cuinrearview
Red saw lover
That's what I do. I have a big bin of shagbark hunks I processed myself. OP asked about wood that was too dry. I'm not sure how else to get moisture back in it lol!
Customer complaint for wood too dry.
- Thread starter SamT1
- Start date
Help Support Arborist Forum:
That is one time you can say p1$$ on it lol
If you feel you need to slow the burn time down, just wrap the piece of wood in tin foil and poke some holes in it. That will cut down the air it can get and make it burn slower. It also keeps the wet wood from making the temps drop till the wet wood gets going. Cooking with 100% wood has both draw backs and benefits. charcoal briquettes are the best way to hold a consistent temp and many cookers do start with a bed of charcoal to get a good coal bed started and then start adding wood.
Dry wood does burn faster, no doubt but it burns very clean. Cooking with wood is different then trying to get a long overnight burn like you want in a stove or wood heater. The thing about meat is it will only absorb so much smoke and once the bark seals up or sears on the outside, then any smoke does not penetrate much after that. Thats why many cookers wrap there meat in foil to finish the cooking. You can do the same by smoking it till it sears and you have gotten all the smoke it will take and finish it off in the oven. Because by that time all you need is heat to finish it off. Too much creosote can leave a bitter taste and will give you the squirts when you take a dump. I know many places where they can make some great bbq up north, but down here we are the king of great bbq. Texas is the best place to get the best bbq in the world. We have perfected the art, and it is an art. You can still find some bbq down here that sucks but most of the good ones have perfected the art. Like I have said before, the proper fire is the key. And since all bbq pits cook differently because of there design, you have to experiment till you find that particular pits sweet spot. People complain that using very dry wood takes a lot more wood and more attention to keep it burning properly. But that is just part of doing it right. Pits come in all sizes and shapes and they all have different size fire boxes. So you have to find the right size wood for the size of the fire box for it to cook at it's optimal range. Thats why a good bbq master will sit up all night and tend the pit so they can keep it running at it's best for the entire duration of the cook.
You see down here winter last about five min so my business is mostly bbq wood sales year round not just fire wood.
My secret is to split green wood as soon as I get it, then NEVER let it sit on the ground or get rained on because that starts the fungus and mold to start setting in. You have to split it green then stack it where it stays dry and doesn't get rained on. Once it's dry, you have to keep it dry.
If I cut my rounds and stack the rounds off the ground and let it dry in the round the quality will go way down. Because it drys to slowly and that allows the fungus and mold to set in. It's fine for just plane firewood but not for quality bbq wood. Ever split a round and see the fungus roots start running down into the wood like roots of a tree? Fungus will put roots down deep into the wood and thats fine for firewood but not for cooking wood.
You must have just enough fire to get you pit to run at the temp your looking for but not put out that white smoke. You need a clean fire that puts of almost no smoke, just heat waves with a slight bluish tent to the smoke. When it's cold steel smokers are great heat sinks and it will cause the temps to drop below the proper range, so a lot of cookers will wrap there smoker in insulation to keep the air temps from sucking the heat out of the pit. If your cooking when it's cold, just go to the hardware store and buy a role of pink fiberglass insulation and close up the pit and wrap the smoker with a layer of insulation. Don't wrap the firebox, just the smoker chamber itself. That will help keep the temps up in the smoker when the air temps are low.
Treat your cooking wood different then your firewood. Split it green and stack it right away under a cover to keep the rain off of it. Keep it up off the ground and stack it where it gets good air flow under the bottom. Just cover the top with tin or R panel works best. Covering it with a tarp or plywood doesn't work as well. My cooking wood is kept under a tin roof with no sides and lots of air flow around the sides. Don't stack the rows to close together ether. You want good air flow around each stack to keep the mold and fungus from setting in because to much wood stacked to close together will stem good airflow.
Also try only cooking with 100% heart wood with no bark. Heart wood will burn the cleanest and make that bbq taste great.
Trust me, I have been smoking meat all my life and I sell to most all of the competition bbq cook off teams and have been doing it a very long time.I do know what I am talking about. Try these tips and I promos you your bbq will be better then you ever thought.
You want dry wood with a very low moisture content. Yes it takes more wood and you have to feed it more often, but you want the cleanest fire you can get. It's not the same as plane old firewood where your trying to make it last all night. Now when you add fresh dry wood to your smoke it will put out a little bit of white smoke at first till the wood starts burn properly. Most of the best cookers have two pits. the one they cook on and a fire pit or fire ring outside and burn there wood down to coals first, then transfer the coals to the cooker. That keeps any of the white smoke from getting on there meat. If the smoke coming out or your smoke stack is white and dense, your doing it wrong. Your wood is not dry enough or you putting to big of piece of wood on the fire. Use smaller pieces and dyer wood.
That is correct, I have done it and it will make you bbq average at best. You want to use heartwood with no bark and it needs to be dry. If it has any mold or fungus or has gotten wet from rain several times don't use it for cooking, Save that for the fireplace. Split you wood green and stack it under cover with good air flow around it to keep it dry at all times. If you follow my recommendations, you will see a 100% difference in the quality of your bbq. Use smaller pieces and not big huge chunks because it will not burn efficiently.
cuinrearview
Red saw lover
I cook over coal on a WSM. I use fist sized chunks of hickory heartwood. It never really flames, it just makes that nice thin blue smoke. Usually when I'm finished it has blackened and shriveled into a small coal. I only add wood once because after the first hour or so the meat seals up and won't take anymore smoke. The chunks throw smoke for a couple hours, after that it's just cooking to temp. As long as I keep the wind away from it I can cook outside in pretty much as cold as southern MI can get. That breeze pumps air in and it actually will get too hot. I keep it 200-225, low and slow. I've also cold smoked cheese and andouille sausage in there with a modified screen type tray and wood smoker pellets. I mostly smoke pork Carolina style but I'll throw some beef on there occasionally and do it like your area does. I've catered a couple receptions for friends with smoked meat. The only thing I'm not fond of smoking is fish, only because of the cleanup. I've smoked eggs, wild mushrooms, jerky, just about anything. Doing the same thing over and over makes a good business but it's not a challenge.
cuinrearview
Red saw lover
I've been at it for quite a while.
Me to 60+ years. Temps should be around 225 to 245 for most of the cook but that can vary depending on how much meat your cooking at one time. If you doing just one brisket 220 to 230 is fine, but if your cooking 10 briskets you may try bumping up the temp for a few hours to about 245 than let it drop down a bit after all that meats has gotten up to temp in the center of the brisket.
One last thing, don't buy your meat at Sams, Walmart or any of the chain stores. Go to meat market where all they do is sell meat. You will get a better quality meat. When you buy from the big box stores, you never know what your getting. It could be a nice young steer or it might come from an old milk cow or a different bread of cow. When you buy quality meat from a meat market, there quality control is much better.
I am still learning, only been smoking for maybe ten years. My smoker is in the chimney of my brick and mortar grill. Been using that for maybe 20-25 years. I have learned much of what sb is saying. The fire has to be managed differently depending what I am trying to do. A cooking fire is different than a smoking fire, different types of wood, different sizes of wood, different foods being cooked, fire burns hotter in the summer than in the winter, and on and on. It's always a challenge and that's a big part of the fun. Another big part is eating it and watching others enjoy it.
cuinrearview
Red saw lover
I forgot! The fall before last I smoked peaches. I made a smoked peach habanero BBQ sauce. It was pretty phenomenal. I need to make it again.
Similar threads
- Deleted member 117362
- Firewood, Heating and Wood Burning Equipment
