How to Get Longest Smoke from Smoke Vault

[endo129]

Hey all,

I'm going on two years with my smoke vault and tips from you all. One thing that still gets me is how to get longer smoke from my smoke vault.

I have tried more chunks, covering in foil, moving the chip tray up off the burner a little all to no avail.

My default method is 2-3 chunks (just smaller than a fist) and let it go until the smoke calms down and starts to for thin and blue. Then, after putting my meat in I have to repeat this process every half hour or so for the length of the smoke. Of course after adding more wood I get a blast of thicker white smoke for a while. I can't help but think that opening the thing every 30 minutes is also extending my smoke times significantly.

What do you all do that are masters of the smoke vault? I got this bc I didn't want to tend to a fire constantly but I'm still spending most of my time looking at the smoke and adding more wood.

How much wood do you use at a time? How large are the chunks? What do you place the tray? What else will make it last longer?

Thanks a ton! No honey do list this weekend so I wanna get my smoke on!

 

[Mattyt7]

To be honest, I’ve been fighting a similar battle trying to figure out how to keep a tbs in my smoke vault as well. I also notice that towards the end of the smoke I get more of a campfire smell than the nice flavor wood smell that I get in the beginning (if that makes sense).

One thing I’ve been experimenting with lately is turning the heat all the way down and laying the chip tray directly on the floor of the burner. This seems to lengthen smoke time I can get from a few chunks. One problem with this method is that the temp of the smoker is only between 150-175, and you don’t want your meat to hang in the danger zone for too long, so I’ve only done this with things I only want a little smoke on like chicken or turkey. After 30 mins- 1 hr, I remove the chip tray and crank it up for the rest of the cook.

Another thing I’ve noticed, the number of chunks doesn’t really affect the length of smoke, but more so the density of the smoke, so I usually stick with 2 at a time.

I’ll be watching to see what anyone else has to add.

 

[Jeff Wright]

I don't have one of these, but if the reason you open it so much is to check smoking, would the Amazn products work with your set up? Just a suggestion.