This question of whether pellet grills can give a smoke ring has been around the net for some time. So that it can finally be truly confirmed or denied, I wanted to combine what I had found out through my experiences, but also putting in some resources and links.
I’ve been smoking and curing meat for quite a while now, I can show you a few smoke rings which happens ‘by accident’. But until I did some decent research and wrote this, I wasn’t sure why it was occurring or not. When I used different smokers. It won’t be a scientific journal entry, but it will be factual, and hopefully, a practical guide.
I will give a bit of layman breakdown of myoglobins, which are the cornerstone of the smoke ring and then some tips that will help produce the mighty smoke ring on a pellet grill smoker (or any smoker actually).
Do Pellet Grill Smokers Give A Smoke Ring? Yes, because a pellet grill smoker is burning pure wood, this mixed with the meats myoglobins and which will create a smoke ring. A lower temperature at the start for 30 minutes will assist in smoke ring creation.
So, I don’t see myself as any type of smoke ring expert, just hope this helps your pellet grill enjoyment.
Myoglobins & the Smoke Flavor
It’s the oxygen molecule inside the meat that stores the oxygen and reacts with the carbon monoxide (CO) & nitric oxide (NO) from the wood.
For me, I prefer pure wood pellets instead of the charcoal briquettes, since I have read that they have quite a mix of things (some of which is like sawdust which means they produce the pink ring!). But the other stuff like limestone or coal dust is not what I am after.
The color of meat changes when different amounts of oxygen is exposed to it, you know that grey color meat you see at the supermarket? That has been hanging around for a bit? The same thing – oxygen reaction changing the myoglobin molecules.
When I do meat curing (dry-cured whole muscles and salamis), the curing salts (pink salt), that I use is basically working the same way and making the meat…..pink. Like this delicious plate of wild-harvested venison meat.
So you can see an interesting color come out of this dark venison meat. Similar reaction going on, it does make it look very appetizing I think.
However, the myoglobin can bond to carbon monoxide (CO) and nitric oxide (NO) during the cooking process and retain its pink color instead of turning gray
Campchef Website
From burning good old fashion hardwood wood (just like a pellet grill), you get these COs and NOs.
So, the key to getting a smoke ring, you need to be burning real wood. And these myoglobins need to meet up with the wood smoke (CO & NO).
And then you get the pellet grill smoke ring.
Will actually, I have got smoke rings from electric, gas, charcoal and ceramic kamado smokers as well.
The molecules can only go so deep, less than an inch is the general guide.
But not from gas-only, on the grill, it isn’t reacted with anything, but if you add the wood to the gas smoker (or gas grill which I have tried), hey presto!
7 Top Tips from CampChef Site (Summarized)
- Use Hardwood Pellets
- Make Sure Wood is Dry
- Low Heat 1st Hour 225°F/107°C
- Open Smokestack Fully for Oxygen
- Start with Cold Meat (if Weather Permits)
- Trim Fat, it will block smoke ring formation
- Avoid rubs with high salt or high acidity
- Spraying meat at the start, Smoke will Stick to Moisture (Wrong)
Find Full Tips here. from the Campchef website.
So, I think all those tips are great, just the last one needs a bit of tweaking.
Spraying is to keep the meat cool, and it will not benefit smoke ring after the first 30 mins of cooking/smoking (more on this below), once the meat temperature goes above 170°F.
Wood & Charocal Smoke Rings
Whether it’s charcoal briquettes or wood the amount of NO that gets created for the smoke ring is about the same (will vary with wood and charcoal types of course.
Up to 200 ppm (parts per million) – source Amazing Ribs
Briquettes have other additives like sawdust and coal dust – these have NO in them, hence why the smoke ring is created.
BUT, Lumpwood charcoal is pretty much pure carbon and doesn’t have NO, so it won’t produce the smoke ring by itself, but normally folks are adding smoking hardwood chunks, so that will have the NO to create the smoke ring cocktail.
Factors the Influence the Smoke Ring
Here is a deep dive into some of the other aspects that influence the degree of smoke ring formation.
depends on a number of variables including humidity, oxygen levels, combustion temp, how dry the wood is, and even the pH of the meat itself
Amazing Ribs
The mention of acidity is an interesting point, I smoke my pastrami for at least 3 hours depending on the size, it has all the factors ticked for a smoke ring.
BUT, it gets pickled with some vinegar and also has curing salt added. So instead of a smoke ring, the whole chunk gets nice and pink like this.
This is just to make the point about the PH/acid level factor, so you might want to factor this is if you want a smoke ring and are using vinegar is some way.
So now that I’m thinking about it, this could be a factor for certain basting on ribs, if you hit them really early with the basting.
But for me thats getting a bit too sciency, you just need those basic tips covered above and you will get what you want.
How Fast Does a Smoke Ring Form?
Whether it’s solid wood, charcoal briquettes or wood pellets, if the temperature is around 225°F/107°C – the smoke ring happens in the first 30 minutes.
When the surface area hits about 170°F/77°C then the myoglobins stop turning pink. This is when you want to spray the meat to cool it slightly if you going for the mother of all smoke rings.
What Does the Smoke Ring Taste Like?
Nothing, it’s purely an aesthetic or visual that people get excited about, the old saying, “We eat with our eyes”. I guess it just makes it look more appealing to most people.
Inside the official BBQ competitions, judges seem to always be looking at the ‘quality’ of the smoke ring. And that’s probably why it has trickled down to the backyard pitmaster and is a perceived sign of mastery.
To be honest, it’s not hard to do either on a pellet grill, because there is great airflow on every pellet grill I have used. This helps bring it out, as an example I was cooking a few sausages and steaks.
Wanted to hit the little weiners with a bit more smoke at a low temp to start with and see what will happen, check out the smoke ring on these weiners at 10 minutes.
So there you have it, a simple practical guide to smoke rings, and hopefully dispelling some of the confusion out there.