Amount of smoke diminishes after about an hour?


 
Derek O

Derek O

TVWBB Member
I have been smoking for about 4 years now and I have noticed the amount of smoke the wsm produces diminishes quite a bit after about an hour.

I don't mind this when I cook chickens or turkey since they don't need a lot of smoke anyway, buy I like a really intense smoke for pork butts, ribs, and Brisket. I have started using an Auberf ATC for about the last year and a half and I have noticed this doesn't help. Since I usually set the temp control at 220F, the fan doesn't blow a lot of air in to keep a decent smoke going. I usually put water in the water pan which I think I may stop doing.

I know I have read on here that after the smoker gets going the smoke will start to look clearer, but even knowing that it just doesn't seem like it smokes that much after about the first hour. The temperatures holds fine for the life of the smoke, and I know the smoke wood burns up.

Think it would be better to run the first part of the smoke warmer so that I get a bit more air flow out of the ATC? Usually I try to run around 220 to keep the meat in a smoking range temperature a bit longer.

Only reason I even bring this up is because my neighbor and I both smoked ribs. He has an electronic smoker which I wouldn't ever use, but his ribs had a lot more smokey flavor than what mine had. I could see white visible smoke coming out of his the whole time, whereas my vent turned clear after about an hour. Anybody have any thoughts?
 
You want thin blue smoke not a white cloud coming out of you pit. You are doing fine, maybe you just need to add a few more wood chunks. You are using chunks and not chips right?
 
Visible white smoke is NOT a good sign. That means either water or dirty (cold) fire.

John's right, you could be using too little smoke wood chunks. For even a short cook, I'll use a minimum of three fist sized chunks. If it's going to be a butt or brisket then it's 4 or 5.

Also, what kind of wood are you using? If it's a lite fruit wood (apple, pear, peach, etc.) then your not going to get a whole lot of smoke flavor. If you want bigger/bolder then try oak or maybe even some hickory. If you do a cook and you don't feel that's enough smoke on it, then the next time add a little more until you find what you like.

Btw, 220 is a little low for chicken and turkey in my opinion. I never cook chicken below 275, usually closer to 300. Going low and slow on chicken can leave it dry, especially the breast meat.

Russ
 
I usually use 4 to 5 piece of chunk smoke wood. I vary between using oak, pecan, cherry, apple, hickory depending on what I am smoking. Usually for shoulders/briskets I will use a hickory/oak/pecan. For the ribs I used an oak/pecan mix. I am not saying my ribs didn't taste good, they were good. But in terms of intensity of smoke flavor they weren't quite as intense (which maybe is a good thing?).

Anybody think there is any issues to using an ATC? I just wonder if it shuts off for too long after the smoker gets warmed up and going.
 
One way to find out is not using the ATC next cook. How old is your wood? If it's too dry it won't smoke as much.
 
After about 30 minutes to an hour, my WSM produces barely visible smoke. You need the right background to see it. This is what you want: thin, blue, almost invisible smoke. Your neighbor's white smoke might produce more intense flavor, but it's probably not what you want. Did his ribs taste better? If you use the Minion Method, 4-5 chunks buried in the unlit coals is plenty.
 
I find it also has to do with ash building up on the charcoal. If I knock the legs or better yet stick a poker in and shift around the charcoal to get rid of the ash, the smoke increases again. The temperature also increases so watch that. The problem with this, which I don't see people discussing much, is that the ash can fly up and get on the meat. I usually do it right after or while I have the meat off to wrap it (although smoke doesn't matter then). Otherwise you should take the meat or the whole top of the cooker off to do it.
 
Agree with everyone above on the smoke, should enhance your product not over power it. Was once told that heat cooks the product not the smoke, coming from Ben Lang it sounded like solid advice.
 
You could add an AMAZIN Smoke Tray. It burns saw dust and/or pellets which can add more smoke. http://www.amazenproducts.com/mobile/default.aspx#Home

Or you could add more wood as you notice reduced smoke.

Or you could add a layer of charcoal, a layer of wood, another layer of charcoal, another layer of wood, etc to make your minion stack.
 
I used to cook on a gasser with smoke bags before my WSM and it produced some really good meat. I used chips in the smoke bags and they definitely produced whiter smoke than chunks in the smoker. I can't say I found any negative in the flavor though. When my WSM is setting up the smoke is white. It turns thin and blue after about an hour. For ribs I generally use 3 chunks and probably 6 for butts and brisket depending on size of both.

With regards to smoke flavor, I find that I don't want a heavy smoke taste while I'm eating. Just some background flavor is fine for me. The big test is how much smoke flavor stays with you after the meal (aka burping smoke). This is even more evident after storing leftovers for a while and reheating them without breathing smoke all day. This is when the smoke flavor is most evident. I think this is akin to eating at a BBQ joint when you haven't been tending fire all day.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents. If you like it, it's good.
 
If you were to take a peak at the charcoal and wood chunks when the smoke seems to have stopped is the wood gone, or is it still smoldering?
 
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