Catching temps on the way up = thick smoke


 
PeterD

PeterD

TVWBB Super Fan
Hi guys,
Something's not making a whole lotta sense to me and seems a tad contradictory. The common practice seems to be putting the meat on as the temps are coming up, which is precisely what I do. After doing a Minion start I assemble the smoker, lube up the grill surface, fit the grate probe in and then drop the meat onto the cold grill surface so I can regulate it on the way up.

The downside to doing it this way is that there's a ton of white smoke pouring out the top vent and around the sides as the smoker comes up, the smoke wood catches and so on. I've read that having that much white smoke is not a good thing.

How can I reconcile these two issues? Put the cold meat on and slowly increase the temp of the smoke chamber while only getting thin blue smoke out the top vent? When do most of you put the meat on the grill?
 
I don't worry about the smoke too much anymore, but the thing I mainly try to avoid is to let the smoke wood catch fire at the start of a cook. Otherwise, the smoke will be pretty nasty for a while. So placement of the wood in relationship with the lit coals is what's key, as well as your method of lighting. To prevent flames at the offset, you can add wood after putting the meat on, but I usually bury or mostly bury the chunks around the outside to avoid catching fire and smoking too fast. Obviously, older wood and fruit-woods will catch fire much quicker and won't smoke as long, but I'm not a fan of green wood, either.
 
I usually fill the ring up half to 3/4 full, put in my smoke wood, cover with a bit more unlit then distribute the lit evenly over the top of all that.
 
I bury my smoke wood but still get heavy white smoke as the temps are coming up. It takes my WSM about 30 minutes to level out at 250 or so and for the smoke to thin and start to turn blue, so I put my meat at that time.
 
I have about 100# of blue-K so I will be using that for many years to come, I suspect
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I only use Comp-K briquettes for brisket or pork shoulder smokes. Ribs or HH-briskets get blue-K since ash accumulation isn't a problem.
 
I personally like my meat smokey. If I didn't, I'd be cooking on a propane grill.

As long as your wood is good, not wet, and plenty of draft, the smoke from the wood shouldn't be a problem. Take it from an old stick burner. Ribs a little more delicate, but a butt or a big brisket can take a lot of smoke and not be harmed.
 
I try to bury them and wait it out until the heavy smoke is gone (about 30-45 mins) and once I get that light blue smoke the meat goes on. Just taking the lid off long enough to put the meat on usually gets the fire stoked slightly and intially puts out a little heavier smoke for a few minutes until it levels out again. If I'm menion methoding it, I like to take a coffee can with the bottom cut out in the center of the charcoal ring and unlits mixed with wood around the can. I dump my lit in the coffee can and remove the can. This seems to give me longer light smoke as the charcoal lights from center out toward charcoal ring.
 
I too have never had any ill effects from white smoke in the WSM. I do believe that it is not the same as with heavy choking smoke from smolder logs in a stickburner. Come to think about it, smolder logs in fireplace or campfire stink. I've never smelled that from WSM white smoke.

I also think some of the smoke is from the assembly of the smoker. My OTS smokes after dumping fully lit coals even before the meat is added.
 
I put the meat on when the pit is up to temp, which is when the starter white smoke has ended.
 
I might start some sparks flying here, but here we go…I believe almost any smoke is good as long as the meat is cold, damp and the draft on the cooker is pulling the smoke out quickly. To me, you want smoke rushing past the meat, not hanging around in the cooker. Once the meat starts to heat up, the cells begin to tighten up and stop “absorbing” smoke. At this point, I believe you should begin reducing the level of smoke to prevent accumulation of soot (dirt) and bitter flavors on the surface of the meat.

To me, smoke is airborne dirt. You don’t want it hanging around your meat and in your cooker very long.
 
Originally posted by Garland Hudgins:
I might start some sparks flying here, but here we go…I believe almost any smoke is good as long as the meat is cold, damp and the draft on the cooker is pulling the smoke out quickly. To me, you want smoke rushing past the meat, not hanging around in the cooker. Once the meat starts to heat up, the cells begin to tighten up and stop “absorbing” smoke. At this point, I believe you should begin reducing the level of smoke to prevent accumulation of soot (dirt) and bitter flavors on the surface of the meat.

To me, smoke is airborne dirt. You don’t want it hanging around your meat and in your cooker very long.
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Very well stated.
 
Isn't it harder to prevent temps running away if you start up with nothing on the grates? I'm basically using the meat as an additional heat sink to bring the chamber up to temp more evenly.
 
Yes, meat is a heat sink, and so temps will decrease after loading, relative to the size of the cooker and the amount of meat added, of course.

You can start with as little a fire as you want with the Minion method, OR with more lit by using clay or water as a heat sink. Of course, the level of leakiness to your wsm is a big factor in catching temps.
 
I too wait for the heavy black and then white smoke to clear before putting meat on. It's gotta be blue. I can taste the soot or whatever if its not the clean smoke. The food looks better/brighter and the smoke ring is still deep (put the meat on a little cold).

I guess the result is closer to using propane, but I find there's still good smoke flavor to be had. Don't think I could accomplish exactly the same with propane, nor with the ease.

To me, the cleaner the fire the better. It was a long lesson for me to learn. (Am probably still some would say
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Originally posted by Dave Russell:
Yes, meat is a heat sink, and so temps will decrease after loading, relative to the size of the cooker and the amount of meat added, of course.

You can start with as little a fire as you want with the Minion method, OR with more lit by using clay or water as a heat sink. Of course, the level of leakiness to your wsm is a big factor in catching temps.
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I always do Minion starts using about 10-15 lit on my older 18" WSM. I use water for shorter rib or chicken cooks but for longer brisket/butt smokes I use a Stoker for fire/temp control. When I let the smoker come up to temp using the Stoker system and then put the meat on, I got wild temperature fluctuations for several hours afterwards. It was virtually impossible to get any kind of stability; so I went back to putting meat on the cold grate but getting what I think is far too much smoke. Hence my starting this thread.
 
Your thread got me to thinking, and I did an experiment this morning before putting the briskets on.

I lit a full ring of K Comp with my torch in four spots and put the top on after putting foiled pan w/ clay base in, all five vents wide open. I did NOT put any wood on and waited for the smoke to clear.....and waited....and waited. Well, gave up on it finally, and these are gonna be a moderately HH briskets.

I can GUARANTEE the smoke would've cleaned up if using lump, and I've got a big bag of Wicked Good lump in my shed that a buddy has practically been beggin' me to use.....Why do I think an expensive smoker fuel purchase in in my future? Even though this K comp smoke doesn't stink like K bb, I can just about swear that Stubbs and Rancher doesn't smoke so much.
 
Originally posted by Dave Russell:
Your thread got me to thinking, and I did an experiment this morning before putting the briskets on.

I lit a full ring of K Comp with my torch in four spots and put the top on after putting foiled pan w/ clay base in, all five vents wide open. I did NOT put any wood on and waited for the smoke to clear.....and waited....and waited. Well, gave up on it finally, and these are gonna be a moderately HH briskets.

I can GUARANTEE the smoke would've cleaned up if using lump, and I've got a big bag of Wicked Good lump in my shed that a buddy has practically been beggin' me to use.....Why do I think an expensive fuel purchase in in my future?
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You better share those briskies with us later
 
Originally posted by Jeff R:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dave Russell:
Your thread got me to thinking, and I did an experiment this morning before putting the briskets on.

I lit a full ring of K Comp with my torch in four spots and put the top on after putting foiled pan w/ clay base in, all five vents wide open. I did NOT put any wood on and waited for the smoke to clear.....and waited....and waited. Well, gave up on it finally, and these are gonna be a moderately HH briskets.

I can GUARANTEE the smoke would've cleaned up if using lump, and I've got a big bag of Wicked Good lump in my shed that a buddy has practically been beggin' me to use.....Why do I think an expensive fuel purchase in in my future?
Click to expand...

You better share those briskies with us later </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

We'll see.
 
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