I get smoke at first,but then it stops.After cooking,I check the wood box and the wood is hardly burned,but somewhat black.Is this due to the heating element not touching the box? Should I bend it a bit to touch the wood box?
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It has been a while since some of the veteran CS owners have talked about the need for wood to burn to ash.
1st off, does your product not have a smoke flavor. Most times the product has warmed up enough that it's not gonna take on more smoke, but only lay it on the surface.
2nd, if you bend your element up to touch the bottom of the wood box MAKE sure it still has good contact with the wood box...think about a cook stove and a skillet, you need contact on all areas....so make sure your not lifting the front of the wood box up in the air.
3rd, the placement of the wood in the box WILL have an effect on the burning to ashes. Try to use the hot areas of the wood box for placement of wood, you can probably look at the bottom of the wood box for discolorment,yeah that will be the hot area.
4th, make sure you are putting the cut edge of the wood in contact with the bottom of the box...it will light faster then the split edge of the wood, experience has taught me this.
5th, sometimes in the middle of the hot summer, wood will take on some humidity from the air.
I'm sure I've forgotten something,oh!, what was your question???LOL!
1st off, does your product not have a smoke flavor. Most times the product has warmed up enough that it's not gonna take on more smoke, but only lay it on the surface.
2nd, if you bend your element up to touch the bottom of the wood box MAKE sure it still has good contact with the wood box...think about a cook stove and a skillet, you need contact on all areas....so make sure your not lifting the front of the wood box up in the air.
3rd, the placement of the wood in the box WILL have an effect on the burning to ashes. Try to use the hot areas of the wood box for placement of wood, you can probably look at the bottom of the wood box for discolorment,yeah that will be the hot area.
4th, make sure you are putting the cut edge of the wood in contact with the bottom of the box...it will light faster then the split edge of the wood, experience has taught me this.
5th, sometimes in the middle of the hot summer, wood will take on some humidity from the air.
I'm sure I've forgotten something,oh!, what was your question???LOL!
I've had an 055 for about 6 yrs and my wood almost never turns to ash... but I get very good product out of the smoker so I haven't paid any attention to it.
The 055 has one of the largest elements (1200 watts) which is really two elements, one on either side of a pretty narrow woodbox so there should be plenty of heat to turn wood to ash but I'm glad it doesn't. Worst part is occasionally tossing out a charred chunk.
You might try different placements of the wood in the box... front, back, sides. I always put new wood in the front of my (narrow) wood box and shove any charred chunks to the back. Usuaully on a 2nd or 3rd smoke the chunks will turn to ash.
But the real question is: are you happy with what comes out of the smoker? Everything else is not really that important.
Also be aware that wood will smoke a lot at first to burn off impurities, and then will turn to an almost clear/blue smoke that is hard to see. If you can smell the smoke, it's smoking....
The 055 has one of the largest elements (1200 watts) which is really two elements, one on either side of a pretty narrow woodbox so there should be plenty of heat to turn wood to ash but I'm glad it doesn't. Worst part is occasionally tossing out a charred chunk.
You might try different placements of the wood in the box... front, back, sides. I always put new wood in the front of my (narrow) wood box and shove any charred chunks to the back. Usuaully on a 2nd or 3rd smoke the chunks will turn to ash.
But the real question is: are you happy with what comes out of the smoker? Everything else is not really that important.
Also be aware that wood will smoke a lot at first to burn off impurities, and then will turn to an almost clear/blue smoke that is hard to see. If you can smell the smoke, it's smoking....
I'm getting excellent product out of the smoker,so I'll just monitor the situation and see how it goes.I think I will try shoving the charred ones to the back and see what happens with them. Honestly,I don't think I even need wood,because the cookshack would still work fabulous without it.