Too much smoke?

You'll know it when you taste it.

It's definitely bitter, an off taste. Did you ever put your stuff in an ECB too early which the smoke is still building and get a weird taste...similar problem.

Just start with only a couple of ounces (depending on the meat) and go from there.
It's easy to add smoke than throw away something from too much.

Smokin'

Silly Q what is a ECB...willb

Sorry Willb,

I actually picked up the abreviation from this site. I have a Brinkman water smoker. ECB apparently stands for El Cheapo Brinkman. Someone who has been around longer will have to explain the terms orgin.

They are pretty much the original bullet shaped smoker with a water pan over the charcoal pan for a heat sink.

The originals had no doors to add fuel or water,no air vents to speak of,no way to check grate temps and were a man killing way to do long cooks.

I bought mine so long ago that I think I paid $9.99 for it.It has had many mods[which cost more than it did].

That being said,many of us have used them and they can produce some excellent Q.

I tried the smokette and went back to my old offset. Having said that, I like smoke and I generally cook with a mix of wood and charcoal. I use the charcoal early to get up to temperature and then transition to wood (mesquite or hickory) and finish off the cook. I've yet to taste anything that was bitter or off-flavor. If you start with wood when the meat is cold, the cold surface of the meat will collect condensed creosote from the smoke and that won't taste very good at all. But if you bring the meat up to 100�+ or so and hit it with smoke, I don't think you can go wrong. I smoked two KC cut racks of ribs yesterday afternoon into last night, used 8 pounds of charcoal and about 15 pounds of wood. The ribs are heavenly, nice bark, good color, deep rich smokey flavor. Makes me glad I kept the offset.....dchem