fridge. Yea you get some white smoke for a few minutes, but it settles right down. But that’s just the way I do it!
Al

 

[Murray]

Think of it like a campfire, when you first light it up lots of white smoke since there is only flame and no heat. Once the wood heats from the flame the thick white smoke disappears. Same as a smoker, cold chips/chunks smoke like crazy until they heat up then TBS .

 

[SherryT]

Thanks guys...I smoked two butts yesterday (an 11 pounder boned and split in half so I could test wrapped vs unwrapped) like I've been doing while learning and they turned out pretty darned good! Had part of one for supper and will pull, vac seal, and freeze the other larger one.

I did some more digging around the forum while smoking yesterday and someone (sorry, but I can't recall who it was) said if you waft your hand across the vent and can smell elements of smoke, you're getting flavor, so I used that test to gauge when to add more wood...good tip!

I'm slowly but surely gettin' there!