Stick Burner Question

Wampus

Wampus

somebody shut me the fark up.
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I've got an upright OK Joe's:
IMG_0072.jpg


I am going all wood in it for it's maiden (to me) voyage.
As I'm sitting here watching the smoke puff out the top, I'm wondering why you can risk having too much smoke while using charcoal and chunk, but when ALL you have it wood, why don't you have to worry about the amount of smoke since that's ALL there is: wood smoke?

Also, depending on different times of the cook (still very early) there's been different amounts of smoke and color. Sometime's (early) it's been billowing white, sometimes not as much, but still white, and sometimes a hint of blue.

To get to the "sweet blue" stage, is it about the fire breathing better, or ?? I don't know if it's better to have all the vents on firebox open and only control temp with exhaust vent? Or....the other way around....?

Does having as much "ventage" as possible at the firebox have anything to do with the quality of smoke? I've always worked my other cookers with bottom 100%, and controlled temp with the top vents...

DON'T GET ME WRONG.....I know it's all about learning your smoker and all, just wanting clarification on the "theories" behind smoke control more than air/temp control (if there is any).

Soooo....?

Lay the science down for me.......:confused:
 
Wampus,

You still need a nice, clean fire no matter the fuel. You want your wood on fire not smoldering, pardon the pun! And when burning wood, I find it necessary to open the vents wide and let it rip.

Nice weapon, bro!
 
big brother smoke said:
Wampus,

You still need a nice, clean fire no matter the fuel. You want your wood on fire not smoldering, pardon the pun! And when burning wood, I find it necessary to open the vents wide and let it rip.

Nice weapon, bro!
Click to expand...


It may just be me but when I cook with nothing but wood on a smaller pit the smoke flavor is very strong even with a clean burn.
 
MattG said:
It may just be me but when I cook with nothing but wood on a smaller pit the smoke flavor is very strong even with a clean burn.
Click to expand...



Hmmmmmmm..........

I've always been a bit heavy on the smoke, but......

I noticed that the smoke was finally whisping blue for a while right before temp dropped a bit and I needed to add a log. FB vents all open. I'll try and keep it hot and clean.
 
Lay your sticks-on-deck on top of the firebox so they heat up. If they even start smoldering thats OK. When you chuck in cold wood, it takes energy from the existing fire to start burning it cleanly.
 
Brauma said:
Lay your sticks-on-deck on top of the firebox so they heat up. If they even start smoldering thats OK. When you chuck in cold wood, it takes energy from the existing fire to start burning it cleanly.
Click to expand...

What he said. Small, hot fires are the key. Keep the exhaust vent wide open and only control the temp with the firebox vents. Pre-heat your wood on top of the firebox, and if your pit temps get too hot you can always prop open the lid of the firebox with a rock or something to vent the extra heat.

It's hard to avoid the white smoke with a stick burner for the whole smoke, you are bound to get some when you first add wood. You just want to keep your white smoke down to a minimum.
 
Last edited:
big brother smoke said:
Wampus,

You still need a nice, clean fire no matter the fuel. You want your wood on fire not smoldering, pardon the pun! And when burning wood, I find it necessary to open the vents wide and let it rip.

Nice weapon, bro!
Click to expand...

You gonna teach a Redneck how to use a stick burner? Would hate to have Country come show ne how to get my new pit going. Would never hear the end of it.
 
Brauma said:
Lay your sticks-on-deck on top of the firebox so they heat up. If they even start smoldering thats OK. When you chuck in cold wood, it takes energy from the existing fire to start burning it cleanly.
Click to expand...

Saiko said:
What he said. Small, hot fires are the key. Keep the exhaust vent wide open and only control the temp with the firebox vents. Pre-heat your wood on top of the firebox, and if your pit temps get too hot you can always prop open the lid of the firebox with a rock or something to vent the extra heat.

It's hard to avoid the white smoke with a stick burner for the whole smoke, you about bound to get some when you first add wood. You just want to keep your white smoke down to a minimum.
Click to expand...

:doh:Forgot about pre-heating the wood:doh:

Good point.

FYI: I started the fire with some lit charcoal briq's and a couple/few pieces of beech. Just switched over to cherry 1/2 h ago. It's been puffing blue for a while with FB vents all open and top exhaust vent about 3/4 way open. I'll preheat the next couple of logs.


Thanks guys.
 
I finally cooked a couple slabs of spares yesterday in my Char-griller. I had put the sfb on a while back, but continue to use the wsm for it's ease, and because of the heatwave.

Anyway, I only used hickory to start it out, with a little leftover charcoal. After that, it was just pear and I cooked hot and fast, foiling after a couple of hours or so. You could say that the smoke was fine because they only got a couple of hours worth. However, I would say that it was leaving the vent open most of the time, preheating wood on the firebox, and only using hickory to start the fire. I'll remember the tip to crack the firebox lid open some next time. That'll help keep temps down some, but I really think the key here to good Q on a small offset is letting it have enough air to get a clean fire. You can shut the vent and get your precious 225, but you can eat your results, too.
 
Keep the fire as small as you can to hold the temp you want and give it plenty of air to breath. You will have blue smoke. The trick is to have a good bed of coals and the fresh wood burning, not smoldering. That's why you need a real good bed of coals going before you start cookin.
 
I agree that you want a small fire, but you better be ready to throw a hot stick on if the smoke starts to get real thin. You know what that means! BTW, a torch is handy.:-D
 
.....the thing is, the smoke getting real thin is your cue to put a stick on. If you wait until the temp starts to drop, you might open the firebox to nothing but ash and coals, and it takes a little for that new stick to burn good if you wait this long.
 
mr russel makes an excellent point. keep the temp up by knowing when to add the fuel. if you are waiting til you notice a drop in temp, then you are too late. also consider the size of your wood(npi). by varying the sizes you will be better able to control the size of the fire.
sometimes you might need a smaller chunk of wood then add a larger piece later. this can come in handy when its raining and you are having a more difficult time preheating your wood, much less maintaining temp.
 
On my Klose offset I start with a nice big fire to heat up all of the metal, firebox door and top vent wide open and main chamber door open as well. It'll be a smoking mess while that fire burns to coals. Once the fire starts to burn clean I close the main door and regulate temp by the size of the coal bed/fire in the firebox. As others have stated pre heat those logs and you won't have the white smoke. It's pretty cool seeing that heated log ignite right away and see very little smoke out of the stack. Practice practice practice.
 
JiveTurkey said:
Practice practice practice.
Click to expand...


Ahhh----HA! I believe you are right!!
I'm sure it's not unlike the COOKING part itself.....you get better the more you do it.

During this last cook, I basically was waiting a bit too long to add fuel. By the time I checked the fire, It was pretty far gone, and I'd add two logs at a time. I just need to get used to checking a bit more often and add one log at a time.

There's been several comments about having a good, hot bed of coals. I understand that completely, as with any fire, the coals are the real "furnace". Here's the thing, though....in my firebox there's a grate about 2-3 inches up from the bottom of the box. The coals and ash drop through the grate as the logs burn, so the logs are never really laying directly on the coals. I hesitate in removing the grate, because I don't know exactly what that extra heat will do to the bottom of the FB. It's all 3/16" though, so? I really didn't get much temp fluxuations. The temp would drop to 210, and when I added wood, it would heat up to 240, and during "cruising", it was rock on at 225.


I'll get it in time.

Thanks for all the help.
 
i dont know to much about little stick burners but on my big one I always ajust temp with my FB vents and leave the smoke stack open all the way or it cuts down you flow, iv seen ppl adjust smoke stack dampers to regulate bit i always found it simpler to use the firebox vents, once you get a good clean fire you should be good to go
 
Wampus..............................;{-

Trim down the size of your sticks(don't get chunks at the store-watch the neighborhood for useable wood-downed trees,yard clearing,etc.

Cut this up into 4"to6" pieces(then split them).make a good size fire to begin to create a mound of 'glowing coals',then just keep some extras on the top of the firebox to heat-up.When you place a stick in the firebox,it should almost immediately burn-this will keep the TBS.You add wood when you see the therm.in the cook chamber drop 10* to 20*,add a piece.


This let's you cook without opening the food door and lessens the loss of energy.:becky:

My cooker is a little bigger than yours,but I keep it hot and low.On the average I will add only 2 pieces in a 2hr. period.:-o

newshots034.jpg




Good luck I hope this helps and,
 
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