Much to tell but even more to learn...

Nate this is located in Q-Talk.

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42718

Read through this document and posts, this is expert advice from some of our valued members.

You are getting all the smoke you need from the oak. IMO, you don't want/need the chunks off to the side smoldering. I cook almost exclusively with oak and it is not extremely strong, but it can get that way if you don't manage your fire properly. My cooker is running perfectly when all I can see coming out of the stack is either nothing or just a very faint smoke, which is what we call thin blue.

Nate4e said:

After a little research I know what was wrong, trying to keep a large fire choked down which created billowing white smoke....Generally when my fire is clean burning I do not see any smoke coming out of the smoker, just heat, but regardless, is my oak fire for heat actually smoking my meat? The fire should be producing thin blue smoke, correct?

Click to expand...

Aren't they precious at this age? And then they grow up so FAST!:redface:

Even when you don't see smoke, there is smoke, and it is smoking your meat.

Great post Nate. I'm not gonna venture into answering your other questions 'cause we use our offsets differently. Read through the link Bull posted. There is some excellent Bandera info in there.

Go on. Go grow up! :thumb:

I'm certainly no expert, but one thing I've learned on this forum is - in most cases - to keep your exhaust more than 50% open to avoid the "stale/bitter" smoke taste that you seem to have found in abundance in the bad experience you write of. Of course, this means controlling your fire and not having to choke it down too much, or at all. Regulate the air going in much more than the air going out. Start small and bring your smoker UP to temp, not down. Now, I can't address the wood questions because I use charcoal and add wood chunks to it, but I do just throw them on top or mix them in with the charcoal, which seems to be the case across the board. Seems to me you would build heat with the oak at the start of the cook, and then add your aromatic woods when you added your meats, and then add more oak only when necessary to maintain temps? Yeah, I'm basically thinking out loud, so I'll shut up now. :blah: I hope some of this helped! And welcome, brother!

If it is the same Red Oak that we get from the central coast of California that's good stuff!

I gave up using my Char-Griller as a smoker, and from what I read the Bandera is why the UDS was invented! My CG used lots of wood and took constant attention, I would run out of beer before the food was done!

Poor air control (Intake air controls temp, box sealing / insulation keep it in) and a bad design plague the Char Griller, but I still use it as a charcoal grill.

I now do Ribs, Butts, Tri-Tip... Turkey, Prime Rib on my UDS... 'jus sayin

Hey Nate ~ welcome to the wonderful world of stick burning. Give this link a once over
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=95974 and if you still have questions, let us know.

This is what works for me:

Using oak splits, I make a 3-sided box in my firebox. I fire up a full chimney of charcoal and pour it in the 3-sided wood box. Once my stick burner comes up to temp, I alternate adding splits depending on what I'm cooking but I always use oak in the mix. Oak is my heat and the other wood I have is for flavor. I keep the intake wide open; I use the amount of fuel to control my temp. I also warm my sticks on the firebox even though my wood is very seasoned.

Once I learned what my cooker wanted, I can dial in sweet blue with no effort. I hope this helps.

speers90 said:

You are getting all the smoke you need from the oak. IMO, you don't want/need the chunks off to the side smoldering. I cook almost exclusively with oak and it is not extremely strong, but it can get that way if you don't manage your fire properly. My cooker is running perfectly when all I can see coming out of the stack is either nothing or just a very faint smoke, which is what we call thin blue.

Click to expand...

^^^ yep. You dont/wont need any additional, as you say it, "smoking wood" as oak IS smoking wood. The smoke should be thin, allllllmost unnoticable and it will have a blueish hue, ala. "thin blue".

As others show above, keep the wood tight, together, and plenty of air. Let the fire burn clean and hot. Know that you're still in the learning fire and temperature control stage. This is the very beginning.

Welcome, and GOOD LUCK.

For me I start similar to Posey. I line my box with three red oak splits (upside down U) and then add a chimney of lump in the middle. Once the pit warms up and the splits are well in to their burn, I lay a split across the two side splits (like an H). That middle split must catch fire quickly and must remain on fire until it becomes part of the coal bed. If it goes out, then I get white smoke. If I see white smoke then I will adjust air or turn the split so that it catches again. Once it burns down pretty good, I add it to the coal bed and add another split. I always keep splits on top of the firebox so they are warm and will ignite more quickly. When I add a split, I wait for it to catch before I close the firebox door.

I found a picture of my upside down U with lump in the middle. This pic was taken immediately after adding the lump. I usually wait close to an hour at this point before I start using my pit and adding the first split. During this time, I am doing other stuff to get ready for the cook.