Controlling the Amount of Smoke

[atortora]

Hey Everybody

I'm a brand new smokenator owner and a bit of a novice BBQer so please excuse my inexperience.

I used my smokenator for the first time this weekend and was amazed with the results. With a little fiddling and a Redi-Chek thermometer I was able to maintain a pretty constant 211-215 degrees at the cooking grate for about 5 1/2 hrs. The ribs turned out great for the most part. I did learn that I will have to rotate the ribs when using the hovergrill as the ribs on top cooked a little faster than the ones under the grill and had a better bark. The only other problem I had was that I think I used a little too much wood and over-smoked my ribs a bit (I said I was a novice).

I started out with about 8oz of hickory chunks (from Home Depot, unsoaked) which turned out to be two 2x3" chunks. I buried one in the unlit coals and placed the other on top of the lit coals. Almost immediately I was getting alot of billowing white smoke that ended in about a 30min. For about an hour after I was getting a nice steady stream of wispy smoke then nothing. At this point I began adding more chunks whenever the smoke stopped until about hour 4. This turned out to be little too much. I'm looking to maintain a nice steady stream of that wispy "blue" smoke I keep reading about.

I was hoping someone could suggest a way to control the amount of smoke that I'm getting. I've read suggestions for wrapping the chunks with aluminum foil like when using chips. I know soaking the chunks in water does little to help. I also read something about controlling the amount of smoke by adjusting the amount of oxygen getting to the wood but if the temp of my cooker is where I want it to be I didn't want to start fooling around with the vents or do I.

Thanks

Andrew

[chi-town smoker2]

try to use only one or two chunks of wood at the top of the fire. dont put any at the bottom. make sure you stir the ash so what the wood drops down more in the fire. remenber that fire needs air to burn, to much air and you have flames, a tite lide keeps the amount of air down so the fire just smolders,and you not flame up the wood. i hope this helps. and play around with chicken on the grill first till you get the hang of it. chicken is cheaper than ribs.

chi-town smoker 2

[atortora]

Hey Thanks! I think your on to something about the lid. I did notice that I got some leakage from under the lid but it didn't seem to cause the temperature to fluctuate so I figured it would be alright. Maybe it was enough air to cause the excessive smoking. I'll have to find a better place for the lead running to the Redi-Chek. Thanks again.

[bigsteve]

After the fire gets going good, I generally switch from throwing chunks in the charcoal, to laying a chunk on the grate right above one of the round holes. Gets you that wispy thin smoke that you want for a long time.

[tatoosh]

So could I make some sort of wire mesh pod to fit the holes and put the wood chunks and chips there for smoking? I'd put some sort of handle to remove the mesh when I need to replenish the charcoal, which I will likely have to do more often due to lower quality lump charcoal available in my area and the higher temperatures necessary due to altitude and humidity. Local woods will be chips but if I import wood, it will likely be chips that I need to make last as long as possible and not "burn" up.

[piggedy81]

I get my wood chips at Home Depot too, and these days I'll only get cherry and apple. I like cherry the best. I used to use mesquite and hickory, but I found that it was really easy to give an oversmoked flavor to the food. Cherry and apple are much more milder and forgiving. Give cherry a try next time, it's great...another wood that's good with pork is maple, if you can get it in chunks