Smoking Questions?

[polarsusd81]

So I just bought a nice charcoal grill with a side fire box for smoking. I would really like to try to smoke something on my own but the destructions for doing so that came with the grill are not clear at all when it comes to smoking. I looked at B&N bookstore yesterday and could not find any books on smoking, plenty on grilling, but nothing for smoking. I am new to this so any help would be nice.

How do I build the fire for smoking? Do I build a fire with charcoal and wood together, charcoal on the bottom and wood above, just wood?

Next would be to soak or not to soak? I have heard good and bad from both sides of the spectrum, soaking lets the wood last longer, but I have heard some say the flavor becomes somewhat overbearing. What is your opinion?

How do I maintain the fire for a long smoke time, say in the future, I want to smoke a turkey that weighs about 10 to 12 pounds. How do I keep a constant temp and smoke level for the 10 to 12 hours it will take to cook the bird? These are just a few of the questions I have and I know there are people on this board that have a lot of experience with smoking meats.

Thanks,

Tom

[woody1975]

We have a smoker with the side box like you are referring to.

We have had good luck with it. My only complaint is that it is a little small.

As far as some of your questions- To maintain the Temp., just have to watch it. Ours had a vent on the top of the smokehouse and a vent on the side box. Once we got it to the temp that we wanted - we would shut the top vent almost completely and the side vent we left about 1/2 way open.

Other than that - I suggest soaking the wood. The problem that I have found is that if you don't soak it, you get more fire than smoke (screwed up some ribs because of this)

We just kept adding charcoal to heat it up and wet wood to maintain smoke.

So to sum it up....

We use charcoal to start and heat it

Soak our wood

Keep an eye on it for temp and find the "sweet" spot for you vents once you get the temp you want.

Last year we processed 3 deer entirely - I have made about 20 racks of ribs - and about 20 pounds of jerky and this is what has worked for me.

Just my opinion.

DL

[polarsusd81]

So do you mix the charcoal and the wet wood together or do you put the wood on top of the charcoal. I have the Char-Griller pro and from the sounds of it, it seems you have the same one. If so, do you place the wood on the second rack in the side fire box or in with the charcoal on the bottom rack?

Thanks for the reply by the way.

Tom

[woody1975]

After the coals are going good, we put the wet wood right on top of the coals. It cools it down a bit at first, but as it heats up - THe smoke gets rolling pretty good. About the time the wood is just burning we add charcoal and once that gets going ----More wood.

I am by no means a pro, but it has worked for us.

[Stiff]

I'd keep the charcoal on the bottom and put the wet wood chunks on top of the coals. Keep the bed of coals going and you can adjust the amount of heat using the vents.

I wouldn't be afraid to use some bigger dry wood chunks (rather than charcoal) for heat as well if you have a source of apple wood. I think you just need to experiment a little and it will works itself out pretty quickly.

Definately make use of some temperature gauges in the cook box though.

Also, do a search on the internet for "the smoke ring" for tons of general information.

Put some beer on ice and keep an eye on the temperature until you know what to expect from your individual unit.

[New Yankee]

Agree w/Stiff, the site he references will give you more info than you can process. I think some folks tend to oversmoke - you don't need a bunch, and less is better than more when you're working out the kinks - nothing worse than BBQ w/a creosote layer...

In general, try to keep the cooking unit at around 225-275 and don't peek too much

[Surface Tension]

Start off by building your fire and let it burn down to coals before adding any meat. If you let the wood flame you'll get soot. The idea is to use coals from either wood or charcoal. When you feed the fire box use coals, you'll need to have a separate grill designated for that.

Amount of smoke depends on what your using for heat. When using wood or charcoal you already have that for flavor. I'd use seasoned (dry) maple for the fuel source. If your using charcoal use the Cowboy brand because it made from only wood. To add smoke I use a tin can with the lid still attached. Add the chips and close the lid, they can flame because theres not enough air, so they smoke and thats what your trying to do.