Fire Control
Nothing is more crucial to producing great bbq than establishing and maintaining a clean fire. I have put more time in effort learning and mastering this process than anything else when it comes to bbq. Each pit is different so there is no set formula of do this or that and it will work. I will share some simple principals that will help you with creating and maintaining a great fire and great smoke as a result.
There are 2 schools of smoking meat one is called low and slow (185 degrees - 225 degrees) and Hot and Fast (300 degrees to 350 degrees). Neither is better than the other, just different. Many of the competition cooks have adopted the hot and fast method (mostly due to time constraints). I have done both and I have settled in the middle. I smoke all of my meat at between 250 degrees and 270 degrees. I shoot for 250 as a general rule of thumb.
It has been my experience that the lower temps are harder to maintain clean smoke than the hotter temps and I will explain why below when I discuss smoke. There are two types of fires, hot fires and cold fires. Hot fires burn hot and clean and they consume the wood clean and as a result they produce the right kind of smoke to properly flavor the meat. Cold fires burn dirty and produce something called "creosote". This often is accompanied by dark grey smoke to heavy white smoke. This kind of smoke for prolonged periods of time will turn your meat bitter and inedible. Ideally, you are looking for very little smoke visibly and when you can see the smoke, it often has a violet or blue hue to it. This is referred to as "sweet blue" in bbq circles. I always tell people to put their hand over the smoke stack and then smell it. You should be able to smell meat with a hint of smoke.
When you have a coal base and the coals are hot, the amount of fuel (wood) you add can cool the fire, it other words, if you add a piece of wood that is too large for your fire to handle, the fire will start to produce bad smoke. The key is finding the right coal base and the right size piece of wood to add to your fire that will allow you to maintain the right pit temps and maintain a clean burning fire. This is very difficult to do when using only wood. I supplement my coal base with lump charcoal to accomplish this. I pre heat my logs on top of my fire box so that they will ignite faster and not cool off my fire.
I leave my smoke chimney stack open 100% always and I control my pit temperature by opening and closing my fire box door or dampers depending on what works best with the current weather conditions.
I pulled my meat out at 2am and lit my pits. I usually allow for 45 minutes for my meat to warm (this can take 1 hour off your total cook times by no putting cold meat on your pits) while I get get my fire right. In the picture above, I start with 1 hand held weber chimney full of lump charcoal and 2 decent size logs to get started. You are going to have heavy smoke while you wait for your coal base and fire to reach optimum temps. Once my pit temp is right and my fire is clean, (usually 30 to 45 minutes) I put the meat on.
You can see the unlit lump charcoal that I have added to build back up my coal base, I will wait until my lump is lit and burning before I will add more wood if I think my fire can't handle more fuel.
Once you learn you pit and know what it takes to maintain the different temps you desire to cook at, you will learn how to keep a clean fire, it just takes some practice. If you have any questions on this and need help, P.M me.
