White smoke versuses blue smoke

[timber creek]

So Ive always been told that blue smoke is the way you smoke I entered my first pulled pork competition this past weekend the 3 teams that won smoked around 190 for almost 24 hours and then cranked up to 225 about 3 hours before pulling on pork butts. The whole time they had a heavy white smoke coming out of their smokers. I used Hickory and white oak on mine. I also get a bed of coals, start with 2 or 3 logs then a log or 2 every hour , these guys were inky feeding their smokers about every 5 ir y hours which leads me to beleive they stacked their wood like you would a stove in your home Full to the top and only feed wood as it burns down. So i guess in closing my 2 questions are 1. White or blue smoke. 2. Fill the smoker so i can sleep or feed it every hour or two? Any help would be much appreciated

 

[joe black]

I always cook with thin blue smoke around 250-275*. I use a good deep bed of coals and add 1-2 pre-heated splits every hour. If someone is using a wheel barrow full of wood along with a cooker full of thick white smoke, I'm going back to judging. I want to taste that meat, I just don't want anyone to see me.

 

[timber creek]

Same here I always run between 225 and 250. Thin blue smoke, feed every hour or 2. The top 3 finishers though barely fed theirs and had pretty heavy white smoke. I just didnt know if anyone else used a methid where they could load it up and get some sleep because thats what these guys were doing.

 

[smokin jesse]

What's the secret to keeping it thin blue smoke

 

[timber creek]

Fire dont smolder your wood. You want to keep a flame on your wood I usually wont even shut my firebox door untill the new wood us ignited.

 

[bmudd14474]

View media item 551051

 

[smokin jesse]

That's what I've been doing just hoping I wasn't losing the wood flavoing

 

[chef jimmyj]

Different strokes...Folks do all kind of stuff. Been seeing pitmasters on Man, Fire, Food who use Green Hickory. Another guy in TX smokes exclusively with Green Mesquite which is the restaurant name. Stuff is so caustic he admits to replacing the entire hood system every couple of years.

 How the hell could that Q taste any good but the place was packed.

...JJ

 

[joe black]

It may be different strokes, JJ, but I hope I never get that different. It sure is good to have a comment from you. I guess you're feeling better. Joe. :yahoo:

 

[chef jimmyj]

It may be different strokes, JJ, but I hope I never get that different. It sure is good to have a comment from you. I guess you're feeling better. Joe.

Thanks Joe...JJ

 

[Rings Я Us]

[emoji]129300[/emoji]. Need a burn barrel. But then your just tossing on charcoal wood. We use a burn barrel up in deer camp.. shovel coals into a cinder block pit to cook

 

[troutman]

Aaron Franklin of Franklin BBQ in Austin, Texas talks at length about the virtues of blue smoke in his book.  Smoke and radiant convection are the fuels that actually cook your food.  Too much smoke or the wrong kind of smoke can produce undesirables like char or creosote along with other nasty combustion gases.  The blue smoke is an almost invisible smoke with a blue hue which has the smallest, microscopic particles in it.  This is considered the holy grail of smoke and produces the best flavor profiles.  That's what one of the finest BBQ cooks in America with a James Beard award has to say on the subject.  I tend to follow his lead.

I don't know why anyone would stuff a fire box full of wood, try to cook low and slow below 200 degrees and have tons of white smoke flavoring their meat and then walk away to grab some sleep.  Doesn't sound like any competition cook off I've ever been to.

 

[Rings Я Us]

Wood burns with white smoke until it has turned to charcoal. Every time you toss in a split , you get smoke showing till it burns off the material . Charcoal smoker like my ECB burning very low because it will be to hot if I leave the vents open and burn wood faster.. only way for my ECB to burn clean is to put 15 pieces of charcoal in it and wood chunks burning hot and fast.. turning to coals fast with no more smoke.. thin blue smoke, but I would have to feed it all day just like the offset stick burner.

Just glad that here I don't have to worry about all wood or nothing snobs that can only seem to stomach their food off of a stick burner.

And being single here by myself.. I would never worry about buying or having a stick burner for feeding myself . I live in an apartment. So sorry if there are some people[90%],that get by without using all wood monster smokers.. [emoji]129299[/emoji]

So I smoke with just a few pieces and get more bang for the buck than someone using 50 lbs to cook . I use a half pound of wood and get the nice taste I appreciate..