First ever smoke results (including photos) plus a couple of questions.


 
D

David Chapman

New member
Hi all,

So I did my first ever smoke today, chose the "Basic BBQ Chicken" recipe from this very site.

I followed the instructions to the letter, but as soon as all the coals were grey and I put the middle & top sections on, the temperature went off the scale (It was about 450+ on my Maverick probe) within 5mins!!! Crazy! So I closed all the vents, took the lid off for a bit and added some water to the pan and eventually it went down to 350 after about 15mins so I added the chicken.

Temperature dropped further to 280-290 and it took about 45mins to get the meat up to 160F and then I served. Very succulent but not much smoke flavour to be honest so a bit disappointed.

I've got a few questions to ask if anyone could please help....

1) Why was the temperature so crazy high when I started? How can I avoid this in the future?
2) Should I have expected more smoke flavour in the meat?
3) A bit of a weird one but when I opened the lid a couple of times the smoke made my eyes sting. How do people avoid this?

Thanks!!!

David


 
The temp would have dropped off after assembly. Doesn't that recipe say ignore temps and basically say " do this " ? What did you use for smoke wood? You won't get smoke flavour just from briquettes. Depending on the charcoal you use you may have fumes that irritate the eyes. Most briquettes use chemical binders.
 
I only actually started measuring the temperature after assembly and that's when it went to 450F and beyond.....

I used hickory chunks (two of them).

I used the weber charcoal which is supposed to be very good.

I know the recipe says ignore the temperature but surely it wasn't supposed to get that high!?
 
Only two chunks may be one reason for the weak smoke flavor. I'd maybe think three or four fist-sized chunks would yield better results.
 
Once the cooker is assembled the temps would start to lower themselves due to restricted air flow. Yes you would have a high temp when you first assembled the cooker but it would take care of itself in a short period of time. Smoke will irritate your eyes and you and your clothes will smell like smoke if you hang around the cooker. Sometimes when you BBQ you may lose your sense of taste for smoke because your taste and smell senses are getting overloaded with smoke as you cook. Many times I have found that left over BBQ tasted smokier the next day. I can't help much about the briquettes since I only use lump.
 
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