"I like to approach things like this analytically."
~~~> sunsanvil
Well....OK !!!!
A small, hot, clean burning fire is what you aim for......you cannot avoid smoke from burning wood entirely, it's what burning wood does.....
Burning chips on a hot fire will burn them up quickly, hence the smoker box, or foil packet to slow down the consumption.....it may easily be that what you're concerned about (the visible smoke) would be compounded by smouldering in a pouch or box.....it creates a dilemma that we'll try to solve......
An example:
When I do long smokes, 11~15 hours & line up the coals & wood chunks like so ~~>
It will burn around the ring, charcoal lighting charcoal, until it hits a piece of wood.....
All of the above cookers are lit, 5 in a row, see where a couple are puffing smoke, that's ones that have currently hit the wood chunk.....
It will smoulder some, for a few minutes, but if I've done my job in lining up the original setup, will soon go thin blue to almost none at all........AT THAT POINT, it's still burning wood & adding smoke flavor to the food, just that it's burning nice & clean....
I learned some of this from having been around wood burning stoves at various times & learned about the intakle's effect on getting a small heater stove to heat a room all night long, maybe adding wood once.....
Here's a photo I borrowed from Alien BBQ of Roswell, NM that shows very clearly the difference between white & blue ~~>
The link to a good display of info on some of this, I found (same place as above photo ^^)
here:
http://www.thesmokering.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11458And also here:
http://www.thesmokering.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17614&sid=d241947886c7cbd97895ab49a46abc48A lot of what they're talking about in those links is OFFSET smokers, but quite a few of the principles still apply....my particular "dog & pony show" is to find more & more refined ways to replicate this on a Weber.....kettle, in particular............Golly & in particular Hogsy from Austalia have fixed up setups to do things I've never even thought of....as have others both here & on other forums.....
On an offset cooker a recommendation I see quite a lot is to pre-heat the wood splits on TOP of the firebox & as those pre-heated pieces go in, set a few more on top to pre-heat...Why?
To get them closer to the temprature they'll burn at & REDUCE the amout of puffy white "catch" or start-up smoke......
I accomplish this by setting the chunks around the ring, sort of evenly spaced & as the charcoal burns up to the chunk, it pre-heats it to some extent......reduces the smouldery burn time......if doing a short, quick cook, but maybe wanting extra smoke flavor, just will set a few blocks on the lid of the kettle, while the 1st batch is burning....
This cook shows some decent shots of that happening....keep in mind, in order to takes pictures, the lid is open & there's a rush of oxygen at that point.....
http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/food-pr0n/bob's-beef-o-rama/ Numerous people here & abroad ( other forums & continents) have Weber Smokey Moutain Cookers that do this, generally lower heat thing pretty well, some have offset cookers & swear by those also.....
They're all useable cookers, if you pay attention to the fire / heat source & get to learning what each cooker will do well & it's pitfalls.....
Back to the kettle, tho.....
if you use foil packet or a smoker cast iron / steel box, it will allow less smoke at a time.....
IT STILL needs to work with a smaller-than-you-think-hot-burning-fire.....it does take some practice.....
Examples....
Chicken I run at a higher than most other items heat....it gets cooked thru better & stays juicier
( let's leave out brining & marinating, for the moment) AND poultry will take on smoke much more quickly than a lot of other foods...... a couple small or med. chunks for say, a batch of chicken breast or thighs is plenty, others may like more, but that's what I've found....equivalent might be one big pouch of chip......
Ground meats...meatloaf & fatties & such....will take on smoke also faster than other items....last meatloafs I did were small individual sized & I just threw a handful of hickory chips on, dry & loose,
twice.....they were also ground turkey, so had to be careful to not go overboard......
Cooking.....note the bluish smoke, running at just over 300 degrees for this....
Finished shot.....
A large part of the reddish color is smoke.....this was a throwndown run-off, so I was out for blood........game face get-up ~~>
So.....before I get too far off track.....
.................
The larger cuts & esp. beef items, can take an extra load of smoke & still be OK.....it's a more stout & heavier flavor than say, fish of some type, which is mostly pretty delicate & can go usually lighter............
What does all this mean in reguard to the 1st statement up above:
"Burning chips on a hot fire will burn them up quickly, hence the smoker box, or foil packet to slow down the consumption.....it may easily be that what you're concerned about (the visible smoke) would be compounded by smouldering in a pouch or box.....it creates a dilemma that we'll try to solve......"
Keep the fire as small & hot as you can, thereby keeping the wood burning as cleanly as is possible under whatever current conditions you have going.....
Another thing is I've taken to thinking about "smoke" more as an added flavoring, like a rub, marinade, or injection...approaching it that way has helped in deciding how much, when, for how long, at what heat, etc.......
It is also a preservative, a way to get stuff to last longer was a large part of the original use of smoke........since we now have television, that original intent seems to get lost in the shuffle sometimes.......
This Site has an endless supply of info on traditional smoking....I've sent the Photo Gallery page (which has all sorts of setups, a lot from Europe ), but you can move around & locate all kinds of stuff on this site......
http://www.meatsandsausages.com/photos Another page from the site, having to do with grilling & BBQ'ing....this one tells a tale: "Smoking., very low heat....52° – 140° F(12° - 60° C)....1 hour to 2 weeks....."
Makes me think I'm doing a disservice by calling most stuff "smoking", when it's actually BBQ......
Also contains a great tagline: "Have you ever seen people sitting around the propane grill, playing guitars and singing songs?"
http://www.meatsandsausages.com/barbecueAnd here, where they talk about wet & dry wood, remember that they're also talking mostly about cured stuff like sausages & the like, but there is some good points on soaking, wet, dry, etc......
http://www.meatsandsausages.com/meat-smoking/woodThe Smoke Ring links address the question of "green" of freshly cut wood fairly well & I'm sure there are other disscussions at BBQ Bretheren, Smoking Meat Forum, TvvvWWBb & etc......
