Get more authentic smoke flavor?

[sclawrence2013]

I attended one of those BrisketU courses when they came to my town last year, and the instructor suggested using a smoke tube with a pellet grill, but using wood chips instead of pellets in the tube. I haven't really been cooking much on my pellet grill since then, but may be worth a shot.

[LegoMySearwood]

LA Pork Butt
I used a smoke box to enhance smoke flavor while cooking some chicken wings. Turned out great.

[LA Pork Butt]

Thanks for the tip! I am still experimenting with a couple of chip/pellet things I haven’t used in years. One is a snake pellet smoker from A-Maz-N and the other is a Steve Raichlen chip soaker. The snake pellet smoker blows out with pellets. I am thinking about using the starters in the snake smoker and setting the Raichlen chip smoker on top. If I can’t get that to work I’ll chase down your idea. Once again thanks!

[LegoMySearwood]

Forgot to mention where I placed it. I placed it next to the diffuser on the right and under the flavorizer bar.
This allows me to still use the entire area for cooking.

[LegoMySearwood]

I kinda liked the method I used because I used charcoal and real wood and not pellets again or wood chips that burn out really fast.

[klflowers]

I have had my Chimp for quite awhile now, and I just decided that I would give up some of the smokiness for convience. Since the chimp is so small, the only thing I could add would be a tube, and I haven't really seen anything that convinces me that they work. So the only thing I do is put the food on when I fire it up to catch that burst of smoke at the beginning of the cook.

I think convience is the tradeoff.

[LA Pork Butt]

I am with you on convenience. The Weber XL 600 is really large the 1st level grate is 36’ X 17” which I think makes it harder to attract smoke. Because medications have limited my ability to taste the smoke, I may give up on even bothering and join you.

[captainlee]

When I want to I use a smoke tube with pellets and it works fine. I used it yesterday smoking a large pork butt. Normally I don't use it for ribs and chicken I find the pellet smoker gives me enough. I do cold smoke cheese with the tube and it comes out great. Never tried chips.

[RlsRls]

What's your smoke tube technique? Use it for whole cook or just the begining? What kind charcoal, Chinmey or a pile? Running temp of pit? I;ve only smoked cheeses with it. Never used it for Large cooks. Thanks.

[captainlee]

I just fill it with pellets, get it going for the start of the cook. It lasts about two hours and I just let it burn out. I run the pit 265-275 for just about everything except chicken. No charcoal, its a pellet smoker. I use hickory pellets 95% of the time.

[surfdog]

They’re excellent for smoking cheese. The negligible heat produced by those things makes it crazy simple.

[bbqLuv]

Back up for Brisket in the oven

[fzxdoc]

I have had my Chimp for quite awhile now, and I just decided that I would give up some of the smokiness for convience. Since the chimp is so small, the only thing I could add would be a tube, and I haven't really seen anything that convinces me that they work. So the only thing I do is put the food on when I fire it up to catch that burst of smoke at the beginning of the cook.

I think convience is the tradeoff.

You've hit the nail on the head regarding the mental block to my getting a pellet smoker. I've been looking at a pellet smoker for years for the sheer convenience of its use.

However...my family is used to the delicious smoke flavor provided by the PBC or the Sns in kettle mode on my WSCGC, or by the kamado mode on the same smoker. To give that level of smoke flavor up for convenience puts me squarely on the horns of a dilemma. The food would have more smoke than provided by a gasser, but less than provided by PBC, kettle+SnS or Kamado. I'm not certain I could satisfy my family with that tradeoff.

To my mind, it might be like making French Onion soup with only 1/4 of the onions. I don't think the family would fall for it, since the convenience is only to me, and the taste test is up to them.

K.

[klflowers]

I would say don't bother then. That being said, I do a spatchcocked chicken on mine almost weekly. It is my favorite way to do whole chickens now. I miss some of the smoke, but the chicken is always excellent.

[LA Pork Butt]

Every cooker had a work around to enable it to do everything well. I certainly have some e work around for my BGE. I’m going to see if I can get a work around for additional smoke. If I have some success you will be among the first to know. It is really, really convenient.

[fzxdoc]

Thank you, LA Pork Butt . I have wanted the exact pellet smoker you won since they first came out. But I'm not willing to give up even an inch of my precious outdoor kitchen floorspace to something that will deliver an inferior product, smokewise, compared to what I already have. I'll eagerly await your findings.

K.

[TimmyR]

After over a year on my Searwood 600 XL, I really like it. It's become my go-to for most cooks. I cook a lot of boneless chicken thighs on it as well as have done some long cooks to see how it compared to my BGE. I agree with the general comments that the smoke flavor is less from pellets and that the convenience is great. For me it seems to sit in a category nicely between my BGE and Napoleon PP665. I also love the amount of space it has on it. I've not regretted the XL one bit. I am cooking party ribs tonight and plan to experiment with a hunk of wood on top of the cook pot diffuser to see if that smolders nicely and adds some flavor.

[LA Pork Butt]

I’ll be interested in your results. Take a few pics to help understand what you did and how you did it. I am looking to catch a butt or ribs on sale to try my plan with wood chips on a long cook. Because of the ease of use I haven’t cooked on a different cooker until a small cook yesterday.

[fzxdoc]

^^^What LA Pork Butt said.

Kathryn

[LegoMySearwood]

Interesting. Also, I am now seeing several Masterbuilt gravity fed smokers on Facebook Marketplace but no Weber Searwoods… like ever.