Wood chunk placement

Nature Boy

Great question and fun reading the answers. One thing I love is seeing the different ways people do things. Since I got my first EGG in 1998, and started competing in 2002 I have made a lot of changes in the way I do things. I cooked 134 competitions and judged about a dozen and I really learned a ton about the balance of smoke versus all the other flavors you have worked so hard to build up. Dirty smoke can f*%k things up in a heartbeat and totally throw off the balance of what happens when you (or a judge) puts the food in their mouths. So, IMO, strong smoke needs to be avoided at all costs. 

What we ended up settling on is we start a small pile of charcoal and open the vents wide until it is all burning. Even if I want to cook at 250, that pile of charcoal might get the EGG to 500 over the next 20 minutes. No worries. Now that you have a glowing small pile of coals, spread that out. Now you effectively have 50 fire starters! I place 4-5 dry wood chunks right on those hot coals, then immediately cover with new charcoal to fill the firebox. I then add my indirect setup, close the lid and close the vents down to about where I think they will be for a 250 fire (1/4-1/2 inch on bottom vent). The dome temp drops below 200 and thick smoke starts billowing out immediately. Then I go for a walk. 

It usually takes 30-45 minutes to achieve clean blue smoke, and since there is not much air coming in, the wood chunks don't burn up. They just dry out so they start burning cleanly. Just as soon as I have good smoke, the meat goes on. We had a good career competing and won 15 grand championships with this method so I just wanted to make sure I took the time to share it. Works every time. 

Good luck! Chris

Botch

^^^Nothing like seeing a new, detailed technique with some competition hardware to back it up.  Thanks Chris!    

Nature Boy

Thanks Botch. Especially now that we've hung up our competition tongs, I really enjoy sharing what I have learned. If it shortens the learning curve for just one person, it's worth it to me! I actually use the same starting method for grilling, but often don't add wood and I use WAY less charcoal than with a long cook. Most troubles folks have with grilling is that they use too much charcoal and it's much harder to control the fire and you end up with more hot spots. Happy cookin'!
Chris

Ozzie_Isaac

lkapigian said:

Get a stick burner , problem solved 

Get a Traeger.  Problem solved.

Mark_B_Good

Nature Boy said:

Great question and fun reading the answers. One thing I love is seeing the different ways people do things. Since I got my first EGG in 1998, and started competing in 2002 I have made a lot of changes in the way I do things. I cooked 134 competitions and judged about a dozen and I really learned a ton about the balance of smoke versus all the other flavors you have worked so hard to build up. Dirty smoke can f*%k things up in a heartbeat and totally throw off the balance of what happens when you (or a judge) puts the food in their mouths. So, IMO, strong smoke needs to be avoided at all costs. 

What we ended up settling on is we start a small pile of charcoal and open the vents wide until it is all burning. Even if I want to cook at 250, that pile of charcoal might get the EGG to 500 over the next 20 minutes. No worries. Now that you have a glowing small pile of coals, spread that out. Now you effectively have 50 fire starters! I place 4-5 dry wood chunks right on those hot coals, then immediately cover with new charcoal to fill the firebox. I then add my indirect setup, close the lid and close the vents down to about where I think they will be for a 250 fire (1/4-1/2 inch on bottom vent). The dome temp drops below 200 and thick smoke starts billowing out immediately. Then I go for a walk. 

It usually takes 30-45 minutes to achieve clean blue smoke, and since there is not much air coming in, the wood chunks don't burn up. They just dry out so they start burning cleanly. Just as soon as I have good smoke, the meat goes on. We had a good career competing and won 15 grand championships with this method so I just wanted to make sure I took the time to share it. Works every time. 

Good luck! Chris

Oh stop talking like you know what you're doing! It's all guesswork, admit it!

LOL. Just kidding, of course. Hahahaha

lkapigian

Ozzie_Isaac said:l

lkapigian said:

Get a stick burner , problem solved 

Get a Traeger.  Problem solved.

LoL

nolaegghead

Traeger - you're trading one problem for a host of others.... "why am I getting the 'LEr' error on my grill?"

Mr1egg

Nature Boy said:

Great question and fun reading the answers. One thing I love is seeing the different ways people do things. Since I got my first EGG in 1998, and started competing in 2002 I have made a lot of changes in the way I do things. I cooked 134 competitions and judged about a dozen and I really learned a ton about the balance of smoke versus all the other flavors you have worked so hard to build up. Dirty smoke can f*%k things up in a heartbeat and totally throw off the balance of what happens when you (or a judge) puts the food in their mouths. So, IMO, strong smoke needs to be avoided at all costs. 

What we ended up settling on is we start a small pile of charcoal and open the vents wide until it is all burning. Even if I want to cook at 250, that pile of charcoal might get the EGG to 500 over the next 20 minutes. No worries. Now that you have a glowing small pile of coals, spread that out. Now you effectively have 50 fire starters! I place 4-5 dry wood chunks right on those hot coals, then immediately cover with new charcoal to fill the firebox. I then add my indirect setup, close the lid and close the vents down to about where I think they will be for a 250 fire (1/4-1/2 inch on bottom vent). The dome temp drops below 200 and thick smoke starts billowing out immediately. Then I go for a walk. 

It usually takes 30-45 minutes to achieve clean blue smoke, and since there is not much air coming in, the wood chunks don't burn up. They just dry out so they start burning cleanly. Just as soon as I have good smoke, the meat goes on. We had a good career competing and won 15 grand championships with this method so I just wanted to make sure I took the time to share it. Works every time. 

Good luck! Chris

This is exactly what I do…. I played around with chips in the beginning and everything was too smoky. Switched to chunks and it made it better but still too smoky when the white billowing smoke was pouring out. Started researching good/bad smoke and realized I need everything to clear up before I put my meat on. Now I have great tasting meats with perfect smoke rings. 

I can’t believe people start their coal and add wood chunks and meat at the same time. The food must be extremely overpowering. 

Mr1egg

https://youtu.be/pbBPQP_eoQY

GrateEggspectations

nolaegghead said:

Traeger - you're trading one problem for a host of others.... "why am I getting the 'LEr' error on my grill?"

As someone who likes low-tech, or even no-tech, reading this statement was deeply satisfying. 

GrateEggspectations

GrateEggspectations said:

JohnInCarolina said:

nolaegghead said:

Courtesy pigbeanus

I miss @PigBeanUs.  Long live that pig and bean farmer…

For a pig and bean farmer, he sure didn’t post many cooks. It was all grammar and old, stinking meat. I say good riddance!

I half expect that he and Lit went off to start their own utopian bbq forum. 

Just wanted to apologize to anyone having perceived this comment as a slight towards either member. That was not my intent, and I posted the above solely in jest. Both members contributed info here that was interesting to me. 

With respect to my last line, all I meant is that both liked to quip from time to time and that perhaps they’d share that elsewhere. I wasn’t privy to whatever caused their banishment from the forum, so the above was not posted in reference to that event.  

Money_Hillbilly

@Mr1egg After many years of egging, running a KBQ and a big gravity fed unit I have learned that smoking temp, wood moisture content and air flow are much more important than wood placement.  If I operate at very low temps (225 or below) I get a creosote type Smokey product.  Egg smoke profiles are much better when operating in the 250-275 degree range.  That low temp smoldering fire makes acrid smoke.  

dstearn

If you are referring to dome temp I would always set my grate temp at 225 so the dome would be around 250. 

1voyager

Nature Boy said:

Thanks Botch. Especially now that we've hung up our competition tongs, I really enjoy sharing what I have learned. If it shortens the learning curve for just one person, it's worth it to me! I actually use the same starting method for grilling, but often don't add wood and I use WAY less charcoal than with a long cook. Most troubles folks have with grilling is that they use too much charcoal and it's much harder to control the fire and you end up with more hot spots. Happy cookin'!
Chris

Well, Chris, I'm one of those persons that you helped!

I tried your method with ribs on Saturday. Best ribs I've ever made.

Thank-you.

danv23

1voyager said:

Nature Boy said:

Thanks Botch. Especially now that we've hung up our competition tongs, I really enjoy sharing what I have learned. If it shortens the learning curve for just one person, it's worth it to me! I actually use the same starting method for grilling, but often don't add wood and I use WAY less charcoal than with a long cook. Most troubles folks have with grilling is that they use too much charcoal and it's much harder to control the fire and you end up with more hot spots. Happy cookin'!
Chris

Well, Chris, I'm one of those persons that you helped!

I tried your method with ribs on Saturday. Best ribs I've ever made.

Thank-you.

Care to share??

1voyager

danv23 said:

1voyager said:

Nature Boy said:

Thanks Botch. Especially now that we've hung up our competition tongs, I really enjoy sharing what I have learned. If it shortens the learning curve for just one person, it's worth it to me! I actually use the same starting method for grilling, but often don't add wood and I use WAY less charcoal than with a long cook. Most troubles folks have with grilling is that they use too much charcoal and it's much harder to control the fire and you end up with more hot spots. Happy cookin'!
Chris

Well, Chris, I'm one of those persons that you helped!

I tried your method with ribs on Saturday. Best ribs I've ever made.

Thank-you.

Care to share??

It's the detailed analysis that @Nature Boy (Chris) posted at the top of this page.