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More Smoke?

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easttexasaggie04
easttexasaggie04 Posts: 108
edited August 2012 in EggHead Forum
I use the little hickory chips when smoking. I put a few damp handfuls in after the fire is going. This gives me about 10 minutes of good smoke, then very little. I'm sure the meat still gets the flavor, but I want that bark!

What am I doing wrong? I'd prefer an hour of steady smoke to 10 minutes of a lot.

Just trying to fine tune my egging.
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  • Tjcoley
    Tjcoley Posts: 3,551
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    Don't worry about soaking the chips. Dry is fine. Mix them through out the lump so as the fire spreads, it will find the chips and continue the smoke through out the burn. Recently learned that a handful of chips smokes the same as a fist sized chunk of wood (thanks Stike).
    __________________________________________
    It's not a science, it's an art. And it's flawed.
    - Camp Hill, PA
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  • ribnrun
    ribnrun Posts: 174
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    Just use a few big chunks. If ya mix a few in yer lump you get hours of smoke.
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  • LizzieSamps
    LizzieSamps Posts: 894
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    Yup, no need to soak them. But my guess is you are seeing more moisture than smoke when you throw on the damp chips. The fire is burning off the moisture first. Then once all that dampness is gone its the lighter smoke.
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
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    white 'smoke' is steam.  it also contains true smoke (the stuff you want), so it smells great too.  but that doesn't mean that later in the cook when there is no steam, that there is no smoke.  took me a while to get it thru my head.

    that said, i like to know there's smoke, see smoke (steam) and i admit to the beginner 'need' to have visible smoke throughout most of the cook.

    your fire will grow a little outward, and (at least in my cooker) DOWN.  throwing chips or chunks on top means the fire will have a blast of smoke, but then has the potential to burn down and away from the wood, leaving it high and dry, no longer in contact with the fire.

    i build my fire by mixing wood into the charcoal in the middle, making sure it is top too bottom in among the lump.  a fire that sustains 250 dome is a small fire. if your wood is an inch away, no smoke. 
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
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    been meaning to draw this for a while.  this is how i do it.  your results may vary
    i get smoke for the majority of the burn

    image
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • easttexasaggie04
    easttexasaggie04 Posts: 108
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    Thanks!  Good to know.  

    I've got a 13 pound brisket that is currently on hour 12.  Looking forward to dinner tonight!
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  • lousubcap
    lousubcap Posts: 32,341
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    @ stike-nice drawing.  My chip load is about like yours (throughout the lump) but contrary to most here-I light low&slows around bottom center (build the lump in the center to the rest of the load).  Never lost a fire (now jinxed) but subscribe to the observation that fires burn up as long as there is fuel. Heat/hot rises and structural fires (and this is not an oxygen unlimited environment for sure) tend to burn"up" before heading "down" for more fuel.  Not sure the thermal driver for the downward air-flow in your pic.  But that's the fun of it-find something that works and enjoy.
    Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood. # 38 for the win.  Life is too short for light/lite beer!  Seems I'm livin in a transitional period.
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
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    In my experience, the fire on top establishes a draft. The air just comes in, up, and out. So it follows i think that there being no extra air in the egg, it isn't going to travel sideway across thetop, but rather down where the air/draft is

    It's not like lighting your drapes on fire from the bottom and the fire burning up where the fuel is, so much as letting the fire establish a draft which becomes a path to follow

    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,750
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    @ stike-nice drawing.  My chip load is about like yours (throughout the lump) but contrary to most here-I light low&slows around bottom center (build the lump in the center to the rest of the load).  Never lost a fire (now jinxed) but subscribe to the observation that fires burn up as long as there is fuel. Heat/hot rises and structural fires (and this is not an oxygen unlimited environment for sure) tend to burn"up" before heading "down" for more fuel.  Not sure the thermal driver for the downward air-flow in your pic.  But that's the fun of it-find something that works and enjoy.
    i light the egg from the top, same with candles
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
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  • N_a_Daze
    N_a_Daze Posts: 3
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    Thanks strike for the drawing. That is exactly what mine did on Saturday. Had nice chunks on the outside that never got touched.

    Live and learn. Was my second low and slow.
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
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    Candles :))
    Nice analogy, fish
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
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    Lou. Meant to saytoo that my airflow isn't downward, the fire's movement is. Airflow is up and thru the fire, and out

    Just as in fishless' candle analogy, draft is upward
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • ducksbuddy
    ducksbuddy Posts: 56
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    Thanks Again STIKE!

     

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