Too much smoke?


 
You can't control how much smoke comes from one chunk other than close the top vent and you don't want to do that.

It looks like thin white smoke, which is fine. It will probably turn blue shortly.

Personally I only cook with one chunk at a time and most times only use one chunk on a cook.
 
I have also found if you bury the wood chuks in the coals before lighting you also get less hard smoke but get a nice smoke flavor throughout the first half of the cook. The other thing that made a big difference for me was doing what I used to do with my electric smoker. I would wet the chunks for an half an hour or so and the put them in aluminum foil with a few holes punched in it. That is simply the best way I have found to give a great smoke flavor without over doing it.
If you use lump charcoal you can get away with one or two chunks as the lump has a slight smoke flavor on its own. Some use nothing but lump for that reason.
For light meats it is very nice on it's own.
Otherwise I found that for me the first 45 minutes of lighting you fire is usually not when you want to put your meat in as the initial smoke from everything is very heavy.
So for me I either wait for some time until the smoke abates or use one of the other methods mentioned
 
Your fine.
I get a combo of all smokes.
Thin blue, or little white or sometimes I see nothing. :wsm:
 
Just because you don't see smoke doesn't mean it's not smoking. If you can smell smoke, it's smoking. Some will continue to put wood on their fire if they don't see smoke and end up with to much smoke. The more you work with it the better you'll get. Good luck and good smoking.
 
I'm with Tony and Derek on this one. I get all different kinds of smoke. The only time I really find the meat is too smokey is when I use a big chunk of hickory on the performer, but that's a whole 'nother animal.
 
Rick Body said:
I'm with Tony and Derek on this one. I get all different kinds of smoke.
Click to expand...

I prefer a light smoke and I get all types also, but if I can smell and not see it that works for me. I try to get my smoke the first hour of the cook and stop there. Using the minion method I put a small chunk of wood on the starter coals and thats it.
 
You all that say you can tell differences in wood smoke vs charcoal smoke are good or I just have a bad nose. I get smoked myself standing by or near my WSM and lose my sense of smell. After a long day of smoking, my clothes smell like burnt wood, charcoal and sweat, not unlike coming home from my bartender jobs 20+ yrs ago and smelling like a stale dirty ashtray.

I was taught (on this forum btw) to get the fruit/nut wood smoke to lightly touch (kiss) the meat and most of the smoke flavor comes from the first 4 hours of the cook. When in doubt, I will use less smoke wood.
 
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