# Creosote/proper smoke flavor



## tony80

Hello,

I'm a novice at smoking meat and I have a few concers regaurding creosote and proper smoke flavor. I'm cooking with a home made offset smoker similar in size and design to a lang 48 patio. I've been using pecan as my base wood and adding fresh peach or seasoned hickory. Both seem to produce the same spicy flavor... Perhaps it's normal.... Don't get me wrong, the taste is not bad but I'm unsure of what a good smoke flavor should taste like... Any help would be greatly appreciated...

1) Can it be harmful to your health?

2) What does it taste like?

3) can you visually see it on the meat?

4)My ribs and pork butt both finish with quite a spicy flavor... I imagine the type of wood used will create a spicy flavor or do all woods produce this effect.

Thank you,

Tony


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## tjohnson

Tony80 said:


> Hello,
> 
> I'm a novice at smoking meat and I have a few concers regaurding creosote and proper smoke flavor. I'm cooking with a home made offset smoker similar in size and design to a lang 48 patio. I've been using pecan as my base wood and adding fresh peach or seasoned hickory. Both seem to produce the same spicy flavor... Perhaps it's normal.... Don't get me wrong, the taste is not bad but I'm unsure of what a good smoke flavor should taste like... Any help would be greatly appreciated...
> 
> 1) Can it be harmful to your health? Most Likely NOT GOOD!
> 
> 2) What does it taste like? Metalic
> 
> 3) can you visually see it on the meat? Not Really
> 
> 4)My ribs and pork butt both finish with quite a spicy flavor... I imagine the type of wood used will create a spicy flavor or do all woods produce this effect. Define "Spicy"
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> Tony


My Answers in RED

Todd


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## tony80

It's a very distinct bite so to speak. Not easy to explain. My rubs typically have chile powder and or cayene. But I can tell that this is not from the spices i'm using.

Prior to having my smoker I would slow (somewhat) cook my ribs in a weber kettle with charcoal and add chips to the coals. I never got the strong bite that I've been getting with the stick burner.

Hopefully that helps! I suppose going to some good smoke house would be a good start to see what properly smoked meat tastes like...


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## tjohnson

Creosote tastes "Metallic", can leave your lips & tongue numb.

TJ


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## tony80

Thank you for the help TJ.... It doesn't leave my lips or tonque numb so maybe this is simple a taste trait of a true wood fired smoker.

Do you ever burn fresh wood? I've seen fresh peach used on BBQ pitmasters, so I'm assuming it's ok.

Thank you again for the input.... I've been truely frustrated so it's nice that people on the forum are so willing to help!

Tony


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## chef jimmyj

If Creosote is a concern, you get more from Green wood than Seasoned wood.  Try some simple Smokes, like Chicken, with each wood and see what is giving the objectionable taste, my quess will be the green peach wood...JJ


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## rbranstner

Normally you will dry the wood before you use it but I believe I have heard of people using freshly cut wood before if my memory serves me right. Maybe  try using a lighter wood such as apple or cherry. One other question I have is what does your smoke look like? Is it heavy and white or light/thin blue? You want thin blue smoke. If you can smell the smoke you are smoking. To much heavy smoke isn't such a good thing especially if it is heavy and white then you will have creosote for sure.


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## tony80

@ Chef Jimmy... Thank you for the advice, thats a great way to pinpoint my problem. I need to focus on changing one thing at a time so I can note the differences. I have a bad habit of changing two or three things in the process, then I have no idea which change made which effect.

The pecan I have been using is only about to months old as well, so maybe it's to green as well.

@ Rbranstner... The smoke does look very heavy at times, especially when I have tried loading the firebox and choking the vents down to get a more stable temp for a longer period. From what I've been reading that will create creosote. My next smoke I plan to burn a smaller hotter fire with good air flow and control the temp more with the size of the fire and minimaly adjusting the dampers from full open. Does that sound right to you? I've noticed before that the hotter the fire the cleaner the smoke. Also... I always run my stack damper fully open, I have only been choking the firebox dampers.

Thank you guys for all the input... I really do appreciate it.

Tony


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## venture

I think you are on the right road.  When "choking down" a fire, do not do it with the chimney or exhaust vent.  That will trap the smoke.  Also, sounds like the wood could use a little more seasoning.  Billowing white smoke is a great way to get bitter meat.

Stick with it, you will find that perfect combo!

Good luck and good smoking.


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## exhaustedspark

I have used Green wood for smoking fish. (Alder)

You do have a higher chance of getting Creosote with green (Damp Wood) and slow volume of air.

I prefer using aged wood chunks and or Sawdust.

Today i am trying out some wood Pellets as i have never used them before and so far the smell and look seems OK














On thing to try is to rub your finger inside the exhaust whole and if it comes out wet and yucky that i think would show if you are having a creosote problem. I must stress that i am guessing though about that.

Have fun and Happy smoken.

Karl


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## tony80

Thank you everyone... I can't wait for my next smoke!


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## sqwib

If it tingles like this







do this


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## tjohnson

SQWIB said:


> If it tingles like this
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> do this


Now That's Funny!

TJ


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## jirodriguez

LOL... Sqwib!

Tony - a good way to find out if it is the wood smoke is to use lump charcoal for a run instead of straight wood. If the "spicy" flavor is not there when using the lump, then chances are you are getting a small amount of creasote - maybe not enough to numb the tounge, but just enough to notice. A lot of us use lump charcoal for the main heat, then toss a few small chunks of flavor wood in every so often to get the smoke.


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## oldschoolbbq

Tony, I am a dedicated stickburner, and it sounds like you are getting a lot of "White"smoke as you cook
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





,this carries the creosote you get a taste on your meat. A pic of your smoke would be helpful. I doubt if the Spices are the suspect. May I suggest an alternate direction to your Smoking
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





    Try bruning your wood to embers before you introduce it to your SFB...  






	

		
			
		

		
	
  like this; I do this when I have an overnioght smoke, friends over and drinks flowing
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





.

   This way you only get the clean burning fuel and heat you want without chasing temps. up and down. As in this pic,I have a small-hot fire of all embers (preburnt). My smoke looks like this-
	

		
			
		

		
	






	

		
			
		

		
	
  and stays around 225*f.,and when controled with the intake,the temp . can be manipulated to be hotter or cooler.(My exhaust stays wide open).

My results are yummy looking and have no Creosote taste.

    Don't know how big your Smoker is ,but in mine I can toss in a (heated) chunk of wood about 3'X3'X 8"and it catches almost immediately giving very little to  no white smoke.(I keep some sticks on top of my FB to get hot ,helps in ignition).

    
	

		
			
		

		
	






	

		
			
		

		
	
  The white is bad JUJU
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





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    The difference can be seen here better here-






	

		
			
		

		
	
  This was not bad , but not what I like. Yes I use a lot of wood,but I search the neioborhood for someone cutting a tree and ask if I might have a bit;all they can say is no
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





.Just sayin',

Have fun and...............


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## venture

I couldn't echo Johnny and Stan more!  I use the amns for most of my smokes now.

When I use chunks I do a "pre burn" as Stan has described.  We like lighter smoke flavor, so I will put a chunk of wood a little way down from the top in my chimney starter when starting a load of "lump" or "natural wood charcoal".  If you want to use more wood, a "burn barrel" is helpful.  Burn the wood down to embers before adding it to the smoke. 

The white smoke will kill your meat.

Good luck and good smoking.


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## tony80

OldSchoolBBQ.... On my last smoke I preburnt the initial logs down to coals, then added them to the smoker. I had to nearly close my intake dampers in order to maintain a low temp. When doing this the smoke got very heavy and white. After intially preburning, I did add green peach wood to the fire as my coal bed reduced in size and my temps started to drop... So I'm sure this was bad, but I'm unsure if loading with pre buned logs then closing down the intake is bad...  From what I have read, you do not want to choke down the intake even if you do pre burn.... Does that sound right to you? On my next smoke I plan to preburn again, but use much less and run my intakes as close to wide open as I can. The only problem I can see with this is I am going to be constantly adding to the "small" fire in order to maintain my temp without closing down my dampers. Of course I will need to use them, but hopefully close to wide open to maintain good air flow.

If I am way off on this, please guide me in the right direction.... I'd love to be able to load the smoker with more pre burned logs and close down the intakes to maintain that low temp for longer periods instead of adding every half hour or so....

Please help!!!

Thank you all for the input!


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## jirodriguez

It's the exhaust you don't want to close down, if you pre-burned long enough (to coals) you should not be getting the heavy white smoke, but definately pick Stan's (OldSchool) brain. He actually uses all wood, I just use lump or briquets and add small chunks of wood.


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## roller

SQWIB that is funny but right on...LMAO....


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## oldschoolbbq

Tony,pictures say a thousand words,from what I am reading,you are putting too many embers in the FB. Overcrowding the FB will cause less air to get to the Embers/Wood and create a whiteout...Green wood is tricky to use and I suggest not trying it (later when you get handier with fire you can sneak in a green stick.

    Your Smoker is about mine's size,so your fire should look something like this:






	

		
			
		

		
	
  The fire itself is about 8"X8"   in a 20"SFB(I have fire brick for mass and help in cold weather),

but my point is to size your fire to your smoker. When you said you shut the intake I knew you had no other answer.your smoker needs air and will go into a smolder without it and you then may think 'open it all the way' but that's wrong too!The blaze will return and you are on a temp. chase;up and down.

    Say you have a fire like the one shown,glowing as it is,the proper setting for your intake will be open about 1/4 way;just enough air to come under the fire and stoke the embers.Also.you need 4" or so space below the fire grate to allow circulation of the air from the intake.

    The ONLY time I completely close my intake is when I put in a stick that blazes too long;the wood then gets hotter and burns cleaner when I open the vent again.By that time it's started to go to embers itself;you will have a short time of white,but will go to Blue soon.

     Another thing I do is leave the lid shut on the Cooking Meat and only feed the FB.

     A small glowing fire as this one will need no tending for about an hour, and the temp. will stay steadier(I watch my therms. at grate level for changes of +/-10*f of my cooking temp. So,when I cook at 220*f; I can let it drift (down say) to210*f,open the inlet a little and watch to see if it continues to drop, I add a stick,open the intake to, say 1/2 and give it a little boost of air and when the stick catches,close the air back down to 1/4.

     point is,a large fire can get out of hand and take an hour or more trying to control it,a small fire is easier to control and working in "small" increments of the intake.

      Patience is your greatest asset,settle down,have a drink
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





and some good conversation and let the lid stay shut...that meat won't go anywhere and you conserve a lot of good cooking heat.This is what you want:






	

		
			
		

		
	
  These were in for 15hr. @ 220*(+/-10*or so), and






	

		
			
		

		
	
   see,tender and juicy;and no I did not wrap them
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Hope this helps and...


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## sqwib

Tony80 said:


> On my last smoke I preburnt the initial logs down to coals, then added them to the smoker. I had to nearly close my intake dampers in order to maintain a low temp. When doing this the smoke got very heavy and white. After intially preburning, I did add green peach wood to the fire as my coal bed reduced in size and my temps started to drop... So I'm sure this was bad, but I'm unsure if loading with pre buned logs then closing down the intake is bad...





Tony80 said:


> Both seem to produce the same spicy flavor... Perhaps it's normal.... Don't get me wrong, the taste is not bad but I'm unsure of what a good smoke flavor should taste like... Any help would be greatly appreciated...









Now I'm confused...

By spicy do you mean a tingling sensation on your tongue?

Not bad,?, please elaborate on this.

Were the ribs sooty or charred black?

And as Johnny pointed out, coals aren't gonna give you white smoke

Tony, when you do your next smoke, take a ton of pics and notes and keep us posted...good luck!


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## venture

If you had to choke down the intakes to maintain temp, you are adding too many embers as earlier noted.

Also, I would lose the green wood until you get that white smoke issue in hand.

Good luck and good smoking.


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## tony80

Thank you so much Oldschool... I was on the right track when I preburnt and closed down the intake... My fire was just a little to big so I was having to close the intakes nearly completely closed! I did however learn after my first fire that small adjustments and patience works much better than making those big adjustments and going crazy trying to control the temp. It's nice to know that I can use the intake dampers to help control the temp.. And I fully understand sizing the fire to where I'm running the vents about 1/4 open... Thank you so much for the clarification. I really appreciate you and everyone else taking the time to help a newbie like myself.


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## tony80

@ SQWIB... Yeah I can see where that can be confusing! When I said it doesn't taste bad.... What I really meant is it doesn't taste obviously terrible! It may have been creosote... I don't know how bad it creosote really tastes, and maybe it was only slightly effected by Creosote... The problem is that I have only had real BBQ 1 time before and it was long ago. I don't recall all the flavor profiles associated with "Smoked Meat". One may be the spicy flavor that I'm describing. I can't think of a good way to describe what I'm talking about... Perhaps I'm crazy and the flavor is coming from my rubs... I'm going to do some more smoking this weekend and I'll let you all know how it turns out...

Thanks!


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## raymo76

Lots of good info being shared there.


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## rgraham

Also make sure your meat is room temperature before adding it to the grate. If it's cold, the smoke/creosote will tend to want to stick to the meat adding even more off flavor to the meat. Kind of how water condensates on the side of a glass of water with ice in it. If you've been eating meat with creosote on it, most likely you will still taste it on your tongue the next morning. It's nasty stuff, and once you've tasted it, you'll not want to again.


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## ilovecanadabeef

hi guys,

I am new to this smoking deal also and looking (reading) for advice. I built my own horizontal offset smoker. 40" long cooking chamber. It's a reverse flow smoker with a plate inside to direct the flow of heat / smoke.Everything is made out of 1/4" plate. It weighs around 500 lbs. I came up with the design after a lot of reading on line. Anyways, I can't get it hot enough with charcoal alone, I need to burn a wood fire. This is no problem. My problem is that it needs to be tended to constantly. My brother-in-law has a cheap smoker made out of sheet metal. It is what is called on line as a COS (cheap offset smoker). His heat source is charcoal and has no problem maintaining a fairly constant temp. Because I want to avoid creosote and maintain a constant temp I build a small wood fire and add to it every half an hour or so. Is that how it supposed to work? I mean can I add more wood and still avoid the creosote problem, or half an hour is just how it is? Please put your 2 cents worth in if you have a solution.

Thanks,

Alex


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## venture

Hi Alex!

We could help you a lot more if we could see some detailed pics of your smoker.  I have a couple of ideas from your post, but we would really need pics of your smoker and details of how you are using it to proceed.

Also, please stop by the "Roll Call" section and introduce yourself.

We have lots of experienced and helpful people here for you.  We also have some experienced fabricators.

Good luck and good smoking.


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## sqwib

rgraham said:


> Also make sure your meat is room temperature before adding it to the grate. If it's cold, the smoke/creosote will tend to want to stick to the meat adding even more off flavor to the meat. Kind of how water condensates on the side of a glass of water with ice in it. If you've been eating meat with creosote on it, most likely you will still taste it on your tongue the next morning. It's nasty stuff, and once you've tasted it, you'll not want to again.




Actually adding the meat cold is preferred by some to get more of a smoke ring, as far as increased smoke absorption/flavor I highly doubt it.


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## josh swanson

SQWIB said:


> Actually adding the meat cold is preferred by some to get more of a smoke ring, as far as increased smoke absorption/flavor I highly doubt it.


    I prefer to let any cut of meat you are cooking come up to room temp before cooking.  When you put it on the heat it will be a less drastic change resulting in the meat tensing up less and less moisture loss.  Try this with a steak: season and allow to come to room temp on the counter for 30 min-1 hour depending on thickness then cook to desired temp(will cook faster) after cooking allow to rest a minium of 10 min enjoy.  Sorry to jump off topic just though I would share.


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## sqwib

Josh Swanson said:


> I prefer to let any cut of meat you are cooking come up to room temp before cooking.  When you put it on the heat it will be a less drastic change resulting in the meat tensing up less and less moisture loss.  Try this with a steak: season and allow to come to room temp on the counter for 30 min-1 hour depending on thickness then cook to desired temp(will cook faster) after cooking allow to rest a minium of 10 min enjoy.  Sorry to jump off topic just though I would share.


I know this thread is old and has been resurrected, but I felt this was too important to leave alone.

I totally agree with your statement when applied to Grilling Steaks.

I remove meats I'm gonna grill from the fridge an hour per 1"  before cooking.

But the OP is asking about Smoking, which to me  means Low and Slow, so I am not in agreement when applied to smoking at low temps.

As far as smoking at lower temps I would never do that with a large piece of meat. However, there are folks that do but I think it's unsafe.

In order for a large cut of meat such as a Butt or Picnic to come up to room temperature, that would take quite a while. Even if you leave it out one hour, you just decreased your time to get through the danger zone by 25%.

So play it safe ....right out of the fridge onto a hot smoker.


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## oldschoolbbq

Tony try this :

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/a/stickburning101

cound help some.

Have fun and ...


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## oldschoolbbq

Sqwib , glad you picked this one again, I strongly disagree disagree and  post my Butts once again... I place my meat in at Reffer temp. ; keeping good clean smoke will not deposit anything but flavor the the meat . Sure, have a billowing white or some odd color smoke , THAT'S where the creosote comes from, and I stand my ground 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





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rgraham said:


> Also make sure your meat is room temperature before adding it to the grate. If it's cold, the smoke/creosote will tend to want to stick to the meat adding even more off flavor to the meat. Kind of how water condensates on the side of a glass of water with ice in it. If you've been eating meat with creosote on it, most likely you will still taste it on your tongue the next morning. It's nasty stuff, and once you've tasted it, you'll not want to agai


take a gander at this batch , then come back Sunday to see the end of the one I'm doing tonight...







Nice sheen is the sweat on them... if you need an explaination...PM me.

Have fun and...


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## sqwib

oldschoolbbq said:


> Sqwib , glad you picked this one again, I strongly disagree disagree and  post my Butts once again... I place my meat in at Reffer temp. ; keeping good clean smoke will not deposit anything but flavor the the meat . Sure, have a billowing white or some odd color smoke , THAT'S where the creosote comes from, and I stand my ground
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> take a gander at this batch , then come back Sunday to see the end of the one I'm doing tonight...
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> Nice sheen is the sweat on them... if you need an explaination...PM me.
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> Have fun and...


So we are in agreement on this Fridge to smoker?


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## rowdyrawhide

I am in agreement for fridge to smoker......my theory is takes longer for the exterior proteins to reach 140* ======> more smoke ring.  
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





   It also helps with the 4 hour rule.

As for grilling, i leave beef and pork out at room temp before grilling.


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## eyesrwindows

Finally its great to hear from someone that knows how to "smoke".  I have seen far to many people pile the wood in the box and watch that billowing smoke from their chimneys and smile thinking THAT is smoking. Then when they get the food off it looks almost as dark as a meteorite. Like many I screwed up my share of meat thinking exactly that, AND hearing it from the "masters".  I now preburn ALL my wood to embers before tossing it in the box, or use a quality lump charcoal. Visibly there is very little "smoke" other than light and sweet smelling wisp coming from my chimney. The food quality has gone from  barely passable to intensely flavorful with that mild sweet smokey flavor. I still have friends that insist my way is not smoking.. and watch themas they add big chunks of wood in their lil firebox, then later pull out black chickens and fudge brown butts from their smoker that have a strong offensive smoke odor as well as taste. Hope a few folks read all of the above and take heart. I promise you the food quality will improve vastly and your wife will no longer roll her eyes and the kids will not have to be coaxed to eat all their food.!


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## s2k9k

EyesRwindows said:


> Finally its great to hear from someone that knows how to "smoke".  I have seen far to many people pile the wood in the box and watch that billowing smoke from their chimneys and smile thinking THAT is smoking. Then when they get the food off it looks almost as dark as a meteorite. Like many I screwed up my share of meat thinking exactly that, AND hearing it from the "masters".  I now preburn ALL my wood to embers before tossing it in the box, or use a quality lump charcoal. Visibly there is very little "smoke" other than light and sweet smelling wisp coming from my chimney. The food quality has gone from  barely passable to intensely flavorful with that mild sweet smokey flavor. I still have friends that insist my way is not smoking.. and watch themas they add big chunks of wood in their lil firebox, then later pull out black chickens and fudge brown butts from their smoker that have a strong offensive smoke odor as well as taste. Hope a few folks read all of the above and take heart. I promise you the food quality will improve vastly and your wife will no longer roll her eyes and the kids will not have to be coaxed to eat all their food.!


Everyone here at SMF strives for TBS and really try to show the new members how to achieve it,

I see this is your first post here, when you get a minute would you do us a favor and go to Roll Call and introduce yourself so we can get to know you and give you a proper welcome, also would you add your location to your profile, we like knowing where you are when we talk to you, Thanks!


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## eyesrwindows

No way it is unsafe. Keep in mind you are taking the meat to 185 plus degrees. No pathogens are going to survive that . The only difference you might notice is the cook times decrease considerable using less fuel and a hella lot less stress waiting for the food to be cooked. Not a pro here by any means but I have learned a few tricks.


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## s2k9k

EyesRwindows said:


> No way it is unsafe. Keep in mind you are taking the meat to 185 plus degrees. No pathogens are going to survive that . The only difference you might notice is the cook times decrease considerable using less fuel and a hella lot less stress waiting for the food to be cooked. Not a pro here by any means but I have learned a few tricks.


If pathogens are present in the 40 to 140 range for too long (over 4 hours) they can survive temps over 185

I see this is your first post here, when you get a minute would you do us a favor and go to Roll Call and introduce yourself so we can get to know you and give you a proper welcome, also would you add your location to your profile, we like knowing where you are when we talk to you, Thanks!


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## eyesrwindows

thanks... couldnt find your roll call but tried to stick a few things up on my profile. Cooking at the moment and prepping turkey for the smoker starting wee hours AM  EST.  Love this site from what I have read in it. Happy Thanksgiving folks.


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## s2k9k

Click on the words "Roll Call" in my last post.


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## eyesrwindows

I have to disagree here. Sorry. If that was the case then there would not be any safe meats to eat. I did some checking on this and ran across a scale on "die time" of pathogens at different temps and translate that scale to the long slow smoking process nothing is going to survive. I serciously doubt there are any meats free of pathogens when you bring them home from the store but they darrn sure are once they have been slowly taken to 185 plus.  More important is how you handle the meat before you place it on the smokler.. Lots of hand washing and cleaning of the board and knives and being darn careful about contamination of stuff you aint gonna smoke, I'll try to dig up the chart with the scale and post it if you are interested. Time for bed now.. got everything ready to go on AM.  Stay safe and have a great holiday.


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## venture

I can't believe there is so much discussion on this topic.

I plead GUILTY!

In my early days with the ECB, I experienced that. I just followed the instructions that came with the unit. It was awful, and it took time to get it under control.  There was no internet back then.  There was no real way to learn from experienced people unless you were lucky enough to know them.

Folks, just don't do it.

For beginners, it is easy to think that is how smoked food should taste.  I have a neighbor like that.  He brings me meat. We thank him and throw it away after one taste.  (We should know better, but we keep hoping he will follow advice?)

Ya don't even have to see the smoke.  The more smoke you see, just means you are doing it worse.

If I see nothing and just smell the sweet goodness when I walk out the door?  I think I am about right on.

For newbies only.  The rest knew that.

Good luck and good smoking.


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## eyesrwindows

Gosh when I think of all the beautiful meats I have totally screwed up it almost makes me cry. I recall some hens I "smoked".. that came out with that dark rubbery skin, discolored flesh, with an aroma of an ashtray. One bite and in the trash it went. I could have gotten that same "smoked" flavor basting em in the oven with fuel oil.  Then I "helped" an old school NC master with a whole hog the old fashioned way.  Hog on a rack with a big cover.. and a 50 gallon drum beside it and lots of split wood. His method was to burn the wood in the 50 gallon drum in the top half ( that had rebar shoved thru it about half way down.) at the bottom the side was cut out. as he burned the wood we kicked the barrel and the embers would fall to the bottom..and we shoveled them under the hog. There was very little "smoke" under the hog.. but plenty from the 50 gallon drum. The end result was one of the best tasting hog I have ever put in my mouth. I can get somewhat close with good ole lump charcoal. Tonight I am trying a dif brand.. Wicked Good. It has been going since noon today and lemme tell ya.. it burns.. and burns.. and burns some more. This stuff is dense and puts off a very sweet perfume when its cookin.


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## garand555

Yeah, the key is a nice clean burning fire.  I get more smoke out of mine than oldschoolbbq, but mine is still blue.  If I get white billowing smoke for more than a short time, I'm in there with a propane or mapp gas torch getting things hotter.  It's normally not a problem though.  If I do have any green wood that I am using, it gets mixed with whatever I have on hand that is well cured to make sure that it still burns well.  My smoker is a giant homebuilt pile of bricks, so I'll have a bigger fire to keep things warm than oldschool, but the key with me is I've learned how mine behaves.  I run mine different than he described ITT, but I'm working with my smoker's characteristics.  I'm also a bit more caviler in my attitude about heat control, but I still have people regularly tell me that my BBQ is better than stuff from a restaurant.  

Play with your smoker and learn its characteristics.  Do it without any food in it some afternoon.  You built it, so it may have some quirks that some of the commercial smokers don't have.  If they exist, learn what they are, e.g., if you can't keep the temperature as stable as others can, learn to work with it.  I personally pick a range (the range varies with the kind of wood I'm using), and if it gets a little above that range, I wait until it gets a little below that range before I throw more wood on.  If you can get great heat control, then great, use it.  The key with good Q is time, and offsetting a short temperature spike with letting the temp drop a little further to keep it from powering through the plateau seems to work pretty good for me.  

Also, I echo the sentiment that you should stick to cured wood for now.  I've been a firebug all my life and have spent many a night up where my only heat is a fire, so I'm pretty good at getting a nice clean burning fire.  Because of this, I know not only how to get green wood to burn clean, I also know that it is harder to do so than it is with nice dry wood.


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## benny australia

Hi Fellas, I love reading your forums. I recently went to the US and loved the idea of your smokers. When I came home I build one with all the research I could possibly find. I ended up with a reverse flow pit, using lump charcol in a decent sized basket using the minion method. I did how ever (I know this is cheating) buy a rocks BBQ stoker to run it. With how I have it set up (and I have only had dry runs to try and learn as much as I can about this type of cooking) I can get about 8-9 hours at 220 degress on one basket. When I built it I built a tray (from 1/8") that sits above the charcol in the firebox to put wood chips in. When I run it just with charcol it burns very very clean, how ever if I put the chips in the tray it blows white smoke and fills up the chamber with creosote. Would putting chunks instead of chips directly on the charcol, once it is red hot, get a blue smoke do you think? Thanks for any advice! Ben


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## benny australia

Hi Fellas, I love reading your forums. I recently went to the US and loved the idea of your smokers. When I came home I build one with all the research I could possibly find. I ended up with a reverse flow pit, using lump charcol in a decent sized basket using the minion method. I did how ever (I know this is cheating) buy a rocks BBQ stoker to run it. With how I have it set up (and I have only had dry runs to try and learn as much as I can about this type of cooking) I can get about 8-9 hours at 220 degress on one basket. When I built it I built a tray (from 1/8") that sits above the charcol in the firebox to put wood chips in. When I run it just with charcol it burns very very clean, how ever if I put the chips in the tray it blows white smoke and fills up the chamber with creosote. Would putting chunks instead of chips directly on the charcol, once it is red hot, get a blue smoke do you think? Thanks for any advice! Ben


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## ribwizzard

iI would mix the chips in with the charcoal, so as the charcoal is burning down , a chip will burn now and then to keep a light but steady hint of smoke going.  Or you could just use all wood in the smoker instead, just cut it into sizes that fit your smoker and let it dry out real good.


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## tony80

Thank you everyone who has helped with this thread. I have become so comfortable with my smoker and I owe it to your input. I now only preburn at times because it uses so much wood, but I must say, it makes the best meat when all the fuel is preburned and then added to the firebox. If you take a look at my pics, I built a pre-burn pit which has been awesome. I saw a show on TV where the pitmaster had this huge preburn set up for his restruant.... I saw that and a couple weeks later my pit was born!

I have the itch to do a long smoke here soon..... I'm thinking my second try at a brisket, I think the family is getting tired of pulled pork and ribs!


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## 3montes

I'm a dedicated stick burner too. Keep the thin blue going and use seasoned wood and you will be fine. Everyones smoker runs differently so no one here can tell you specifically how to run yours. Do some dry runs and learn your smokers tendencys.

Thin blue times two!!













100_0133_zps1dee20a5.jpg



__ 3montes
__ Dec 15, 2012


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## ribwizzard

You can always pre burn the wood and store it for later use. Kind of like making your own lump charcoal to what ever size you want. Just have to keep it dry.


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## tony80

With the minion method you can simply incorporate chunks in with the coal before you start your fire. If you feel like you need more smoke during the process, you can always throw a chunk or few directly on the hot coals and you'll be good to go. I have a WSM that I use when I'm being lazy, and this is what I do.

I always feel like I'm cheating when I use the WSM, it nearly runs itself! The stick burner in my opinion makes the best meat with the best bark. You just can't beat the taste wood imparts into the meat....


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## pthefree

gentlemen this thread was extremely helpful. I purchased my stick burner yesterday and am doing my second trial run. Everything I read here is making sense as I go outside and play with the FB, intake, flute, and wood. Thank you all.


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## pthefree

gentlemen this thread was extremely helpful. I purchased my stick burner yesterday and am doing my second trial run. Everything I read here is making sense as I go outside and play with the FB, intake, flute, and wood. Thank you all.


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## smokinclt

New to the forum (I did post to roll call). I just bought my first "real" smoker its a LANG 60" Original. I get it saturday 
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






. I have been struggling for years with my COS and one thing I have done in the last year and a half is got myself a cheap firepit at the local store and now I burn my hickory down to coals and use a shovel. Man what an amazing difference that has made. I use pure wood in my cooks and I will say that the flavor is definitely much better with no charcoal in the firebox. So I guess in essence I am just saying what those that have much more experience than I do are saying. Its a bit of a bummer I had to figure this out on my own. I too ruined a lot of meat. Now even on my COS I get compliments from everyone. I just wish I had actually started reading about smoking a few years back when I was getting started. Anyhow just thought I would add my $0.02.

Doug


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