Am I not burning the wood correctly or sold crappy wood?

killerasp · Apr 17, 2016

I recently bought wood from thewoodman llc (http://thewoodman.com/) here in NYC. They sold me on their mix hardwood blend, from their website details: "mixed hardwood blend of oak, maple, beech, birch, cherry and ash available in bulk or bundled form." I was a bit hesitant since ive only smoked with cherry and apple, but Adam (the sales guy) was insistent that all the local BBQ spots was using this wood to smoke.

I have a Oklahoma joe longhorn offset smoker for my smoking needs. I lit up a chimney full of charcoal and poured it in when it was white hot. I threw some some small splints (a bit thinner than your normal wrists). I kept the intake door full open and the chimney lid open full.

I noticed the exit smoke was a bit dark and smelled a bit funky/not good. I usually smoke with apple wood or cherry wood chunks and IMO, that smells amazing so I knew something was off. I opened up the lid to find my chicken
wings that I was using as a test all blacked up with some soot.

Here is some pics of the chicken and the soot on the exhaust: http://imgur.com/a/UYN22

I was careful to use only smaller pieces and keep the intake door open all the way to allow the most oxygen possible. Not sure if I am burning it correctly or woodman sold me crappy wood that was never meant to be used for smoking (maybe it could be used to make coals).

BillN · Apr 17, 2016

How much time did you let it burn before you put the meat on? Is the wood well seasoned?

Joe Black · Apr 17, 2016

Yeah.... I'm questioning the cure time of the wood. Sure looks like a lot of moisture to me. Other than that, I would need to see the wood and how it was burning in your FB.

Fwismoker · Apr 17, 2016

I hate to tell you but don't blame the wood guy. I've used flat out fresh green wood with amazing results. The fire was starving for oxygen to give you that result. You'll get better results with some tweaking.

Bludawg · Apr 17, 2016

Take that elbow out and toss it in the trash your restricting the exhaust which messes up the draft. YOU DON"T NEED IT! Offsets need to move large amounts of air to burn efficiently. Restricting the exhaust causes a back up of stale smoke in the main and will back up to the fire box robbing the fire of oxygen needed to burn clean. Charcoal & chunks are not that efficient in an offset your better off burning splits.

COS · Apr 17, 2016

What bludawg said take that elbow out. Restricts airflow too much.

Melissaredhead · Apr 17, 2016

Bludawg is right. Get that elbow out. The smoke it trapped inside the cooking chamber and choking the draft.
I'll start my fire with lump charcoal but then only burn splits. No more charcoal for the rest of the cook.

Fwismoker · Apr 17, 2016

The elbow is fine as long as he's burning a nice hot fire.

lankster35 · Apr 17, 2016

What purpose is the elbow supposed to serve? It might be fine but don't understand why it is in the smoker....

pjtexas1 · Apr 17, 2016

Blu and fwi...here we go again. :boxing:
I would try cutting the splits in half. Could you hear the water in the wood sizzling? Think smaller hotter fire vs raging inferno. You get a better coal bed this way. If the wood is wet it will burn better smaller.

Melissaredhead · Apr 17, 2016

Smoke rises. The elbow is pointed down. Makes sense that it would choke the cooking chamber and give you sooty food.

Fwismoker · Apr 17, 2016

I've never cooked on a OJ so maybe the elbow did effect it. I've seen lots of cooks with people taking dryer exhaust down to the grate level without that kind of black on the food though. Maybe too much wet wood was used? All I know with proper exhaust you can cook w/green wood all day long with incredible results.

Norm · Apr 17, 2016

Yep.

Get rid of it.

krex1010 · Apr 17, 2016

I agree with BD...that elbow is causing all kinds of flow restriction.....hard to have a clean burn when your hottest air (at the top of the chamber) can't get out, that's a draft killer right there....bad draft equals dirty fire, whether we are talking smokers, woodstove, etc

SmittyJonz · Apr 17, 2016

Was it the chicken drippings sizzling off/burning? How long have you cooking on that offset? Was everything the same but the wood? Has chicken always turned out good before.?

SmittyJonz · Apr 17, 2016

Website says Kiln dried wood. Box up the wood and send it to me and I'll report back wether or not it was the Wood........

landarc · Apr 17, 2016

Not that this is news, but, that looks like a dirty fire, not enough air flow. I, too, would remove the elbow.

ironmanerik · Apr 17, 2016

"I usually smoke with apple wood or cherry wood chunks"
Was this your first time using splits?
If you normally cook with charcoal and chunks the elbow may work just fine, go to burning firewood and its a whole new game.

Smoke® · Apr 17, 2016

Green wood will cause this in an offset cooker. It'll be all through the cook chamber. You can use a weed burner propane torch to burn the black mess out.

bigreves · Apr 17, 2016

Just do whatever bludawg says. I've learned from that. Simple.

Am I not burning the wood correctly or sold crappy wood?

Got Wood.

somebody shut me the fark up.

Babbling Farker

somebody shut me the fark up.

somebody shut me the fark up.

is one Smokin' Farker

is Blowin Smoke!

somebody shut me the fark up.

Take a breath!

somebody shut me the fark up.

is Blowin Smoke!

somebody shut me the fark up.

Quintessential Chatty Farker

is Blowin Smoke!

somebody shut me the fark up.

somebody shut me the fark up.

somebody shut me the fark up.

is Blowin Smoke!

Full Fledged Farker

Full Fledged Farker

Similar threads