Smoker that smoked 8 hours.

[van from Arkansas]

For newbies.

My bee smoker was fueled and ignited this morning at 10:00 AM and at 6:00 PM, eight hours later, still smoking.  This is what I do:

I use fruitwood pellet, made for smoking meats, BBQ, available at grocery, Lowe?s, Walmart etc.  I fill the smoker about 1/2 to 3/4 full and lite the TOP with a propane torch.  The pellets will slowly flame on their own with the lid open.  I let the pellets burn for 5 minutes or so.  Then as the pellets generate enough heat to draw air I close the lid.  The flame extinguishers and smoke is produced.  Now the smoker is hot enough to draw air on its on and will slowly burn for as long as I wish.

Fruit wood, apple or even pecan produces a sweet smoke.  Note, I lite from the top and let the fire burn down which causes such a slow continuous burn.  Be careful only to use pellet smoker BBQ fuel.  Paper, pine needles etc would throw flame and cause many problems if lite from the top.

My reason for posting is I have seen so many beeks that cannot keep a smoker lite for any length of time.  Using above method, a beek can use the smoker all day if needed and the pelleted fuel is easily available.  I purchase sweet wood pellets by the 25 pound bag and that last me all year.
Happy Beeking

[Nock]

Thanks for the tip. I?ve been getting better every time. Been using pine needles and some burlap. 

[van from Arkansas]

Nock, pine needles work great.  However there are very few pine trees in N Arkansas, mostly hardwood.

I wanted to demonstrate a fuel that is available to all, everywhere.  Most YouTube videos concentrate on fuel in a specific area that is not readily available across the USA.

[BeeMaster2]

Van,
Why are you lighting the top instead of the bottom.  With the top lit, the smoke is hot. If you lit the bottom, it would be cool.
Jim Altmiller

[Donovan J]

I just pick up grass clippings after mowing and sit them out to dry and use that for fuel. It works very well, creates a cool white smoke, and burns for a long time.

[Dabbler]

I keep an old phone book in the trunk and rip out a couple sheets to use as tinder. As the paper burns, I sprinkle wood pellets (combo of left over from last time and new) on top. A little  puffing and the pellets are warm and toasty (and smokey  ). Wad of green grass in the nozzle and I am good to go.

[AR Beekeeper]

I am with sawdustmaker on lighting from the bottom, it makes much cooler smoke.  Any town that has a Wal-Mart store with a pet section has a supply of pine shavings sold for pet bedding.  This makes a good smoker fuel.  My store has two sizes of bags, a 3 dollar and an 8 dollar bag, the 8 dollar bag will probably last me most, if not all, of the summer. 

[Acebird]

Van,
Why are you lighting the top instead of the bottom.  With the top lit, the smoke is hot. If you lit the bottom, it would be cool.
Jim Altmiller

Probably because it is easier.  I would like to see a video of the smoke.  I would expect it not only to be hot I would expect the smoke to be thin.  His idea would work better if he added a smoke agent like incense, damp grass, leaves, cloth, etc. just before he used it for the bees.  As a back yard beekeeper I have never needed the smoker to last more then an hour so cardboard worked for me.  I could extend the time greatly by using sawdust but I found I didn't need the time.

[van from Arkansas]

Van,
Why are you lighting the top instead of the bottom.  With the top lit, the smoke is hot. If you lit the bottom, it would be cool.
Jim Altmiller

Jim, Good Morning.  Burning from the top down goes very slow, so heat is not a problem.  The pellets burn must faster going from bottom to top.  The smoke is very dense if I puff the smoker a few times.

As a kid, I used pine needles lite from the bottom, worked well but lasted maybe 2 hours at most.  As stated, there is not a single pine tree on my property.

I tried oak leaves, they smoke great but generate to much heat and does not last long.

[paus]

I am Blessed to have an endless supply of pecan shells.  I start with dry pine straw or shavings, then put about 2 cups of shells and top it off with straw to hold the shells in place. 
This makes a long burning, good smelling smoke.  I have also used dried coffee grounds with the shells or just coffee if the hive is cantankerous.  Yeah I know caffeine makes for more activity but this worked for me. An old beekeeper told me about coffee in the early fifties, but he said tobacco worked better, I never tried that.  He lived where tobacco stems were free for the taking.

[Nock]

We don?t have many pines here either. Just lucky that we have two here at work. I?ve thought about the grass clippings as well.

[FatherMichael]

Thanks, Van.

It's also known as an upside down fire when we go camping.

The pellets are a great answer.

But I'll burn up the 20 or so burlap bundles I made first.  Put too much time in them to throw them away! LOL

[Acebird]

Van I suspect that pellets have a chemical in them to keep them burning like a cigarette vs. cigar.  If it were just wood chips they would go out trying to burn them from the top down.  I don't like chemicals to begin with but when you add the heat of combustion you can get some pretty nasty fumes both for you and the bees.

[van from Arkansas]

Van I suspect that pellets have a chemical in them to keep them burning like a cigarette vs. cigar.  If it were just wood chips they would go out trying to burn them from the top down.  I don't like chemicals to begin with but when you add the heat of combustion you can get some pretty nasty fumes both for you and the bees.

Ace, say no more, I also bbq with these pellets.  I buy special no treat pellets made for honeybees located in the organic section of Walmart. Lol

[van from Arkansas]

Ace: I don't like chemicals to begin with but when you add the heat of combustion you can get some pretty nasty fumes both for you and the bees.

Ace, I dont mind chemicals so much, after all, I am a living chemical: sugars, proteins and fat I am.  Not enough sugar and to much fat if ya ask me.  A fact: dust I am and dust is me with only my Prayers left to be.
Blessings

[Beeboy01]

I'm a pine needle guy myself, fill the smoker about  1/2 way up and light it with a propane torch. Once it's going good I stuff some more pine needles down on top. It's good for about two hours which is all I need in my bee yard. I was lighting two charcoal brickets with the torch and dropping them in the bottom of the smoker  then packing pine needles on top. Works great for a longer burn,just keep adding pine needles on the hot coals. I don't use the easy light brickets, too many chemicals  added for easy lighting.

[van from Arkansas]

Beeboy, again thanks for your encouraging post last winter.

Yep, I used pine needles when young as they were readily and worked great in a bee smoker.

Very interesting that you don?t use lighter charcoal due to chemicals.  Ace expressed concerns also about chemicals.  I have to agree as the concerns are valid concerns.

However, pine needles contain turpentine and many other chemicals that don?t dissolve in water which tells me organic chemicals:  Very likely some are carcinogenic.  However pine needles are considered organic and safe by most folks.

Mention varroa treatment and all kinds of discussions of chemicals appear, some hostile.  Lots of chemical companies deceived us, lied to us, even killed some of us so there is a general distrust of any substance with a Latin name, for good reason I might add.  I don?t have the answer, Beeboy, I would keep using pine needles with out worry if I had pine.  Don?t fear an unknown chemical, just don?t trust one.

Four years of chemistry and what is feared by me: anything that starts with trichloro.... or mercury or formaldehyde, or arsenic, or cyanide, the list goes on and on, Run, run run.

BTW, formaldehyde used to be in trace amounts in cold flu vaccines, don?t know if it still is.

[Beeboy01]

I forgot about turpentine from pine needles, burning long leaf pines for turpentine was a big industry here in Florida back in the day. I've a pine in the yard that always drops sap on the pine needles. I can break off pieces of resin soaked needles that weigh about a 1/2 pound, tried them in the smoker but it took to much heat to get any smoke from them LOL.

[Acebird]

However, pine needles contain turpentine and many other chemicals that don?t dissolve in water which tells me organic chemicals:

I would expect high concentrations in the green needle but not so much in the dried brown needle.  Burning anything is bound to give off toxic chemicals, for sure cardboard, but beekeepers have been using cellulose for a long time so it is pretty much accepted as a safe fuel.  I would guess the needles are more safe then cardboard because cardboard is processed.

[van from Arkansas]

Agreed, Ace.

[Hops Brewster]

Van, I have a big yellow pine in my front yard, so for a couple years I used pine straw and/or cones.  It smoke pretty well, but burned hot, and the pine smoke was very irritating to me. A couple years ago I did some trimming on my apple tree and my flowering plum, and when the El Cheapo Harbor Freight chipper was done with the small branches it left a pile of chips about 3/8 - 1/2  inches apiece.   One day I decided to give those fruitwood chips a try, and I was impressed with the results.  It's a little hard to get started, but once gi=oing it is a sweet, pleasant smoke that I don't mind working with.  Burns a long time, too.

I was just gifted a smoker grill and I bought some applewood pellets.  I'm going to try your top down method on both the pellets and my homemade chips.  I also don't see any reason why those chips wouldn't work in the smoker mixed in with the pellets.

[van from Arkansas]

Hops, should work just fine, chips and pellets.  I wished I had the apple trees on my property to trim, but not really cold enough in Arkansas for good apples.

The Apple wood does not burn my eyes as other types of fuel.  Hops, as you already know, Apple is a sweet smoke that is pleasant to work with and great for creating smoked meats.
All Good Things
Van

[Nock]

I like apple as well. Use a lot of cherry when smoking meat as well

[The15thMember]

My family has really gotten into smoking meat the past couple of years.  We North Carolinians love our pulled pork!     We like to use half hickory and half apple wood for our pork.  I'm telling you, that is some of the best meat on the planet!   

[paus]

In a post May 31 2019 I posted that I use coffee grounds to calm mean bees.  Mann Lake has "High Octane Coffee Chaff Smoker Fuel".  for $11.50 for two pounds. Their promotion says much of what I think, although not proven I think coffee grounds does a better job than Pine Tree needles in calming bees. I use needles to start and mix Pecan hulls and coffee together and it smells GOOD.
I also use pecan hulls to smoke meat.

[max2]

In a post May 31 2019 I posted that I use coffee grounds to calm mean bees.  Mann Lake has "High Octane Coffee Chaff Smoker Fuel".  for $11.50 for two pounds. Their promotion says much of what I think, although not proven I think coffee grounds does a better job than Pine Tree needles in calming bees. I use needles to start and mix Pecan hulls and coffee together and it smells GOOD.
I also use pecan hulls to smoke meat.

Thanks for the Pecan suggestion, Paus.
Our Pecan harvest is about to start in about a months time and we have mountains of hulls . I will keep some.

[AustinB]

I just pick up grass clippings after mowing and sit them out to dry and use that for fuel. It works very well, creates a cool white smoke, and burns for a long time.

That's my favorite fuel as well, works very well