Smoke Ring


 

KToliver

TVWBB Fan
I am always amazed at the beautiful smoke ring that some folks get on their meats...mine is never more than 1/16” to 1/8” deep, but I see many that are 1/4” or better.

Now, don’t get me wrong; the smoke flavor I get with my WSM is great and I’m really happy with it...but I, like many, must pursue BBQ perfection!

A few thoughts:

1) I have not been much of a spritzer, thinking that my bark MUST be set before spritzing. I recently read that is NOT the case and that spritzing actually attracts more smoke to the meat. Looking for feedback from you spritz-a-holics.

2) I tend to bury my wood in the coals, ala Harry Soo, not placing it on top. Do many of you add wood when the smoke goes down to a minimum? On an 8 to 10 hour burn I tend to not see much smoke after 3-4 hours.
 
Meathead at Amazing Ribs has a long long article on smoke, but this pic from a test they did, tells the story. They smoked these cotton patches for 30 minutes, IIRC. Smoke does stick to wet, which is also why I keep a water pan in my offset and use the water bowl on the WSM.

dry-oil-wet-pads.jpg


IMO, I think the meat has gotten enough smoke whenever my original chunks burn down, so I don't add any more. And I think that even though no smoke is visible, the meat is still taking on smoke flavor. And that's until the chunks are completely gone.
 
Smoke rings are like those killer grill marks you see. Looks good but the meat still tastes fine without them:)

Tim
 
OMG...I think I have eyestrain after reading that. I admit I skipped most of the chemistry lesson...:)

Thanks for posting!

Yeah that one is quite a read! I remember reading (or skimming it, cause my eyes kept glazing over) it back when I started with my WSM and haven't given much thought to smoke ring since. My current "problem" is that I recently was gifted a pellet grill and have been, thus far, unhappy with the smokiness (rather the lack thereof) compared to my WSM. So I too am curious about feedback from those among us who spritz "religiously".


Meathead at Amazing Ribs has a long long article on smoke, but this pic from a test they did, tells the story. They smoked these cotton patches for 30 minutes, IIRC. Smoke does stick to wet, which is also why I keep a water pan in my offset and use the water bowl on the WSM.

I too have historically used the water bowl in my WSM. I've considered leaving it out, especially since I've moved an no longer have that semi-wooded area in the back of my lot to dump the post-smoke water. But now, after re-skimming Meathead's article, I'm leaning toward keeping the water pan since I live in a much drier climate.
 
I too have historically used the water bowl in my WSM. I've considered leaving it out, especially since I've moved an no longer have that semi-wooded area in the back of my lot to dump the post-smoke water. But now, after re-skimming Meathead's article, I'm leaning toward keeping the water pan since I live in a much drier climate.

I only remove the water pan for really short cooks like Tri-tip. That reminds me of an older T-Roy video where he makes a very sensible statement (I’m paraphrasing here); “well, Weber designed the WSM with a water pan. If they didn’t think it needed water in it, they probably wouldn’t have put one in”. That man’s an Einstein!
 
Put your meat on cold. That seems to make a big difference for me. A little moisture can help if it's dry where you live.
 
I haven’t put water in my pan in years, but still have good smoke rings. I really don’t dwell on it much or pay it much attention until someone mentions the “red ring”on the outside of the meat. I never let my meat come up to temp on the counter, and for that matter, I put it on the smoker as soon as I place the lit coals on top of the unlit coals. Many people do it many different ways, I’ve just found this method to work best for me.
Good luck,
Tim
 
Yeah that one is quite a read! I remember reading (or skimming it, cause my eyes kept glazing over) it back when I started with my WSM and haven't given much thought to smoke ring since. My current "problem" is that I recently was gifted a pellet grill and have been, thus far, unhappy with the smokiness (rather the lack thereof) compared to my WSM. So I too am curious about feedback from those among us who spritz "religiously".




I too have historically used the water bowl in my WSM. I've considered leaving it out, especially since I've moved an no longer have that semi-wooded area in the back of my lot to dump the post-smoke water. But now, after re-skimming Meathead's article, I'm leaning toward keeping the water pan since I live in a much drier climate.

Qualify this from the start, that I've never smoked on a pellet pooper. And I see the complaints about the smoke created by pellet poopers. I have to wonder though, if the lack of smoke is because of complete combustion of the pellets.

When I smoke on my offset, when I'm getting a good fire with a lot of air flow, the smoke out the stack is clear. Can't hardly see it. But if I put my hand over the stack and leave it there a few seconds, I can smell smoke on my hand.

Having a lot of smoke is not necessarily a good thing, in fact, mostly its a bad thing. Meathead addresses that, he says for short cooks a lot of white smoke can be good.

Next time ya fire up the pellet pooper, put your hand over the stack and see if ya still getting smoke flavor.

On smoke rings, I don't try to get a smoke ring, if it happens fine, but its really not a measure of flavor. Its just a cosmetic appearance thing.
 
I haven’t put water in my pan in years, but still have good smoke rings. I really don’t dwell on it much or pay it much attention until someone mentions the “red ring”on the outside of the meat. I never let my meat come up to temp on the counter, and for that matter, I put it on the smoker as soon as I place the lit coals on top of the unlit coals. Many people do it many different ways, I’ve just found this method to work best for me.
Good luck,
Tim

I put the meat on the counter and then go fire up the smoker, whether its a WSM or the offset. Then I put the meat on when the smoker has gotten up to temp. The cook is starting with the meat on the counter.

And it takes longer to get an offset up to temp. I like to get the steel heated up , after that it becomes a little easier to control temps. Last time I smoked a brisket, it was an hour and a half, from the time I took the brisket out of the fridge, applied rub, and got the smoker up to temp.
 
Qualify this from the start, that I've never smoked on a pellet pooper. And I see the complaints about the smoke created by pellet poopers. I have to wonder though, if the lack of smoke is because of complete combustion of the pellets.

When I smoke on my offset, when I'm getting a good fire with a lot of air flow, the smoke out the stack is clear. Can't hardly see it. But if I put my hand over the stack and leave it there a few seconds, I can smell smoke on my hand.

Having a lot of smoke is not necessarily a good thing, in fact, mostly its a bad thing. Meathead addresses that, he says for short cooks a lot of white smoke can be good.

Next time ya fire up the pellet pooper, put your hand over the stack and see if ya still getting smoke flavor.

On smoke rings, I don't try to get a smoke ring, if it happens fine, but its really not a measure of flavor. Its just a cosmetic appearance thing.

I think you're right on the money with the complete combustion thing Lynn. I mean the more efficient your combustion, the less smoke you get. It only makes sense! This efficient and near-complete combustion is exactly what makes pellets such a good fuel source for a furnace.

As far as the quantity of smoke is concerned, I get that lots of white smoke is bad. And, for me at least, it's not about how much smoke I see coming out of my cooker. It's the comparative lack of smoke flavor that sticks to the food. It may have something to do with the "inexpensive nature" of the particular unit I was gifted (entry level from several years ago) and how the air/smoke moves about the cook chamber. But it also might just be due to how the pellets combust vs a chunk of wood sitting on a pile of charcoal.

After my first cook on it I did a little research (mostly because I didn't like the +/-25+ degree swings I observed). If you're trying to cook at a specific temp, say 250F, the auger feed (or poops) pellets into the firepot and ignites them. After a bit the igniter cuts out and the pellets sit there and smolder which makes smoke. As the temp drops, more pellets are fed to recover the temp and the process repeats. So instead of getting a constant supply of wispy smoke like on a WSM or offset (with a properly maintained fire of course), you get bursts of thick smoke intermittently throughout the cook. That might not be the most technically correct description, but it is what I observed.

There is, at least on my unit, a "SMOKE" mode where instead of trying to maintain a temperature setpoint, the controller/auger just feeds pellets on a time-based algorithm (ie feed for 5 seconds, wait for 30 seconds, feed for 5 seconds, wait for 30 seconds). The result is more frequent bursts of smoke, but since the controller isn’t trying to make temperature, you spend more time at a lower temp and extend your cook time. In fact, the only time I recall seeing the on-board thermometer exceed 200F was while the unit was in direct sunlight. To be fair, I've only ever tried the “SMOKE” mode once, and even then only for an hour before cranking it to 250F, but I barely perceived a difference in the amount of smoke on the meat.
 
I haven’t put water in my pan in years, but still have good smoke rings. I really don’t dwell on it much or pay it much attention until someone mentions the “red ring”on the outside of the meat. I never let my meat come up to temp on the counter, and for that matter, I put it on the smoker as soon as I place the lit coals on top of the unlit coals. Many people do it many different ways, I’ve just found this method to work best for me.
Good luck,
Tim

Yeah Tim, I was living in NC when I was seriously considering leaving the water out of the pan. But it's considerably drier here in MT so which is why I'm leaning toward continuing to use water.

I put the meat on the counter and then go fire up the smoker, whether its a WSM or the offset. Then I put the meat on when the smoker has gotten up to temp. The cook is starting with the meat on the counter.

And it takes longer to get an offset up to temp. I like to get the steel heated up , after that it becomes a little easier to control temps. Last time I smoked a brisket, it was an hour and a half, from the time I took the brisket out of the fridge, applied rub, and got the smoker up to temp.

I tend to start the fire then go inside and prep the meat while the pit comes to temp. Frequently prepping the meat takes just as long as, or longer than, getting the pit to temp. If I'm doing a bigger cut (brisket or butt) I'll start prep the meat then fire up the pit while it sits on the counter.
 
Whenever I'm lucky enough to get a smoke ring the wife and kids ask "are you sure this is well done?" :rolleyes:
 
I live in Florida and we have humid air most of the year and I get a good smoke ring. I lived in Albuquerque and water in the pan was the only way to go out there if you want a good smoke ring. NV is the same. Remember - that ring is just cosmetic and cooking for my family not a big deal. Bottom line is you need to get moisture in the WSM to get a great smoke ring.

I have a pellet smoker and just did Beef Jerky. 4 hours on the LO (smoke) setting and got a really good smoke flavor. On mine I have found that I need at least 3 hours on the Lo setting to get good smoke flavor. At 250 and below I'll get smoke but when I crank it up I'm just running like a Kenmore oven. You can get an Amazn smoke tube and put it into your pellet pooper to get more smoke.
 
I have a pellet smoker and just did Beef Jerky. 4 hours on the LO (smoke) setting and got a really good smoke flavor. On mine I have found that I need at least 3 hours on the Lo setting to get good smoke flavor. At 250 and below I'll get smoke but when I crank it up I'm just running like a Kenmore oven. You can get an Amazn smoke tube and put it into your pellet pooper to get more smoke.

My father-in-law made a batch of jerky on the pellet grill right before gifting it to me and it had good smoke flavor to it. I've not really had anything else that he's cooked on it that was intended to be smoked. With us living so far away for so long it was rare that he cooked on it for us. And now that he's got dementia he doesn't cook anymore (thus the gift).

Anyway, Thanks for the advice Lew! Maybe I'll try extending my time cooking on smoke next time. And I'll definitely have to look into the Amazn smoke tube.
 
I live in Florida and we have humid air most of the year and I get a good smoke ring. I lived in Albuquerque and water in the pan was the only way to go out there if you want a good smoke ring. NV is the same. Remember - that ring is just cosmetic and cooking for my family not a big deal. Bottom line is you need to get moisture in the WSM to get a great smoke ring.

Good point...I should know better than to run without the water pan in my WSM. I live in Arizona, and even in "rainy" season it hardly gets above 45%RH. Most of the time it is in the single digits.

Water pan from now on (excluding cooks under 2 hours).
 
In this thread yesterday, Donna Fong said:

"Try some celery seed in your rub. Or spray with water after the crust sets. It is tough to get a decent smoke ring in dry environments."

Original poster was located in Texas, so dry climate is assumed.

1) I have not been much of a spritzer, thinking that my bark MUST be set before spritzing. I recently read that is NOT the case and that spritzing actually attracts more smoke to the meat. Looking for feedback from you spritz-a-holics.

2) I tend to bury my wood in the coals, ala Harry Soo, not placing it on top. Do many of you add wood when the smoke goes down to a minimum? On an 8 to 10 hour burn I tend to not see much smoke after 3-4 hours.

If CRUST is not set before spritzing, spritzing will wash it (the rub) off the meat.

I usually place wood chunks on top of lit charcoal, not buried. But lately I've been burying. Can't tell a difference, to be honest, but maybe that's just me.

I never add smoke wood later in a cook, I just go with what I start with. Maybe two chunks for light smoke, four big chunks for a brisket. It's not about how much smoke you see...in fact, I'd be worried if I was seeing much smoke after 3-4 hours. I usually don't see much after the first hour.
 
I'm not that interested in a smoke ring, both Barb and I enjoy a lite smoke flavor. We've been perfectly content with not using water in the pan in our super dry environment and using fruit woods like apple, peach and cherry.
To each his own, works for us.
 

 

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