White Smoke

[predfan]

Hello all:

I'm new to the forums and after reading through some of the posts, I saw something that I had to ask about.

Why is billowing white smoke bad and what does it mean?

I have been using a Weber smoker for a long time and have built a smoker of my own with a much larger capacity. I have billowing white smoke coming out of the "chimney" a lot in the beginning of the process.

I also can't set it and forget it like I did with the Weber. I have difficulty maintaining a steady temperature, too high, too low, back and forth. I am using oak wood only.

Thanks.

 

[s2k9k]

Billowing white smoke can produce creosote and cause your food to have a very bitter flavor and not the flavor of the wood you are using. What you want is what is referred to as TBS or Thin Blue Smoke, it is just like it says, very thin smoke with a blueish color to it, or even sometimes you won't even see smoke but you can still smell it in the air, that is good too. A lot of times when wood first starts smoldering it will put off a thicker white smoke as the moisture in the wood is being released but then will settle down and turn blue.

What kind of smoker did you build? More details on it will help people to help you and pictures would help too.

I see this is your first post here, when you get a minute would you do us a favor and go to "Roll Call" and introduce yourself so we can get to know you and give you a proper welcome, also would you add your location to your profile, we like knowing where you are when we talk to you, Thanks!

 

[piaconis]

Greetings PredFan!

X2 what S2K said, but I wanted to add a few things.  First, how dry is the wood that you are using?  Wood with a significant amount of moisture will burn "dirty" like that.  It also won't burn as hot, which may be causing some of your problems with temps.  Additionally, I'd be curious to know how long you burn your smoker when you start it up.  Larger smokers tend to need time to heat to not only warm the metal of the unit, but to vaporize any moisture that is inside of it (which can keep the temperature down).

As S2K said, some additional details would be helpful.  Welcome to the forum!

 

[sqwib]

Hello all:

I'm new to the forums and after reading through some of the posts, I saw something that I had to ask about.

Why is billowing white smoke bad and what does it mean? S2K Has you covered

I have been using a Weber smoker for a long time and have built a smoker of my own with a much larger capacity. I have billowing white smoke coming out of the "chimney" a lot in the beginning of the process. Are you burning wood?

I also can't set it and forget it like I did with the Weber. I have difficulty maintaining a steady temperature, too high, too low, back and forth. I am using oak wood only. If it's a stick burner, they need babysitting.

Thanks.

I write this assuming you are burning sticks.

More info needed and photos really help.

Here is a copy/paste from my website for stickburners.

Fire Management:

I will quickly go into fire management here. This is where you should start to take accurate notes and understand your smoker. Learning how to control your fire for your particular smoker is a key component in a successful smoke. Wood will have different requirements than charcoal. 

I primarily use wood on my smokes and will only use charcoal when starting a fire. I would love to give more specific advice on this subject but there are too many variable to give specific instructions, however I will provide the following tips.

• Split size matters: Use smaller splits and add more often as opposed to larger splits less often, this will reduce the amount of the nasty white smoke that you do not want. Adding large splits will make the wood smolder longer before it ignites. Place the wood that is to be added inside the firebox to the side where it will not ignite, my fires usually get too hot to place the splits inside the firebox so I place my next few splits on top of the firebox.
• Choking: Do not choke your fire, make sure you have proper draft. You can see the flame going towards the smoke chamber if you have proper draft, you can also feel the heat coming out of the top of the exhaust stack.
• Ventilation: Make sure your wood does not choke itself in it's own ashes, make sure to build the fire in a basket with holes and/or build the fire on grates. The air should flow underneath the fire through the fire and toward the smoke chamber. Make sure these vents are not blocked. If there is ash in the basket or in the vents clear the ashes.
• Stoking: Every now and then you may need to stoke the fire, however do this gently as you do not want ash traveling through the smoker and resting on the meat.
• Backing Up: If you are getting smoke pouring out of the firebox, check your intakes and vents and stoke the fire. Make sure the exhaust vent is wide open.
• Wood is Fuel: Do not focus on imparting smoke flavor in the food, focus on the cleanest burn possible, you will still get a smoke flavor. You do not need to see smoke to get smoke flavor.
• Adding Wood: When adding wood to the existing fire, leave the firebox door open a little bit, if a white billowing smoke starts pouring out of the exhaust vent, open the smoke chamber door for a few seconds allowing the smoke to escape quickly.

One thing I want to point out about white billowing smoke, running pits at higher temps will produce more steam.I encountered this when doing my fast and hot ribs.

Make sure your wood is dry also.

If the smoke is heavy and dirty looking (grayish) open the smoker lid and let the smoke subside.

If you have white billowing smoke, open the smoker door and let the smoke subside.

Note the below pics... this is not smoke.

20120721114.JPG

• sqwib
• Jul 26, 2012

20120721087.JPG

• sqwib
• Jul 26, 2012

 

[predfan]

Billowing white smoke can produce creosote and cause your food to have a very bitter flavor and not the flavor of the wood you are using. What you want is what is referred to as TBS or Thin Blue Smoke, it is just like it says, very thin smoke with a blueish color to it, or even sometimes you won't even see smoke but you can still smell it in the air, that is good too. A lot of times when wood first starts smoldering it will put off a thicker white smoke as the moisture in the wood is being released but then will settle down and turn blue.

What kind of smoker did you build? More details on it will help people to help you and pictures would help too.

I see this is your first post here, when you get a minute would you do us a favor and go to "Roll Call" and introduce yourself so we can get to know you and give you a proper welcome, also would you add your location to your profile, we like knowing where you are when we talk to you, Thanks!

What causes the white smoke as opposed to blue? Is it simply too much moisture?

I built a larger version of the typical $49 Weber "bullet" smoker. Hot box on the bottom, food goes above.

I did go to the into forum moments ago, thanks. I am at this moment in the process of smoking a butt in the new smoker and decided to look to see if there was a forum for this. When I read about the white smoke in another thread I immediately joined and started this thread. If, in my haste, I violated ettiquite I apologize. I will get to the profile asap.

 

[predfan]

Greetings PredFan!

X2 what S2K said, but I wanted to add a few things.  First, how dry is the wood that you are using?  Wood with a significant amount of moisture will burn "dirty" like that.  It also won't burn as hot, which may be causing some of your problems with temps.  Additionally, I'd be curious to know how long you burn your smoker when you start it up.  Larger smokers tend to need time to heat to not only warm the metal of the unit, but to vaporize any moisture that is inside of it (which can keep the temperature down).

As S2K said, some additional details would be helpful.  Welcome to the forum!

Hmmm... the wood may not be totally dry. It has been in the Florida sun for a couple of weeks but I don't know how long it takes. this could be my problem.

 

[predfan]

SQWIB:

I'm not burning sticks, I'm burning logs of about 2 inches to 4 inches in diameter. Unless that is considered sticks.

 

[predfan]

I'm convinced now that the wood I'm using is still too green. It looks dry, It's been in the Florida sun for about a month (since I trimmed the oak) but apparently that isn't enough.

Thanks all for the input. Next time, later this week, I'll pick up some more charcoal and a bag of hickory chips. That will have to do until I can get some dry oak.

 

[nivekd]

Oak takes a long time to dry...for logs that size, I would say at least six months but I'd let it dry for a year.

 

[sqwib]

SQWIB:

I'm not burning sticks, I'm burning logs of about 2 inches to 4 inches in diameter. Unless that is considered sticks.

Sorry for the confusion some folks call 'em sticks

I'm convinced now that the wood I'm using is still too green. It looks dry, It's been in the Florida sun for about a month (since I trimmed the oak) but apparently that isn't enough.

Thanks all for the input. Next time, later this week, I'll pick up some more charcoal and a bag of hickory chips. That will have to do until I can get some dry oak.

That would do it

Oak takes a long time to dry...for logs that size, I would say at least six months but I'd let it dry for a year.

Yep, one full season.

 

[predfan]

A full year? Wow.

 

[piaconis]

If you have them cut in small chunks, they may dry quicker.  The other option is to kiln dry them.

 

[predfan]

Thanks all for your help. I wanted to let you all know that I found a solution to my problem of green wood. I got the idea from Food Network, though they weren't trying to do it like this.

I have a fire pit in the back yard, I ran out of scrap wood (I also so a lot of carpentry) so I threw a couple of the not do dry logs on the fire. There was some white smoke but after a while it passed. What I ended up with was so good coal chunks. Well, I remembered a show on Food TV where a guy was shoveling coals into a burner of his smoker.

Yesterday I put two roasting chickens in my smoker after I had a good fire going in my back yard, then I shoveled the coals into the smoker. After about 5 hours and 3 shovels of coals I had two chickens at 180 degrees in the core.

Not being someone who likes to wait, I think i can burn the green wood in the fire pit until all of the white smoke is gone and shovel the coals into my smoker.

Can wait to try doing some pork and turkey.

Thanks again.

 

[predfan]

Thanks all for your help. I wanted to let you all know that I found a solution to my problem of green wood. I got the idea from Food Network, though they weren't trying to do it like this.

I have a fire pit in the back yard, I ran out of scrap wood (I also so a lot of carpentry) so I threw a couple of the not too dry logs on the fire. There was some white smoke but after a while it passed. What I ended up with was so good coal chunks. Well, I remembered a show on Food TV where a guy was shoveling coals into a burner of his smoker.

Yesterday I put two roasting chickens in my smoker after I had a good fire going in my back yard, then I shoveled the coals into the smoker. After about 5 hours and 3 shovels of coals I had two chickens at 180 degrees in the core.

Not being someone who likes to wait, I think i can burn the green wood in the fire pit until all of the white smoke is gone and shovel the coals into my smoker.

Can wait to try doing some pork and turkey.

Thanks again.

 

[smokinjoe1970]

Yes green Is Your Issue, Look On Your doors, that Black tar Look ( no its not grease) thats creosote  and it makes a mess and Taste bitter On meat . wet wood and green wood bun and are different I soak chips  and wood to smoke But green wood is full of sap, and moisture that quinine biter and Not Good for You or your Pit.  Having a Little white smoke is always going to happen at the fire start but if You are choking on it You have too Much. I Lucked out we have an axe and tool handle company Locally here and They Use all shade and kiln dried Hickory  I get a great deal on Chunks usually  2-3" X 4-6" for $10.00 per 80 lb bag