How often should I add wood?

[quadcam]

I am smoking a couple pork butts (about 12 pounds in total.)

How often should I add more smoking wood....and how much? I started with about 6 ounces of hickory and by the 2nd hour, I was no longer getting any smoke. I don't want to over smoke the meat, but I also don't want too little either.

any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks, Andrew

[bigsteve]

I haven't had much luck adding chunks by weight. I generally put a couple of med sized chunks over the round holes. They take a little while to start smoldering, so I'll put a small chunk in the coals to get started. The trick is to get a wispy blue smoke coming out "TBS" (thin blue smoke.) You don't want white smoke billowing out of the cooker. And if you can't see the smoke, but can still smell the hardwood, you're still smoking. Less is better.

A couple of med sized chunks over those round holes last me a couple of hours.

[quadcam]

so.......don't put the wood into the round holes of the smokenator? place the wood above the holes on top of the smokenator?

[bigsteve]

Jul 6, 2010 21:28:26 GMT -5 quadcam said:

so.......don't put the wood into the round holes of the smokenator? place the wood above the holes on top of the smokenator?

That's what I do, and get longer lasting, less intense smoke. But it takes a while for the chunks to start smoking, so I throw some chips/chunks on the coals in the beginning to get the smoke started.

[flbuckeye]

Jul 4, 2010 8:25:45 GMT -5 quadcam said:

I am smoking a couple pork butts (about 12 pounds in total.)

How often should I add more smoking wood....and how much? I started with about 6 ounces of hickory and by the 2nd hour, I was no longer getting any smoke. I don't want to over smoke the meat, but I also don't want too little either.

any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks, Andrew

When I do a butt, I use apple wood. I start with 4 oz. and add 4 more oz. in 2 hours. Get a great smoke ring and the apple flavory is a bit less harsh than the hickory IMO

[ncsmoker]

I don't worry about the ounces of wood I use as it will not give you the smoke you want over the time period when you need to be smoking. Pork butt and brisket takes up the most smoke in the first 3 hours and during this time you want to have a heavy smoke going. Use large chunks of your wood of choice. After the first two hours reduce the smoke to a light smoke for another 4-5 hours. By now the meat has absorbed almost all the smoke that it can and you can actually stop smoking. If you want more keep adding small pieces.