Ideal time to add Boston Butt


 
This is a great idea and I will try this next time. Prewarming the smoking wood. It's also why I bury my smoking wood under the unlit coals versus tossing on top.

That's my thinking too.

I bury the wood so that it gets warmed up and lights up gradually and later in the cook without the plumes.

And the wood chunks in the chimney are already going and past the start-up smoke stage from the jump.
 
Here is a picture of a lit chimney of lump for a recent cook. This picture seems to support the idea that once the open flames are gone, there isn't thick white smoke from the charcoal, Note this is the case even though not all of the charcoal is lit yet, as I used a empty paper towel tube in the middle to speed up ignition. The middle is burning bright even though the charcoal at the edges haven't fully lit yet, but there isn't smoke.

20241005_153153A.jpg
 
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Yep, I've been doing it that way for several years. Put the meat on right away, close it up. Then let it come to temp. And I know other accomplished pitmasters who do this.

Then, this idea was reinforced when I saw Jirby do it in his vids. He actually puts the meat on first before lighting the fire. Then throws in the wood. Then lights the wood. He claims the early white smoke makes no difference. He also claims using lighter fluid makes no difference. Sounds extremely suspect, but then again, I have not won any awards from Texas Monthly.

Edit: Here's one - I've seen him do this on multiple vids

 
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Keith Jenkins said:
Here is a picture of a lit chimney of lump for a recent cook. This picture seems to support the idea that once the open flames are gone, there isn't thick white smoke from the charcoal, Note this is the case even though not all of the charcoal is lit yet, as I used a empty paper towel tube in the middle to speed up ignition. The middle is burning bright even though the charcoal at the edges haven't fully lit yet, but there isn't smoke.
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(y)
I've always said that Keith.
Fuel will only billow smoke when it's exposed to a naked flame. Your photo & the Minion Method proves that.
Dry wood chunks: "Dry wood is important. It creates less smoke and therefore fewer pollutants."
I've read of people who put their wood chunks in a 250˚F oven for an hour to help drive out moisture before smoking.
 
Mark_E said:
Yep, I've been doing it that way for several years. Put the meat on right away, close it up. Then let it come to temp. And I know other accomplished pitmasters who do this.

Then, this idea was reinforced when I saw Jirby do it in his vids. He actually puts the meat on first before lighting the fire. Then throws in the wood. Then lights the wood. He claims the early white smoke makes no difference. He also claims using lighter fluid makes no difference. Sounds extremely suspect, but then again, I have not won any awards from Texas Monthly.

Edit: Here's one - I've seen him do this on multiple vids

Click to expand...
I don't know that I would go along with lighter fluid not having an effect on the taste. I recall many saucer style grills and hibachis that reeked of lighter fluid when first lit back in the day. It was accepted back then (1960's - 1970's) that you didn't put food over the charcoal until that "aroma" was gone and the charcoal was ashed over.
 
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Keith Jenkins said:
I don't know that I would go along with lighter fluid not having an effect on the taste. I recall many saucer style grills and hibachis that reeked of lighter fluid when first lit back in the day. It was accepted back then (1960's - 1970's) that you didn't put food over the charcoal until that "aroma" was gone and the charcoal was ashed over.
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I know, right? I haven't done it yet, and I don't plan to!
 
Keith Jenkins said:
I used to use lighter fluid before I learned about chimney starters. I think the food I smoke and grill now tastes better without petroleum distillate flavoring, so I don't plan to go back to using it.
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I can't say I've ever tasted lighter fluid. But then again, if I was to use lighter fluid, I'd be sure it was burned out before cooking with it. Anyway, these days I'm more apt to use the chimney and newspaper. If I'm cooking on the offset, I would light the newspaper under the chimney, then put the meat on the offset, then when flames come out the top of the chimney, dump them in the fire box. Add some mesquite or some other hot wood to get the temp up as fast as possible. No lighter fluid in sight!

Here's a cheat for lighting chimneys. Put a used paper towel roll in the center vertical. Put the charcoal or lump around the paper towel roll. The charcoal/lump will be ready twice as fast. :-D
 
Mark_E said:
Here's a cheat for lighting chimneys. Put a used paper towel roll in the center vertical. Put the charcoal or lump around the paper towel roll. The charcoal/lump will be ready twice as fast. :-D
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That's exactly what I did when I lit the charcoal in the picture in one of my previous posts above. Here is a "before lighting" shot.

20241005_151600A.jpg

I got the idea from somewhere in these forums, and that posting pointed at this YouTube video: "Fastest Way to Light a Charcoal Chimney Starter | Paper Towel Roll Chimney Method" posted by The Barbecue Lab.
 
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I've also used empty and clean toilet paper tubes spliced together by cutting one of the tubes starting at the edge lengthwise about an inch or so, and then squeezing that end down to a slightly smaller diameter and slipping the cut tube inside of another tube. We always seem to have more toilet paper tubes than paper towel tubes. Also, two spliced toilet paper tubes are just about the right height for my small chimney that I use to light a small amount of charcoal.
 
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