What's so special about offset cookers?

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mph33

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My old country Brazos it burns very efficient and I've got it dialed in to the best of it capabilities. However it doesn't matter if I'm cooking a butt ribs or brisket it doesn't have a strong smoke profile at all. It's almost like cooking this meat in the oven. Is that the whole point of having an offset cooker is to have this ultra ultra clean smoke profile to where you can't even taste smoke on the meat?

I love tending the fire.... My wife has videoed me sitting out there all day tending the fire. It's something about a fire. Maybe, that's why the offset cooker is so popular people like tending fires.

What's the secret to get a little bit better smoke profile with your meats? allow it to burn dirty a little bit?
 
To me it's because I don't have one...yet :-D but, I am sure you should get a ton of feedback on this and I am anxiously awaiting :pop2:
 
jzadski said:
To me it's because I don't have one...yet :-D but, I am sure you should get a ton of feedback on this and I am anxiously awaiting :pop2:
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When we all first got into barbecue more than likely our family and friends complained about the meat being too smoky. And with more experience we learn how to cook the meat without over smoking the hell out of it. I guess this is where offsets come into play. For my own personal experience pit barrels can over smoke the living hell out of food if you don't know what you're doing. Seems to me it's almost impossible to make your meat too smoky with an offset unless you're burning a dirty fire
 
mph33 said:
My old country Brazos it burns very efficient and I've got it dialed in to the best of it capabilities. However it doesn't matter if I'm cooking a butt ribs or brisket it doesn't have a strong smoke profile at all. It's almost like cooking this meat in the oven. Is that the whole point of having an offset cooker is to have this ultra ultra clean smoke profile to where you can't even taste smoke on the meat?

I love tending the fire.... My wife has videoed me sitting out there all day tending the fire. It's something about a fire. Maybe, that's why the offset cooker is so popular people like tending fires.

What's the secret to get a little bit better smoke profile with your meats? allow it to burn dirty a little bit?
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I’m sure there are people here who are better equipped to give an answer than me but I’ll throw my 2 cents in anyway. I have a pecos and I don’t have that problem at all. Are you using kiln dried wood? It supposedly gives less smoke flavor. Also what flavor wood?

Jirby (Goldee’s bbq) is a big fan of some dirty smoke on the meat. He often puts the meat on and then builds and starts his fire.
 
Something to consider is that you sitting outside all day with the smoker is that your senses are likely "overwhelmed" or have "habituated" to the smoke. Is your whole family unable to taste the smoke on the meat, or just you? Normally on the day I cook I can hardly ever taste the smoke on the meat, but EVERYONE else goes on and on about how it's got a great smoke flavor. Now, the next day, once my palate has had time to recuperate, and I eat some of my leftover BBQ the smoke flavor comes through much better.
 
Im with smoothboar. After cooking all day on my offset I cant taste smoke hardly. Do a test with two slabs rubs. Run first Normally and run second with little dirty smoke. Have family/neighbors judge amount of smoke and that will tell you what you need to know


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I think your biggest issue might be the wood you're using. It could be too dry. It might be worth picking up a moisture meter to see where you're at. Too dry of wood and you won't get much smoke flavor.
 
WeberWho said:
I think your biggest issue might be the wood you're using. It could be too dry. It might be worth picking up a moisture meter to see where you're at. Too dry of wood and you won't get much smoke flavor.
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If I use any wood that's higher than 25% moisture, it doesn't burn with a crap in the smoker. The downfall this smoker is not having a big enough firebox. I do use lone Star fire grate which works great. The best Kim dried wood that I have used is the B&B anything by Kingsford splits is way too dry and hard and condensed. I have white and red oak that's almost seasoned enough it'll probably be fully ready this spring. It's a shame you can't find good burning wood in georgia. You pretty much got to split your own wood and let it season for a year and a half before you can use it. These wood dealers in Georgia are terrible. I can tell though when I'm using good quality hickory the sweet nuttiness of the wood you can definitely tell when you got some good hickory versus Kiln
 
I was a BIG GREEN EGG enthusiast until I learned that what made them so great was the same thing that make the food that-comes off of them inferior and did not compare to food cooked on a true stick burner,wood fired cooker.Just my experience.
 
The smoke flavor can be blunted by spending all day with the fire. I can taste the smoke better the next day. It’s more subtle than when I use the PBJ or SnS but it’s there, and I find it sweeter and more pleasant, it doesn’t overwhelm the protein. I find the charcoal smokers leave a stronger flavor that’s more “smokey” and not sweet, kinda like the smoke off a fire pit. I plan on using all three in the future depending on what I need to do. The turkey I did on the offset was not super smokey but definitely had a flavor profile you wouldn’t get from an oven. The smoke (pecan and apple) smelled sweet, not like a fire pit, and the food was the same way.
 
Everything to answer your question.

Smoothboar nailed it. I've learned to give myself enough time to shower and especially shampoo my hair before I eat. Night and day difference especially when you eat the bbq next day.

Oh and I really think a lot of people eat creosote bbq and feel the void of smoke when they "accidentally" run thin blue.
 
Last edited:
ssv3 said:
Everything to answer your question.

Smoothboar nailed it. I've learned to give myself enough time to shower and especially shampoo my hair before I eat. Night and day difference especially when you eat the bbq next day.

Oh and I really think a lot of people eat creosote bbq and feel the void of smoke when they "accidentally" run thin blue.
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This is hands down the best response I've ever received here and it can't be any truer than the truth. Thank you for sending me straight. There's nothing like offset Blue smoke I will continue to do what I do
 
I get plenty of smoke flavor while burning a thin-blue to heat-waves-only fire, however a couple of things to consider:

- wood can't be too dry, because the faster it burns the faster the flavor compounds are released. I'd rather have a "tad too green" split and blow on it a bit to help it catch than cook with kiln-dried wood—I have and the difference is substantial. If your Brazos can't burn a clean fire (or burn a fire at all) with air-dried wood there's an issue with drafting, realistically caused by the oversized baffle some users have lamented

- cooker can't be too efficient. The more wood you can burn to maintain your temps, the more flavor compounds are released into the cooking chamber. Properly-sized splits for your firebox means more splits burning at once

- if you're starting with tons of lump or tons of briquettes, scale that down and prioritize using more splits for your coal bed. I usually go with a small chimney full of lump and use splits from then onwards

- "flavor" is given partly by smoke penetration in the protein but mostly from the accrued sapid bark that builds layer upon layer on top of it—that happens with enough draft but not too much to burn the meat. If too little air is moving around the protein, this effect is lessened

However I had never considered showering before diving in on a brisket, should give it a try
 
sandro said:
I get plenty of smoke flavor while burning a thin-blue to heat-waves-only fire, however a couple of things to consider:

- wood can't be too dry, because the faster it burns the faster the flavor compounds are released. I'd rather have a "tad too green" split and blow on it a bit to help it catch than cook with kiln-dried wood—I have and the difference is substantial. If your Brazos can't burn a clean fire (or burn a fire at all) with air-dried wood there's an issue with drafting, realistically caused by the oversized baffle some users have lamented

- cooker can't be too efficient. The more wood you can burn to maintain your temps, the more flavor compounds are released into the cooking chamber. Properly-sized splits for your firebox means more splits burning at once

- if you're starting with tons of lump or tons of briquettes, scale that down and prioritize using more splits for your coal bed. I usually go with a small chimney full of lump and use splits from then onwards

- "flavor" is given partly by smoke penetration in the protein but mostly from the accrued sapid bark that builds layer upon layer on top of it—that happens with enough draft but not too much to burn the meat. If too little air is moving around the protein, this effect is lessened

However I had never considered showering before diving in on a brisket, should give it a try
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I'm going to say this is probably the most beneficial response that I have ever received on this website. I really appreciate your input and honesty. Thanks brother
 
ssv3 said:
Everything to answer your question.

Smoothboar nailed it. I've learned to give myself enough time to shower and especially shampoo my hair before I eat. Night and day difference especially when you eat the bbq next day.

Oh and I really think a lot of people eat creosote bbq and feel the void of smoke when they "accidentally" run thin blue.
Click to expand...


I've wondered the same about the perceived lack of smoke flavor from pellet smokers. Maybe they just burn too clean and someone going from charcoal/chunk to pellets doesn't recognize it ???


But I do think there's a lack of smoke flavor from pellets, there's too much " smoke " there , to not have some fire, no pun intended.
 
I think kiln dried wood might burn too clean. I had to start out with it until I could secure some air dried wood. I run my fire on the bottom of the cook chamber and I can set wood length wise in the coals to get a less clean burning fire or mix in wood with more moisture content. Normally I run as clean a fire as I can because I'll inevitably screw up here or there and get a little smouldering.
 
Lynn Dollar said:
I've wondered the same about the perceived lack of smoke flavor from pellet smokers. Maybe they just burn too clean and someone going from charcoal/chunk to pellets doesn't recognize it ???


But I do think there's a lack of smoke flavor from pellets, there's too much " smoke " there , to not have some fire, no pun intended.
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Dustin Dorsey said:
I think kiln dried wood might burn too clean. I had to start out with it until I could secure some air dried wood. I run my fire on the bottom of the cook chamber and I can set wood length wise in the coals to get a less clean burning fire or mix in wood with more moisture content. Normally I run as clean a fire as I can because I'll inevitably screw up here or there and get a little smouldering.
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You guys are right on. Lynn, IMHO it all depends what brand of pellets you're burning. I get plenty of "clean" smoke flavor from LumberJack pellets.
 
After owning and using WSM, kamados of various brands, stump gravity feed, cheap offsets, Pitts and spitts offset, yoder pellet and memphis elite pellet and workhorse offset, without a doubt a well engineered offset produces the best flavor for me. Lot more work, and not as automatic as others, but the end result is far superior imo.

For pellets, the brand of pellets makes a big difference. Burning a couple thousand pounds of pellets I found lumberjack 100% hickory mixed in with 100% cherry was best for me. My first butt on the memphis (sold the yoder to get that) the wife and kids asked “where’s the smoke?!?!?” The memphis had a lighter smoke than yoder. I liked both better than gravity feed with charcoal and chunks as it’s easy to oversmoke that way.

Burning a small hot clean fire on an offset can actually result in light smoke flavoring, even burning oak and hickory. Dry wood also results in this. Need some moisture in the wood for optimum results imo. If the smoker isn’t engineered well (as far as drafting properly etc), it can result in similar. I manage my offset with size and position of the fire and run intake and exhaust 100% open…choking one or the other down a bit could dirty up the smoke a bit and maybe give you some extra smoke flavor? I 100% agree on showering before eating as tending a fire all day makes your senses more numb to the smoke.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
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