Newbie and First Thoughts

[jcboxlot]

#2 arrived yesterday.  4 hour almost done.

Two chucks of wood, smoke started about 5 mins in.

About a ½ hour in or so, billows out the top.  Just a tad sneaking out of the front top and back behind thermo. 

45 mins in, shake rattle and roll.  Pulsing puffs out the bottom door then poof!  Backdraft?  Smoke didn’t turn black so I didn’t think anything odd, but did catch my attention.

3 hours in, smoke gone, just heating or priming at this time.

Hoping for the best, I did research these creatures for a few months.  Almost pulled the trigger on other models, pellet, charcoal, other electric (USA Made, but no drip pan!)

Chicken wings and turkey breast (bone in) soon as test food.  Yes, I guess it won’t be crispy. 

Only questions would be, when doing a 4 or 6+ hour cook, no further wood is required?  It sure seems like after a quick time smoke might out.  2 hours vs much longer

Did I have the wood box backwards?  Guess I didn’t know there was a front and back.  One end has more of an opening? Not extended that other end.

Newbie for today, love reading posts here and it was good research in making the plunge. 

Jc

 

[DivotMaker]

Congrats, JC!  Yes, sounds like you had some wood combustion, and no, you can't put the smoke box in backwards!

To avoid the "smoke belch," wrap a little foil around the bottom half of your wood chunk (like a little foil boat).  That will stop.  Also, you never want to add more wood during a smoke.  2 chunks for seasoning was really not enough.  3-4, for a solid 4 hours of smoke would have been better.  The idea of seasoning is to lay down that smoke coating inside, while there is no meat in there to "oversmoke." 

If you don't have one, get a digital kitchen scale and weigh your wood.  If you haven't read it yet, check this out:

http://smokinitforums.com/index.php?topic=2078.0

Let us know how else we can help!

 

[swthorpe]

I have a #2 and usually see a lot of smoke in the first hour, and then it tapers off to almost nothing.  I think the smoke is still there, just too light for me to see.    If you put a small loaf pan of water/apple juice/etc in the bottom of the smoker next to the wood box, you will continue to see steam coming from the top hole.

The belch that you experience can be a scary thing, so I do as Tony and make a small foil boat for the wood to try to limit the amount of exposure to air; this seems to limit the combustion of the wood.

 

[old sarge]

Jc,
Your photo of smoke looks good to me.  On the wood box, if the ends have different size openings, the smaller would be to the front.
Belch happens on occasion.

Don't worry, just relax and enjoy.