# How do I get more smoke flavor using a stick burner (lang)?



## timmyt509 (Jun 11, 2013)

I have a Lang 48 and most of the food that comes out of that is really moist and tender, but it seems like there is not lots of smoke flavor. I read on this forum that certain woods provide different flavors. It seems like no matter what type of wood I use tastes the same. All the wood I use is seasoned for a year or so. I am in an area where there is no stick burner bbq places to see if my food should taste the way it should. So any info would be great and thanks!


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## themule69 (Jun 12, 2013)

timmyt509 said:


> I have a Lang 48 and most of the food that comes out of that is really moist and tender, but it seems like there is not lots of smoke flavor. I read on this forum that certain woods provide different flavors. It seems like no matter what type of wood I use tastes the same. All the wood I use is seasoned for a year or so. I am in an area where there is no stick burner bbq places to see if my food should taste the way it should. So any info would be great and thanks!


I am thinking if you want more smoke flavor with a lang. you will have to  Set the house on fire.

David


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## daveomak (Jun 12, 2013)

timmy, evening.....  As near as I can tell, you might have a flame burning in the firebox of the smoker....  are you building a small fire and continuing with that for the duration of the smoke ??  If so, build a big, BIG fire in the firebox, when it get to coals, add a split or two.... or throw in a couple of chunks of flavor wood....   you do not want any flames in the firebox....  flames consume smoke like an afterburner...  once the chunks or splits are thrown in, they should smolder giving off smoke....  bed of coals for heat, hunks for smoke and flavor..... control the cooker temp with the air intake to the firebox.... leave the exhaust stack wide open....  

Dave


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## cliffcarter (Jun 12, 2013)

Sounds like you may be desensitized because you are cooking with wood. You get smoke all over you, you are breathing it, it's on your clothes, in your hair and so forth. While the meat is resting or just before you are ready to take it off, take a quick shower and change your clothes, it will make difference.


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## Dutch (Jun 12, 2013)

Timmy, I'm a Lang 60 owner and I don't have a problem getting the smokey flavor to my food (and no, I don't need to burn the house down). I build my initial fire with white oak and when I replenish the wood I'll use a fruit wood or maple splits depending on what I smoke.

You didn't mention what woods you are using; List the woods you are using and we may be able to provide additional help to you.


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## roller (Jun 12, 2013)

Yes what kind of wood are you using. I would think if you used some type of Oak and follow the advise given above you should not have any problems..


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## turnandburn (Jun 12, 2013)

i didnt know it was possible to get MORE of a smoke flavor on a stick burner...maybe cuz in texas we use pecan and mesquite....its deeply embedded in the meat..haha. i guess you could ask for less smoke flavor, but thats insanity to me! lol.


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## crockadale (Jun 12, 2013)

Look into the wood your using, you said it was seasoned for a year or two?? Seams a little old to me for some milder woods.


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## timmyt509 (Jun 12, 2013)

I use apple and hickory.


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## timmyt509 (Jun 12, 2013)

Dave I do always have a flame going in the firebox, but usually wait until a slpit is about 2/3 burned then throw another on. Maybe there is smoke on me and I need to shower and also it could be the wood the is old, but I thought it is good to use well seasoned wood.


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## daveomak (Jun 12, 2013)

If you have a flame, there will be NO smoke.... you must have coals and splits smoldering on top.....     Dave


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## cliffcarter (Jun 13, 2013)

DaveOmak said:


> If you have a flame, there will be NO smoke.... you must have coals and splits smoldering on top.....     Dave


Actually you can get thin blue smoke by keeping a small, hot fire, but even if there is no visible smoke you will still have smoke flavor imparted to the food by the burning wood. It is important to keep

the wood burning in an offset to prevent creosote formation when cooking at low temps.


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## sqwib (Jun 13, 2013)

I use my Pit to "Q" my food and I use my gosm to smoke food.

If you want your stick burner to smoke, build the fire on one side and add splits to the other side to smolder longer, not my preferred method.

Place a split on the firebox until it smokes then place in the firebox away from the fire.













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__ sqwib
__ Jun 13, 2013


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## timmyt509 (Jun 13, 2013)

Thank for all the info, I will try some different methods. I do get the thin blue smoke and towards the last few hours of cooking I get where it is just clear heat comming from the stack.


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## averlin (May 11, 2016)

I have a Lang 60 and I have a similar problem, when I switch between using cherry and hickory, the ribs always taste exactly the same to me?  I was expecting a more bacon like flavor with the hickory, but it tastes just like the cherry.  I do enjoy the smoke flavor more the next day when I re-heat the leftovers (when I haven't been in front of the smoker all day).  The wood I use is kiln dried and I do keep a flame going for about 75% of the time.


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## daveomak (May 11, 2016)

averlin said:


> I have a Lang 60 and I have a similar problem, when I switch between using cherry and hickory, the ribs always taste exactly the same to me?  I was expecting a more bacon like flavor with the hickory, but it tastes just like the cherry.  I do enjoy the smoke flavor more the next day when I re-heat the leftovers (when I haven't been in front of the smoker all day).  The wood I use is kiln dried and I do keep a flame going for about 75% of the time.


Kill the flame....  cut down on the air to get the wood to smolder....  reduce the smoker temp to the 130-140 ish range and good stuff will happen...  You may need a bigger bed of coals to get that to happen....    Most folks, when starting out, build a fire that is way too small...  they adjust the temp by adding wood instead of adjusting the air flow....  

Only an observation from talking with folks that are starting out using an RF smoker for the first few times.....


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## averlin (May 12, 2016)

You don't think 130-140 is too low?  It sounds like I'll be cold smoking my ribs


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## daveomak (May 12, 2016)

The numbers below are  Marianski's suggestions......   After smoke is applied, the temp is elevated to cook the product...

Marianski:

*Cold Smoking*

Cold smoking at 52-71° F (12-22° C), from 1-14 days

*Warm Smoking*

Continuous smoking at 73-104° F (23-40° C), from 4-48 hours depending on the diameter of the meat, humidity 80%, and medium smoke.

*Hot Smoking*

Hot smoking is the most common method of smoking. Continuous smoking at 105-140° F (41-60° C), 0.5-2 hours


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## cliffcarter (May 12, 2016)

averlin said:


> You don't think 130-140 is too low?  It sounds like I'll be cold smoking my ribs


Yes it is too low for ribs, Marianski is talking about smoking cured meats, not BBQ.

I cook my ribs with wood splits at 250 and always get good smoke flavor, IMHO there is no need to go lower and have the wood smolder.


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## daveomak (May 12, 2016)

cliffcarter said:


> averlin said:
> 
> 
> > You don't think 130-140 is too low?  It sounds like I'll be cold smoking my ribs
> ...


So Cliff, you are saying I'm wrong ???


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## jp61 (May 12, 2016)

cliffcarter said:


> Yes it is too low for ribs, Marianski is talking about smoking cured meats, not BBQ.


Agree 100%.


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## 3montes (May 12, 2016)

This is what a typical fire in my stick burner looks like. Once the steel is heated it doesn't take much of a bed of coals to keep the heat steady. The residual heat in the steel is doing the work. Sometimes I have to add wood when it's really not needed just to keep enough coals to ignite the next piece of wood. I have splits of all different sizes and use them all during a cook. From pencil size splits all the way up to 6 to 8 inch splits.













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__ 3montes
__ May 12, 2016






Similar to what Dave was talking about. A good bed of coals with splits on top. There is a fine line here. You don't want smoldering for any length of time you will get too much creosote and your meat will have a bitter taste.

Most of the time all I can see is a heat signature coming out of my exhaust with a whisp of smoke every now and again.

This is a pic of my exhaust during a cook. When I see that I know it's time to stir the wood in the fire box. That's a little too thick for me. Sometimes I will let that go for 15 or 20 minutes if I think I want something to have a little stronger smoke flavor. But at this point I can open the fire box and poke the wood around get a little flame going to settle the smoke back down and get back to my heat signature.

Whats coming out of your exhaust will tell you everything you need to know about what's going on and what you need to do next.













708006d9-ba6b-4c5e-a3b8-822f3a4ce2da.jpg



__ 3montes
__ May 12, 2016






Stick with it and don't get discouraged. Stick burning has a learning curve but once you get there it's second nature. Nothing more rewarding than stick burning.


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## averlin (May 12, 2016)

Thanks for the advice, I'm going to try this next time (big fire, let it cool and run at 150 for an hour or so).  I had the leftover ribs today and I was able to tell that I used hickory this time and not cherry, which was good (perhaps too much smoke in the lungs yesterday) however I still think the smoke flavor was way too mild.  

3montes, I usually keep the smoke running clear because I thought that was right, the minute I see white smoke I'm getting the flames back up with splits (and leaving the fire box door open until it's clear again).  I like what you're saying about leaving it going with the white smoke for a little while to bring up the smoke flavor, I'm going to give that a try.


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## stickyfingers (May 12, 2016)

DaveOmak said:


> timmy, evening.....  As near as I can tell, you might have a flame burning in the firebox of the smoker....  are you building a small fire and continuing with that for the duration of the smoke ??  If so, build a big, BIG fire in the firebox, when it get to coals, add a split or two.... or throw in a couple of chunks of flavor wood....   you do not want any flames in the firebox....  flames consume smoke like an afterburner...  once the chunks or splits are thrown in, they should smolder giving off smoke....  bed of coals for heat, hunks for smoke and flavor..... control the cooker temp with the air intake to the firebox.... leave the exhaust stack wide open....
> 
> Dave


Nailed it!


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## 3montes (May 12, 2016)

I've never used a reverse flow so I can't speak from experience in regards to that. Could be a lot of different factors going on here. Maybe your expectations of what smoked foods should taste like is different from others. If you want a heavy smoke flavor you will need a heavy smoke which means a cold smoldering fire. As I said earlier there's a fine line between smoke flavor and bitter creosote flavor. Myself I prefer a milder smoke flavor. I don't like anything that totally over powers the natural flavor of the meat.

You can try your method stated above but you will won't be accomplishing much at 150 degrees except keeping your meat in the danger zone longer.

Try some hickory salt in your rubs or some of the other smoked spices to amp up the smoky flavor more. The Spice house or Savory's carry all sorts of smoke spices such as paprika, salt pepper and so on.


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## averlin (May 16, 2016)

I've tried a lot of BBQ around the country, some over smoked (bitter creosote) and some (like mine) too little smoke flavor.  When I get the chance, I'm going to try some of these techniques and see if I can get what I'm looking for.


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## daniels (May 16, 2016)

Every time I smoke fish, chicken, pork, or whatever it ALWAYS tastes better to me the next day.  A good part of the flavor of food is the aroma.  I think my nose gets saturated with the wonderful smell of wood smoke while I'm smoking meat and I can't smell well for the rest of the day.  The next day ... mmmmm!


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## krex1010 (May 16, 2016)

cliffcarter said:


> Sounds like you may be desensitized because you are cooking with wood. You get smoke all over you, you are breathing it, it's on your clothes, in your hair and so forth. While the meat is resting or just before you are ready to take it off, take a quick shower and change your clothes, it will make difference.


This was my first thought, after spending hours tending the smoker I definitely am less sensitive to smoke flavor and smell...kinda like when you catch a whif of the clothes you were wearing while cooking he next day they reek of smoke but while you were cooking you could barely notice. I always enjoy taking a break, after I pull the meat, a shower and a change of clothes will reset you.


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## averlin (May 31, 2016)

I did spare ribs again the other day for Memorial Day and got great results.  All I did different was I let the fire smolder a little more than I usually would, I let a little white smoke run through and some lower temps while the fire wasn't flaming up.  The result was a nice, stronger than usual hickory flavor.  Not too strong but better than what I was getting.  Of course, as always, the flavor was even better the next day.


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