RE Spares: How long for smoke?


 

Shaun H

TVWBB Fan
What is the consensus here? One hour of smoke? Two? It is very easy to oversmoke ribs, so what is the general rule of thumb?
 
I think it depends in part on the wood you use, and the type of smoke you're getting. 3-5 hours of thin blue smoke is fine with a medium or mild wood (imho). 3-5 hours of thick white smoke billowing out of every pore is guaranteed to oversmoke.

More pungent woods (like hickory and mesquite) should have less time for a given level of "smokiness". Mild woods (like most fruit woods) take more.

If your smoke goes like mine usually do, you might get 30-60 minutes of heavier white smoke, then very thin (almost impercetable) smoke for a couple hours, with the occasional 15-20 minute burst of white smoke. That seems to work well for me.
 
Shaun, For ribs I use apple wood. A fairly light smoke. I uses small pieces maybe 4-6 (The size of 2 fingers width). I place the smoke wood around the sides of the coals with a couple on the lit. I usually do not add more and the total visable smoke time is probably around an hour. I have heard however that just because you don't see the smoke, doesn't mean that it ain't still there flavoring the meat.

Mark
 

 

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