white to blue and back to white smoke?????

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krshome

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Ok still learning here and have a question for all you pros. I know to cook on blue clean smoke. I will light the smoker and wait for the smoke to turn a clear blue about an hour. Then open it up to place the meat and close the lid. The smoke goes white again and takes a long long time 45-60 minutes to go clear blue again. Is this normal or am I doing something wrong? So far all my big meats turn out good butts and briskets but smaller meats like ribs are overly smokey. I do use less wood for smaller food and more for bigger foods. HELP!!!
 
What cooker, what temperature, what fuel setup? Oops, I see, UDS. Still, what temp and fuel?
 
what landarc said.. definitely need more details.. but from the sound of it you are cooking on a UDS, WSM, BGE, Akron type cooker with the charcoal under the meat that is cooking. In that case this is normal because the meat is sweating as it is initially put on the smoker causing the fire to put off some off colored smoke. If i am right try a water pan in between your meat and your fire. to catch these drippings.
 
landarc said:
What cooker, what temperature, what fuel setup? Oops, I see, UDS. Still, what temp and fuel?
Click to expand...

UDS, wood oak cut into fist sized chunks mixed into the basket. I light the fire basked using the Minion method. Right now Im using Kings Turd because I got it on sale at lowes $10 for 2-20lbs bags. temps a steady 275. I am using a perforated pizza pan over the basket
 
I agree that there are two possibilities, with one being that the sweat off the meat is creating steam, not white smoke, which does look like bad smoke (but, smells different). It could also be that the fire gets a little wonky when you add the meat, but, that clears up within 30 minutes when it happens. I never worry about that.

If the larger meats are coming out fine, then the fire is clean. Smaller meats require a little different care, as they take smoke more. I cut back on wood late in the cook for smaller meats. Note that meat can take smoke for the entire cook, ribs, for instance, can get overly smoky to some, if you smoke through the entire cook.
 
DownHomeQue said:
what landarc said.. definitely need more details.. but from the sound of it you are cooking on a UDS, WSM, BGE, Akron type cooker with the charcoal under the meat that is cooking. In that case this is normal because the meat is sweating as it is initially put on the smoker causing the fire to put off some off colored smoke. If i am right try a water pan in between your meat and your fire. to catch these drippings.
Click to expand...
Yep! The white smoke is caused by one or both of two things, moisture and or lack of airflow. Drippings, sweating or green wood or a damper that is too choked down or clogged with ash are your likely culprits.
 
Your nose can really help you here. Don't be afraid to take a whiff of the smoke, up close. It will tell you a lot, do you smell fire, exhaust, jet fuel? Is it sweet or acrid/sour. Feel the moisture, you can tell right away if it is steam or smoke, smoke is always dry.
 
If you're doing a low and slow wouldn't some of the unlit charcoal produce some white smoke as it starts to light up throughout the cook?
 
Everything landarc has said is what I would say. His giving you great advice as he usually does.
 
Charcoal_Addict said:
If you're doing a low and slow wouldn't some of the unlit charcoal produce some white smoke as it starts to light up throughout the cook?
Click to expand...
If you are doing a Minion method, correctly, than no. It gives off white smoke until the first dozen briquettes heat up the stack, once the fuel reaches 200F or so, it is preheated and will not give off white smoke as it ignites. This is why the Minion method works, and adding fresh fuel to the fire does not.

Many stickburners do a similar thing, by putting the wood onto the top of the fire box, or in the box, but, not on the fire, the wood heats up, starts to off gas and once it reaches that temperature, the wood can be put on the fire and it will ignite cleanly.
 
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