Tame the Flame

            Another basic idea here, but one you really need to understand, and that is your fire. Sounds simple enough but I see two VERY common mistakes among newbie’s. First charcoal, now if you have a wood burning smoker that can burn full size logs that is great however most people don’t like to spend three hours getting the fire hot enough to start burning full size logs, so they start with a bed of charcoal. So the word of advice, READ THE BAG! I don’t know how many times I see people grilling and they put WAY too much lighter fluid on the coals and then immediately light it. It creates this HUGE whoosh of flame, they feel like a man and beat their chest then they throw their burgers on (which end up under cooked and taste like lighter fluid), one minute in, the flame is gone and they repeat the same process.

            Charcoal is simple, read the bag, simply cover the briquettes in lighter fluid and then…LET THEM SIT!!! This is the point I normally go back inside and start prepping my food, after about 10 to 12 minutes I come back out and light the briquettes. You won’t get a huge flame, in fact you will have to light the briquettes from all four corners and there will be a small steady flame. At this point go back inside because if you watch the charcoal you will start doubting the fact that it is lit, but trust me once you give it some time you will come back to a prefect bed of red hot coals, at this point you can start loading your wood and getting the smoker up to temp.

            Next is controlling the heat of a fire. Fire needs oxygen to burn that is why your smoker has dampers (those fancy vents that open and close). For some reason another misconception is people think you close them to get the smoker hotter because it holds the heat in. No that is not the case you open the vents to give the fire more oxygen which in turn makes the fire i.e. smoker hotter and you close the vents to cool down the fire.

            Now when it comes to dampers I ALWAYS leave the smoke stack damper (the one at the top of the smoker (the one that smoke comes out of) WIDE OPEN. Especially in smaller backyard smokers because one of the most important things is air flow (which I cover "Stop the Sote"), and I control all my heat from the vent on the firebox. Once you get this process down you will be able to know exactly how far you need the vent open for whatever degree of heat you want. That is when you really start to know your smoker inside and out.