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View Full Version : I am curesed to NEVER get TBS


LT72884
05-17-2013, 08:01 PM
I have done EVERYTHING right. I have followed every rule and inspiration and i can never ever get TBS. I have been billowing white smoke on my UDS for 45 minutes now...

temp is 60* and overcast. Slight small wind. no rain

I started with a clean, new bag of fuel.

Poured it into the basket and berried my chunks on the side of the basket about 1 layer deep. in the photo, one chunk is in the middle, but i moved it more to the outside.

Lit 20-25 coals until BRIGHT red and ashed over.

Poured all the lit smack in the center of the unlit charcoal. The edges of the wood were somewhat touching the coals.

It has been at 230* for 30 minutes now with no TBS what so ever.

Opened the lid about half an inch to get some more air since i live at exactly 4505 ft. Temp did not jump at all. stayed at 230 the entire time lid was cracked. thats a good sign. closed lid after 5 minutes and still white smoke..
I am cursed by the smoke demons!!!

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk186/LT72884/IMAG3583_zps14f037ed.jpg (http://s280.photobucket.com/user/LT72884/media/IMAG3583_zps14f037ed.jpg.html)

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk186/LT72884/IMAG3575_zps56843c38.jpg (http://s280.photobucket.com/user/LT72884/media/IMAG3575_zps56843c38.jpg.html)

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk186/LT72884/IMAG3578_zps90bd2c67.jpg (http://s280.photobucket.com/user/LT72884/media/IMAG3578_zps90bd2c67.jpg.html)

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk186/LT72884/IMAG3584_zpse4421b9d.jpg (http://s280.photobucket.com/user/LT72884/media/IMAG3584_zpse4421b9d.jpg.html)

LT72884
05-17-2013, 08:16 PM
Here is how i did the charcoal. the photo uploaded last. haha

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk186/LT72884/IMAG3579_zps4bd3b44d.jpg (http://s280.photobucket.com/user/LT72884/media/IMAG3579_zps4bd3b44d.jpg.html)

landarc
05-17-2013, 08:24 PM
has it settled down yet, it looks right to me

LT72884
05-17-2013, 08:27 PM
has it settled down yet, it looks right to me

ok, im gonna ask something real dumb. When you say it looks right to me, do you mean the picture of the smoke or the setup?

i am just asking because i am taking hardcore notes right now. hahaha

Smoke is still white. or at least LOOKS white to me. it is overcast so there is no sun to shine on the smoke...

Bludawg
05-17-2013, 08:40 PM
Depending on the humidity at 60 deg ambient it might be steam mixed in the smoke. I guarantee if your switch to lump you will have less trouble and better tasting BBQ, briquettes make for a dirty smoldering fire IMO. I just noticed your location too IIRC your about 7000 ft the thinner air is going to have a major effect on the combustion and that is what it giving you most of your problem open up your exhaust to increase the draft since the air is thinner you need more of it.

MadKirk
05-17-2013, 08:42 PM
I haven't been around the forums in a while so I don't know if anyone has suggested this, but I never had any luck with charcoal briquettes in my drum. When I switched to lump, everything changed...even the smoke. It could just be my smoker (they're all different), but I was getting frustrated with it in the beginning until I switched.

Again, sorry if someone's already brought that up.

On edit: seems I'm not the only one!

Teleking
05-17-2013, 08:45 PM
Lump all the way. Also don't dump hot coals on wood chunks or drop them on top. I allow at least an hour to settle in.

LT72884
05-17-2013, 08:46 PM
Depending on the humidity at 60 deg ambient it might be steam mixed in the smoke. I guarantee if your switch to lump you will have less trouble and better tasting BBQ, briquettes make for a dirty smoldering fire IMO.
i wanna make the switch but im limited to lump here. I do have some amazing mesquite lump that burns extremly clean and has no smell at all. the cleanest lump i have ever used. 25$ for 50 lbs. BUT it is MASSIVE sized pieces. 8 inch diameter and 14 inches long is the average. They use it here in our expensive steak houses like flemmings or christophers. It is not best of the west. haha. its made fresh and then packaged.

it could be steam. i opened up the lid and it "looks" blueish to me. im wondering since i have a white lid, if the smoke is picking up the reflection of the white lid? but there is no sun right now and it is 58% humidity right now. haha

ill keep watching though and posting

thanks everyone.

LT72884
05-17-2013, 08:48 PM
Lump all the way. Also don't dump hot coals on wood chunks or drop them on top. I allow at least an hour to settle in.

yeah i burried them in the coal about a layer deep so that they would preheat. it has been one hour and 10 minutes. hopefully it will end soon. haha

i hope the lump i have works. it is very clean burning and has no smell. its clean. i can also get stubbs all natural briqs.

Teleking
05-17-2013, 08:54 PM
I never ever got TBS in my drum with briquettes. Nasty. The new cowboy is pretty good and readily available.

Mark R
05-17-2013, 09:04 PM
Are the holes around your lid the exhaust? Not enough, you need a single controllable exhaust point, prolly 1.5" or more. There are formulas out there.
Your thermo looks like a "Turkey fryer" not the most accurate butt it will work!

LT72884
05-17-2013, 09:05 PM
hmm, besides the fuel, let me ask this.

are my wood chunks to big?

Also, with heat spreader (charcoal grate covered with foil 14 inches above fire) the thermo right below cooking grate at center reads 260*

with no heat spreader, the temp is 350*. so i know fire is hot enough to create tbs. wood is well seasoned for like 3 years. it is dry and smells good. I have no idea if it is the briqs cuz i have seen people get tbs with them before. so im not sure what to do. i guess try it out. haha

jeffjenkins1
05-17-2013, 09:06 PM
I get TBS until the grease drips on the fire. White smoke will linger and white steam will dissipate in a 10 - 20 seconds.

I don't get white smoke but I do get white steam a lot.

Jeff

LT72884
05-17-2013, 09:07 PM
Are the holes around your lid the exhaust? Not enough, you need a single controllable exhaust point, prolly 1.5" or more. There are formulas out there.
Your thermo looks like a "Turkey fryer" not the most accurate butt it will work!

yes those are exhaust. they are half inch diameter and i have 7 or 8 of them.. i have often wondered if i have enough exhaust to create air flow. maybe ill go make them bigger right now since i have no food on there.

charrederhead
05-17-2013, 09:24 PM
i wanna make the switch but im limited to lump here.

:doh::doh::doh:

True Value 4.2 miles away in Riverton.

True Value website sells Cowboy for $8.99/20# bag. Buy 4, get $5 off your order. Free ship to store.

:eusa_clap

charrederhead
05-17-2013, 09:26 PM
Yeah, more exhaust!

Mark R
05-17-2013, 09:28 PM
yes those are exhaust. they are half inch diameter and i have 7 or 8 of them.. i have often wondered if i have enough exhaust to create air flow. maybe ill go make them bigger right now since i have no food on there.
from what I know...you need a single controllable exhaust point. What is your air intake control like?

LT72884
05-17-2013, 09:30 PM
OMG i finally got TBS. took an hour to an hour and a half. However, by the time TBS happened, the wood chunks were almost burned up. Is that normal? does TBS only happen when the wood is almost completly burned up?

flyingbassman5
05-17-2013, 09:34 PM
You need to let the drum settle in longer. You don't mention how long you wait for the drum to reach temp. I have to let mine "warm up" for about an hour before I can put food on. After about 45 minutes is when it starts rolling thin blue.

And I use Stubbs briquettes and have had no problems whatsoever. Don't believe the briquette naysayers.

Carbon
05-17-2013, 09:35 PM
Also note that TBS is more noticeable against a very dark background. Otherwise they may look like white smoke.

LT72884
05-17-2013, 09:37 PM
from what I know...you need a single controllable exhaust point. What is your air intake control like?

this is where i have heard a crap load of different stuff on. last i read, 6 years ago, was as long as the total area was 2.5 square inches of exhaust, you should be fine. which i know mine is to low. its like 1.3 square inches. haha

my intake is the standard KISS method. three 3/4th inch pipe nipples that stick out about an inch. i am thinking of removing them and having three 1 inch holes that i can cover with magnets or dampers, oh and i have one ball valve as the fourth intake..

LT72884
05-17-2013, 09:42 PM
You need to let the drum settle in longer. You don't mention how long you wait for the drum to reach temp. I have to let mine "warm up" for about an hour before I can put food on. After about 45 minutes is when it starts rolling thin blue.

And I use Stubbs briquettes and have had no problems whatsoever. Don't believe the briquette naysayers.

there is no food on it at the momnent. the temp dialed in at 225 around the 30 minute mark but still white smoke so i know the coals were still cold. i had all 4 intakes open untill the 45 minute mark when temp hit 250* then i closed the ball valve half way, closed one hole completely, covered one half way and left one all open. so a total of two closed sort of speak and two open.

it has been settled at the temp of 250* since 715PM, it is now 845. but TBS did not start until 745 or so..

thanks for all the awesome help. so keeping a journal on my blog of this

funugy
05-17-2013, 09:47 PM
Patience. That is all you need. I run Kingsford briqs all the time in my UDS. Depending on the day (temp, humidity, dew point, whatever else) it take me anywhere between 30 min to 1 hr 15min to get the white smoke to subside. Just make sure you get up to temp, once there it is just waiting for the UDS to settle in.

LT72884
05-17-2013, 09:55 PM
Patience.

GRRRRR, i HATE that word. hahaha. mainly im nervous that next week when i teach the rib class, im gonna jack it up. haha

thanks

charrederhead
05-17-2013, 10:09 PM
And I use Stubbs briquettes and have had no problems whatsoever. Don't believe the briquette naysayers.

I'm a recent lump convert, but am not a briquette naysayer, except when it comes to the exorbitant amount of ash the "chemical" briqs (like KBB) leave behind.

However, Stubbs isn't the same as KBB, or any other briq. which is loaded w/ crap like borax and limestone.

Natural briqs are a nice alternative, imo.

Johnny_Crunch
05-17-2013, 10:53 PM
How does the food taste? The color of the smoke means nothing to me if the food tastes good.

caseydog
05-17-2013, 11:10 PM
I thought you people only ate raw fish and stuff. Sorry to hear you are having a hard time with this cooking thing.

CD :becky:

Carbon
05-17-2013, 11:21 PM
You're gonna get white smoke all over again once the juices start hitting the coals...lol...

NorthwestBBQ
05-17-2013, 11:43 PM
Briqs in a drum does not work? I am LMAO! Nonsense. :razz:

LT72884
05-18-2013, 12:07 AM
I thought you people only ate raw fish and stuff. Sorry to hear you are having a hard time with this cooking thing.

CD :becky:


LOL what? haha

The cooking part aint to bad, its the tbs part BUT i finally got tbs. I just opened the lid and the briqs are doing grand and the wood is now all chard and mostly burnt up. so i got about 1 hour of tbs out of three wood chunks, unless they keep giving off smoke even after tbs. haha

mbshop
05-18-2013, 12:10 AM
i just don't worry about it. light smoke is good enough for me. food tastes good, i'm done with worrying about it.

LT72884
05-18-2013, 12:17 AM
Briqs in a drum does not work? I am LMAO! Nonsense. :razz:

lol, they are working now. I have been following your instructions you emailed me 3 years ago for every cook, the setup is great but tbs is hard at my elevation sometimes, oh and im impatient as hell. haha

LT72884
05-18-2013, 12:48 AM
Now, how is the best way to add more wood chunks after these three have stopped smoking after an hour? just put one chunk on the hot coals? to the side? do i need to preheat? if so? just sit it on the lid or to the side of the uds?

thanks

flyingbassman5
05-18-2013, 01:06 AM
My best advice for your dilemma...Crack open a brew, and don't worry about it. Get your temp where it needs to be, get the meat on, and let the cooker do its thing.

Wood or no wood, the end result will still taste great. Thin blue, whether from charcoal or wood, is NOT the end all be all of good Q.

So Relax!! No one likes a twitchy chef anyway.. :wink:

LT72884
05-18-2013, 01:21 AM
My best advice for your dilemma...Crack open a brew, and don't worry about it. Get your temp where it needs to be, get the meat on, and let the cooker do its thing.

Wood or no wood, the end result will still taste great. Thin blue, whether from charcoal or wood, is NOT the end all be all of good Q.

So Relax!! No one likes a twitchy chef anyway.. :wink:

i need Valium.. haha. LOL, yeah i need to stop worrying. i just like to know what happens if i do something different. I just put a piece of wood on top of the hot coals. the wood was not preheated. now i have white smoke. now i know not to do that.. haha

El Ropo
05-18-2013, 07:18 AM
If you don't see smoke, that IS TBS. Thin blue to invisible. Hold your hand over the exhaust for a few moments, then smell hand. It will tell the whole story. I've never felt the need to add wood chunks to a fire once it's settled in.

Some drums like to cruise in the 250-300 range. If that is the case, just roll with it and adjust cooking times accordingly. Attempting to choke the fire down is probably contributing to your smoke issues. High altitude is going to affect things too. Less oxygen in the air, so someone at sea level will require less intake air than someone at 7k high.

Hawg Father of Seoul
05-18-2013, 08:01 AM
My Uds exhaust is just like yours. Briqs are fine, but if you use the unnatural ones you wait forever. Lump or natural briqs and you are smoking in 10 mins.

Bludawg
05-18-2013, 09:08 AM
Now, how is the best way to add more wood chunks after these three have stopped smoking after an hour? just put one chunk on the hot coals? to the side? do i need to preheat? if so? just sit it on the lid or to the side of the uds?

thanksBury the wood in the coal so that as the coals around it catch they preheat the wood I use 4-5 Man Fist sized chunks.

J-Rod
05-18-2013, 09:34 AM
Well this has been an amusing read so far! Based on your original photos all I can see that you do differently than I do when lighting is you put all the lit coals in the center of your basket. I just dump them over the whole area of the basket over the unlit coals. I believe this allows all the unlits to preheat a bit and get rid of that chemical smell. Also, regarding wood chunk placement- what bluedawg said- place a few chunks throughout your unlits(bury them) and they will each light themselves throughout your cook. If you need to add a couple don't overthink it- just drop a couple on the hot coals. They'll smoke white for a couple minutes but it's not the end of the world. As for exhaust, I have one non-adjustable 2" stack on mine which I can cap off if something ever happens but I've never had to. Intake is controllable 1-1/2". Keep at it and don't over-think it. Also don't believe all this briquettes don't work nonsense. They work fine if you know what you're doing. I'm sure lump does fine too if packed correctly so it keeps burning... Different strokes as they say.

fingerlickin'
05-18-2013, 09:34 AM
Those 3 or 4 chunks should be enough smoke for you. I light 2 spots in my coals and throw 2 chunks right on top of the lit portions. I get TBS in 30-45 minutes and there is plenty of smoke flavor. Nothing wrong with putting chunks on top of the hot coals in the beginning. I don't think I would do it again once meat is on there, with 4 chunks buried it shouldn't be necessary IMO.

I'm not even opposed to dumping half a chimney on top of a couple chunks when you're starting your fire, either way you're waiting 45 minutes for TBS. Actually, putting the chunks on top would be a good way for you to see for sure you're getting TBS and what it looks like.

N8man
05-18-2013, 10:31 AM
Ease up buddy....it's barbecue, for cheeses sake, not rocket surgery....haha:mmph:

relax and have fun.......:loco:

LT72884
05-18-2013, 12:57 PM
WOW, thanks for all the info guys. This morning i woke up and made the exhaust bigger. i know have close to 2.5 square inches of exhaust.

The invisible smoke is good to know. i opened it up last night and noticed that the wood chunks were somewhat still alive, but no smoke, however, i could feel it in my eyes. didnt sting just made em water. haha

Ill try putting all the lit coal all around and see if i notice a diff.


not rocket surgery....haha

thats my problem. im a dang mechanical engineering student and i try to make it rocket surgery. this is why bbq is good for me. i cant be a stressed out student and engineer. gotta relax and GO WITH DA FLOW!