Another Smoke Question

jwc6160

ive posted variations of this question before but I'm still having trouble. When I first started egging, I was able to follow advice here and get a nice smokey flavor with a decent smoke ring on almost every cook. Now, a year later and I feel like I know what I am doing, I'm losing my smoke faster and barely getting any ring whatsoever. I don't think I have changed a thing. I normally start the grill, get to desired temp, then throw in 3-4 decent sized chunks of wood. It will be the darker smoke for a while then the blue smoke starts. At low temps, I lose the smoke faster and have to move the coals around a bit and add a chunk or 2 every couple hours. The end result is a delicious piece of meat, but the smoke flavor isn't as strong as it has been in the past. I'm almost certain I haven't changed much, but the results have just been different lately. Should I be lighting the coals differently, adding more or less wood, scoring the meat?  Looking for any advice. 

Thanks

SoCalTim

The Smoke Ring is a chemical reaction, the only way I know to 'help' it develop is to put your meat on cold, right out of the fridge.

As far as a smokey flavor, Myself, I stay away from the Home Depot chunks and buy my wood (my supplier locally is The Wood Shed) from a quality supplier and remember, just because you don't see smoke coming out of your egg doesn't mean it's not smoking your food. Tim

fishlessman

for low and slows i skip the part about the blue smoke burning clean. i want the lump burning clean but not necessarily the smoking wood. once the lump burns clean i toss the chunks in, setup, and start cooking. thats just me though

fishepa

I have trouble getting smoke flavor as well.  The efficiency of the BGE is almost too good that the fire never really burns my wood chunks.  After a 5 hour smoke yesterday for some ribs all my wood chunks were barely even smoldering at all.

Darby_Crenshaw

chunks and wood only smolder when they are touching the fire.  it's why if you offered me a single chunk of wood or the equivalent amount in chips, i'd take the chips.  the fire can burn away from a chunk. but i can scatter the chips where the fire is, and where it's going to go (usually down and back, in my case)

at fire that is 250 or smaller is pretty small.  i once put a chunk right in the fire and shut the lid (per Elder Ward).  the fire burned downward, right out from under the chunk, leaving it sitting up high while the fire was a couple inches away.

if you go 300, you will get more smoke.  bigger fire, more air, etc.

as socaltim said, the smoke rind is pretty unrelated to smoke flavor.  you can have both together, but you can also have a smoke ring with no flavor, or smoke flavor with no ring.

jtcBoynton

jwc6160 said:

..... I normally start the grill, get to desired temp, then throw in 3-4 decent sized chunks of wood. It will be the darker smoke for a while then the blue smoke starts. At low temps, I lose the smoke faster and have to move the coals around a bit and add a chunk or 2 every couple hours. ...

My suggestions:  Start the grill as you are doing, letting it get to temp and making sure any fresh lump white smoke has cleared.  I would place, not throw, 3-4 chunks of wood on and near the burning lump.  I would not move burning coals around, disturbing the fire. I would move wood to the fire instead.  Smoke adheres better to damp surfaces. That is why the first few hours are when most of the smoke flavor is added.  You can extend the higher smoke accumulation rates by lightly spraying the meat with water during the cooking.  Make sure not to spray too much - you can wash smoke off the meat.    Keep the wood near the burning coals and the meat damp and you will get lots of smoke flavor.

jwc6160

Good suggestions here. I am using the Home Depot chunks. Maybe I'll upgrade. I also think my problem is the fire. It is normally going in the middle so my chunks are sitting there waiting for fire that may never come. I think adding a handful of chips every once in a while would maybe spread it out a bit getting more wood smolder. For an 8 or so hour smoke, how many chunks and how often do you add them throughout the cook?  I'm sure it varies but for a pork but done in 8 hours, could you guess?

thanks again

Focker

The egg is a swiss army grill.  

You can light your fire in a dozen places, it will all snuff down to the same size according to temp.

I too, with many, struggle with smoking on the egg.  

My solution and recommendation....
Get a Weber OTG kettle, and google or youtube the snake method for starters.  You can get them for $150.  Great smoke flavor, long burns.  Or better yet, an 18" WSM, $300.  

In hindsight, I feel that a LBGE and OTG, is a better and more versatile combo than 2 LBGEs.  Much cheaper too.

People may laugh at my grill collection, but each serves a purpose, a tool, and specializes in that task...like guns. 

The BGE is great at indirect cooking for recipes where consistency in temp, and holding it, is critical.  

And once dialed in after anice preheat, it will hold targeted temp for a very long time with a full load of lump.

An egg doesn't replace, but rather compliments a traditional, dedicated smoker.

bhedges1987

Learn where your fire burns.  Adjust your wood placement accordingly. I mix chunks and chips .

OhioEgger

The main thing for me is that colder meat absorbs the smoke better than room temp meat, so I always put it on right out of the frig. Seems to help.