Observations after owning an egg for 3 years

try a different type of wood for smoke. Try Mesquite. I'm sure you taste it

 The smoker box put in the lower vent/clean out area sounds like a pretty good fix. Would be very consistant compared to lump/smoke wood loading techniques.

I have not been overly impressed with the smoke flavor on bigger pieces of meat.  I have tried chips to chunks and just don't get the smoke flavor that my old offset smoker achieved. 

The last couple smokes I have been using two pieces of hickory approximately 8" long and the diameter/ shape of a cordless phone which is pretty decent size for my egg layed on top of lump near the edge vs center where I start my fire.   The family has been pleased with the smoke flavor; like finally being home again.  So now I am going to find some apple and other flavors that are mini-log size.

We do not smoke any kind of tobacco products or smoke / inhale anything to include wacky tow-backie.

 

pgprescott said:

Darby_Crenshaw said:

DieselkW said:

As far as I know, and I am not a smoking expert; the meat will take on smoke flavor for "X" amount of time before it reaches "X" temperature and then all the smoke afterwards will not benefit anymore.

Old wives tale, perhaps, but that's my understanding.

Smoke will flavor the meat at anytime actually. It's the smoke ring which stops forming around 140. But you can add smoke flavor at any point during the cook

Yeah, the ring is a chemical reaction and isn't  a flavor profile. I have not tested this but I would think in a blind taste test, it would be undetectable. 

Darby is correct in that the smoke ring will stop forming at around 140 but the meat will continue to take smoke. It is also true that the smoke ring has nothing to do with flavor. KCBS judges are told not to judge based on the smoke ring. This is because someone that knows what they are doing can impart an artificial smoke ring in an oven even. It is a chemical reaction.

RRP said:

hey - what ever floats our boat! May I ask a question? I'm not being a smart ass OK? Do you smoke? cigarettes, cigars, pipe or bong? If so how many a day? I always wonder when I see posts such as yours. Again - no offense - just wondering why your taste buds MIGHT be different than others of us.

I don’t smoke any of the above but I too consistently get better smoke flavor from my $49 kettle than I’ve ever gotten from my egg.  I’ve always believed it’s attributable to one of the egg’s greatest attributes, its efficiency, it burns less smoking wood so you get less smoke flavor.  Meanwhile the kettle inefficiently chugs along burning more of everything & leaving behind more smoke flavor…

Ed,

Here's a trick we discovered on the Kamado Guru by drilling holes into the bottom of a small lodge Dutch oven.  You drill holes on the bottom of the pot to push the wood smoke down into the fire.  

Drilling holes in the bottom of the DO creates the Holly Grail blue smoke by forces the smoke to jet down down into the hottest part of the fire to burning off any undesirable volatiles.  

You also wrap your heavy duty wood in foil leaving a small hole for the smoke to escape on hot cooks.  The foil traps heat and slowly burns the wood so you can get that beautiful blue smoke flavor. 

There's pic above or a cook on my Joe at 450 F.  The smoke is a pretty shade of blue using foil.  The brand of Kamado doesn't matter.  Thsse tricks work whether your cooker is Green or Red.

http://www.kamadoguru.com/topic/23843-2-qt-wood-chunk-smoking-pot/page-3?hl=+lodge +dutch +oven

Here's another great thread you can read about generating smoke in Kamados.

http://www.kamadoguru.com/topic/27675-john-setzler-on-smoke/

Charcoal_Addict said:

Here's a trick we discovered on the Kamado Guru by drilling holes into the bottom of a small lodge Dutch oven.  You drill holes on the bottom of the pot to push the wood smoke down into the fire.  

Drilling holes in the bottom of the DO creates the Holly Grail blue smoke by forces the smoke to jet down down into the hottest part of the fire to burning off any undesirable volatiles.  

You also wrap your heavy duty wood in foil leaving a small hole for the smoke to escape on hot cooks.  The foil traps heat and slowly burns the wood so you can get that beautiful blue smoke flavor. 

There's pic above or a cook on my Joe at 450 F.  The smoke is a pretty shade of blue using foil.  The brand of Kamado doesn't matter.  Thsse tricks work whether your cooker is Green or Red.

http://www.kamadoguru.com/topic/23843-2-qt-wood-chunk-smoking-pot/page-3?hl=+lodge +dutch +oven

Here's another great thread you can read about generating smoke in Kamados.

http://www.kamadoguru.com/topic/27675-john-setzler-on-smoke/

@Charcoal_Addict   I read the thread you linked, it's interesting.  I already have (2) two quart DO.  Not sure I want to ruin one to do an experiment.

Anyone else want to weigh in on this idea?

The more efficient the cooker, the smaller the fire; the more creative you'll need to be to generate good smoke.  

Komado Kamado's have it even worse.  The refractory cement is twice as heat efficient as the ceramic used in most Kamados.  The fire that produced 225F in a Egg or a Joe will be about half the size of the fire inside the KK.

You either need do get your wood into the hottest part of the fire; or you need to push the smoke coming from your wood into the hottest part of the fire.

Most offset cookers Fireboxes are burning at 550 F to achieve the beautiful Blue smoke Aaron Franklin loves to go on about.   You can achieve the same thing in a Kamado with a little creativity as mentioned in my post above. 

The Weber Bullet looses 90% of it's Heat through the the metal but this creates a bigger fire to maintain the temp at 225 F.   The Weber Bullet 22 inch burns through 3 times as much coal as we do in a Kamado to smoke a butt or a Bisket.

In turn, will burn more wood.  It has nothing to do with burning briquettes.  

Focker said:

blasting said:

Charcoal_Addict said:

Here's a trick we discovered on the Kamado Guru by drilling holes into the bottom of a small lodge Dutch oven.  You drill holes on the bottom of the pot to push the wood smoke down into the fire.  

Drilling holes in the bottom of the DO creates the Holly Grail blue smoke by forces the smoke to jet down down into the hottest part of the fire to burning off any undesirable volatiles.  

You also wrap your heavy duty wood in foil leaving a small hole for the smoke to escape on hot cooks.  The foil traps heat and slowly burns the wood so you can get that beautiful blue smoke flavor. 

There's pic above or a cook on my Joe at 450 F.  The smoke is a pretty shade of blue using foil.  The brand of Kamado doesn't matter.  Thsse tricks work whether your cooker is Green or Red.

http://www.kamadoguru.com/topic/23843-2-qt-wood-chunk-smoking-pot/page-3?hl=+lodge +dutch +oven

Here's another great thread you can read about generating smoke in Kamados.

http://www.kamadoguru.com/topic/27675-john-setzler-on-smoke/

@Charcoal_Addict   I read the thread you linked, it's interesting.  I already have (2) two quart DO.  Not sure I want to ruin one to do an experiment.

Anyone else want to weigh in on this idea?

I'm intrigued, a little skeptical too.  But if I find a cruddy 2qt DO for cheap at an antique store....

It works perfectly.  A lot guys with different brands of Kamado use this tecnique.  You're borrowing some science from the offset smoking world and applying in a creative way to Kamado cooking.   

Focker said:

Yeah, I'm not sure about such a small fire in a 250 egg really making that much of an impact on removing volatiles, even with the addition of CI.

Not really fond of tossing Al into a higher temp egg fire either.  But I get the slower burn rationale.  One of the reasons why cold smoke generator smoke smells so good as it smolders, thin, blue, almost sweet aroma to it.

You only drill 3 small hole in the center of the Dutch oven.  You place the DO in the center of your fire.  You push the smoke down directly into the small fire.  People with refractory KK's are using this technique with great success.   The fire in a KK at 225 F is even smaller than the Egg running the same temp. 

Throw a rock at the window and see what happens.  You'll be surprised by the result.

smokeyw said:

Charcoal_Addict said:

Focker said:

blasting said:

Charcoal_Addict said:

Here's a trick we discovered on the Kamado Guru by drilling holes into the bottom of a small lodge Dutch oven.  You drill holes on the bottom of the pot to push the wood smoke down into the fire.  

Drilling holes in the bottom of the DO creates the Holly Grail blue smoke by forces the smoke to jet down down into the hottest part of the fire to burning off any undesirable volatiles.  

You also wrap your heavy duty wood in foil leaving a small hole for the smoke to escape on hot cooks.  The foil traps heat and slowly burns the wood so you can get that beautiful blue smoke flavor. 

There's pic above or a cook on my Joe at 450 F.  The smoke is a pretty shade of blue using foil.  The brand of Kamado doesn't matter.  Thsse tricks work whether your cooker is Green or Red.

http://www.kamadoguru.com/topic/23843-2-qt-wood-chunk-smoking-pot/page-3?hl=+lodge +dutch +oven

Here's another great thread you can read about generating smoke in Kamados.

http://www.kamadoguru.com/topic/27675-john-setzler-on-smoke/

@Charcoal_Addict   I read the thread you linked, it's interesting.  I already have (2) two quart DO.  Not sure I want to ruin one to do an experiment.

Anyone else want to weigh in on this idea?

I'm intrigued, a little skeptical too.  But if I find a cruddy 2qt DO for cheap at an antique store....

It works perfectly.  A lot guys with different brands of Kamado use this tecnique.  You're borrowing some science from the offset smoking world and applying in a creative way to Kamado cooking.   

It may work but I don't think it is necessary. I only have the VOC's for about an hour before my smoke goes light blue. The way I distribute my wood throughout the lump, I get all the smoke flavor I want and never see the white VOC smoke again for the entire remainder of that cook. Seems a little over engineered all things considered.

VOC's aside, the other benefit is efficient burning the smoking wood.  You use-up 100% of the wood you stick into the cooker.  You never have a half burnt piece. You're smoke turns blue in less than 8 minutes vs waiting a hour for the VOC's to burn off.   I'm cooking a packer on this weekend.  I'll post some pics from that cook. 

@Charcoal_Addict
W/ the 2qt DO, do you have any pics of it in the egg and/or how it would work with the Adjustable Rig?  Does the DO sit right ontop of the lump? and do you need to replensh w/ charcoal for long 16+hr smokes?  I have XL BGE