Wood smoke help

[RUBYRW]

Smoking with some small hickory logs today, no charcoal. Trying to maintain a 225 temp. When I toss a seasoned log on, I get that thick white smoke for some time.
If I open the intake more the smoke thins, but temps then get too high.
How can I get a happy medium of smoke while maintaining 225. Thanks for the advice.

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[OldUsedParts]

Novice here BUT I think I'd concentrate on the temps at the moment and if I thought I was getting too much smoke, then I'd wrap and finish "whatever you're fixing"

[RUBYRW]

Pork butt, I'm thinking maybe I'm tossing too many logs on the fire.

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[txsmkmstr]

Too many OR too large. I run half splits in mine (9"-10" long) and I also pre-heat the logs. They'll burst into flame even before I set them on the coals.

One more thing...... pits/cookers have a definite sweet spot. Find it and learn to cook at that temp. Nothing magical about 225* in spite of what's been written.

My small offset would run at 280* all day long but if I tried to hit 225* it was a struggle. Even my current pit likes to purr along at 275* and that's just fine with me.

Good luck.

[Chasdev]

Keeping enough coals going so the next stick starts to burn without producing bad smoke while keeping the temp down to 225 is next to impossible on smaller smokers.
I cut my wood down to tiny sticks and that helped me run at 250 but I have to sit in a chair and watch the fire every minute of a 10 hour cook.
If I add wood too early the fire gets too hot, if I wait too long and the coals start to die out, the next stick won't catch fire and I have to fiddle around with a poker and a fan to get the new wood to fame, and that's what keeps the bad smoke away...

[Txdragon]

What I found is the easiest way is just add coals. Have a fire built with your wood of choice and shovel those in as needed. It is quite archaic, but works. Use smaller bits for more smoke. Splitting your already split wood burns them up faster and makes for hotter temps (More surface area on the wood, yada yada..) You get a hot burn that's over too quickly in most cases. And if you add a couple at a time, you babysit longer to feed the beast and watch temps.
So I went old school and built my fire in a fire pit, then just kept coals on hand and ready to add as needed to the cooker. When I got nearly as frustrated with that method, I switched to charcoal.
While I was able to maintain a good temp for a short while with wood only, my cooker is NOT wood friendly in any way for long cooks. Believe me when I say I know your pain. Lol!

[RUBYRW]

When using just lump and the occasional wood chunk or chips...i am able to keep a steady temp for a long time, walk away for long periods. And on the other hand....using straight wood kept me at the smoker for most of the cook, while trying to maintain a 225 temp. After trial and error, I found pre heating the splits and only tossing 1 in at a time....maybe 1.5 allowed me to leave the smoker for a while....but it seemed the sweet spot was 265. If I tried closing the intake some....heavy white smoke...open it too much and 300+ temps.
So maybe my smoke is happy at 265 on pure sticks??.
I cooked pulled pork and a couple racks...absolutely no complaints on the end results.
But if I do an all night brisket again...im may use more lump to help get some sleep.

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