Pat McCreight
TVWBB Pro
Interesting. I just made some MapleLeaf ribs a guy imports from Canada, and I thought they were great. They were 2.5# St. Louis trimmed.
Too much smoke theory.
- Thread starter Michael W
- Start date
Dave Brewer
TVWBB Member
As wood heats up, the first thing that happens is the moisture is driven off in the form of water vapor. This happens between 200 and 400 deg f. The wood will begin to char and you will see a white cloud coming out of the exhaust. This cloud is condensed water from the steam and will become less dense as the water is “boiled off” and the wood approaches 450 deg. F. Once the water is gone, the wood expels yummy gases between 550 and around 750 deg F. These gases are what gives smoke it’s pleasant aroma and flavor.
{Smoke, occurring in the “bbq” range of temperatures, is laden with compounds like vanillin (sweet scent), isoeugenol (clove-like scent), acetic acid (vinegar), and dozens of others that make up the flavor profiles of the different types of wood.}
Between 750 and 950 deg, most of the desirable gases are beginning to get completely broken down and above 950 deg. F. there’s very little left but carbon monoxide. At this point the wood has been converted to almost pure carbon and provides plenty of heat but no flavor.
This is important because a fire that is not burning hot enough will cause an undesirable yellowish or grayish smoke. The dark colored smoke is full of large droplets of tars and unburned chemical vapors (sometimes called creosote) that will condense on your meat and produce a bitter taste. In most pits, the goal is to build a small, hot fire that feeds your cooking chamber. A good bed of coals is necessary to finish the process of converting heavy particulates and tars into desirable gases as they pass through the layer of heat above the coal bed.
In our bullits, the coal bed is operating at the low end of the desireable temp range unless you keep the lid temp pretty high. I don't like to see it drop lower than 225 for very long when using briquettes (briquettes need to burn hot just like wood or they will produce a bitter taste also). In an offset, the fire has to be hotter to get the cooking chamber up to temp. With a hotter fire, logs can burn cleanly. I think that when most people say they are getting too much smoke, what they really have is too much bad smoke. I don't think I can get too much good smoke.
db
Proud owner of the new 22" bullit which I'm going to break in tomorrow.
{Smoke, occurring in the “bbq” range of temperatures, is laden with compounds like vanillin (sweet scent), isoeugenol (clove-like scent), acetic acid (vinegar), and dozens of others that make up the flavor profiles of the different types of wood.}
Between 750 and 950 deg, most of the desirable gases are beginning to get completely broken down and above 950 deg. F. there’s very little left but carbon monoxide. At this point the wood has been converted to almost pure carbon and provides plenty of heat but no flavor.
This is important because a fire that is not burning hot enough will cause an undesirable yellowish or grayish smoke. The dark colored smoke is full of large droplets of tars and unburned chemical vapors (sometimes called creosote) that will condense on your meat and produce a bitter taste. In most pits, the goal is to build a small, hot fire that feeds your cooking chamber. A good bed of coals is necessary to finish the process of converting heavy particulates and tars into desirable gases as they pass through the layer of heat above the coal bed.
In our bullits, the coal bed is operating at the low end of the desireable temp range unless you keep the lid temp pretty high. I don't like to see it drop lower than 225 for very long when using briquettes (briquettes need to burn hot just like wood or they will produce a bitter taste also). In an offset, the fire has to be hotter to get the cooking chamber up to temp. With a hotter fire, logs can burn cleanly. I think that when most people say they are getting too much smoke, what they really have is too much bad smoke. I don't think I can get too much good smoke.
db
Proud owner of the new 22" bullit which I'm going to break in tomorrow.
Dave Hutson
TVWBB Super Fan
Good stuff there Dave! I preheat my logs on top of the firebox. My firebox is insulated so, they only get so hot, but on my old Klose, the firebox was not insulated. I actually had preheats catch fire up there! Dave
IMO, no. It is much easier to control your cooking temps if you add the meat right after adding your lit coals to the bowl. That way, you're only looking at one variable; the ascending temp. You then set your bottom vents accordingly 25*-50* shy of target temp and let the unit 'ease' into the final temp.
Paul
Dave Hutson
TVWBB Super Fan
I think the point is, to get the "wood" up to temp before adding.
j biesinger
TVWBB Platinum Member
I'm with you Dave. I like to wait a bit before I add my wood, but once my fire is going well, I keep adding through the entire cook. I've never had a problem with too much smoke.
Dave Hutson
TVWBB Super Fan
Ditto. I have folks laughing at me all the time because I'll use 6-8 chunks of hickory on a WSM cook. I never tasted "too much smoke...."
Dave Hutson
TVWBB Super Fan
Frankly, I do not do ANYTHING special with my WSM and have not experienced this phenomenon!!! I don't think you need to be that fine with this stuff! I really think the "oversmoked" complaint comes from an airflow issue as noted before. To be able to burn 12-16 hours, alot of guys choke the unit down too much. I have never had my top vent closed below wide open, and the bottom vents have never been below 1/4 closed. It should be noted that I only cook while awake though! DH
Dave Brewer
TVWBB Member
In third world countries, when they clear the land of forests, they burn the brush piles. They used to start the fires from the bottom and burn up. This produced tons of pollutants in the form of nasty smoke. Environmentalists now teach them to start the fires at the top of the brush pile. As the fire works it's way from the top to the bottom, The nasty smoke has to flow through the layer of hot air above. This helps to finish the burn off of nastiness. Mr Jim "Cardog" Minion used this idea in his now infamous top-down burn. The hot zone is above the fresh coals so nasty gases are further converted into cleaner gases. Once a whole bunch of coals are lit, I think the overall temperature in the bottom of the pit will make for cleaner smoke.
db
db
when i was growing up there in the 70's and 80's the barbecue was much better than it is today. the wsm once you get the technique down produces better bbq than any of the joints back home. one of the main problems i had moving north is that most of the people here think the chain restraunt charcoal grill and famous dave's is actually good... i had an offset that i used infrequently to semi good results. finding this site and the wsm last year was a saving grace to me.
anyway just follow any of the basic recipes and techniques either low and slow or high heat methods for brisket, the various chicken methods and ribs and you will be cranking out better bbq than antyhing you can buy in texas.
but as to your meat problem finding a good butcher is key i would suggest that looking up meat buthcering charts for canada and compairing them with american ones to find the cut your looking for. brisket isnt called brisket or cut the same way in all countries.
this link will help a ton:
http://virtualweberbullet.com/meatcharts.html
print those out and take em with you to your local butcher most places dont know one cut from another as most "buthcers" just order things that they are told to by the store manager and havent a clue.