I fired up my wsm 22 today with a few chunks of hickory. I observed as the smoke was very grey at first, then cleared. I plan to do some roadside chicken without the pan tomorrow, so some grease can aerosolize and start to season my cooker. My question is: do you usually wait for the smoke to clear before putting the meat on?
smoke color
- Thread starter Scott M.
- Start date
Jerry N.
TVWBB Emerald Member
The smoke is initially white and then turns almost invisible and some call that color blue smoke. Given light conditions and just your view of color, you may call that initial smoke gray. Either way, I wouldn't worry about it. I put the meat on right away. I waited for the smoke to clear once and didn't notice any difference. Though I don't use much wood anyway. Smoke is something you'll need to try and see what you like. Some like a lot and some like very little. If I felt I was getting too much smoke, I'd use less wood rather than waiting until the smoke clears. Just easier that way.
Chad Bman
TVWBB All-Star
Some of that gray/white smoke might be the charcoal firing up. Unless I'm doing an all-night butt cook, I typically don't bury my wood in the charcoal. After the charcoal gets going, I toss my wood chunks on top at the same time I'm loading up the meat. Even then, I'll still get some heavier smoke until it gets down to the thin-blue-smoke. And just because you can't see any smoke coming out of the top vent = doesn't mean there isn't any still in the cooker. Early smokers, including myself, tend to get heavy handed with the smoke wood.