What’s the thought process?

[str8upcop04]

I’ve been smoking for more than a few years and I never fully understood the thought process of adding more smoke wood to a cook that’s already well into the cooking process? If most meat takes on the majority of the smoke within the first few hours, what’s the point but mainly I’ve always read that your smoke should be clean before adding your meat to the smoker, i.e. thin wispy blue smoke…adding more wood after well into your cook would produce the thick white smoke that’s frowned upon in my opinion and defeat the purpose of a clean fire. Can anyone explain to me what I’m missing?

Thanks in advance farkers!

 

[SirPorkaLot]

Personally, I use all wood when I’m smoking. I start with a base of hot charcoal briquettes and from then on it’s all wood.
If you have a smoker with a good draft, the smoke from added wood won’t negatively effect your cook.

Wood adds flavor throughout the cook. Don’t believe anyone that says otherwise. It’s true you get the most smoke absorption in the early hours, but it does add flavor the entire time

 

[SMOKE FREAK]

Personally,

Wood adds flavor throughout the cook. Don’t believe anyone that says otherwise. It’s true you get the most smoke absorption in the early hours, but it does add flavor the entire time

It's as simple as live fire vs. smoldering wood.

Live fire wins every time.

 

[Big George's BBQ]

You continue to add flavor I believe the smoke ring stops forming after the meat hits 145* When I had a stick burner I found that if I put the wood on top of the warming box prior to the hot fire I had less white smoke

 

[SirPorkaLot]

It's as simple as live fire vs. smoldering wood.

Live fire wins every time.

This is the key.

You want fire in the fire box, not smoldering wood.

 

[sandro]

The "smoke ring" is the product of a reaction between the nitrous oxide from the combustion and the myoglobin protein in the meat; the myoglobin makes the meat red, heat (above 140f) makes it decay and turns it brown. The nitrous oxide binds to the myoglobin and prevents this decay from happening but only if the NO binds before the meat reaches 140f—that's why it's a "ring": its thickness indicates how long it took for the meat to reach 140f and prevent the NO from binding

Anywho

You keep adding wood 'cause the smoke ring has nothing to do with flavor, the smokiness comes from the bark. Rough surfaces attract smoke particulate that builds up over time, and the longer this process continues, the more you build layers of smoke particles on the meat

 

[cowgirl]

This is the key.

You want fire in the fire box, not smoldering wood.

This!

 

[Cook]

Fire is key ... primary combustion & secondary combustion ... that takes air.

But to answer your questions ... I fully agree that smoke flavor never stops adding so long as smoke is a part of the cooking process. Smoke sticks to the surface of your meat, and is attracted to moisture. As the surface dries during cooking, less smoke sticks ... but it still sticks. As already stated, the smoke ring is NOT associated with smoke flavor (nor is it an indicator of smoke "absorption").

Yes, when you add fresh wood to the fire box you will get billowing smoke. That shouldn't last long if it catches fast & you are giving it the appropriate amount of oxygen. Those few minutes of white smoke will not hurt you at all.

This stuff isn't rocket surgery. Just stick with the fundamentals, and become a better pit man (or woman).

 

[sandro]

Adding to the posts above, clean smoke, dirty smoke, doesn't make much of a difference. I was sure it did, I did everything I could to get thin-blue to transparent smoke, then tried Jirbying it up and smoke a turkey breast with the dirtiest, thickest white smoke I could muster (and it took effort to run such a dirty fire) and... It made very little difference. I couldn't believe it.

Nowadays I try to run an efficient fire, meaning no huge wet splits that require a leafblower to catch, but not splitting wood down to the exact size and panicking over 2 minutes of thicker smoke while the wood catches. Best BBQ I've made, honestly. Latest video I uploaded on my YouTube was the best brisket I've ever tasted and I cooked it with zero-effort fire management.

Thin-blue smoke is nice but don't sweat it. And keep adding wood, build up that bark

 

[thirdeye]

Meat will take smoke the entire time it's in the pit, hence the use of light or TBS. It's the smoke ring that stops forming ~140°. I get great TBS with my Eggs, and lighter color smoke in the drums because of the flavor bombs of smoke dripping into the coals.

The method I like is to put chunks at the bottom of the fire basket on my drums, BGE's and SnS side basket, then add pellets to individual layers. This gives me gentle smoke throughout the cook.

 

[str8upcop04]

Thanks all, very informative indeed. I appreciate all of the responses, this platform is truly the most amazing source of information I have found yet!

 

[Dweverett]

Meat will take smoke the entire time it's in the pit, hence the use of light or TBS. It's the smoke ring that stops forming ~140°. I get great TBS with my Eggs, and lighter color smoke in the drums because of the flavor bombs of smoke dripping into the coals.

The method I like is to put chunks at the bottom of the fire basket on my drums, BGE's and SnS side basket, then add pellets to individual layers. This gives me gentle smoke throughout the cook.

This.

It looks like you’re using a WSM and thirdeye’s shown a great approach to getting smoke throughout the cook with that style of cooker.