Tri Tip has been my achilles heel.....

[id2nv2nj2ca]

I am perplexed by this. With the high wattage of the 4D, this seems odd. Especially with a previously used chunk that did not burn from a previous smoke session, which should have been pretty dry. Sounds like your element is not having any trouble getting you to your smoking temp? So not an issue with the element? I've missed some posts from the last couple months, and sometimes this forum can get so "overly" helpful with all sorts of advice, that I don't want to add any thoughts that might have been covered. DM has been monitoring this I'm sure. I'll let him chime in. He's the expert.

It seems that your earlier posts I read were related to too much white smoke, possible combustion, and concern that your wood was burning up too fast. But now it seems that you are having trouble getting your wood to burn at all, even after removing the foil from the bottom of the smoke box from earlier advice. Like I said, I have not seen every post, so I defer to others in this case. I do not have the big picture, and don't want to give suggestions that have already been given.

Thanks, Kari.  Yes, I have received a LOT of different advice from different areas.  Some via private message and others via the forum.  Some said, because of the power of the element in the 4D, I should cover 3/4 of the smoke box with foil.  Some said the wood doesn't matter at all, others say smokinlicious is the way to go.  I was really baffled when the wood I had used the day before, when I did have foil in the smoke box, didn't smolder or burn yesterday after it had been subjected to heat the day before, didn't burn at all with no foil.

Just when I had resolved myself to listening to the people say "don't worry about the color of the smoke unless it's the really thick smoke indicating it caught on fire" and just setting it and forgetting it, now I'm not getting any smoke at all.  And I don't want to put the wood over the actual hot spots that caused combustion.  I'll eventually figure it all out.

[SconnieQ]

People here are so darn helpful! You can get a lot of opinions. I would just go back to the basics, no foil, you've got the good smokinlicious wood, and get some smokes under your belt. I think you maybe overanalyzed the smoke appearance in the beginning during the seasoning process, which set you off on NUMEROUS paths prematurely. Lots of people look too closely at smoke and box temp during seasoning.

Tweak things from the basics. SI smokers really are so easy. You can get wrapped up in details, but it really is not necessary with these smokers to get GREAT results. If you come from a background of traditional smoking, you are used to analyzing these details. Just let it happen with the SI. It will do it's job.

[id2nv2nj2ca]

People here are so darn helpful! You can get a lot of opinions. I would just go back to the basics, no foil, you've got the good smokinlicious wood, and get some smokes under your belt. I think you maybe overanalyzed the smoke appearance in the beginning during the seasoning process, which set you off on NUMEROUS paths prematurely. Lots of people look too closely at smoke and box temp during seasoning.

Tweak things from the basics. SI smokers really are so easy. You can get wrapped up in details, but it really is not necessary with these smokers to get GREAT results. If you come from a background of traditional smoking, you are used to analyzing these details. Just let it happen with the SI. It will do it's job.

You're so right and I appreciate all the people that try to help, even though they sometimes contradict each other.  It's definitely a learning process for sure.

This weekend, I have to do the two tri tips and 3 racks of ribs for a birthday party.  I think I'm going to smoke the tri tips for a couple of hours and then sous vide them for at least 5 hours so they are tender.  Thanks again for that video link on cutting a tri tip!!  And then throw the ribs on for 5 1/2 hours or so, until done.  My wife gets the pleasure of putting together the 12 cheese mac and cheese.  A half pan for the birthday party and a half pan for someone else.   Sadly, we have to do this while preparing to go to Idaho to bury my mom who passed away yesterday morning.  But, life goes on, right?

Thanks again for all the help, I really appreciate it.

[SconnieQ]

Sadly, we have to do this while preparing to go to Idaho to bury my mom who passed away yesterday morning.

Sorry to hear about your mom.

[DivotMaker]

So sorry to hear of your loss, Scott!  Blessings to you, and yours.

[id2nv2nj2ca]

Sadly, we have to do this while preparing to go to Idaho to bury my mom who passed away yesterday morning.

Sorry to hear about your mom.

Thank you!!!  We thought we were going to lose her a couple of years ago.  The doctors were convinced, but she rallied, so it wasn't unexpected.

[id2nv2nj2ca]

So sorry to hear of your loss, Scott!  Blessings to you, and yours.

Thanks, Tony.  Appreciate it.

[NDKoze]

I'm sorry to hear about your Mom Scott. Blessings to you and your family.

[id2nv2nj2ca]

I'm sorry to hear about your Mom Scott. Blessings to you and your family.

Thank you so much, Gregg.  I appreciate it.