# How do you get "thin blue smoke" without being too high on temps?



## aleforge

I know "thin blue smoke" is a popular question and one that's prob annoying to ask. But I have not found a direct answer to my question in regards to it. Considering to achieve the correct smoke you need a hot coals I have not been able to get the smoke to turn out correctly unless I overshoot my target temps. I just can't get the coals hot enough without having the smoker too hot. Any tips on how to do this, it's fired up right now and I need to get my ribs on but my smoke of course is too white with my smoker being at 250.

Thanks!


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## crankybuzzard

What kind of smoker, what type of wood, how is the wood going in (chunks, wet, green, well seasoned, etc...)


Hang in there we'll get you fixed up.  Also, got a pic of the smoke and smoker?


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## lemans

CB. Is right. It's all in the wood.  You have to use seasoned dry wood or you r going to get only white dense smoke


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## smokeymose

Usually when you throw on a new split it'll smoke white until it gets burning good. Open the vents more to get it going. Sorry, but that being said, I don't know what kind of smoker you have...
Why are you not wanting to go over 250?


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## joe black

Be sure to pre-heat your splits before you put them into the FB.  Being pre-heated will let them ignite almost instantly and not smolder.  A quick ignition will keep the smoke clean.


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## fwismoker

Simply by the size of a fire...charcoal or wood split fire


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## SmokinAl

First off welcome to SMF!

What smoker do you have?

Is it a stick burner or charcoal?

Al


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## chef jimmyj

Don't get hung up on color...Blue/gray, anything but dense white is fine. TBS becomes more critical with long cooks 10-12-14 hours. Some gray smoke for a 3 to 6 hour ribs smoke, especially with well seasoned wood, will taste great...JJ


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## 3montes

If you are burning sticks then smoke will tell you everything. I call it smoke talk. I have been doing it long enough that all I have to do is look at the smoke exiting the exhaust and I know instantly if I need to do anything with the fire or if I'm running hot  or cold. Most times for me all I see is a heat signature and no smoke at all. My exhaust is always wide open and most times so is the intake. If it's windy I will shut the intakes half way. I have always been able to achieve and hold my desired temp. 250 is a sweet spot that you can't go wrong with in my opinion.

In this pic the smoke is a bit thick. But I was smoking fish that day and I was fine with it. The smoker was running at about 120 which is about as cold as I can run my stick burner. So the amount of smoke was telling me I'm not running hot.













100_0133_zps1dee20a5.jpg



__ 3montes
__ Aug 21, 2016


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## daveomak

If you are using a stick burner, with upper and lower air inlets to the Fire Box, the lower controls the fire, the upper can add extra air to cool the Cook Chamber and act as an after burner to clean up the smoke.....













Smoker Exh and Intakes 2.jpg



__ daveomak
__ Jul 17, 2016


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## crankybuzzard

I wonder if his ribs survived....  9 replies that should have gotten him going.


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## wimpy69

DaveOmak said:


> If you are using a stick burner, with upper and lower air inlets to the Fire Box, the lower controls the fire, the upper can add extra air to cool the Cook Chamber and act as an after burner to clean up the smoke.....
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Dave, is there a rule of thumb for sizing area of intake for upper vents? Plan on using ball valves on an upcoming project converting to a raised stool grate design. Also, is distance above top of combustion critical? Thanks.


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## daveomak

wimpy69 said:


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> Dave, is there a rule of thumb for sizing area of intake for upper vents? Plan on using ball valves on an upcoming project converting to a raised stool grate design. Also, is distance above top of combustion critical? Thanks.
Click to expand...

80 / 20...  lower to upper...    lower below the wood grate...  Upper, across from the FB/CC inlet so the air from the upper will NOT feed the fire....  some have had to add a plate to direct the upper air higher to avoid feeding the fire.....













FIREBOX Theory.jpg



__ daveomak
__ Aug 21, 2016






In your case, you can add pipe nipples to the ball valves to insure the air flow is directed properly at the FB/CC opening....


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## smokeymose

DaveOmak said:


> 80 / 20...  lower to upper...    lower below the wood grate...  Upper, across from the FB/CC inlet so the air from the upper will NOT feed the fire....  some have had to add a plate to direct the upper air higher to avoid feeding the fire.....
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> In your case, you can add pipe nipples to the ball valves to insure the air flow is directed properly at the FB/CC opening....


Mine only has one intake, kind of low. If I were to cut a small vent at the top of the box, do you think I could get that effect?


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## daveomak

We've hijacked this thread enough....  PM me.... 

Sorry for the hijack....


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## hoity toit

Joe Black said:


> Be sure to pre-heat your splits before you put them into the FB. Being pre-heated will let them ignite almost instantly and not smolder. A quick ignition will keep the smoke clean.


Interesting, never thought about that except with wet wood. I will remember this. Thanks Joe

HT


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## smokeymose

Hoity Toit said:


> Interesting, never thought about that except with wet wood. I will remember this. Thanks Joe
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> HT


It really helps, HT. I always have a split on top of the firebox warming up, thanks to Joe.
Dan


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## aleforge

I completely forgot I posted this, my email never notified of any responses (guess I failed at setting them up). So I assumed I did not get any responses. I am not sure if it will let anyone on here know if I respond at this point but didn't want to post a new thread as I still have issues to this day. 

I read through the responses and figured I should elaborate and answer the questions I was asked. Then and now I have an Char-Griller Akorn (Kamado). The biggest issue I have always had was building the fire up just right to get good smoke rolling AND avoid the temps from running away. I can eventually get a good transparent (blue) smoke but it takes a bit. Once it turns color and I put the meat on the smoker runs off. Even if I close down the intake vent. This is after I wait to make sure it hangs around 200, then an hour later I sky rocket easily over 350. I freak out and go into panic mode for obvious reasons. I read a solution of shutting both vents down and "burping" it several times to let out heat and choke the fire completely. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn't do much.

A few things I am assuming, one I put too much charcoal in (and wood) and let it get going regardless to long before I shut things down. So I have backed way off, but then either it still goes up and over target, OR it burns out 1/2 way through the smoke. I think the biggest hurdle I have is getting it hot enough to turn the smoke color so I can toss things on. But avoid it blowing up just after.

As far as wood, I use large bagged chunks. Either from my grocery store or lowes. It usually sits inside for months as well since my enthusiasm for the hobby dwindled after so much frustration. I use to use a cheap propane vertical smoker. I really wanted to switch to lump as I always had this mindset it was more... eh.. authentic? Hard to explain. I want to get this nailed down though. I started smoking again a few weeks ago. Of course both times the temp got out of hand. 

TLDR: I have issues building the fire to lock into a temp on my Kamado (and not run off).

Not sure if anyone will read this, but figured it was worth a try. Thank you! 

EDIT: Here are some pictures. I had one somewhere of the pre-built fire I am trying to find. A few of these are from vertical smoker. But there is a shot of the chimney with transparent smoke which I try to shoot fore.


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## cough2

Aleforge:  I had same issues, purchased a tip top temp from amazon and if I can hold back my natural inclination to fiddle with things it works great. Check it out on YouTube. 

Also check for air leaks around your cooker. I have some that I am going to plug up with either nomex and/or hi temp sealant just haven't gotten around to it. 

Don't abandon the griller yet. You can coax a couple of good runs on it.


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## daveomak

Does your Kamado have a gasket around the lid that seals well ??  When you close the inlet, does it seal tight ??


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## aleforge

Nice I got responses! =)

It does have a gasket around the lid, it seems to seat well. I never get any smoke creeping out at least. Although the intake vent does not have any type of seal, it kind of rattles a bit. It slides sideways and has increment marks on it. The top stack vent seems to close pretty well (but I have read most just leave it open?).

Tip top temp? I will go look it up. Thanks for the suggestion!

As far as fire building, how much lump do you guys usually toss in for a long smoke? And do you kind of build it up in the center when first lighting it? Or are you suppose to not do that, never really could find a good guide on it.

Thanks!


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## daveomak

Not having a Kamado, but reading others posts about kettle type smokers, "usually" briquettes are used as a base heat with chunks buried in the briquettes for smoke flavor...  burying, I think, reduces the flare up from chunks..  reduced oxygen from being buried..   Maybe some Kamado folks will give their opinion about fire control...


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## daveomak

Oh....   seal up the lower air inlet...  should help keep stray oxygen out of the cooker...   even my Weber lower inlet seas air tight...  I can close it and the fire goes out in the briquettes....


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## zymer

These kinds of things are difficult to diagnose from afar, but I'll throw some ideas out there based on having smoked on a ceramic (Grill Dome) almost 15 years.

My first thoughts are your issues are related to one (or more of the following):

1.  Building too big a fire at the start.

2.  Wood chunks ignited.  If they catch fire it would certainly increase the temp in a hurry.

3.  Flare ups from grease dripping from the meat into the fire.  This is easily diagnosed by the great gobs of gray/white smoke that come out the exhaust like an old coal-fired locomotive.  You didn't mention this, so probably not the issue.

I'll explain my process to see if it helps.

One of the primary advantages of ceramics is how efficient they are.  Only takes a small fire to carry temps from 200-250 for hours.

If I'm doing a long cook (like butt or brisket), I load the cooker up to the fire ring with Royal Oak lump (I still miss Ozark Oak).

I want a beginning fire only about the size of my fist.  I start it with a single paraffin charcoal starter in the very center of the lump.  Light the cube, open the vents, and close the lid.  Only takes about 15 minutes for it to fire up.

When the coals are good and started, I damper down.  Put the exhaust about 1/2 way and the intake just barely open.  I putz around with the vents if needed until the cooker has stabilized at the target temp for 30 minutes.  Also go slow when making adjustments because it's a real pain to bring the temp down if you overshoot.  That's why it's important to damper down earlier than you might think is right.

Once temp is stable I put a tennis ball size chunk (or combination if they're small) on the fire and 1 or 2 more on the unlit coals next to the fire. These will light as the fire works itself outward when the original coals are exhausted.

Then put the meat on.  Temp will drop a lot, but resist the urge to mess with the controls.  The residual heat from the ceramic helps with recovery, and if you gets antsy trying to hurry up the process you'll throw off the setting you had already dialed in and might never get it back.

I guess I've been really lucky cooking on the ceramic because it's almost always "fire and forget" with me.  Typically I have the top vent open about 3/4 and the bottom just barely open--usually about the width of a toothpick and never wider than a pencil (when doing low & slow). This gets me through up to 12 hours of smoking, and there's usually unfired or partially fired lump left over.


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## mike5051

Nice post zymer!

Mike


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