My Smoking Experiment

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I think you had about the right amount of charcoal. But perhaps you lit too many or all of them initially. I usually dump a chimney worth of charcoal into the kettle with only about the bottom third of the chimney lit. Many folks like to first bank a pile of unlit charcoal in the kettle and then place a few fully lit charcoals onto it and then slowly watch the kettle rise to desired smoking temp. You want to catch and stop the temperature as it is rising.
The undesirable white charcoal smoke will eventually disappear and if you threw in wood chunks you should see blue smoke venting out.

I typically get at least 3 hours of smoking temp with a single chimney worth of charcoal with plenty of fuel left for searing.


Do you mean I should fill or almost fill a chimney and light it then pour it into the grill before it's completely burning?
 
Do you mean I should fill or almost fill a chimney and light it then pour it into the grill before it's completely burning?
Yes, I do that all the time......which is essentially the same as placing a few fully lit charcoals (maybe 10 briquettes) onto a large pile of unlit charcoal. (aka The Minion Method)
 
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Yes, I do that all the time......which is essentially the same as placing a few fully lit charcoals (maybe 10) onto a large pile of unlit charcoal. (aka The Minion Method)


So, if I do that, then all I need to do is add the wood chips and meat and bring it up to temp then lock it down. Basically, a minute or two after the charcoal goes in, it's cooking and smoking.
 
I like to let the temp settle and wait for the thin blue smoke before adding meat. Also try using wood chunks placed directly on the coals....you'll get immediate smoke.
 
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Slacker...;)


Net time I am combining a digital anemometer and a digital graphing device along with a digital thermometer readout coupler to automatically collect and display the wind/heat correlation in digital graph format.

Well, actually I'll wet my digit and hold it up in the air. Then I look at the digits on the thermometer and watch what they do. Them I'll write it down using the pencil I'm holding in my other digits. Pretty "handy" don't you think?
 
Net time I am combining a digital anemometer and a digital graphing device along with a digital thermometer readout coupler to automatically collect and display the wind/heat correlation in digital graph format.

Well, actually I'll wet my digit and hold it up in the air. Then I look at the digits on the thermometer and watch what they do. Them I'll write it down using the pencil I'm holding in my other digits. Pretty "handy" don't you think?
or...you can just get a BGE.....:D
 
Net time I am combining a digital anemometer and a digital graphing device along with a digital thermometer readout coupler to automatically collect and display the wind/heat correlation in digital graph format.

Well, actually I'll wet my digit and hold it up in the air. Then I look at the digits on the thermometer and watch what they do. Them I'll write it down using the pencil I'm holding in my other digits. Pretty "handy" don't you think?

Hand dry and warm...sunny.
Hand wet and chilly...raining.
Hand flapping...windy.
 
I like to let the temp settle and wait for the thin blue smoke before adding meat. Also try using wood chunks placed directly on the coals....you'll get immediate smoke.

And for another way to skin the cat... ;)
I add my chips and my food after I dump the charcoal from the chimney in. I'm throttling back the raising temps while the food is in my smoker, already smoking/cooking. My theory is that meat only absorbs smoke until it hits 140F (actually, that part is fact), so I figure the longer it is in there, the more wood flavor it gets inside the meat. For that reason, while a butt may have been sitting on the counter an hour, it's not room temp or even close. That too allows it more time to absorb the smoke. I haven't already lost 20 degrees letting it reach room temp.
Another theory I have on this is I'm not playing with the vents, trying to achieve smoking temps, only to lift the lid off and fiddle getting the food in and the probe wire ran. You can easily lose 20 degrees doing this, but let in enough oxygen that the charcoal will burner hotter while the lid is off, igniting more of the unlit stuff and end up giving you a spike.
I like to leave everything buttoned up by the time I'm dialed in at 225-240 or so.
 
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