First couple smokes....too much charcoal flavor.


 
I too struggle with this issue and more specifically this question…I understand waiting for the thin blue smoke before putting the meat on, but how do you do that when lighting with the minion method as you continually have “new” charcoal lighting as the fire spreads out from the center? I really love my WSM but my wife and kids aren’t big fans of the strong charcoal taste I seem to always get with it.
 
It may well take an hour for the heavy white smoke to ease off. Don't put food on during this time. The heavy smoke is from the intense startup flames, the slow continual starting of adjacent coals does not cause this (that I've seen). Put plenty of charcoal on to start so you don't have to add fresh charcoal ( though I haven't seen issues from doing so). When your cook is done, close all vents to choke off the fire -- reuse any left over for the next cook after shaking out the ash.
 
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