Help - Lack of Smoke Flavor

Im curious, is your wood charred black when you are done or ash?

9 oz of wood and no smoke flavor? Wow!! Do you smoke Camel non filters by any chance? Just kidding

4-6 oz of straight hickory should be more than sufficient. There's no way you'll penetrate a 8#+ PB or 12#+ brisket with smoke throughout the meat. You should definitely be tasting smoke on the outer bark of both meats.

One option might be mesquite wood. It will provide you the "smokiest" smoke flavor. Another option...buy boneless PB's an butterfly them, thus exposing more meat to smoke.

Dunno what else to tell you.

Thanks for the replies. My box is ash when it is done so I know it is burning. When we pulled the pork last night, the meat had no smoke flavor...which I expected. The bark had some smoke flavor in some areas and not that much in others.

I did a brisket 2 weekends ago and pretty much the same thing. It had some smoke but not like you would get at a bbq joint. Would the rub have anything to do with it? I doubt it but i am searching for answers.

Volume and type of rub could affect some smoke flavor.Age/dryness of wood,also.

Many cooks ,after being around the pit all day,can become desensitized to the smoke.They may find the meat seems to have more smoke the next day.

Some cooks add a chunk at the midpoint,or later in the cook.

I agree with Max and Tom. Throw a small chunk of Mesquite in with your hickory. I used a little mesquite the other day for my ribs and It was a nice little change from the hickory, cherry, I usually use.

I totally buy into the desensitization of someone who eats a lot of smoked meats. It's the same with spice. Somebody who eats spice on everything can't get enough heat, and someone who never eats spice thinks sweet onions or bell peppers are too spicy. Its all preference and conditioning.

Have you smoked anything and have somebody try it and they go wow that's smokey? And you don't taste it?

Is it smoking during most of the cook? You may want to check your wood. Had a couple of instances where my wood burst into flames during a rib smoke. Had to add more during the cook.

It does smoke a while, but I only think it smokes for 3 or 4 hours. I wonder if the wood is just burning way to quick. Do I have to use kiln dried wood in the smoker? I have a guy that i used to buy wood for my charcoal smoker and it was awesome.

Everyone who has tasted loves the flavor of the product but all agree that there isn't enough smoke. I started off at 3 ounces per the site. Then went to 4 and up to 10 and it really makes little difference.

I am by no means an expert but I was told by someone at CS that meat will only absorb smoke for the first couple of hours or so. That was the response to my question about adding more wood during a long cook.

Often I would find the wood either charred or not completely burnt after a cook. One thing I have been doing which seems to help is instead of using solid chunks of wood, I split those into many smaller pieces and cover the entire base of the box. It seems the smoke is more intense although for a shorter amount of time.

I have cooked butts and prime ribs and the smoke has permeated throughout the meat.

When something has a measurable change like you have seen with your smoke flavor, the troubleshooter in me always asks, "What has changed?"

Can you step us through a 'typical' smoke for you? At what temp do you typically smoke? Do you pre-heat? Are you searing your meat first, marinating or anything unusual?

You might even offer up your rub recipe to see if anyone here can correlate your findings.

Just thinking out-loud...

quote:

Originally posted by Bigpapam109:
I have been using my 25 for almost a year now. I have the element touching the fire box and it generates great smoke. I have been doing pork butts lately and barely can taste the smoke flavor. I started at 6 ounces and the last two times I was around 9 ounces. I usually mix apple and hickory and this time I tried all hickory. I am to the point that I don't know what else to try. Any thoughts? I have read where people are using 5 ounces or so and it is almost too smokey and I can't see how. If it matters, I am using cookshack wood.

I agree with you Bigpapam109 regarding lack of smoke flavor of PBs. I have gradually increased my wood amount to 5.7oz and still hardly any smoke flavor on the PB. Everything else I cook I get excellent smoke flavor using no more than 2.5oz to 3.0oz of wood. I did ABTs last weekend with no wood in the smoker and the smoke flavor was just right.

I wonder if using a non-sugar rub might help? I'm thinking maybe the sugar melts and forms a barrier to smoke penetration.

I also wonder if setting the temp lower during the smoking phase of the cook might help, say 190 to 200 for the first several hours. Or refilling the wood box during the cook (remove any coals first or you might have flames).

I also like the idea of cutting the butts into smaller pieces might help...more surface area to lay smoke on.

My wife, who is more sensitive to smokey flavor, tells me that the smoke should be a flavor accent, not the main flavor...I think she has a point there and I have gradually backed off on the smokey-ness of the foods I cook.

A question for any of you stick-burners out there, do your PBs have a rich smokey flavor all through the PB? Maybe it is just the nature of the beast (pun intended) that PBs are just smokey on the outside and not all through?

quote:

Originally posted by Bitdigger:
When something has a measurable change like you have seen with your smoke flavor, the troubleshooter in me always asks, "What has changed?"

Can you step us through a 'typical' smoke for you? At what temp do you typically smoke? Do you pre-heat? Are you searing your meat first, marinating or anything unusual?

You might even offer up your rub recipe to see if anyone here can correlate your findings.

Just thinking out-loud...

My typical smoke is basically simple. I bring out the butts and let the sit with my rub on it for about 15 minutes. Turn them over and get the other side and all ends. Very little salt in my rub. My rub basically has brown sugar, paprika, garlic, onion, salt, cayanne pepper, black petter and some other stuff.

I put it in cold smoker, set up my meat probes and set it for 225 until it is done. I have basted before, and cooked at 250. Not real different on the smoke flavor.

As stated by SmokinMAINEiac, anything else I smoke, for a short time, gets a decent smokey flavor except my ribs. For some reason, the common denominator is pork.

Is it possible that by the heating element touching my wood box, it is burning the wood too quick? The other day my wife said that it looked like the smoker was on fire by the crazy amount of smoke that was coming out. It did settle down but didn't appear to really be smoking that well after 3 hours. I was thinking of bending it back down so it is an 1/8" off and see how it smokes. I may try that this weekend and run a test smoke to see how long it may burn.

The larger/thicker the chunk of meat,the less interior smoke you will achieve.The bark[smoke/char/rub] as exterior bites,or mixed into pulled pork,etc will usually be those stronger flavors.

Hard not to get smoke in a traditional CS.Fresh cut wood,aged 3 mos to around 18 mos should be best.I like mostly nutwood,maybe a little apple.

Risk a pork butt about 8 lbs.Let the four plus oz rub set an hr,add a few quality chunks of nutwood that look like they add up to at least 10 oz.

Place cold butt in,cook 3-4 hrs at 190* then increase,or all the way at 225*-235*.At the 8 hr mark add a golfball sized chunk of nutwood and finish cooking.Forget basting.

While resting 3-4 hrs in the hotbox,go shower,put on clean clothes and maybe nap.

Pull the pork and add a little rub to taste.

If too much smoke,cut back.Too little,use 16 oz.

sHOULD GIVE YOU A DIRECTION.

Good Tips Tom. I have only had my Amerique for 5 days and have done some really thick pork chops and a side of babyback ribs. I used 4 oz of Hickory on each smoke and found that the somke flavor was just right for my taste. That is what I like about the CS smoker, I can control how much smoke taste I want. With my wood burner, the meat often had a bitter bite from too much smoke.

quote:

Originally posted by Big Frog:
Good Tips Tom. I have only had my Amerique for 5 days and have done some really thick pork chops and a side of babyback ribs. I used 4 oz of Hickory on each smoke and found that the somke flavor was just right for my taste. That is what I like about the CS smoker, I can control how much smoke taste I want. With my wood burner, the meat often had a bitter bite from too much smoke.

I get plenty of smoke flavor when I do homemade roast beef and ribs. It is for the much longer smokes. I am getting larger chunks of wood and do some testing. Might just need a thicker piece of wood that isn't quite as dry. Either way I will figure it out.

quote:

Originally posted by Bigpapam109:

quote:

Originally posted by Big Frog:
Good Tips Tom. I have only had my Amerique for 5 days and have done some really thick pork chops and a side of babyback ribs. I used 4 oz of Hickory on each smoke and found that the somke flavor was just right for my taste. That is what I like about the CS smoker, I can control how much smoke taste I want. With my wood burner, the meat often had a bitter bite from too much smoke.

I get plenty of smoke flavor when I do homemade roast beef and ribs. It is for the much longer smokes. I am getting larger chunks of wood and do some testing. Might just need a thicker piece of wood that isn't quite as dry. Either way I will figure it out.

Keep us posted. I will be doing a PB for a party in 2 weeks. Will be anxious to hear about your results.

You have to analzye what you mean by "lack of smoke flavor"

The interior won't get it past the very outer edge. I just doesn't work like that (Tom's points above).

You could butterfly the butt to get more smoke on the meat.

For the outside, while there is a temp where smoke will no longer penetrate, it will ALWAYS stick to the outside.

After the first wood is burned up, add a bunch more chunks and see how that is.

Smoke is so subjective, there's no right or wrong answer, you need to match to your taste buds.

I have not done this, but have seen it done. For those who like more smoke in their PBs, you can take the bone out and cut the PB so it lays flat when smoking. This way you will get smoke on the inside and out. I might try it next time just to see how it comes out.
JT

quote:

Originally posted by JT Smokin:
I have not done this, but have seen it done. For those who like more smoke in their PBs, you can take the bone out and cut the PB so it lays flat when smoking. This way you will get smoke on the inside and out. I might try it next time just to see how it comes out.
JT

And you'd get more of my favorite part of a PB...bark!

SME, Are you cooking your PBs that way? Also if so are you pulling it or slicing? I may do one tomorrow trying to get some ideas.
JT

quote:

Originally posted by JT Smokin:
SME, Are you cooking your PBs that way? Also if so are you pulling it or slicing? I may do one tomorrow trying to get some ideas.
JT

My next PB cook is for a party on the 20th of this month. I am thinking of cutting the PB in half and trying it that way. More bark, more smoke flavor I'm guessing.

Slicing is a good option if you were to butterfly a PB I would think.

If you try something different let us know how it came out and how you liked it.

quote:

Originally posted by SmokinOkie:
You have to analzye what you mean by "lack of smoke flavor"

The interior won't get it past the very outer edge. I just doesn't work like that (Tom's points above).

You could butterfly the butt to get more smoke on the meat.

For the outside, while there is a temp where smoke will no longer penetrate, it will ALWAYS stick to the outside.

After the first wood is burned up, add a bunch more chunks and see how that is.

Smoke is so subjective, there's no right or wrong answer, you need to match to your taste buds.

I am used to charcoal smokers and when I did butts before, you could definitely taste more smoke in the final product. After talking to people who bought it, they love it and said they could taste the smoke. They both agreed that it wouldn't hurt for a little more. So, I am going to try a 10oz piece of wood instead of smaller chunks next time. I believe I can have the smoker "smoke" longer and really hit the bark. So, when I fold it into the meat I should have a stronger smoke to the final product.

I decided to attack this from a different avenue. Instead of worrying about the smoker, why not look at the meat? I decided to go get 2 butts that were bone out. I always do bone in, but wanted to swap out just to see. That wasn't for this experiment though. I have been watching the debate of smoking with fat cap up and down. I always do up, but figured down wouldn't be a problem. If not, what if I just removed the fat cap all together? What I got was one full side more of meat that I could incorporate the bark into the final product. I smoked the butts to about 180 and then yanked them and double foiled and into the oven at 300 to finish. Final product was as juicy as all of my other butts. However, the flavor had considerable more smoke and is my best batch to date. I could not be happier.

quote:

Originally posted by Bigpapam109:
I decided to attack this from a different avenue. Instead of worrying about the smoker, why not look at the meat? I decided to go get 2 butts that were bone out. I always do bone in, but wanted to swap out just to see. That wasn't for this experiment though. I have been watching the debate of smoking with fat cap up and down. I always do up, but figured down wouldn't be a problem. If not, what if I just removed the fat cap all together? What I got was one full side more of meat that I could incorporate the bark into the final product. I smoked the butts to about 180 and then yanked them and double foiled and into the oven at 300 to finish. Final product was as juicy as all of my other butts. However, the flavor had considerable more smoke and is my best batch to date. I could not be happier.

My next PB cook has been rescheduled to Aug 28. I'm going to try your method and see how we like it.

Thanks...

quote:

Originally posted by SmokinMAINEiac:

quote:

Originally posted by Bigpapam109:
I decided to attack this from a different avenue. Instead of worrying about the smoker, why not look at the meat? I decided to go get 2 butts that were bone out. I always do bone in, but wanted to swap out just to see. That wasn't for this experiment though. I have been watching the debate of smoking with fat cap up and down. I always do up, but figured down wouldn't be a problem. If not, what if I just removed the fat cap all together? What I got was one full side more of meat that I could incorporate the bark into the final product. I smoked the butts to about 180 and then yanked them and double foiled and into the oven at 300 to finish. Final product was as juicy as all of my other butts. However, the flavor had considerable more smoke and is my best batch to date. I could not be happier.

My next PB cook has been rescheduled to Aug 28. I'm going to try your method and see how we like it.

Thanks...

Let me know how it works. I found that the fat cap absorbs smoke so you don't get that into the meat. This was a whole extra side of smoke that permeated into the meat as well as the additional bark.

Might sound odd but have you tried new wood? I was using some older wood and noticed the smoke flavor was not very noticeable. I bought a new bag and the flavor was back. Maybe it was just a coincidence but might be a simple thing to try to see what the results are.

Bigpapam109: Glad to hear it! I've been moving toward that myself...glad to see you beat me to it with such good results...will now definitely go all the way and remove fat cap!

quote:

Originally posted by Thunderbyte:
Might sound odd but have you tried new wood? I was using some older wood and noticed the smoke flavor was not very noticeable. I bought a new bag and the flavor was back. Maybe it was just a coincidence but might be a simple thing to try to see what the results are.

As I was reading this thread this was my thought also.

How old is your wood?
If it is fairly fresh try adding a piece of charcoal to the pan

The wood is a combination of cookshack and the charcoal store wood. The results have been consistent since I got the wood so I eliminated that as part of the problem. I also have put up to 3 pieces of charcoal in as well...no difference other then a nicer looking bark.

I am switching over to my normal wood guy that I used to buy from for the charcoal smoker. He will cut down to the size I need to match cookshack's wood. I get 70lbs for $70 shipped so I am ordering that up. Not sure if that will make it any different but I love his prices.

$1/lb is a good price.... Wanna share the contact point with your wood guy??

The only question I'd have is the chance you'd use 70 lbs of wood,before it got old.That is a couple hundred cooks in a couple years?

quote:

Originally posted by Qnorth:
$1/lb is a good price.... Wanna share the contact point with your wood guy??

Sure thing. Let me get my batch and see how it works out and then I will post up the info.

Tom, I am going to be splitting the order with someone else. I will be getting 35 lbs for $35 for the size I want, and the rest will be bigger for my buddy's smoker. This guy will cut and do anything we ask. I have used him a lot and he is awesome.

This is a heplfull thread to me, because im gonna smoke my first pork butt today. I hope it comes out good.

How did the pork butt turn out Tom?