Too Much Smoke?


 
T

Tom Hubbard

New member
I have been having a real problem lately. I have a 18.5" WSM, I have had it for a few years, never a problem. This year I started having a lot of trouble with white smoke.

I have not modified my cooking processes in any way. I began to think it was build-up on the sides, so I used fine steel wool to clean it off. That worked for 1-2 smokes, but now the smoke is back.

I am at a complete loss, I have ruled out the wood and think it probably is a dirty smoker. When it is on and I pull it apart I see smoke coming off the sides.

However, I haven't seen anything online that says you need to clean the inside.

Does anyone have any thoughts on what is causing this? If it is a dirty smoker, how do you recommend cleaning it? hat is the harshest abrasive I can use (e.g., back side of a scrubbing sponge, fine steel wool, etc.)?

As background, I only use lump, and only use top quality dried wood chunks from Smokinlicious. I have talked to them and they said they weren't having any issues with wood humidity.
 
Howdy Tom.
IMO a dirty or gunked upped smoker has nothing to do with too much white smoke.
I use Smokinlicious smokewood all the time and I don't notice that problem.
It has to be a combustion problem? A little tip I read from Kevin K was to split the splits into smaller sizes, maybe 3-4 pcs out of a standard smokinlicious split.
You get out of the heavy white smoke alot quicker and get into that thin blue smoke that we all love!
I should Edit: that if you run without a water pan and let the drippings run directly on you're coals on the next start-up you should see more white smoke if you re-use you're coals?

Tim
 
Did you change your charcoal starting method? I get a lot of black/blue smoke at the beginning of a burn if the charcoal isn't up to temp. I either wait for a "full" inferno in my chimney or for the darkest part of the smoke to disappear before assembling the WSM. [I know you said white smoke.]

Do you use water in the pan? Might there be a leak?
 
if you never had problems before and do now then something has changed. rethink things and maybe go through each thing singly till you find what it is.
 
Thank you everyone. If it isn't gunk, the only thing I can think of is I am jumping the gun a bit on reassembling the smoker after I get the fire started.

Out of curiosity, when does everyone reassemble? I usually will have the chimney burned down and all red hot before I pour it over the coals, then I let it burn for 5 minutes, reassemble, let it burn for a few minutes, then cover and wait 15 - 30 to place food on.
 
Tom. I don't wait.. I do the MM and immediately load the meat as soon as I place the smoke-wood on top of the un-lit, the lit goes on-top.

Tim
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by timothy:
Tom. I don't wait.. I do the MM and immediately load the meat as soon as I place the smoke-wood on top of the un-lit, the lit goes on-top.

Tim </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ditto. If I'm doing slow and low I never wait for all the coals to get white.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Tom Hubbard:
I began to think it was build-up on the sides, so I used fine steel wool to clean it off. That worked for 1-2 smokes, but now the smoke is back. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

If you're sure about that....?
 
When I'm cooking low and slow I usually reassemble right away but I wait until the smoker gets up to about 250 before I put my meat on. As soon as the meat goes on I add my wood through the door. The temp usually drops a little and then stabilizes around 230-240 after a few minutes and sticks in that range the entire cook. If I'm going for high heat, I'll dump my coals in and let it sit for 5 or 10 minutes before I reassemble.
 
Tom, as I inferred in my last post, I guess you DO have a smoking smoker. I mean, it sounds like you answered your own question. Only other things I can think of to cause bad white smoke besides steam from the pan and a smoldering fire would be a smoking smoker.

A few months back I was doing a HH brisket and ended up with a grease fire in the bottom of my cooker. Yes, I regularly dump everything out and use a putty knife for the enamel surfaces, but the build-up was evidently a lot worse than I thought. Still, I'm most interested in how my bbq tastes and try not to be too anal about cleaning the smoker. I will say that I don't see smoke, though, if there's no wood, assuming no steam from the pan.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top