Smokette Oversmoking - 240 Volt

Bitter, that sounds like wood with a lot of moisture in it to me. I had an older version of the smokette and never had that, but I bought dried wood from a guy on eBay with very good feedback - that and the chunks were perfect, two pieces at the most, I used my wife's Weight Watcher's digital scale to get an idea what each variety of wood (maple, red oak, cherry and hickory) weighed. It is your wood. I don't know about the electrics part, the Smokette is a pretty simple little smoker. When I would do a brisket or ribs or PB in my Smokette the wood would smoke and I'd get almost all ash, sign of a good slow burn.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ultima...&hash=item27d5e730e1

Try to find a source of dried wood made especially for smoking meats, use Yahoo or whatever search engine is most popular in AU... Good Luck.

I agree with Big Mike. It has to be the wood. I don't know what others think so maybe someone might chime in, is it possible that your heating element is bent to far up and really charring the wood to fast? If you feel a lot of resistance when you put the smoker box in, try bending the heating element down just a tad.

Again, probably the wood. But give that a try.

You also didn't say what kind of wood you are using. If it's mesquite or hickory, try a chunk of apple or pecan. Produce much milder flavors.

You have eBay in AU, look on eBay for "smoking wood", find someone who guarantees they are selling DRIED wood, preferably with little bark on it. The selection I posted the link to is really top notch. The wood is very dry, perfect size for your woodbox, two pieces at most - I like to mix oak and hickory for beef, use the maple for pork - the combinations are endless. Try to find something like that. Mesquite is ok for grilling but smoking it can impart a bitter taste easily, if you have access to dried apple wood that is a great one, love applewood smoked salmon or chicken. Hmmm, getting hungry thinking about it.

Wow - thanks for the fast response.

BigMike - I used that same ebayer. I brought in a box for a competition in February. Maybe it's picked up some moisture.

Padrefan98 - I used Hickory. I will try some other woods.

The firebox slides in easily. I bought it locally from the authorised reseller so it was already converted to 240 V.

Have you tested the temp inside with a remote probe. One independant of the digital read out on the unit. See if you are getting the same temp.

What does the wood look like after a long 10-12 hour smoke? Is it ash or charred?

remember to start with dry wood.
don't soak before inserting into smokebox!

Sao you have a fairly new unit, and you got good wood. It's gotta be the wood is damp (is it really damp there, I lived in San Francisco and the fog was a beast, trying to use charcoal was the pits). Damp wood would create too much smoke. And hickory is pretty strong tasting, good for beef.

My smokette was used and the previous owner had modified the exhaust stack. I got the correct pipe fitting from Cookshack and once that was installed my unit worked a lot better because the air flow was better. Sometimes the drip hole on the bottom gets clogged, and that exhaust pipe has to be clear so there is good air flow through...

Good luck

Well. I'm no electrician but the smoker is designed to operate on a 120 volt circuit. My neighbor helped me hook up a 120 volt Malibu light system once. He accidentally hooked the system up to 240 volts. The lights burned very bright, and I told him they looked like airplane landing lights, not Malibu lights. Till the transformer fried, then no light...only took about 10 seconds.

I'd check with Cookshack. You might burn out your electronics, and this might be the source of your cooking problems.

I am a journeyman electrician and I’d say Pags nailed this one.
You need a step down transformer for the smoker to work properly

I have some new wood arriving tomorrow so I'll let you know how I go.

The temperature swings about 20F above and below, which from other's posts seems normal. Set to 250F, it starts up in about 40 minutes to 280F, then down to around 225 in about 20 minutes, then back up to 270F in 10 minutes, then back down in 20 and repeats. Is that a typical cycle? I'm wondering if the heat up is faster than normal.

Thanks again for the help

My temp swings are only 1-3 degrees once it reaches set points. This is really starting to sound like the 240 Volt problem like Pags and Arnie suggested.

quote:

Originally posted by Jester_AU:
Set to 250F, it starts up in about 40 minutes to 280F, then down to around 225 in about 20 minutes, then back up to 270F in 10 minutes, then back down in 20 and repeats. Is that a typical cycle? I'm wondering if the heat up is faster than normal.

Thanks again for the help

i'm a bit surprised that it can cool from 280 to 225F in just twenty minutes. that's quite rapid (assuming there's a load in the smoker and the door remains sealed)

I think that getting in touch with Cookshack is the smart move. We can go back and forth trying to help you, but talking to Cookshack service is your best bet. Maybe you need to talk to the people you bought it from in AU...

Let us know what comes of this. These threads will be here for a long time and sometime later your situation and it's resolution will be of great help to someone else should they run into the same problem.

Thanks for your help guys - it was indeed the wood. New batch of wood tasted great!

New to the forum. Greetings. I also a experiencing a bitter taste in the food. I must confess i was using pellets. Can this be the problem ?? I was also tkld to increase the draft. Can this be done on a cookshack model 045 ?? Thanx rich..

quote:

Originally posted by lirednek:
I was also tkld to increase the draft. Can this be done on a cookshack model 045 ?? Thanx rich..

tkld??

were you using heating grade pellets??

you should probably start a new thread to get this particular question addressed.

Ok thanx i will.. that was suppose to be told.

quote:

Originally posted by Pags:
Well. I'm no electrician but the smoker is designed to operate on a 120 volt circuit.

Actually the ones Cs sells to Australia are 240 as that country if based on 240. I had to buy transformers to knock it down to 110 when I lived there. Had about 10 of them throughout the house.