Not Smoky Enough


 
W

Will Robbins

New member
Hi folks. I am new the forum. What a great site!

Anyway, I have been bbq'ing a few times a year for years. Finally got a WSM 18 a few months ago. I've done lots of ribs and chicken to get the hang of everything.

I finally got around to pork butts and briskets several times in the last few weeks. Used the Minion method with regular K, and hickory chunks layered throughout the K. Used sand in the water pan. Temp controls were absolutely awesome. Stayed at around 250-255 for the entire cook. Foiled the meats for the last hour or so. The meats were very tender with a nice bark.

But... I have to say, they were not the smokiest meats I've ever done. Does anyone have any idea why? Only differences I can think of between these and prior butts and brisket I've done with my old cheaper smokers were: (1) put meats on before smoker came up to temp (which took about an hour); (2) did not tend to coals, so did not constantly throw more hickory on the coals. The other idea I had was that I used a cheap bag of hickory from Walmart. Never had a problem with it before, but perhaps someone else has? Also, I coated buts with mustard, but that's usually what I did before.

Any help would be appreciated!
 
How does the level of smoke coming out of the WSM compare to your old smokers?

If your old smoker belched clouds of smoke, it could be your just used that level of smokiness.

I would do a combination of 1 & 2. If your WSM is taking about an hour to come up to temp, try adding your meat about 20~30 minutes in and then add more wood through out.

No need to add wood after you foil.
 
Thanks Travis. Sounds simple enough.

I would say that the old smokers did spew more smoke. But when the ribs and chicken tasted smokey without as much smoke and wood, I figured that it could be something to do with the the efficiency of the WSM. Maybe its just that those are thinner, more delicate meats?
 
Want more smoke taste add more wood . I doubt if wallmart has special cheap trees hickory is hickory :O) I have done 2 butts on my WSM and a lot of them on my other cookers and 4 fist size chunks does just fine here but YMMV .

I think you have goten use to very heavy smoked taste IMO as hickory imparts a strong smoke flavor imo with very little of it .
 
Hi Will,

Simple exposure to smoke during smoking greatly reduces my ability to taste/smell smoke in meat if it's served shortly after the smoking is done. Leftovers almost always taste smokier to me than when the meat was served fresh. I believe some others on this forum have had similar experiences with ability to detect the smoke flavor.

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Thanks all.

How long does the meat take on the smoke flavor? I've heard only the first few hours? I would think I need to load it up early with more wood I guess. But seems as though sometimes the meat tastes smokier if I hit it with strong smoke just before taking off. That obviously doesn't work once foiled. Sometimes with ribs, I will put them back on after foiling and add some more smoke... Maybe overkill. But I wonder if that would work with butts?
 
Smoke will continue to stick to the meat as long as it is present. There is no cut-off point unless, of course, you foil.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by K Kruger:
Smoke will continue to stick to the meat as long as it is present. There is no cut-off point unless, of course, you foil. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
As Kevin said.
When I do butts and brisket, I load up on the smoke wood, about 10-12 pieces. Of course this is to my taste. YMMV.
 
Did you foil when you smoked on your old smokers? I believe foiling alters or kills some of the smoke taste.
I also add wood throughout the smoke on butts and brisket. I use pecan on briskets, that much hickory on a brisket is not to my liking.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Simple exposure to smoke during smoking greatly reduces my ability to taste/smell smoke in meat if it's served shortly after the smoking is done. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

agreed. I try to avoid evaluating my smoke flavor until the next day.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Did you foil when you smoked on your old smokers? I believe foiling alters or kills some of the smoke taste. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I notice this too. Foiled meat can have a "washed out" taste. I usually try to incorporated the foil liquid back into the meat (either when pulling or in a sauce) to try to recover some of the smoke.

Additional points:

I do not use kingsford, but have read many times, how users have switched and found a cleaner taste and more pronounced wood flavor. I'm skeptical as I've played around with a few brands and haven't notice much difference.

I find I get a much more woody flavor when I use my kettle to smoke as opposed to my wsm. I'm not sure what the difference is. I find my wsm produces what I think of as a sooty smoke flavor, where my kettle is clean and wood tasting.
 
use mesquite if hickory isn't cutting it - mesquite can be a bit much for some people though.
 
The worst I ever did with mesquite was 3 turkey breasts (I bet ~250F), water in the pan, & who knows how much mesquite (prolly not THAT much). The meat was pretty much inedible.

But that was a long time ago, & I've changed pretty much everything. I still use mesquite sometimes on beef.

wsmsmile8gm.gif
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Clint:
use mesquite if hickory isn't cutting it - mesquite can be a bit much for some people though. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Mesquite can and will go quite bitter on long cooks. You are better off using more smoke wood for longer cooks. The only time I ever threw out Q, was when I used Mesquite for a 14 hr butt cook. Of course YMMV.
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I've been working with this for a while.

1)I think that one thing that can happen is that the coals can smolder too low in the WSM if you have to choke off the coals to maintain low temps (then the wood doesn't produce as much smoke or burn through).

2) The next thing to look at is the amount and type of wood (up the hickory). If you don't see a small steady stream of smoke then it's probably not enough wood for you.

3) IMO, smaller chunks help guarantee that all the wood burns.

I'm starting to experiment with smoke by planning 2 similar cooks in a row. The first one is a good cook, the second is to test out theories on smoke, rubs, wood, or other techniques. My biggest concern is always the smoke level. This site makes the tenderness seasoning the easy part.

If I get frustrated with experimenting I will try out "slow and low". I personally hate the bootcamp mentality, but it might help me to understand my equiptment better.

Anyway, thats my $.02
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by D. L. Whitehead:
Hi Will,

Simple exposure to smoke during smoking greatly reduces my ability to taste/smell smoke in meat if it's served shortly after the smoking is done. Leftovers almost always taste smokier to me than when the meat was served fresh. I believe some others on this forum have had similar experiences with ability to detect the smoke flavor.

### </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

+1
 
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