Thin Blue Smoke vs White Smoke

[rangerone]

Hey everyone,

I know the goal is to have a nice thin blue smoke coming out of the Weber, but sometimes I get a thicker white smoke. Not always mind you, just sometimes. When this happens, I usually close down the lid and bowl vents until it goes away, but sometimes this takes longer than I want and lowers my cooking temperature more than I would like. When I do get the white smoke, it is either at the beginning of my cook, or when I add more wood chunks. The fact that it only happens sometimes has me puzzled. This is my normal setup:

• Fill the Smokenator with briquets and place one of two wood chunks in with them.
• The wood chunks are always dry, and usually inserted into the Smokenator off to the left or right of the water pan, but sometimes right under the water pan (sometimes one of each). 
• I have brought the kettle up to 225F with the water pan full or empty, and have seen no real difference in the smoke. Sometimes it is thin and blue, sometime thick and white. I always leave the lid and bowl vents fully open until I get up to temp.
• A couple of hours into the cook I will add more wood through one of the Smokenator's round holes. Again, sometimes the smoke is thin and blue, sometime thick and white.
• So far the only woods I have been using is Cherry and Oak. (Just bought some Hickory to try with ribs!)

Maybe choking out the smoke with the vents is the only way to deal with the white smoke, but I would love to hear what anyone else has to say on the issue.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Allan aka RangerOne

[ncsmoker]

Allan I no longer worry about the color of the smoke as long as it is it is a light white and not a heavy white. I just consider this a mix of the moister from the water pan and the smoke mixing together. It does not affect the flavor of the meat even during long smokes like brisket and pork butts. Some wood chunks may also have more moisture in them than others just the luck of the draw from when they were cut and what part of the tree they came from.

My wood chunks barely fit in the square hole under the grill with the water pan on top. I'll try to remember to get a pic of my setup and the smoke coming out on Saturday when I smoke a brisket for some friends coming over.

Tom aka NC

[pilfjd]

I read or watched a video somewhere, it might have been BBQ with Franklin, but supposedly choking a fire of oxygen would cause the non-desirable smoke (creosote)... This might've been it:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGZ39yYxeBk&list=UU556b-Cl0Fp02iMc96yoJbg

I get that same situation where I would get white smoke when I first add wood, but I keep the vents as is and it usually goes away in a few minutes.

[ncsmoker]

Agree Jay closing down vents causes more problems than leaving them open. I sort of implied that above but wasn't specific.

Tom

[rangerone]

Thanks for the link Jay! That was a very good video. I watched another one by the same guy doing a turkey. I hope he has lots more videos for me to watch.

Allan aka RangerOne

[pilfjd]

Happy to help, Allan. The guy in the video, Aaron Franklin, owns one of the most critically acclaimed BBQ restaurants in the country, or so I've read. Supposedly, he is working on a public television (PBS I think) series about BBQ. I, too, would love to see more of his videos. Maybe some will make it onto the internet as I don't have cable tv or an antenna to receive broadcasts from my local public tv stations.

[pilfjd]

I've been toying with the idea of simply using just the smoke from the briquettes instead of chunks. I've noticed that every hour when I add new coals during a SN cook, they produce a nice blue smoke. I'm not sure how long it lasts, but has anyone noticed this also?

[rangerone]

Thin blue smoke is the goal according to amazing ribs.com. Here is an excellent article about smoke from their site. I have always been using wood, so I can not tell you if adding charcoal only produces noticeable blue smoke.

If you read the article it does state that although you may see some smoke from the charcoal, it will not flavour the meat the same as real wood. The article also states that the only smoke flavour you can taste is contained in the smoke ring you see when you cut into the meat. The inner meat should have no smoke flavour at all. 

It will not hurt to try cooking with and without wood and see what you think. Check and see if you produce a smoke ring with charcoal only, and compare the ring to when you use wood. If you do not taste a difference between using wood and not using wood, it is certainly not worth paying extra money for the wood. 

Let me know what you do, and the results. I am very interested in this also.

[ncsmoker]

First you shouldn't be adding coals every hour. You stir the ash off the coals and push them up against the new coals. After 4 hours you add new coals and sweep the ash from the bottom. See page 7-8 of the booklet. Adding coals every hour makes it harder to control the SN.

Try cooking with out chunks but I think you will find that you will need them to develop the bark and smoke ring so delicious for ribs, brisket and butts. I know when I am out of wood the food is not nearly as good.

Try it and see what you think and please let us know what you think.

[bigpernz]

Just a side note here.. ncsmoker talked about wood having different moisture levels above. I have several woods and some of them are kiln dried as opposed to air dried. The kiln dried are super dry and put off a lot of smoke to where it's almost impossible to get a thin blue smoke. I prefer the air dried woods as they smolder much better and more slowly. Some of my recent cooks have come out over smoked with these kiln dried woods (in my opinion) so next time I might put a chunk on the grate above the fire and see if it will catch and smolder instead of burning so hot. I saw a guy on utube do it. I saw your post about your wood source nc it looks like a winner I'm gonna give it a try!

[rangerone]

From what I have read on the subject of wood moisture content, it seems to me that you do not want wood that is very low in moisture content for the purpose of smoking. Having a moisture level of approximately 20% - 30% is considered ideal. Above 30% is considered premium. And Bigpernz is correct, kiln drying is not recommended. If the wood is very dry, soaking it in water overnight can be helpful to a small degree. Not because it is going to make the wood "look" wet to the eye, but because the wood will microscopically absorb the water and raise the moisture level enough to help. If the wood is very dry, the benefits will be very little. If the wood is only somewhat dry, the benefits can be greater. Here is a link to a site that explains the benefits of moisture content of wood. It is also my source for wood right now. They mark each bag/box with the moisture content of the wood when packaged. Nice sized pieces as well.

[ncsmoker]

Allan my studies have shown that water will only penetrate a wood chunk about an 1/8" if soaked overnight. This will evaporate in the first few minutes, producing steam more than smoke. Basically it is a waste of time to soak wood chunks. You are right never buy kiln dried wood chunks.

bigpernz I love the chunks I am getting from Maine Grilling Woods. Each chunk lasts about an hour the same time as we have to stir the coals and add water. You might want to start with some bags before going to boxes to check them out. I use a mix of hickory, maple and apple for pork. what a trio. YUM There cherry is the best I have ever had for poultry. I use oak and apple for brisket.

Regards, Tom