This past Thanksgiving, my dad decided he was going to smoke a turkey.

He got the turkey injected and seasoned and placed it on his smoker, where for the next 5 hours he watched billows of smoke pour out of his smoker.

When it come time to finally carve and eat the turkey, it had an overpowering smokey and bitter flavor.

So, what went wrong?

When it comes to smoke, getting the right amount of smoke can be tricky. Too little smoke and your food lacks the flavor you were going for. Too much smoke and your food has a bitter aftertaste.

The key here is getting your smoker to produce that beautiful thin blue smoke that’s almost invisible. The presence of thin, blue smoke indicates a clean burning fire and minimizing the build up of creosote, which will give your food a bitter taste..

Here are 5 tips to getting your smoke level right every time.

1) When it comes to smoke, less is more

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t actually need much smoke to impart top-notch flavor.

In fact, the harder you have to look to see the smoke coming out of the stack, the better.

Remember, the your goal is to supplement the flavor of the meat, not overpower it with thick, white and fluffy smoke.

2) Build a long-lasting fire

An important point to remember is charcoal is your heat source and wood is your smoke source.

To get your fire going, use a charcoal chimney starter or the fire basket in your fire box to get your coals very hot.

Once your coals are roaring hot, introduce one or two splits/chunks of the wood you will be using for smoke. Adding too much wood will smother the coals, making the smoke thick and white.

When the wood breaks down and becomes part of the coal bed, add a fresh piece of wood.

3) Your choice of wood matters

When smoking meat, never use plywood, particle board, treated lumber, pine, cedar, or any evergreen.

When it comes to smoking meat, here are our recommendations of what wood to combine with what meat. For beef and pork, we recommend hardwoods like oak and hickory. For chicken, turkey, and fish, we like pecan.

To add a subtle, sweeter flavor, we’ll toss in a little cherry or apple wood to compliment the harder wood.

For more information, check out our Smoking Wood Guide.

4) Manage your air flow

To achieve the very best results with your barbecue smoker, you must first understand and control the airflow.

Proper airflow ensures a consistent temperature inside the cooking chamber, allowing you to achieve even cooking and the desired level of smoke into your meat.

The best way to accomplish the correct amount of air flow is monitor the color and amount of smoke being produced, and adjusting the intake and exhaust vents accordingly.

5) Keep your smoker clean

The build up of creosote, ash, grease and soot in the smoker will create “dirty” smoke as it cooks off..

Cleaning also helps you identify build up of rust, which you will want to address to preserve the live of your smoker.

By applying and mastering these tips, you will take your barbecue skills to the next level.

Anything you’d like to share or questions you may have, let us know in the comments below. And, if you found this article useful, please share it.