wood newbie needs advice

smokedad · Sep 13, 2017

I am in the process of building an offset brick/concrete smoker, and I had some questions about using all wood for the heat and smoke, as I have never used just wood for smoking. Right now I use charcoal as a heat source in my Weber kettle and add wood chunks or chips for smoke. When my brick smoker is done, I would like to use wood for the heat source and the smoke.

Can you use one type of wood for the heat and then when that wood burns down to coals, is it OK to add another type of wood for the smoke flavor? I have a friend of mine who has a lot of ash wood he is giving away, and I have some oak, maple and hickory wood that I would like to use for flavor, but I don't know if getting the smoker up to temp with ash and then adding oak, etc, would mess with the smoke flavor of the meat.

Is it better to let the wood in the smoker burn down to coals before putting the meat on, or is it OK to put it on when the wood is burning if it is up to the temp you want? Or does it depend on how much smoke is being produced?

Is any type of fruit wood good for flavor? I have access to some plum and pear wood, but I have never used either one.

I can get scraps of wood from a local sawmill, but a lot of the pieces are the outside of the logs so they are mostly bark. Is it worth using these pieces since they burn pretty quickly?

Thanks for any help you can give me.

bluewhisper · Sep 13, 2017

Hi Dad. Yes you can smoke with a fire of only wood but you can always use charcoal for heat.

Yes you can start with one kind of wood and transition to another. I've used ash only once and I liked it, you don't see much mention of it. Go ahead and use it to heat everything up, and you can switch to whatever wood you want for flavor.

As for burning down to coals, in an ideal world you would do just that, but in most practical cases new fuel - either wood or briquettes - is added and there's always some stinky startup. One alternative is lump charcoal which has a much cleaner burn start. Many people run a second fire to send fuel beyond the startup phase, to be mellow and ready for the cooking fire.

joe black · Sep 13, 2017

I use lump to get my initial bed of coals, I use mostly Oak for heat and cooking. I use my flavor wood along with the heat wood during the middle of the process. After I think that the meat has absorbed all the smoke that it's going to, I finish off with just the heat wood. I always pre-heat my wood before putting it on the fire. Pre-heating the wood allows it to ignite quicker. This keeps your temps from diving and also keeps the fire cleaner. A clean fire will not produce a billowing white smoke because the wood is already hot and does not have to steam before ignition.

Give this method a good try and good luck. :grilling_smilie:

smokedad · Sep 14, 2017

BlueWhisper said:
Hi Dad. Yes you can smoke with a fire of only wood but you can always use charcoal for heat.

Yes you can start with one kind of wood and transition to another. I've used ash only once and I liked it, you don't see much mention of it. Go ahead and use it to heat everything up, and you can switch to whatever wood you want for flavor.

As for burning down to coals, in an ideal world you would do just that, but in most practical cases new fuel - either wood or briquettes - is added and there's always some stinky startup. One alternative is lump charcoal which has a much cleaner burn start. Many people run a second fire to send fuel beyond the startup phase, to be mellow and ready for the cooking fire.

BlueWhisper, when you say many people have a 2nd fire for fuel, I assume you mean that they take coals or burning wood from the 2nd fire and put in on the cooking fire during the smoke? that does make some sense to keep a clean fire.

smokedad · Sep 14, 2017

Joe Black said:
I use lump to get my initial bed of coals, I use mostly Oak for heat and cooking. I use my flavor wood along with the heat wood during the middle of the process. After I think that the meat has absorbed all the smoke that it's going to, I finish off with just the heat wood. I always pre-heat my wood before putting it on the fire. Pre-heating the wood allows it to ignite quicker. This keeps your temps from diving and also keeps the fire cleaner. A clean fire will not produce a billowing white smoke because the wood is already hot and does not have to steam before ignition.

Give this method a good try and good luck.

Joe Black, how do you pre-heat your wood? do you have another fire going?

smokedad · Sep 15, 2017

Yesterday evening I got some apple and maple wood when my in-laws had some of their trees trimmed. I will need to split many of the pieces before seasoning them as they are pretty big.

what thickness is good to cut them into to use for smoking?

are pieces that were dead on the tree any good for smoking?

A lot of the pieces that were left were branches that averaged about 3 or 4 inches in diameter. Are those OK to use if they aren't split, or does wood need to be split to use for smoking?

Again, thanks for any advice on this.

motolife313 · Dec 17, 2017

Depends how big your pit is and how well insulated. On a reverse flow u could have a lot bigger fire and use bigger splits. I think 3" is ok to toss on a smaller to medium size pit. Aslong as they are dry they will burn fine. And u can preheat the splits on the top of the firebox, u will get to know your fire and pit after a few uses. Just don't split them too small. U can always split them in front of the smoker like I do. And if your wood is bleeding water out the ends means it's wet or unseasoned. U can hear it hiss too. U can toss them in the oven for few hours on 250-350 and it does wonders. Have fun with your new pit

joe black · Dec 17, 2017

I pre-heat my splits by keeping them on top of the fire box. I will keep 3-4 pre-heating all the time. When I add a couple of splits, I'll replace them on top. A flat top fire box makes this easy. If your fire box is round on top, take some heavy wire and make a "saddle" until you can have one made out of angle iron. The heated wood keeps your fire clean.

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wood newbie needs advice

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