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Gravity fed help needed

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GA1dad

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I have an older small single chamber Deep South gravity fed smoker. It seems no matter what I try, there just isn't any smoke flavor in the finished products I cook. It's pretty easy to get blue smoke rolling out of the the exaust,, but no flavor. It's quite frustrating and I'm beginning to consider getting rid of it for that reason.

Before I go to that extreme, I wanted to reach out and see if anyone has figured out a way to boost smoke flavor
 
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Wood chunks in the chute and the ash pan?

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You can put bigger chunks in the ash pan too. Some use mini splits.

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I just got my deepsouth a month or so ago, and i have been adding chunks to the ash pan, but i am going to try and do mini splits next time. I did some pork butts a couple weeks ago over night, and it was smoking pretty good when i tossed in the chunks before i went to bed. The next morning i wrapped the butts and added some ribs, and threw a few more chunks of cherry in the ash pan. The chunks burned up almost immediately. It did not smoke for very long. I am gong to try the mini splits next cook to see if i can get a little more smoke. The finished product tasted great though.
 
So you only added chunks once and again before the ribs? I’ve heard people add every 30-45 for the first 3-4 hours then let it go
 
Dom Mazzetti said:
So you only added chunks once and again before the ribs? I’ve heard people add every 30-45 for the first 3-4 hours then let it go
Click to expand...


That could very well have been my problem. Yes i only added the chunks right before the butts went on, and then the next morning when i put ribs into the smoker.
 
I wonder if i should have emptied the ash pan of the hot embers when i added the ribs? basically i threw them onto a bed of super hot embers.
 
You need to change perspective on this. Smoke flavor comes mostly from wood not charcoal or lump. You didn’t add much wood and didn’t get much smoke. To me I don’t care how fast it gets used up I look at it as more of a I used 10 chunks so far.
 
I have an Assassin 28 and I put chunks of wood in my charcoal shoot and I also add in wood chunks to the ash pan as the cook continues. I normally add in chunks to the pan about every hour until the IT of the meat is around 170.

I have emptied the ash pan when it has come full of hot embers and noticed that when I do that the wood chunks do not really smoke. They just sit there not doing anything so I started moving the coals to one side of the pan and putting the chunk on the other side.
 
pjtexas1 said:
Wood chunks in the chute and the ash pan?

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Click to expand...

Adding to the chute is the only thing I haven't tried yet. I've used hand cut seasoned chunks, hand cut seasoned splits, commercial wood chips, commercial wood chunks, and supplemented with pellets via the amazin smokin' tube. I have considered adding small chunks to the chute, but have gotten around to cutting up p some small chunks. I also wasn't very hopeful that it would work any better than in the pan.

I add wood frequently,, probably every 30 minutes or longer if existing chunks have not diminished noticeably.

I am wonder how hand sorting some lump would work in the chute? If hand sized and sorted I wonder if it would bridge constantly or not?
 
GA1dad said:
Hmmm, interesting. I do in the stick burner, but not much in the DS
Click to expand...

Give it a whirl. Lots of early wood. Lots of spritz. Use caution blasting off the rub when you spritz. Ensure it can mist and not spray. Just need to use caution before bark sets.

I also never put wood in the charcoal chimney in the cooker. Always goes in the side door. I’ve got the timing where I put the wood in a couple mins before the meat goes in. That way it is igniting as the meat enters and is at its wettest. I start with chunks to start. Once I have a good coal base in the ash tray, I then introduce mini-splits if I’ve got em.
 
I’ve found I get the most smoke flavor adding chips to my charcoal so that they are burning down as the charcoal in the chute does and also adding chunks to the fire pit area. I a, always concerned with bridging using chunks in the chute so I add a bag or so of chips there. I do add chunks every 30 mins or so for the first couple hours of my cook. They burn up very quickly it seems.
 
I have put small chunks of wood in the chute on my Baby Stumps but I couldn't tell any difference between putting the wood in the chute or the ash pan.
 
I put chunks in the chute. Might do mini splits when i put meat on. but every 30 minutes?...I might as well fire up the stick burner.

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Assassin owner here. I put a large load of wood chunks in the ash pan, rattle the fire grate to get some hot embers on the chunks, and let it rock. I will add more chunks as the cook progresses - quantity depends on what I'm smoking and what wood I'm using.

No problem getting a solid smoke flavor.
 
pjtexas1 said:
I put chunks in the chute. Might do mini splits when i put meat on. but every 30 minutes?...I might as well fire up the stick burner.

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I know right. That is one reason I bought the gravity feed, so I can sleep at night. I am going to try some mini splits next.


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I bought a assassin 28 for the set and forget feature. Worked well not having to tend fire. However there just wasn't the smoke flavor I like. Started adding wood chunks and splits say every 45 min to 1 hour tending like a stick burner and got close but not quite there.
Figured if I was having to tend the fire and not getting what I expected why have one. Sold it and got a Jambo offset patio pit. BBQ (to me) has to be cooked on all wood anyway.
 
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