A long overdue Hello to all my friends here at SMF. Been a while since I've been here. Title kinda says it all. Got the Thermoworks Smoke X4 and the Billows temp controller, and when i use it, there is no smoke flavor at all. Noticed it on chicken, ribs and pork butt. If I run the smoker without it, there's plenty of flavor.
For reference, if I'm not using the Billows, I almost always run a full water pan and all vents wide open, and the smoker runs between 250 and 275 depending on the weather. I usually use the Billows if I want temps over 300. I generally use 3 fist sized pecan chunks to a full basket, no matter if I'm using the controller or not. For years, I used a mini tamale pot/Smokey Joe smoker with a BBQ Guru PartyQ, and never experienced this lack of smoke flavor. My guess is the 15cfm blower is too powerful for the smallish chamber of the 18.5 WSM, and its just burning too efficiently and burning off the smoke flavor. Kinda like a catalytic woodstove. Anyway, I'd love to hear your thoughts.
For reference, if I'm not using the Billows, I almost always run a full water pan and all vents wide open, and the smoker runs between 250 and 275 depending on the weather. I usually use the Billows if I want temps over 300. I generally use 3 fist sized pecan chunks to a full basket, no matter if I'm using the controller or not. For years, I used a mini tamale pot/Smokey Joe smoker with a BBQ Guru PartyQ, and never experienced this lack of smoke flavor. My guess is the 15cfm blower is too powerful for the smallish chamber of the 18.5 WSM, and its just burning too efficiently and burning off the smoke flavor. Kinda like a catalytic woodstove. Anyway, I'd love to hear your thoughts.