# Ribs and white smoke. Did I already screw up?



## bgaviator (May 13, 2018)

Live cook going on now with baby backs. I’m so pissed. I had the smoker stable at 225 and I put my ribs on. Then I started getting white smoke. I noticed the temp of the smoker dropped to 198 after I put the ribs on. 
It took 30 minutes for the white smoke to stop and now I’m back to blue smoke that smells good. 
My Kamado has a bbq guru party q on it that helps hold temps. Not sure why it let the smoker drop so low and it took so long to get back to temp. It’s actually over temping now by 25 degrees. Overall I like the party q device, but it’s behavior can be erratic sometimes. 
Were my coals maybe truly not holding at 225 like the Party Q indicated?  My last few cooks I’ve been lighting a single starter cube. And I already have the wood chunks in place and I put the heat plates on and I let the Party Q ramp up my temp that way. Should I be waiting until the smoker is up to temp before I put the wood down?  Is that maybe causing problems?

How likely is it that my ribs will be ruined since they had white smoke on them for the first 30?


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## BKING! (May 13, 2018)

Well if the smoke was blue before the ribs were put on and then turned white after putting them on it may be white smoke from grease drippings. This has happened to me before and is common with drum style cookers and won’t create creosote flavor but a grilled flavor.

If the smoke wasn’t blue before putting the meat on just wait longer next time for the wood to start combusting properly.

If the white smoke was the dirty smoke I highly doubt you will notice a difference if the smoke was white for just a little bit. I had a few minutes of white smoke on my offset smoker cook yesterday (I needed to knock some ashes off the coals) and the flavor of the food was a very clean smoke flavor.

So don’t worry about it. Worst case scenario your food has a very mild barely perceivable bitterness to it.


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## bgaviator (May 13, 2018)

I’m not sure it was even really producing smoke yet before I put the ribs on. Once I saw the Party Q was holding at 225 I put the ribs on. I usually wait about 10 minutes before I turn the Party Q back on. When I did the temp was slightly below 200 and that’s when the white smoke started coming out. Took 30 for the Party Q to get it back and I’ve been producing blue smoke for the last 30 minutes now.


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## bgaviator (May 13, 2018)

Is there anything wrong with putting the wood down as I’m starting my charcoal and ramping up the temp like I tend to normally do?  Or should I be waiting until the bed of coals is up to temp before I go putting the wood chunks on?  Does it make a difference?


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## dcecil (May 13, 2018)

I’m unfamiliar with the grill and tools you have with it but your ribs will be fine.  We all go through to much white smoke from time to time but the important thing is you got it under control in a timely manner.  I’m sure some body who know the equipment your using will be along soon.  Way to not panic and get your cook back under control.  Good job


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## BKING! (May 13, 2018)

bgaviator said:


> Should I be waiting until the smoker is up to temp before I put the wood down?  Is that maybe causing problems?
> 
> How likely is it that my ribs will be ruined since they had white smoke on them for the first 30?



You want the wood to have plenty of time to heat up to go through the stages of combustion so I’d keep doing what you’re doing. FYI I have a kamado joe big joe. The biggest problem with kamados are they are so efficient they require little airflow to hold low and slow. Problem is good smoke requires lots of airflow which would cause the temp to skyrocket in a kamado. One work around is to cook with a water pan on top of the heat deflector. This will lower fuel efficiency but because water is such a good “heat sink” it will allow you to cook low and slow with more airflow and therefore better smoke. Temps will also stabilize more easily.


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## dcecil (May 13, 2018)

bgaviator said:


> Is there anything wrong with putting the wood down as I’m starting my charcoal and ramping up the temp like I tend to normally do?  Or should I be waiting until the bed of coals is up to temp before I go putting the wood chunks on?  Does it make a difference?


On my cooker which is a stick burner I always incorporate wood in the initial start up.  Those are the coals I wanna use.  The charcoal for me and my pit is basically an igniter.   Now remember., I am talking about my method as I am unfamiliar with your pit.  If your pit can handle good heat and utilizes other than just charcoal I would definitely start it up with the mixture of charcoal and wood.


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## bgaviator (May 13, 2018)

Well I can tell you the hickor combined with cherry is smelling incredible right now.


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## dcecil (May 13, 2018)

That’s a great choice of wood combo for ribs,


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## BKING! (May 13, 2018)

bgaviator said:


> Well I can tell you the hickor combined with cherry is smelling incredible right now.



The two best smelling woods in my opinion.


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## drunkenmeatfist (May 13, 2018)

I have a kamado as my main smoker and have the Party Q too. Here is my usual process which involves some laziness. I start by raking around the lump from the last cook to get the ash and small bits to fall into the ash drawer. Then I put a few chunks of wood scattered around the top. Dump a layer of fresh lump on top of that and then light a starter cube. While the cube is burning I will go get the meat ready. Once the cube is gone and the fire is going I will throw a few more wood chunks around the fire. Then I put the deflector, grates, and Party Q on. I also usually throw the meat on at this time even though the grill isn't up to temp. 

At the beginning there is plenty of thicker white smoke and within about 20 minutes the grill is up to the temp I set the Party Q for. I have never noticed any ill effect from the white smoke on the fresh meat. I just do it this way because it is the easiest for me.


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## bgaviator (May 13, 2018)

Another question...have you ever seen a pack of baby backs from the store already have the membrane pulled off?? I bought two racks from Kroger that were vac sealed and frozen. When I went to prep the first rack I was puzzled. I couldn’t find a membrane to pull off!  For the longest time I thought I was going crazy thinking it had to be there. I kept trying to slide a butter knife under any little pieces of fat I was seeing, but I finally concluded there just was no membrane on this rack. The second rack clearly had one which I pulled off. It was just strange and really throwing me off during the prep.


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## BKING! (May 13, 2018)

About half I buy have the membrane and half don’t.


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## SonnyE (May 13, 2018)

BKING! said:


> About half I buy have the membrane and half don’t.



I get that, too.
The bony side has membrane, the top side don't. :confused:o_O:rolleyes:


Now you have to admit, you left the door wide open. :p:D

OP, my first thought was you were seeing some initial steam as your chamber was balancing with the meat.
As my ribs reach doneness, my temperature rises slightly. I figure that is due to the moisture overall is drying up.


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## dcecil (May 13, 2018)

SonnyE said:


> I get that, too.
> The bony side has membrane, the top side don't. :confused:o_O:rolleyes:
> 
> 
> Now you have to admit, you left the door wide open. :p:D


Now that was funny,


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## bgaviator (May 13, 2018)

Last hour of the cook. Just took the ribs out of the foil packs. They are almost TOO tender. I did two hours in the foil. 2-2-1 method at 230 degrees. When I tried to take the ribs off with the tongs the bones were falling through the meat!  The one end of one of the racks almost disintegrated on me!


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## bgaviator (May 13, 2018)

I got a little of the juice from the foil pack on my finger. Great taste. Ribs smell great too.


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## bgaviator (May 13, 2018)




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## BKING! (May 13, 2018)

Everyone likes there ribs at different levels of tenderness. 3-1-.5 is what I do if I wrap and if cooking low and slow. Your ribs look amazing! This is for baby backs btw.


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## bgaviator (May 13, 2018)

My guests said they were some of the best ribs they’ve ever had!  The one chunk of hickory and two cherry was a great winning combo on the smoke flavor!


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## BKING! (May 13, 2018)

bgaviator said:


> My guests said they were some of the best ribs they’ve ever had!  The one chunk of hickory and two cherry was a great winning combo on the smoke flavor!



Good! glad the ribs the turned out great.


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## SonnyE (May 14, 2018)

bgaviator said:


> Last hour of the cook. Just took the ribs out of the foil packs. They are almost TOO tender. I did two hours in the foil. 2-2-1 method at 230 degrees. When I tried to take the ribs off with the tongs the bones were falling through the meat!  The one end of one of the racks almost disintegrated on me!



Your ribs look like they came out amazing to me.
Personally I like "fall offen the bone" tender, myself.
But the wife and Family have given me strict orders not to mess with the ribs. (Grilled)
I created a monster, and I'm chained to my grill. :(


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## noboundaries (May 14, 2018)

Glad the ribs turned out so good. Always a great feeling.

I don't have a Kamado type smoker, but I'd often get white smoke after loading the meat on my WSM. I made a change that eliminated the white smoke. I used to put chunks of wood buried in the charcoal, and finish the cold load with chunks of wood on the top of the pile. No more. I still put two layers of wood, but they are now both buried in the charcoal, with the top layer of wood just below the top layer of charcoal. I allow the smoker to come up to temp over 90 mins to 2 hours before loading the meat, instead of 30-60 like I had been using. Now I get no white smoke at all and can see TBS (thin blue smoke) hours longer into the smoke compared to what it was before.

Give it a try. Can't hurt.


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