Not enough smoke flavor on the Egg........WSM?

I would think that a wsm will give you the same result "smoky flavor" wise as a BGE since they both use charcoal and chunks. I have both, and am happy with the smokeless is attain... granted, I don't like what I am cooking to taste.too smoky. Guess my question is... how much smoke flavor you looking for? How much wood are you putting in your Egg?

I have no trouble getting enough smoke with my large BGE...but I have no experience with the medium or XL. What are you using in your medium for smokewoods?

The WSM is a great choice as well...:thumb:

I'm having the exact same problem. I absolutely don't regret getting my Egg, and enjoy cooking on it more than the WSM, but I was warned by the dealer about it not putting out as much smoke as other, less efficient, cookers.

After my smokeless ribs the day before yesterday, I pulled a brisket off my WSM this morning and have a ridiculous smoke ring *and flavor* without even trying.

Again, I'm absolutely not hating on the Egg - I'm a huge fan, and love my egg very much, but I do think that it's outstanding fuel efficiency is a double-edged sword.

I will cook most meals on my Egg, but will probably stick to my WSM for butt, ribs and brisket unless I'm trying new techniques.

Bar said:

As far as smoke flavor goes I am looking for something closer to my Klose offset than I am getting from my egg. That may or may not be attainable.

I have used Hickory, Apple, Cherry, Oak & Pecan for my woods.......a lot & a little.

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What size chunks are you using? What temps are you cooking at?

OneHump said:

I'm having the exact same problem. I absolutely don't regret getting my Egg, and enjoy cooking on it more than the WSM, but I was warned by the dealer about it not putting out as much smoke as other, less efficient, cookers.

After my smokeless ribs the day before yesterday, I pulled a brisket off my WSM this morning and have a ridiculous smoke ring *and flavor* without even trying.

Again, I'm absolutely not hating on the Egg - I'm a huge fan, and love my egg very much, but I do think that it's outstanding fuel efficiency is a double-edged sword.

I will cook most meals on my Egg, but will probably stick to my WSM for butt, ribs and brisket unless I'm trying new techniques.

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I cook hot-n-fast (300-325) on my WSM's and BGE using fist sized chunks of smokewoods and have never had a problem getting enough smoke. Even when I cook @ 250-275 for ribs on the BGE I am not having issues...hmmm...

Here are a few BGE pics...

Brisket...

Coming from stick-burners to these cookers they are a completely a different animal. I remember thinking the exact opposite going from eggs to to stick-burners... I thought god this is overly smokey! I honestly don't think they will ever live up to the stick-burners, in your eyes (which is completely fine, different strokes for different folks). Oh, and I forgot don't ever try anything from a pellet cooker if you thinks eggs are not smokey enough!

@JD McGee: Wow! You've inspired me to keep trying on the Egg for sure.

I was having the same problem on my egg, we like pretty heavy smoke flavor. So i started using a mixture of chunks and chips and I mix them in with the lump, I mean I add a bunch and actually layer them as i layer the lump. It seems to smoke during the whole burn. The past several smokes (low and slow) have come out much better, flavor wise.

Bar said:

I have been using fist size chunks @ 250.

I realize smoke is subjective to people & BBQ is different in certain areas of the country (Carolina, Memphis, KC & Texas) but we all like what we like and like what we grew up eating.

Hump - After reading your thread I started this one so I would not hijack yours. I think we are in the same boat.

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Very true...one man's lotta smoke is another man's little smoke...:becky::laugh: I have heard (or read somewhere) that the size of the BGE makes a difference as well as far as smoking well vs. grilling...I noticed you cook on a medium and I cook on a large...I'll do a little diggin' and see if I can come up with that info for you. I'm thinking it may have been thirdeye or RTD...

Bar said:

I have owned a Medium BGE for a while now and absolutly love it. I use it 99% of the time. It is great for pizza, spatchcock chicken, pork tenderloin, grilling steaks & porkchops.......etc. I will own one for the rest of my life.

When I use it as a smoker for ribs I do not get enough smoke flavor. It is as close to set it & forget it as I have seen or used. The meat is the most moist & tender that I have ever done..........but hardly any smoke flavor at all.

I have tried chips & chunks, soaked & dry, buried & on top. They seem to always burn up in the first hour of the cook.

I am going to retire my Klose (to big of a footprint for the new patio & to much hassle for my lazy ass) and was stongly considering getting the XL Egg for smoking to go along with my Medium but now I am thinking I may need to consider the WSM for more smoke flavor.

Any thoughts or tips from those that own one or both would be helpful.

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I had the same problem. I changed the way I built my fire and that helped trememdously. I can not remember where I saw it but here is what I read and do and have wonderful results (PLease keep in mind that "smokey" is subjective). On eithe a small, medium or large egg: set up with a plate setter for indirect/convection: build a small fire, maybe the size of a softball....let the little fire rip hard...put the food grate in and then put the plate setter on top of the food grate legs down (not gonna cook like this just warming up everything)...leave the top and bottom dampers wide open ...when the cooker begins to come up to about 250/275 open up the egg, remove the plate setter and food grate (use welding gloves and be careful putting it down..very hot, brittle......take DRY, fresh, cold lump and begin to dump it in the fire box.....do it slowly as not to put the fire out.....close the lid and close the top damper down about half way.....the thing this going to puff like a champ....not good smoke though......give it about 15-20 minutes and the smoke should level off and reduce a bit.....the cooker temp will be back up to 240 to 275.....(the trick is to keep the fire lit low ..if the fire has spread to the top of the coal pile it is too late....timing will vary depending on your environmental conditions).....at this point take some chunks of a stronger wood (I like hickory and pecan on the egg).....push some smaller chunks/pieces into the perimeter coals down close to the fire and drop 4 or 5 larger chunks on top (again, make sure the fire has not crept up to top and is still lit low).....put the plate setter on the fire ring leggs up, catch pan or water/juice pan if you use one, then the grate, give it about 5 to 10 minutes to level the heat off, drop your ribs on. Here is the second tricky part......close the lower damper down to about 1/2 inch (your gonna have to play around and find the best setting..may be plus or minus).....close the top damper all the way shut....look down and the smoke should backdraft out of the egg....begin slowly opening the top damper until the smoke JUST STARTS drafting in......make small adjustments from here until you get the cooking temp you like. The theory here at the end of the process is to keep the fire low and not ignite the top coals until later in the cook. The challenge in a ceramic cooker is relatively speaking, it does not have much coal in it to start with so igniting all of the coals and burning up the smoking chunks is very easy. A few tips that I like are when building the small fire, use a couple pieces of medium size lump and several small pieces. This will build a small hot a** fire. When putting the cold coal on second, many times I'll do this by hand and really try to arrange the coals using only larger pieces in order create some air space between some of the pieces as not to choke the small fire out and keep a draft. It took me about 5 or 6 cooks to learn this. The down side to this method is that by hand laying larger pieces of lump and intentionally leaving some air space, the fire will not burn on a really long burn but for ribs you only need 5 or 6 hours. Oh, also, put your ribs on and leave the lid closed...the more that lid is opened the faster that fire is going to crepe up.

I hope this helps.

I started off with log burners, then gravity feed, had a few WSM in there also, and now have a Primo Oval XL (same as egg). Plain and simple, there is a different taste to bbq'd food on an offset pit burning splits then there is a ceramic cooker. There is very little airflow in a ceramic - unless you get an ATC...which I have and it is better then before, but that being said my big log burning offset gave the food a much deeper smoke flavor (which I prefer...I am not talking about smoke filled creosote, but good, clean smoke flavor) into the meat then I have ever achieved with a ceramic. I love my ceramic cooker as it can do most anything - it cant be beat for set it and forget it, as well as grilling steaks, chops, chicks, etc, etc, but I am going to get another offset for my bbq needs for the times I want to fiddle with fire and get a true, deep down smoke flavor

maybe you could adapt some type of smoke generator?

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=98079

Bar, maybe I missed it, but what type lump do you use? I typically find that common lumps like Royal Oak, Cowboy and to some degree Frontier don't provide a whole lot of smoke. I use True Cue (found at some Home Depots) in my Bubba Kegs when I really want a smoky flavor. It's very dense and takes longer to get going, but it's very smoky compared to most lumps I've used. I sometimes use a stainless steel colander (with a few extra holes drilled in) in my kegs to help with clean up purposes, but another big reason I use it is so that I can place a wood chunk on each handle. I find that I get a nice clean "blue" smoke for at least a 3 or 4 hours into my cook which provides me with enough smoke. Other than that I would try all suggestions here and throw some more wood in. Oak, hickory, and mesquite are quite smoky.

Bar said:

Again, thanks for the advice & tips. I have not had a chance to try them yet.

The only question I still have is: Does the WSM provide more smoke flavor than the BGE?

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Yes the WSM does, I have a Primo XL as well. It is all about air flow. I found using small split up chuncks or chips works fine in the ceramic. Getting smoke to the meat before it gets to 140ish is key. My big cuts of meat are almost as smoky as in my WSM's. Load the meat in cold on your cooker as soon as you start it up with smoke wood and it will have a great smoke ring and flavor.

Good luck.

I stir up my coals in my lg BGE after a few hours - seeing as all he coals aren't lit it moves some of the chips that haven't burn't yet onto the hot colas creating more smoke.

I do 17-20 lbs of pulled pork and get great rings and plenty of smoke flavor. In some cases, after 3-2-1, my ribs have almost been too smoky. Wonder if its palate or difference in taste or if its just cooking method that's leading to less smoke flavor.... Also, as I'm sure you already know - the type of wood seriously affects smoke flavor. Some woods are really smokey and others are subtle - I change up the wood depending on the meat : )

JD - Awesome looking brisket!