How long will the Wood smoke for?

If smoking ribs...2-4 oz of wood is sufficient from start to finish. Chicken, even less...maybe 1 oz, start to finish. If smoking pork butts or a large packer brisket (12 lbs+) I'll start with 4-6 oz of wood initially, and add a 2 oz chunk at the 8 hr mark.

Guess the question/answer should be...do you have enough smoke flavor for you and your family? If not, then maybe we should talk about how to increase it, but if it tastes fine then why change anything?

So what is the question?

I've found on longer smokes, if I start the night before on a lower temp, say 180-200*, in the morning when I bump it up to 235-250*, it seems to have some more smoke left too it. KISS seems to work for this.

Keep in mind there are two basic kinds of smoke.

Gray/white smoke (which is bad because it carries off the impurities in the wood)

and

Clear/Blue smoke which is hard to see.

Cal is right, KEY is the flavor of it, not the visual of it.

First, like Smokin' said, just because you don't see smoke doesn't mean its not smoking.

Second, like cal stated, if it tastes good to you, then you don't need to change it.

Third, no offense to MaxQ , but the amounts of wood he suggests would probably be too much smoke for most of my family, maybe even me. And while you can eat food with too little smoke, its very difficult to eat food when there's too much smoke.

Fourth, I use an old model # OO8 Smokette, and when I smoke a brisket or a pork shoulder for 12-14+ hours, the wood chunks are turned to pure ash. Conversely, when smoking ribs for 4 hours, the wood is charred but not completely turned to ash. It sounds like you doing things just fine.

Fifth, I learned from others on here, the importance of keeping a log of every thing your smoking. I created a spreadsheet on my Mac where I can keep track of what I smoked, when, cooking times, rubs, rests, marinades, wood amounts, sauces, and general notes. It has really helped me refine and hone my smoking abilities.

Lastly, I'm no scientist, but I imagine a chunk of wood being smoked at 225 degrees will smoke longer than it would at 275 degrees.

Does anyone know of any scientific studies to determine whether a chunk of wood smoked at lower temperature produces a lighter smoke for a longer period of time versus a chunk of wood smoked at a higher temperature producing a more intense smoke for a shorter time? If indeed that is the case. Which if true, which style would produce a better flavor profile?

quote:

Originally posted by RmblnJoe:
...

Does anyone know of any scientific studies to determine whether a chunk of wood smoked at lower temperature produces a lighter smoke for a longer period of time versus a chunk of wood smoked at a higher temperature producing a more intense smoke for a shorter time? If indeed that is the case. Which if true, which style would produce a better flavor profile?

Great post by the way, spells it out perfectly.

Scientific studies? In BBQ?

Ha

Don't know of any, but you'd have a lot of variables to sort out.

I think if someone takes detailed enough notes, maybe they'll have an answer they can share.

Density and Humidity of the air in the smoker
Humidity of the wood
Air flow
Type of wood

Best thing to go by is your taste buds and keep great notes.