Black meat

[smokin irish]

Had a mes40 for about 5yrs now,set it and forget it. Just got a offset smoker,we all like to play with fire! Anyway,2 smokes in and I have had no problem keeping 225-250. Start with charcoal in the basket then add seasoned cherrwood,for rest of smoke. My problem is the meat is black when done..My chimney is open and firebox adjusted 1/4 to 1/2 open most of time. Am I using too much wood? Don't want to use all charcoal for heat. I will keep plugging at it,but need a little help !

 

[goensouth]

Do ya have any pics. Sounds like good bark to me.

 

[pineywoods]

My guess is when your adding wood your getting dark billowing smoke?? Try making your splits smaller this will mean you will have to add them more often but you should get a cleaner burning fire. Try splits about the diameter of a beer can and 3-4" shorter than the width of the firebox and you may have to go even smaller in diameter depending on the size of your smoker and firebox. When adding splits you might get a bit of heavier smoke but you don't want a lot for long

 

[BGKYSmoker]

X2 On what Piney said

 

[sescoyote]

Have you tried pre-burning your wood?  Maybe stick a log in but don't let it catch fire, then when it's time to put it on the fire you won't get as much smoke.

 

[meatstalker]

a tip I picked up on here, not sure were . I am a stick burner I learned to place wood in  fire box but not in fire and "pre heat it" like 30 minutes  before actually putting it in to burn I don't know exactly why  but it burns cleaner . so I just rotate when fire needs wood I put heated piece in and add a new piece to be heated  up in its place. This seems to keep the nice blue smoke flowing without getting that what I call lag time of dark smoke and also helps with keeping the smoke chamber temp more even.