Getting the right "smoke"

[45 ACP]

I love to grill just about anything, but I am fairly new to smoking. I've got a basic smoker pit and over the last month I've done 2 smokes. First one was a 12 lb brisket and rack of spare ribs and it turned out GREAT! Everyone loved it. Second time did 2 racks of ribs and the smoke taste was overbearing. Waayyy too smokey.

So I've found that you want a thin blue smoke opposed to thick white smoke. My question is, how do you achieve the thin blue smoke? Is there a trick or method of adding the logs/chips properly?

I used hickory chunks from Kroger on both of my smokes. Soaked them in water for a while while I made my fire. Then when the fire died down to coals I started adding wood chunks here and there to begin smoking. I kept the temp between 225 - 250. Not sure what I did differently but like I said one smoke turned out great and the other way too smokey.

Any advice or tips? Thanks in advance.

 

[w_r_ranch]

When I smoke, I never put my meat on until I have a clear blue smoke and the temperature of the smoker's is stabilized at 225 degrees for at least 30 minutes...

Some of my first thoughts revolve around the position of your intake & exhaust vents... Exhaust vents should always be fully open. The intake vent(s) are used to control the pit's temperature, these are the only ones that you should be adjusting.

Was there any bark on the wood you were using? Bark will definitely add to your problem unless you use a pre-burner to make coals (which is what I do - see attached photo).



Was the wood you used the same wood for both of your cooks (if so, this is a mute point)??? If not, you mak have gotten a hold of some 'green' wood.

Were the hickory chunks wet when you added them to your embers??? If so, you were inadvertently extinguishing your coals, causing them to smolder (white smoke). It is OK if they're slightly damp, but not wet. This too can cause your problem...

How many chunks of hickory were you using??? Too many can cause your problem too.


This is all I can think of right now... I'll wait & let you answer... The other guys will probably have additional thoughts as well.

 

[45 ACP]

Thanks WRR. I guess my first mistake was controlling the heat with both the exhaust and intake. Next time I will leave the exhaust open all the time.

Second mistake was putting wet wood on the fire. Yes, I was taking it directly out of the water and then onto the fire.

The wood was bought by the bag at Kroger. I didnt buy it at the same time, but bought the same brand/bag at 2 different occasions. I did knock all the bark off before going onto the fire.

I built the fire and let it die down to coals, then started adding the chunks probably 2-3 chunks at a time till they burnt down, then would add more as needed to keep temp up.

Like I said first smoke was great. Second not so good. I cant think of anything specifically that I did differently during each smoke. I know its a learning process and I will get better with experience, but it doesnt hurt to ask right?

 

[w_r_ranch]

I guess I'm confused... did you start you base fire using only the hickory chunks or did you use split firewood like post oak???

 

[45 ACP]

I built the fire with regular oak firewood and let it die to coals before I started using any hickory chunks.

As I pointed out above, I made some obvious mistakes. Hopefully correcting those will help on the next smoke.

 

[w_r_ranch]

As I said, I was confused... Serves me right for reading more into it than I should have... Please disregard.