Why can't I get any smoke?

Mitch@... said:

I soaked some hickory chips for 30 minutes.
Put the smoker box on the back burner of my gas grill, and cranked
everything to high.

Still no smoke after 30 minutes, and it's over 600 degrees in there.

Is this a new grill? Have you gotten smoke before?
Could you have mistaken the ash collector for the
smoker box?

Quoted message said:

Is this a new grill? Have you gotten smoke before?
Could you have mistaken the ash collector for the
smoker box?

No, not a new grill. I didn't have any luck with the Jack Daniels
chips either, so I bought plain hickory chips.

I also bought a cast iron smoker box.

When I'm done, I'm left with charred remnants, but there's no smoke
during grilling, and there's no smoke flavor.

said...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Is this a new grill? Have you gotten smoke before?
Could you have mistaken the ash collector for the
smoker box?

No, not a new grill. I didn't have any luck with the Jack Daniels
chips either, so I bought plain hickory chips.

I also bought a cast iron smoker box.

When I'm done, I'm left with charred remnants, but there's no smoke
during grilling, and there's no smoke flavor.

Try NOT soaking them?

Andy

Mitch@... said:

I soaked some hickory chips for 30 minutes.
Put the smoker box on the back burner of my gas grill, and cranked
everything to high.

Still no smoke after 30 minutes, and it's over 600 degrees in there.

If you insist on using a gas grill, you might want to try wood
dust/shavings. Usually used for cold smoking and available at
BBQ's Galore and other BBQ supply places. It combusts/smokes
much easier then the denser chips.

The real solution, of course, is to get a real charcoal grill.

-sw

Mitch@... said:

I soaked some hickory chips for 30 minutes.
Put the smoker box on the back burner of my gas grill, and cranked
everything to high.

Still no smoke after 30 minutes, and it's over 600 degrees in there.

Don't know what the smoker box or the chips might be like for you so
can't identify the problem. I wrap soaked wood chips in foil, poke
holes in the top of the foil packet and put it right on the (fake)
coals. Smokes a lot. -aem

Mitch@... said:

I soaked some hickory chips for 30 minutes.
Put the smoker box on the back burner of my gas grill, and cranked
everything to high.

Still no smoke after 30 minutes, and it's over 600 degrees in there.

The problem may be "cranked everything to high" and 600 degrees. It
sounds like the chips are going straight to ash without having a
chance to smoke.

Not that I do it, but my understanding is that smoking is a low
temperature process.

- Mark

Andy said:

said...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Is this a new grill? Have you gotten smoke before?
Could you have mistaken the ash collector for the
smoker box?

No, not a new grill. I didn't have any luck with the Jack Daniels
chips either, so I bought plain hickory chips.

I also bought a cast iron smoker box.

When I'm done, I'm left with charred remnants, but there's no smoke
during grilling, and there's no smoke flavor.

Try NOT soaking them?

Andy

Soaking them is correct. Try lowering the temperature. You said you have
it up to 600 degrees in there, no? That's too high. You're incinerating
your wood rather than prompting it to smolder -- smoldering produces
smoke without flame.

Mitch@... said:

I soaked some hickory chips for 30 minutes.
Put the smoker box on the back burner of my gas grill, and cranked
everything to high.

Still no smoke after 30 minutes, and it's over 600 degrees in there.

There's your problem. You're incinerating, not smoking. Smoking is done at
low temperatures, long and slow. 600 degrees is ridiculous!

Jill

jmcquown said:

There's your problem. You're incinerating, not smoking. Smoking is done at
low temperatures, long and slow. 600 degrees is ridiculous!

Smoking is done at a low temperature as measured at the food
item being targeted for smoking, but the firebox temperature
can be much higher. I routinely add wood to a red-hot charcoal
fire, and it produces plenty of wood smoke which then cools off as
it travels to the food target.

Charcoal fires are non-smoky because the smoke components have
been already burned from the wood. It is not because they
are too hot.

Steve

Quoted message said:

There's your problem. You're incinerating, not smoking. Smoking is done at
low temperatures, long and slow. 600 degrees is ridiculous!

Thanks. I'll keep trying.

The recipe was from Cook's Illustrated.
Put the wood on the back burner, turn everything to high for 20
minutes until it smokes heavily (which it never did), then turn off
the front 2 burners and put the food on, maintaining the grill temp at
275.

Mitch@... said:

Quoted message said:

There's your problem. You're incinerating, not smoking. Smoking is
done at low temperatures, long and slow. 600 degrees is ridiculous!

Thanks. I'll keep trying.

The recipe was from Cook's Illustrated.
Put the wood on the back burner, turn everything to high for 20
minutes until it smokes heavily (which it never did), then turn off
the front 2 burners and put the food on, maintaining the grill temp at
275.

The only smoking I've done (shut up, Sheldon!) was over lump coal. Sounds
like you're using a propane grill. There are no "burners" on the grills
I've used. Good luck!

Jill

Mitch@... said:

Quoted message said:

There's your problem. You're incinerating, not smoking. Smoking is done at
low temperatures, long and slow. 600 degrees is ridiculous!

Thanks. I'll keep trying.

The recipe was from Cook's Illustrated.
Put the wood on the back burner, turn everything to high for 20
minutes until it smokes heavily (which it never did), then turn off
the front 2 burners and put the food on, maintaining the grill temp at
275.

That assumes that you have front and back burners. My propane grill has
three burners, left, right and middle. I put the smoker box over on of the
burners, crank it up to get the smoke going and then reduce the heat.