Wood Chips Question

[procraft]

I have a newbie question here.. I am using my Smoky Mountain Series smoker for the first time. I put some ribs in a little over an hour ago. I am using some Jack Daniels oak chips. I soaked them in water for around 30 min before starting up the smoker. After the smoker got up to temp the smoke really started rolling out of the the smoker, but now not much is coming out. I checked the cast iron pot that the chips go in and the chips were solid black. Is this normal or do I need to keep fresh wet chips in there the whole smoking process?

Thanks!!

 

[preacherman1]

definitely thro more chips on the fire and you don't have to wet them they will smoke either way.I used to wet my chips and discovered that just puts the fire out and lowers the temp of the grill. there is no real advantage to wetting the chips.

 

[preacherman1]

One more thing, only use the smoking chips  for about half the time of your total cooking time.

 

[procraft]

OK, thanks for the reply.. I am doing these ribs the 3-2-1 method. I just put more chips on the fire.

So, after the ribs smoke for the first 3 hours, I don't put anymore chips in for the remaining 3 hours they have to cook?
 

 

[grinder]

When you're getting the proper amount of smoke, it should be barely visible (TBS). Long periods the white billowing smoke will give you a harsh smoke flavor. Blackened wood should still be giving you smoke. Add more chips when the chips in the box start getting ashy looking, but still have some black. I agree With Preacherman that soaking wood isn't beneficial.
 

 

[procraft]

Ok, I will stop worrying about having it rolling out of the smoker.. I do still need to know about it smoking for the remainder of the 3 hours of cooking time.. I just pulled the ribs off and put them in foil. Do I need to be putting any more wood chips on the fire??
 

 

[grinder]

No. After the meat temp reaches around 140, it will no longer absorb smoke and neither will sealed, foiled meat.

 

[cliffcarter]

No. After the meat temp reaches around 140, it will no longer absorb smoke...

After the meat temp reaches 140° the smoke ring formation ceases, however the smoke flavor will continue to build for as long as you add wood to the fire.

This link gives a good, easy to understand explanation of smoke ring formation-

http://www.smokingpit.com/Info/SmokeRing.pdf