Right kinda Smoke ??

[John Furdyn]

I'm reading about white/Blue and maybe some other colors of smoke.

About the smoke from when you first put the wood on the coals, maybe making the meat taste "bitter" etc.

Can someone clarify this ?

Also if the wood smoke from when the heat hits the wood make for a bitter taste. what about burying wood chunks in the unlit charcoal when using the minion method. does it also cause a bitter taste ?

I'm a little confused on this.

Any info appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Larry Wolfe]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by John Furdyn:
I'm reading about white/Blue and maybe some other colors of smoke.

About the smoke from when you first put the wood on the coals, maybe making the meat taste "bitter" etc.

Can someone clarify this ?

Also if the wood smoke from when the heat hits the wood make for a bitter taste. what about burying wood chunks in the unlit charcoal when using the minion method. does it also cause a bitter taste ?

I'm a little confused on this.

Any info appreciated.

Thanks </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

White smoke equals smoldering inefficient burn, which will give you soot and bitter food.

Blue smoke equals clean burning efficient burn.

Throw that out the window when you're cooking on a WSM though, because you will have both at times and it's perfectly normal. Because in the case of the WSM you're basically getting a clean slow burn due to the make up and small amount of air needed for the fuel to burn efficiently. Early in the cook you will see white smoke because the wood is igniting and is not yet burning. After an hour or so the wood will be burning (slowly, not smoldering) and at that point the smoke should be light blue. HOWEVER, if you soak your chunks (which I recommend not to do, because it's not necessary), or if you used wood that is not fully seasoned, the smoke will be white ALOT longer because the wood is not burning, it's smoldering which 'could' open the door for soot due to an ineffecient burn (smolder).

The white smoke/blue smoke is more prevalent when cooking on larger offset smokers when the wood MUST actually burn vs. smolder and more airflow is required.

I put my wood chunks ontop of the coals, some people mix the wood chunks in with the coals. EITHER way is fine and both ways basically work the same. I like putting the wood on top, so it hits the meat sooner while it's cold.

 

[Dale Perry]

Larry knows what he is talking about.

When I use the Bullet, i mixed some in the coals and put some on top too. I like it smoky!

 

[John Furdyn]

Larry

Thanks for the explanation.

I don't soak my wood, but I often use wood i get from my brother that's not fully seasoned.

Guess, maybe I should make shure the wood is seasoned before useing it.

 

[r benash]

What Larry said. I used a cheap horizontal/SFB for about 5 years before going to a bullet. I would start an all wood fire first, it would settle down to a nice base of coals. Get the cooking chamber up to temp and then start feed "sticks" or "splits" as need to keep temps up. Blue smoke most of the time, but white smoke as you through on a stick or two but that would settle out quickly.

With the WSM - you are starting with charcoal, you are not starting with wood. So you basically have the coals I'm talking about creating above as you start and the unlit is gradually catching/burning along the way. You get white smoke at the start of the fire and when the wood catches. Definitely use seasoned wood.

In larger horizontal cooker operations (like behind a BBQ pit/restaurant they often actually burn wood down to coals first outside of the cookers in a drum and shovel them into the cooker.