Smokin-It User Forum!
Smokin-It Smokers => Model 1 - The Little Guy!! => Topic started by: 78LandCruiser on May 13, 2013, 06:10:38 PM
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Awaiting the arrival of my #1...should be tomorrow.
Anxious to start smoking. Will season tomorrow night then go for it Wednesday night. The question I hav eis how much wood should I just int he smoker? I have lots of different types of wood chunks from Camerons but am curious to understand where to start? 3 chuncks?
Also, does anyone pre-soak the chuncks in water?
Thanks!
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I have a large smoker and typically use no more than 2 ounces of wood for an entire smoke. You may want to PM a member with a number 1 and ask what they would recommend. And I never soak my wood.
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I seasoned with 3 chunks of the sample pack. Looks like a broom handle chopped into segments if you ask me :P
First smoke I made 2 racks of wings and used 2 chunks
Second smoke I made 3 racks chicken legs and used 1 chunk.
I think 1 chunk was perfect as I had a steady stream of smoke coming out the top during the entire cook. About 2.5 hrs.
I might have to go the foil the wood route and poke holes on my next cook. Based on the amount and color of smoke my wood was probably flaring as it never turned into a whispy barely there gray smoke. There was a light breeze the entire time and I had white smoke pouring out of the #1 the entire time.
Still tasted great
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I see that I'm a bit late with this post, but I'll add in my feedback anyway...
I like a heavy amount of smoke and totally ruined a batch of wings by using 2 chunks in the model #1.
I have now gone the route of weighing the wood chunks and have avoided over-smoking things. I used a 0.9 oz chunk of the hickory over the weekend to do a rack of st. louis ribs and they came out nice. They could've handled a bit more smoke, but I tend to go easy ever since scaring myself with that first set of wings.
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To me the amount of wood used is up to the individual. Some like a lot and some like a little. So really it is personal preference at to how smokey you like it.
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Grizz, I think you're going the right route by measuring your wood (that sounds much dirtier than was intended). Bigboy is correct ... the amount of smoke is a very personal liking and will vary according to a wide variety of factors (density of the wood, how fresh/moist the wood is, type and quantity of meat, etc.). That being said, I have a belief that the size of the smoker may also be a big factor here.
For example, the size of the vent aperture is likely consistent across all four models. The quantity of wood needed to fill my smoker with good smoke as it moves from the hot chamber to the cooler outside air will vary based on internal volume.
I'd keep toying with what you do; I will say that I typically use 2-3 oz. with chicken wings and 4 oz with ribs while large pork butt or brisket goes 5-6 oz. per session.
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In the #3, for ribs I use about 4 oz, on the pork butt i used about 6oz. That fit the bill, no too Smokey. Chicken I us 2-3 oz. I use a mix of hickory and cherry.
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I do a lot of smokes in my #1, and Joe is right on the money. 2-3 oz for small items like wings, 4 oz for ribs, 6 oz for butts and briskets. Remember - your larger cuts (especially) aren't going to absorb much smoke after they reach 140 internal temp, so there's no need to have smoke rolling the entire cook. In my opinion, the "over-smoked" taste comes when you accumulate too much unabsorbed smoke on the meat. When the meat will take the smoke, it diffuses into the meat and is somewhat diluted. When you look at the inside of your smoker after you season it, you'll see the golden brown coating from the smoke on everything; that's what going on to the meat after it stops absorbing the smoke!
So, the first part of the smoke is to actually "smoke" the meat; the rest of the time is just low-and-slow cooking.