Help Smoking

Mixx, What type smoker you using? If a cookshack you may want to use chunk wood. The sawdust burns kinda fast. I only use it when making sausage in my cabinet style smoker. Hopefully someone with more experience will chime in here soon. Great to see another Buckeye. Welcome

Me too, what smoker are you using?

Also, you might want to put the meat in cold, gives the smoker longer to penetrate.

You can also cook it longer on a lower setting to get more smoke in.

The "theory" is that at some point, meat protein molecules start closing up and the smoke can't penetrate any farther. Some say that point is around 140. But you can't smoke below 140 because that will be the danger zone for bacteria.

Smokin'

Mix - You said "My smoke does not seem to penatrate the meat its just on the the outer surface or about a 1/16" into the meat, lots of smoke flavor."

Let's clear something up here. Are you talking about actual "smoke flavor" or are you talking about a "smoke ring" - you know, the pinkish-red color that is visable in/on smoked meats when you slice into it? If it's color you are looking for, a couple of lumps of Kingsford real-wood charcoal will help.

And "yes," what kind of smoker are you using?

Ok don�t beat up on me to bad.
I have a home made Smoker. A real old Refrigerator with porcelain insides had the Freezer on the top. I took out the Freezer and put a damper on the bottom/side and one on the top I run a double burner hot plate for the heat source. It works great I once did 40 pounds of smokies 20 Lbs Beef and 20 Lbs Elk. The thing works great in the cold if its
5 degrees outside I can still smoke with little heat lose if I open the door.

I guess I�m looking for the Smoke Ring That�s the part that is not working out so well.
The meat has plenty of smoke flavor.

Hey Mix - No one here is going to beat ya up. They are all pretty good folks and like to help people with BBQ problems. So if what you are using for a smoker works for you and you are happy with the results that's cool!

Like I said above, if you are looking for a smoke ring you might try adding a couple of lumps of Kingsford to your saw dust. Someone else here can explain the "why." All I can say is that it works for me. Also, you might try experimanting a little with wood chunks instead of saw dust, maybe a combo. To me, experimanting is part of the fun of Q'ing.

Just curious, how hot can you get that converted fridge with your double burner hot plate?

Have fun & Good luck!!!

once the wood starts to burn you need to cut back the heat I dozed of one time when I woke up it was 380 degrees so it gets real hot. The hot plate was not up all the way

sounds like a cool smoker to me and until my units come in sure as heck is a lot fancier than my brinkman bullet (but they sure have served me well and have gone thru 10 of them in the past 20 years). i think you might try the cold meat trick and use chunks of wood rather than sawdust. you never said what kind of wood you use and that can affect your "halo" or smoke ring or whatever ya wanna call it. if you want to cheat your smoke ring a little salt peter dissolved in water can due the trick. just mix with water and let the meat set in it overnite and brother you will get a big red ring but myself i dont like doing that. kinda reminds me of chefs using baking soda to fix the green color in beans. sure it works but you just took all the nutrients out of them. so in closing try the wood chunks and have fun experimenting. to me thats the best part. and if you really want your family to go nuts just keep a log book listing wood type, time of day, length of smoke time, cut of meat and the moon phase
have fun
jack
2 Greyhounds....SMOKIN!!!!
ps dont get in too deep or you will be ordering an sm150 and a fec100 and a custom TT818 from trailer tech lol

Mixx
I would have to agree with Smokin, the meat should be cold so as to absorb as much smoke as possible. If you want help on the smoke ring, try adding a charcoal briquete or two to the wood mix and see what you think? Good luck with the fridge and let us know what you find to fix the problem?? I have found on cooks that smaller wood like chips work great for short low temp things like cheese and on the longer cooks the chunks work best, never tried saw dust though.

I have 3 slabs of Baby Backs and about 6 lbs of western ribs (could not beat the price 79 cents a pound) I bought 6 packs and got the foodsaver out, and about a 2-3 lbs pork butt so I will find out.

I have the real wood charcoal I will add that to some chips and chunks see what I come up with.

I will post the results
Thanks for all the help

well they turn out to be my best so far, the ribs and the western ribs had a smoke ring not as big as I was looking for but better. I thought I had a small pork butt it was a pork loin that did not get a smoke ring at all, but over all they were much better. had good bark more smoke ring. Next time I will try some apple wood this time I used hickory. The real wood charcoal only burned half way still had some left in the pan all the wood chips and chunks were gone.

Thanks for all the help

Mixx,
a lot of the times I use kingsford charcoal, whether it is real wood or not I don't know it's just what I use on the webber kettle I use for steak and such, most of the times there is half of a briquette left or there abouts; and when I cook pork my family mandates I cook on apple wood I guess there is something to the taste they like that comes from apple. I have found that a cooking temp of 215 or so allows the meat to stay in the cooker a little longer which makes it render the fat better producing more tender results.