“I maybe a little dumb, but I don't really understand the poll part of this thread at all. ”
Brian you sir are certainly not dumb! My purpose was to gather some facts as to why it is such an issue whether the chunks turn to ash or charcoal. I too have never had results of bitter creosote taste (except the beans I meantioned and I know why that happened) nor even has Dave except his one experience when he kept refilling the wood box. Maybe I’m the “dumb” one trying to understand why so many are so concerned with the wood turning to ash or charcoal, spending time foiling, boating, etc if they were not getting getting a creosote (bitter) taste! So Facts is what I was/am after.
Now if it is the layout of the poll part, I fully understand as the way I layer it out is bulky and confusing, and I wish it could have been all together.
Trufully, non of us are dumb, some of us just operate in deeper states of confusion than others, LOL. I have no idea if I have cleared anything up or not but I hope so to some degree.
Hey Doug,
This was Gregg FYI, not Brian.
I said the "dumb" thing in jest because I didn't understand how the poll worked. I am obviously VERY smart and will usually tell you that.
I typically do not get ash because I use the ramp-up method and I use quality Smokinlicious wood. I have never had to use and really hope I do not ever have to use a foil boat. I know it is not that hard, but it is the principle of the thing and goes against my Lazy-Q goals.
So, my method is to fire the old girl up at 150 degrees and run it until I am about halfway down from my second up-cycle (I have analog) and then increase to my smoking temperature.
My goal is to get the wood smoking, but reduce the amount of time that the element is pounding away at my wood at full power. If you think of it this way, if you leave the element on full blast until you get to 225-250 degrees (or whatever you are smoking at), that is a long time with the element pounding away at your wood at full power and if your wood is going to ignite, this is when it is going to happen.
So, my smokes typically run something like this (just guessing at times):
1. Ramps up to 150 pretty fast depending on the ambient temps. So, lets say it takes 20 minutes to get up to 150 and it usually shoots past 150 up to 160-165 the first couple of times. Remember I have an analog #3.
2. Then the element turns off and the temp gently goes down to let's set 140 before it kicks in again. Let's say that this takes 10 minutes.
3. So, now I am roughly 30 minutes into my smoke, and the heat starts going backup again and hits 160-165 again, and then starts going back down.
4. In another 10 minutes, the temp has receded back down to the roughly 150 sweet spot in the middle of my up/down cycles, and it is at this point that I increase my temp to my final smoking temperature.
Now, this may seem to go against my Lazy-Q goals, but really it isn't because I do not pay attention to these up and down cycles unless I do not have anything better to do. I have gone through this enough times, that I know the roughly 45 minute time frame is going to get me pretty close to where I want to be. So, I just set a timer and kick the temp up after 45 minutes. Easy Peazy.
Now, I am just guessing, but if I had a digital smoker like many of you guys do, I would probably do the same thing except since you do not see the up and down cycles like analog users do, you might get away with only a 30 minute ramp-up period. So, I would just program the unit to increase to the final temp at around 30-45 minutes. The 30 minutes might be enough to accomplish what I do in my analog in 45 minutes. I don't know. I am just guessing. But, after a couple of test smokes, you will find the sweet spot.
I am not sure how helpful this is, but it has been working for me for several years and no bitter tasting smokes. So, I am going to go with it until someone comes up with an easier method.
Gregg