Slow and sear questions

[Unclesean]

First of all I think this product is a  great accessory to have for the weber kettle. Im still new to using it and I do have a couple questions.  Im using the slow and sear on a weber original professional 22 inch kettle.  My first time cooking with it was with a pork butt for pulled pork and it came out a little too smokey, probably my fault as I was a little heavy on the wood though it produced a heavy white/grey smoke through majority of the cook.  I am currently smoking a brisket sitting pretty at 230F although I am having a tough time getting that thin blue smoke that is so desirable when smoking meats. Its that thick white/grey smoke that I think is going to add a harsh taste to the meat. The same smoke that occured while smoking my pork butt.  Is there anything I can do to limit this. I started a few briquettes in the corner of my slow and sear, let them get nice and hot, then added more briquettes and chunk wood on top like I've seen in tutorials for this accessory.  I believe this smoke occurs when the charcoal doesnt burn hot enough, I play with the vents but I cant seem to figure it out.  Anybody else having this issue, any suggestions?
Thanks a lot!

[MrHoss]

If the chunk of wood you have is too big it will burn dirty. I have the best of luck with chunks half the size of my fist. If the wood you are using is not properly seasoned it will burn dirty.

I give a chunk of wood 5 minutes tops to get clean then I will pull it out with tongs. Better to have no wood than dirty smoke all over the food I say.

If you have a second Kettle start a small charcoal pile, add a reasonable sized chunk on top, let it burn down till you get clean smoke then transfer it to your cooker with the brisket. Pain is the ass, yes. But it will work. You have a cook underway and have no time to experiment.....do that later with a empty Kettle when you get a chance.

Edit: Maybe go with chunks 1/4 the size of your fist.....it'll get clean faster that way. If your wood is not properly seasoned there is diddly you can do in the short term to make it burn clean. If the smoke is burning your eyes and nose when you lean is close your food will taste dirty.

[jcnaz]

I have no SnS experience, but @ABCbarbecue and @LightningBoldtz may be able to help some.

Good luck!

[effinUker]

I have no experience with the SnS, but I do have a question. How are you controlling your temp?

I always cook with my top vent wide open. Once the fire gets burning good and producing clean smoke, I bring down the temp by closing the bottom vent. 2 weeks ago I even had the bottom vent closed 100% and it kept a 225 temp for several hours. In that instance I had raw coals stacked against one side of the kettle with smoke wood chunks mixed in, and dropped 8 or 10 lit coals on one corner & let it creep across. Kind of a minion/snake hybrid.

I'm not sure if this is your issue, but it could be something to look at.

[Unclesean]

The bottom vent is about half way open and the top vent is wide open.  I do believe its an issue with the wood burning dirty and not so much the charcoal. Once the wood burns down there is no more heavy white/grey smoke. I may fire up some charcoal and a few wood chunks in a chimney starter to get the wood to start to burn clean and add them that way throughout the smoke to help prevent that dirty smoke.

[ABCbarbecue]

Where's the smoke coming from?  If it's coming from around the lid then you've got airflow issues.  Try using binder clips to clamp the lid down on the kettle and this will force air to go through the top vent.  Then you can get your airflow under control, which will get you to the thin white / thin blue smoke you're looking for.

The SnS likes a tight top vent.  Folks from snake/fuse methods or the Smokenator are always surprised how tight they have to set their vents to maintain 225F.  Close the top vent down to maybe 1/4 open, perhaps even less, and you'll get better smoke.

[MikeRocksTheRed]

It might be worth putting some of your chunks on the indirect side of the grill the next time you are cooking that way to try to dry them out a little more, then see if they still have heavy smoke on your next attempt.  It sounds like you have wood that isn't seasoned enough or you are using too much.  I used to use soaked chips which seemed to work ok, but have switched to chunks and haven't had any problems.  I don't soak my chunks and feel it gives me better control when using the snake method.  With chips if I didn't make sure to keep the piles of chips seperated, the chips would burn across faster than the snake normally would lighting the snake as it went which gave me too much heat.