Bitter white smoke from Amerique

I too use an Amerique, but have not had anything like that. The first thing I would look at would be the wood. If the wood is not getting burned up I would look to make sure the heating element is touching the bottom ov the wood box. JT

I have tried a few things on the Amerique this morning that seem to be helping. It appeared that my wood was burning far to quickly and actually appeared to have caught fire at one point.. very fast burning with red embers. When this happened thick, white, acrid smoke poured out of the Amerique. When I opened the door the smoke is so think you can't see the racks until it clears.The wood chunk I used for testing was about 1.5 x 1.5 x 1.0. It was completely charred within 15 minutes.

The wood box on my 55 was fully enclosed on 5 sides with no vent holes so I tried placing some HD foil in the bottom of the Amerique wood box to cover the air holes to create a environment that was not vented from the bottom. This produced good results similiar to what I was used to with my 55. Looking at the wood chunk used ith this test it was charred on the bottom and had clearly not caught fire.

The Amerique I am using is one of the originals with the lower wattage element which has not been a problem. The wood box I have I assume is the current one with only half the top open to place wood into. When I slide it alway in I can't open the cover as it sits under the grease deflector on the back of the unit.I assume the wood box should be all the way back against the rear wall of the unit when in use?

Is this the new style wood box?

The attached picture shows the wood used in both tests after about 15 minutes of smoke time. The one on the left is comletely consumed while the one on the right is what I was used to in my 55.

It appears that the old style wood box on the Amerique is the one I have. The old style has ventilation holes in the bottom of the box you place your wood into. The new style wood box has a solid bottom that does not permit airflow from the bottom. It was this additional air flow that I believe was causing my wood to actually ignite rather that to slowly smolder as it does on my 55. The burning wood was causing the smoke to be white and acrid...

quote:

Originally posted by cigarnv:
The old style has ventilation holes in the bottom of the box you place your wood into. The new style wood box has a solid bottom that does not permit airflow from the bottom.

i don't believe that's the root cause of your problem. i've had both versions of the wood box in the AQ and neither generated significant amounts of acrid white smoke. (my older one with the vented wood box had a moisture issue which caused the controller to go haywire. cookshack replaced that AQ with one with the new woodbox with a solid bottom)

i'd still check w/ cookshack support. it might be that you have an air leak causing too much air to enter the AQ

quote:

Originally posted by lcubed:

quote:

Originally posted by cigarnv:
The old style has ventilation holes in the bottom of the box you place your wood into. The new style wood box has a solid bottom that does not permit airflow from the bottom.

i don't believe that's the root cause of your problem. i've had both versions of the wood box in the AQ and neither generated significant amounts of acrid white smoke. (my older one with the vented wood box had a moisture issue which caused the controller to go haywire. cookshack replaced that AQ with one with the new woodbox with a solid bottom)

i'd still check w/ cookshack support. it might be that you have an air leak causing too much air to enter the AQ

I have the wood box with the holes, I have smoked over 700 lbs of product and have never experienced your problem. I did add to much wood one time with a heavy load of butts, and could tell the heavier smoke flavor, but nothing like what you are describing. Good luck figuring it out.

quote:

Originally posted by Cigarnv:
I am struggling with what could be different between these two smokers to create such a difference in the way the wood is handled. Any help would be appreciated...

Your wood is just too dry for the AQ, that could be the cause of your problems. Try some new wood.

I'm sure it was one of the others 55 owners that stated their wood in the 55 would not turn to ash on a single cook. Could be your trying to compare apples to oranges..just a thought.

I'd call CS and talk with Tony or Bill. They are very knowledgeable and may have some better answers for you.

Good luck!