starting the fire

[bandit1]

. Can you tell me how to start a wood fire the right way. I just bought a tejas smoker,A truck load of I think wet wood. Oak ,Pecan and mesquite.When I cook on it I get a lot of white smoke coming out the exhaust. How do I maintain my fire, I need Help/\. Thanks Barry

[SlowSmoked]

Hi Bandit - Looking at the time of your post - refreshing to see others up in the early hours. Regarding your question - if the woods wet, just let it sit and season. Sometimes though you've just got to use it. So think about this:

Start your fire with a bed of good charcoal (Kingsford or Royal). Don't buy generic or cheap house brands.

I had a grate built on top of my fire box (pit has a round firebox). I put my unseasoned wood on the grate, the radiant heat helps quickly dry it out. I've also gone as far as putting wood in my smoking chamber to help speed up the drying.

Now this doesn't necessarily dry it or cure to the same degree that 6 months of sitting in a hot sun will. But it does reduce that white steamy smoke you get by about 80%.

Anyone have any comments?

[texasbill]

Bandit and Lee:
Lee you have some good ideas that the folks out here can use. I sometimes will just set logs on the firebox, directly on the firebox, to help them dry out a bit. This is true when it has rained on the logs and just trying to help them out before putting them in the box for smoking.

It is really important for everyone to understand that it is extremely important to use really well seasoned firewood when you smoke. The longer it has been sitting in the yard the better. I like to season mine for at least 9 months to a year. A year is much better and longer if you can.

First, the really seasoned wood will burn better and give off less smoke. This will cut down on the white smoke coming out of the chimney when you are cooking. This will tend to make the meat taste so much better as you will not have all the heavy smoke in the wood.

My suggestion to everyone is to buy some wood this summer and try not to use it till next year to give it a chance to really get well seasoned. You should continually keep wood rotating into the seasoned area so that you will always have great wood to smoke with. When you use 20 logs replace it then and start the process on the new wood.

Bill
Texas BBQ Rub

[Smoke Daddy]

I have a new 20x40 Tejas smoker. If I could just figure out working the wood.... :cry: