problems getting smoke???

One thing to watch is the placement of the wood in the wood box. Look for discoloration to note that would be the hotest spot. Try to make sure your wood chunks are on those "hot spots". The "charred" wood will not leave a "bad" flavor on your product. Sometimes a higher moisture content in the wood might cause some chunks to not burn completly to ash. Were you happy with the smoke flavor of the brisket? If so, don't worry about the wood not producting smoke (it actually might be producing "clear" smoke). Cooshacks will smoke heavily at first with a white smoke and then begin to produce a thin almost clear smoke.... Also, after your product reaches 140* it will stop taking up smoke flavor inside and will only lay on to the surface.

Your wood amount for brisket seems a little light. I use 5-6 ozs of wood, it seems that the bigger pieces of meat need more smoke to make the flavor.

It is my understanding that the newer smokettes do not have holes in the wood box. It still is important to place the wood over the curves of the heating element.

Cal, I bought mine 6 months ago and it has holes. Are you saying newer then that don't? Interesting.

SmokeHappy- I noticed that the wood chunks I place on the right side of the box turn to ash and the ones on the left char black. I never thought this was any big deal. What concerns me is you said your not getting smoke for 30 min and not until it reaches 225? Cause mine starts smoking after 10 minutes with internal temp of about 100*. Is there something wrong with mine or yours? I am glad mine smokes that fast cause I love cold smoking, and with yours that might be a problem.

mine smokes at around that temp too but doesnt seem to smoke for as long a period as it should.. i think.
This morning i put in 3oz as a test at 225. it smoked pretty quick but it only lasted less than 2 hrs. wood was half black half white ash.
also, with further inspection, my woodbox IS sitting partially on the element.
i wonder if that could be causing the wood to burn up too quickly???
Would that explain the short period of smoke??
i find it strange that it smoked for six hours once, and not again..
maybe having no holes prevents oxygen from getting to the wood, but why all the sudden??
being that these bad boys are hand made, maybe they forgot to drill the woodbox??
i would love to find out that if i drill a few holes in the woodbox this would solve the issue..

The new ones are being made without the holes in the woodbox. That's by design and confirmed by Cookshack as mentioned in a previous post.

If the brisket tasted great, why the concern? If you stated the brisket had no smoke flavoring, then we would suggest more wood, make sure the element is touching the woodbox, make sure wood is over the element, etc.

Smaller chunks will burn for a shorter period. If you're looking for heavy smoke for a longer period of time, put in a larger 4-6 oz piece of wood. It'll smoke longer.

As stated earlier a dry piece of wood vs green wood would make a difference too. I suspect low humidity would also change how quickly things burn as well as the opposite effect in high humidity.
I won't change anything I am doing cause I am thoroughly happy with my end results. Still very interested in this topic.

If it tasted great... who cares!?!

If not... then increase the amount of wood...

After about 3-4 years of cooking in my SM020 I can get a pretty good smoke flavor without even using any wood! (Don't ask how I know...)

N

yeah, the food comes out great so far. Im just concerned with the inconsistency that it produces smoke. Lets be honest, everyone LOVES to see that beautiful plume of smoke puffing out of their CS spiced with the sweet aroma of smoking meats. I was spoiled with 6hrs of that, now I only get 2hrs with the same wood.
I guess its like ive read... trial and error till u get it right.
I can promise you that i have no problem with gaining 20 lbs in order to do so. hehehe..

Thanks for the advice smokers!

I purchased my Amerique early this spring and had very few issues with lack of smoke. The last couple of times I used it, though, the wood was lightly charred and very little smoke was generated. I looked to make sure I was placing the wood in the right (hot) spots, and that airflow was not restricted.

I'm beginning to think the problem might have to do with the humidity which has been very high here this summer. I keep the wood in the garage which is hot and humid. To give this a test I'm going to bring a few blocks into the house for a while before the next smoke.

Has anyone else seen humidity related issues with wood smoking properly?

I find when the weather is as hot as it is now that the heating element doesn't have to work as hard and the wood doesn't smoke as much.

I just split the wood into finer pieces and I get plenty of smoke regardles of the steamy outdoor temperrature. The wood does not have to turn ash to get all the flavor out of it. (Kinda like the Bradley smoker wood "pucks" that are extinguished after they turn to charcoal but before they turn to ash IMO).

Split your wood finer and you'll get plenty of smoke.

In previous post there has been quite a discussion about the type of smoke. The white smoke you first see are the impurities being burnt and later the light blue smoke (which is hard to see) will follow and that is the smoke you want. So if there is plenty of smoke in your food I wouldn't worry about it.

Hi all. I'm brand new to the forum and have had little smoking experience. i just received my sm025 last week and so far have turned out a respectable (for me) pulled pork shoulder and 4 decent smoked chickens. I too have had some problems with getting the wood to burn to the degree that I had expected. Called Cookshack customer service and they said it was probably due to the very hot weather we were having here on Long Island (100+). The smoker's idle starting temperature was over 100 degrees (measured) and I was trying to smoke at 200. So, the smoker was getting up to temp too fast to really get a good burn going. CS suggested using chips or pellets. Well, tried the chips, and that did work better, but just char, no ash. I then applied a little logic to the problem. If the problem was that the smoker's idle starting temp was too hot, then what about lowering it? So, I loaded up a steel container with ice and cold water and placed it on the rack and shut the door, leaving a temp probe in the vent hole. Came back to it 2 hours later and the internal temp was 70 degrees (down from 102)! So, I put two 4lb birds in there, and a 1.5 oz chunk of hickory (plus 3 small pieces), and when the birds were done 3.5 hours later, almost all the wood was ash, and what wasn't ash was fully charred (some of it still smoldering). I should also mention that the wood started smoking at about 5 minutes into the cook (at 110 degrees). So, hopefully this technique might be helpful to others. Give it a try. Also, I think that putting your meat in the smoker straight from the frig would help with this as well. Anyway, sorry this was so long, but I thought it just might help someone. . .

I think it's a great tip. And makes sense!

hhhmmm... never considered that the heat wave we are having in nyc could actually be the problem and im sure it doesnt help that my CS sits in the sun most of the day. Tomorow im gonna try shading it to keep temp outer lower and see how she flies!! Ill let you know..

oh and, when i did the ribs, (got the best/most smoke) it was rainy and cool outside so i had it covered by a canopy.. it all ads up.

Cookshack forums are so helpful, im suprised they are free!

quote:

Originally posted by SmokeHappy:
Cookshack forums are so helpful, im suprised they are free!

Hey!!!!!! Don't give Smokin any ideas.