Welcome to the EGGhead Forum - a great place to visit and packed with tips and EGGspert advice! You can also join the conversation and get more information and amazing kamado recipes by following Big Green Egg to Experience our World of Flavor™ at:
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest  |  Youtube  |  Vimeo
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.

Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch

Questions about adding wood

Been using my XL BGE for about 1 month now.  Due to all the help on this site and some others all of my cooks have been a success so far.  Coming from a Bradley electric smoker I am still not clear on how the smoking part goes with the BGE... Many pieces of info seem to conflict...So here goes...

Is it best to get to temp, then add the wood?  Then wait for the heavy white smoke to settle before putting meat on?  That seems to be the consensus... but if this is true, how do low and slows work.  Does one just put a bunch of wood on the hot part of their coals in the beginning?  Or add across the (or in the) coal? If layered in or around I would imagine each time a new piece lights up you get heavier white smoke?  Is that not the case?  

Sorry for the flurry of newbie questions.  Thanks for anyone patient enough to reply with some tips.  

Rich
Long Island, NY

Comments

  • GalanteNate_OneEa
    GalanteNate_OneEa Posts: 967
    edited August 2013
    I'm probably not right but I know the last thing you want is too much smoke, so mix chunks of wood through the lump coal and light in the center. I get my smoke through out the entire cook, but not a ton at one time. Im sure there are other methods but this is the one that works for me.  I don't really understand how you have the plate setter heat up to temp and then pull it to add wood but I'm sure if you got 100 post here you would have 99+ methods, lol.  Good luck.image
  • rholt
    rholt Posts: 392
    I think the big thing to worry about with regard to smoke is the VOCs when lighting the lump. Once the lump smoke is good and temp is dialed in then I throw my smoking wood in and then PS grate and meat and then let her do her thing. Hope this helps.
  • Cookinbob
    Cookinbob Posts: 1,691
    I am pretty much a newbie, so may not be doing it like the experienced guys, but I light the fire in a chimney, add the burning coals to the pre-laid fire including wood chunks.  I put the plate setter and food on at that point and let it all come up to temp.  Have only done a couple so far, but it seems to work.  Seems to me that if you get to temp and then add meat and wood chunks, you are stabilizing the temp twice.

    There is pretty heavy smoke for the first few minutes, but I attribute that to the fact that the vents are wide open.  Once I close everything down it seems to be just right
    XLBGE, Small BGE, Homebrew and Guitars
    Rochester, NY
  • flemster
    flemster Posts: 269
    I light the lump, get the temp up to @200, add my wood chunks and throw on platesetter then let temp come back up to target. Adding a cold plate setter always drops my temp a bit. I often have visible smoke from wood chunks when I put the meat on.
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Keywords: Gator, Nashvegas, LBGE, Looftlighter, Thermapen in Racing Green (faster than the red one!), PSWOO2, Spider with CI, IQ120
  • radamo
    radamo Posts: 373
    edited August 2013
    This is the process that I am currently using.  Have not done a low and slow but will be shortly.  Still trying to understand how many chunks per cook ... etc... Used to be easy, 3 pucks for 1 hours of smoke.  This is a whole new world... :-D
    rholt said:
    I think the big thing to worry about with regard to smoke is the VOCs when lighting the lump. Once the lump smoke is good and temp is dialed in then I throw my smoking wood in and then PS grate and meat and then let her do her thing. Hope this helps.

    Long Island, NY
  • I typically only use wood chunks on low and slow cooks; mixing it in my lump before I light the egg.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Well, "spa-Peggy" is kind of like spaghetti. I'm not sure what Peggy does different, if anything. But it's the one dish she's kind of made her own.
    ____________________
    Aurora, Ontario, Canada
  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,665
    i mix some in, light it, get it going til it smells like a campfire, not a just lit lump fire, then add more wood then everything goes in. i sometimes lift out the setup and add even more wood later in the cook and with a low and slow see NO reason to get smoking woods burning clean, its just not needed. the only reason ill pull out my setup to add wood is if i want to give something a hint of mesquite towards the end of the cook and its not done often. in the egg, forget about soaking chips, toss them in dry, lots of info out there about no bark, sometimes i smoke ribs with just bark, no wood. best thing to do is just play around with it as some like alot of smoke, some like very little etc
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
  • gerhardk
    gerhardk Posts: 942
    I stabilize the temp without platesetter, then add wood, plate setter and meat.  Then I ignore the temperature for at least an hour because it will be low but reach the target temp over an hour or so.  Seems to work out fine for me but your mileage may vary.

    Gerhard
  • radamo said:
    Is it best to get to temp, then add the wood?  Then wait for the heavy white smoke to settle before putting meat on?  
    My approach is to get the lump going first, and wait until the bad smoke has cleared.  Then I scatter the wood chips.  I use a Woo2, so it is easy to remove the food and placesetter from the egg if I need to add more chips.
    no, not -that- one!
    KI4PSR
  • gerhardk said:
    I stabilize the temp without platesetter, then add wood, plate setter and meat.  Then I ignore the temperature for at least an hour because it will be low but reach the target temp over an hour or so.  Seems to work out fine for me but your mileage may vary.

    Gerhard
    +1 But on a low and slow I will add some wood near the bottom when loading in the lump.

    Damascus, VA.  Friendliest town on the Appalachian Trail.

    LBGE Aug 2012, SBGE Feb 2014

  • TonyA
    TonyA Posts: 583
    I always light my fire, get at or a little through where i want my final temp to be, add chunks, setter, grid and food. I'll close the dampers down to where it should just about be and check it an hour later for any fine tuning.

    Ribs: 3-4 chunks
    Brisket/Shoulder: 6-8 chunks
    Poultry: 1-2 chunks.

    This will give you only a pleasant smokiness.  If you want something husky .. add two to three more per.
  • radamo
    radamo Posts: 373
    Thanks @TonyA!  I used about 2 or 3 for ribs so far and the smokiness was just below where I thought it should be... Your listed amounts are a helpful "backup" to what I have seen so far.  Now from there I can mess around and see how things change up. 


    Long Island, NY
  • flemster said:
    I light the lump, get the temp up to @200, add my wood chunks and throw on platesetter then let temp come back up to target. Adding a cold plate setter always drops my temp a bit. I often have visible smoke from wood chunks when I put the meat on.
    This guy has the right idea and I do not soak my wood before putting on the coals
     
     1 Large Big Green Egg
     1 Weber Kettle
     1 Weber Weber Smokey Mountain 18"
     1 Long Horn Off Set
     1 Bradley Smoker
     1 Weber Silver Gasser
     1 Weber Smokey Joe Small
     1 Orange Thermapen
  • Skiddymarker
    Skiddymarker Posts: 8,522
    edited August 2013
    The egg is different than an offset or kettle, you should not have to add wood. Mix the smoke wood throughout the lump, chips or chunks, no soaking needed. For low and slow, light on the top front, so don't bother with any smoke wood there. Once the starter has gone out/been pulled out (torch or electric) put in your set-up and set the vents to ensure good air flow. You don't want/need lump burning everywhere. Once the temp is near the low and slow temp target, adjust the vents to what your experience tells you will give the target temp. 
    The smoke wood will only "catch" when the fire reaches it. It may flare when the dome is opened. If done this way, there will be smoke for the entire cook and you may even have some leftover when the lump is snuffed at the end of the cook. 
    Delta B.C. - Whiskey and steak, because no good story ever started with someone having a salad!