Slow Smoking

Fredsh

The only negative I have found about the egg is when doing a long 3-6 hour smoking process at low temperature, it is hard to reload wood to keep the smoke going.  Any suggestions?
Thanx

IrishDevl

Fill er up the first time and you won't have to worry. I have done 18 hr cooks on one load and I could have gone much longer. How much bare you putting in? Load it up and just reuse the stuff that didn't burn.

travisstrick

Use this and slip the wood through the side

http://shop.ceramicgrillstore.com/products/13%22-x-17%22-Oval-Stainless-Grid-%252d-Large.html

Chubbs

How much are you putting in and what kind? Put chunks instead of chips if you feel you need more smoke. Although chips work fine for me..... I have had a bowl of apple chips smoking a brisket since 7 am this am. Still smoking... Are you finding the food doesn't have smoky enough flavor or you basing it off of lack of smoke coming from egg?

IrishDevl

I apologize, thought you meant to original charcoal.  I just life the grate and dump it in where the platesetter isn't, I have an XL and not sure there is enough room in the others.  

boatbum

For a long cook, I clean out completely.    Put small leftover pieces in a bucket, reload with bigger new chunks then pour the smaller ones on top.    Will go 18 to 22 hours without anything added.

Fredsh

Thanks for the responce.  I should have been more specific, my refernce was to reloading wood not coal for smoking while using the plate setter. I do use chunks rather than chips for longer smoking. Does putting the wood in a bowl on the caols create a longer, slower smoke?

Botch

I don't feel you have to generate smoke during the entire cook, and a recent article in Cook's Illustrated confirmed it (they cooked a chicken on a gasser and found, if they replenished the chip/foil pack halfway thru the cook, the chicken got too smoky).

Try adding your chunks at the beginning as you are, and when the smoke stops don't worry about it; I'll bet your meat will taste just fine.    

boatbum

I mix the chunks in the charcoal, spread out around the fire box. As new charcoal engages, it's picking up new wood.

gdenby

There are a couple of other things you can do to up the smoke flavor beyond mixing wood all thru the lump.

First, the kind of wood makes a lot of difference. The most flavor will come from woods that are very "hard." The classic BBQ woods are oak and hickory. I can get a much stronger smoke effect from a small amount of oak than a larger quantity of apple.

It helps for the meat to be moist to absorb some of the smoke chemicals. Usually, smoking happens at a temperature low enough that the outside of the meat does not dry out. But a little extra water/juice mopped on will help the smoke molecules sink into the meat.

smokinsooner

Good advice given here, but theres one more trick I've learned from previous forum discussions that makes the most sense. Boatbum called it out......Layer your wood. Lump....wood chunks... lump, wood chunks...etc. your fire will burn from top to bottom, so as it burns down it will ignite the lower level wood. Of course this is for longer cooks where you want a lot of smoke flavor.
(not necessarily poultry).
And there's no need to soak your wood!

stike

Put ykur wood where the fire is going to be, in the middle, up and down in a column. Fire burns down, not out. Make sure the fire finds wood, and you'll have smoke

lousubcap

I always start my fires around bottom dead center and once lit build up the lump in the center to the level of the rest of the load-either top of the fire box or up into the ring for extended duration low&slows.  Fire burns where the fuel is but given a choice it will "burn up" (hot gasses and other combustibles) as evidenced by structure fires where those that start in the attic go through the roof and only then start to burn down and those that start in the basement quickly head up toward the roof.  Been there-done that as a volunteer fire fighter for 12+ years.  Provided FYI-

Steve753

I bought an XL BGE in January. Yesterday, I put some pork ribs on for four hours. I use wood chunks (I used hickory) I had the wood soaking in a bucket, and I would put one or two pieces at a time. When the chunk burned out, I used the ceramic grill lifter, and added more chunks through the side of the plate setter. What I ended up with were some of the best ribs I have ever tasted.

Brad @ Lake Hartwell

Pecan chunks seem to add some real noticeable flavor.  Don't throw pecans in there though - I have had a few explode.  Cool looking with hot embers flying all over the place...

OLD NORTH STATE BBQ CO.

Just discovered pecan. Love it. I'm done with everything else.