How burnt/done should the wood be?

Verify if the heat coil at front of wood box barely touching woodbox, if not you may bend it upward toward woodbox to just barely touching it.

^^^^ What he said, plus was your orientation correct?

I can clearly see 2 U shaped coil marks that have discoloured the underside of the box.

So are you guys saying the wood should be more burnt?

What they said, and yes, I think it should be more burnt.

i'd make sure the element is touching the smokebox

When I dump my firebox after a smoke I dump
Ash.

If the wood is correctly oriented and the element is touching the bottom of the wood box, then you should get a good burn. As the smoker seasons, it smokes better and more readily though I'm not sure of the reasoning for this. Sometimes the wood doesn't completely turn to ash although it will get completely blackened and partially burnt.

quote:

Originally posted by Pags:
If the wood is correctly oriented and the element is touching the bottom of the wood box, then you should get a good burn. As the smoker seasons, it smokes better and more readily though I'm not sure of the reasoning for this. Sometimes the wood doesn't completely turn to ash although it will get completely blackened and partially burnt.

The wood makes a difference also. Sometimes when I use two different kinds of wood, one will be turned to charcoal and the other will be turned to white ashes.

Also depends on how big the pieces are and how they are split (with the grain or across the grain).

Bottom line is "Do you like the appearance, taste, and texture of your product when you sit down to consume it?"

I have the same problem when I smoke salmon with alder at 200*. The chunks are barely blackened and hardly any smoke during the cook. When I do BB ribs at 225* with apple I get plenty of smoke and end up with pretty much ashes in the box. I've bent the coil up to contact the smokebox bottom also. This a well-used 020.

On my SM025 my smoke box does not slide in easily. I have to kind of jostle it in, if that makes sense. I am not forcing it but it doesn't slide in easily. That's because my element is bent in a way that prevents that. This was done on purpose when I noticed the same kind of wood burns your getting. My wood ends up being charcoal or ash depending on thickness and length of smoke.

Yea. Like you Padre, I've got my element firmly against the wood box and must gently lower the element 1/2" each time I have to reinsert the wood box. Only remove the box when necessary.