Why the wait when adding meat to the smoker?

[Chenernator]

I see a lot of people like to wait until their smoker is at 225 or 250 before they add their meat. What's the reason for waiting as opposed to putting it on earlier?

 

[Skidder]

I wait because I only like to put the product on when I see a thin blue smoke not white. Has nothing to do with temp.

 

[AlabamaGrillBillies]

I like to bring my pit up to about 10-20 degrees more than my desired cooking temp prior to puttin on the meat. The amount above desired cooking temp varies on the amount of meat i'm adding as the amount it drops the pit temp is dependent on the amount of meat i'm putting in.

I like to wait because my cooking time forumals are based off of a constant temp.

 

[BBQ Grail]

More than anything for me it's about getting the smoke to be the right smoke more than temperature.

 

[seattlepitboss]

I don't necessarily wait until the temp is 250F or whatever. I wait until the fire has a good bed of coals and the whole cooker has reached thermal equilibrium. That way I can keep the fire going and have a chance to avoid huge temp swings.

The side benefit is you never expose your meat to the billowing white smoke of a starting fire, which can lead to nasty tastes.

SPB

 

[Professor Salt]

I wait until the fire is burning clean, and the smoke smells good, rather than like that petrochemical, unlit Kingsford smell.

 

[peppasawce]

I am like all others that like to wait...I have a 5 to 6 minute rule...That is how long I wait to place my meat on the UDS!!! I use Lump so my wait is'nt too long since Lump does not have any chemical taste to it...Lump and Wood Chunks

 

[Chenernator]

I wait until the fire is burning clean, and the smoke smells good, rather than like that petrochemical, unlit Kingsford smell.

I see you use WSM's. Does the above mean you don't use the Minion method?

I don't necessarily wait until the temp is 250F or whatever. I wait until the fire has a good bed of coals and the whole cooker has reached thermal equilibrium. That way I can keep the fire going and have a chance to avoid huge temp swings.

The side benefit is you never expose your meat to the billowing white smoke of a starting fire, which can lead to nasty tastes.

Are you cooking on wood, charcoal, or both?

 

[landarc]

I am with all of the above, I like to put the meat onto a clean fire, the combustion and burn in processes creates a lot of white smoke, not good. Whether I am using briquettes, lump or wood, that time when the fire is ready is all the same for me.

 

[big brother smoke]

You do not want to add meat to a cooker that looks like a choo-choo train's smoke stack.

 

[bmanMA]

I see you use WSM's. Does the above mean you don't use the Minion method?



Are you cooking on wood, charcoal, or both?

You can use the Minion no problem if you avoid the Kingsford IMO. I recently made the switch to all hardwood Royal Oak briquettes and they behave about like K in terms of cook time and temp, but without all the stank. I agree that waiting for the system to reach equilibrium is key, esp. with WSM. You can take your cooker temp down into the dirt if you add too early. At least that's what I've found.

 

[wardconnor]

You can use the Minion no problem if you avoid the Kingsford IMO. I recently made the switch to all hardwood Royal Oak briquettes and they behave about like K in terms of cook time and temp, but without all the stank. I agree that waiting for the system to reach equilibrium is key, esp. with WSM. You can take your cooker temp down into the dirt if you add too early. At least that's what I've found.

Sorry to hijack but this gets me thinking.

This has really been my question for a long time since I tried the minion method with the kingsford blue bag using my 22.5 kettle.

I have a 22.5 Weber kettle and tried a low and slow using the minion method. The temps held good but the food tasted like briquettes. It did not taste like meat, it was an overwhelming briquette flavor. How can I cook low and slow so my food does not taste like briquettes? Granted I know that I can by a smoker or stick burner but I am working with what I have here. Does the minion method with lump come out not tasting like charcoal?

This also leads me to ask about the WSM and the UDS. I am strongly considering building a UDS. With all the videos i have watched and all the posts that I have read, they are just about all using some form of the minion method. I want to ask in the WSM and the UDS minion method what are you using? Kingsford or lump? Does the food taste like briquettes?

I look forward to a response.

 

[landarc]

I smoke in a kettle, a 22.5 OTS, with all sorts of stuff burning. I use Kingsford, Royal Oak, Lump, wood and any combination of these. I get no flavor of charcoal or Kingsford. I use a minion method, or a variation one might call 'the pile similar to the minion method', with excellent results. I find that the most important thing is to make sure the fire is settled into a thin blue smoke condition, and to make sure the wood is already smoking when I add the meat. This might mean I am letting the kettle run for 30 minutes before I start cooking. For longer cooks, if I need to add charcoal, I pre-heat in my chimney to make sure everything is hot when added in.

 

[BRBBQ]

I'd say if your going high heat cook, then maybe. If your going low and slow, no. I'm not sure if I ever see light blue smoke, for sure not in my CTO.

 

[1_T_Scot]

I not only wait until my egg is a touch above I wait until the out side is warm. Seems to be more consistent this way.

Also the early smoke seems to have a bitter flavor. Even doing burgers I make sure to get a good preheat.

 

[bam]

It depends what you are cooking on. Me I got a drum I start the fire put the meat on got guru set forget about it.

 

[Chenernator]

Sorry to hijack but this gets me thinking.

This has really been my question for a long time since I tried the minion method with the kingsford blue bag using my 22.5 kettle.

I have a 22.5 Weber kettle and tried a low and slow using the minion method. The temps held good but the food tasted like briquettes. It did not taste like meat, it was an overwhelming briquette flavor. How can I cook low and slow so my food does not taste like briquettes? Granted I know that I can by a smoker or stick burner but I am working with what I have here. Does the minion method with lump come out not tasting like charcoal?

This also leads me to ask about the WSM and the UDS. I am strongly considering building a UDS. With all the videos i have watched and all the posts that I have read, they are just about all using some form of the minion method. I want to ask in the WSM and the UDS minion method what are you using? Kingsford or lump? Does the food taste like briquettes?

I look forward to a response.

I can't speak to low and slow with a kettle, but I can speak about the WSM and UDS. I use Kingsford in both, with either hickory, pecan, or apricot. I typically light 20-30 coals in my chimney starter (which does produce lots of white, stinky smoke) and then add them to the WSM or UDS after they are ashed over. The meat goes on shortly thereafter, long before I reach 250. There are times when it may take up to an hour for my smoker to get to 250. My food definitely does NOT taste like briquettes.

 

[Vince B]

I think briquets only taste bad when using lighter fluids IMO. I personally do not think they make my food taste bad when I minion using my Weber chimney starter.

 

[seattlepitboss]

Are you cooking on wood, charcoal, or both?

I cook with wood only, or with wood/propane combo. Don't use charcoal any more. My wife doesn't care for the taste of food cooked over charcoal, and doesn't like the smell of it burning either. Me, I don't mind too much.

SPB

 

[wardconnor]

I can't speak to low and slow with a kettle, but I can speak about the WSM and UDS. I use Kingsford in both, with either hickory, pecan, or apricot. I typically light 20-30 coals in my chimney starter (which does produce lots of white, stinky smoke) and then add them to the WSM or UDS after they are ashed over. The meat goes on shortly thereafter, long before I reach 250. There are times when it may take up to an hour for my smoker to get to 250. My food definitely does NOT taste like briquettes.

I do not use lighter fluid so I know that is not the problem. As for what you said about the 20 to 30 coals that you get going (ashed over) in the chimney, are you dumping them into a fire basket that is full or almost full of unlit charcoal? I do not have a problem with food tasting like briquettes IF I let the kingsford briquettes completely or almost completely ash over.

I find and concur that that white stinkey smoke is only present when the briquettes are lighting as earlier mentioned.

I want to build a UDS or get a WSM but do not want an unlit briquette flavor.

If you are dumping ashed over lit coals/charcoal onto the unlit coals/charcoal do you find that you get that white stinkey smoke once the unlit coals start to light up, or as they light up over a period of time?

thanks for the input