Chips, Chunks or Pellets?

sjturbo · Jun 5, 2010

New to the forum but I've already seen some great info! I've smoked before on my Little Chief electric but alas it's time to move up! I'm interested in the Master Forge 2 door at Lowes (can't break the budget). One of my questions is what is the best type of wood cut for this type of propande smoker, chips chunks or pellets? I've also seen some mods to improve heat and smoke retention that look good. Hope to be able to share my experiences (once I have some). Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

richoso1 · Jun 5, 2010

Welcome to the SMF, good luck on selecting your new smoker. I moved your thread to roll call, so that everyone can give you a warm welcome. It's all good my friend.

sjturbo · Jun 7, 2010

Judging by the avalnache of reply's I must be in the wrong forum.

richoso1 · Jun 7, 2010

Depening on the type of smoker, and the the firebox size, chips or chunks will work. Chunks will give you a longer burn and less time spent refilling chips. Just my opinion.

rdknb · Jun 7, 2010

Welcome to SMF, Not sure how I missed your post, I use chips in my Brinkman. but have been thinking about seeing what happens with some smaller chunks. Best to try both and see what works for you

Dutch · Jun 8, 2010

sjturbo, welcome to SMF. I started out using wood chips in my GOSM propane smoker but then I made the switch to wood chunks. I have used wood pellets only because my daughter gave them to me one year for Father's Day and I didn't have the heart to tell her that she got the wrong stuff. The pellets worked just fine, but I can't justify the extra expense of the pellets vs. the cost of wood chucks to strictly use the pellets.

mballi3011 · Jun 8, 2010

First off welcome Turbo to SMF. You'll like it here cause there are alot of really good folks that would just love to help you with anything to do with smoking. Now we like having new folks here to give a new prospective on some of the ways we do things around here. Now if you are really new then I would suggest that you sign up fir the 5-day E-course it free and it will give you the basics on smoking and a few recipes too. Here's a link to it:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/list/127

Now the next thing you have to do is run out and get something to smoke. Then just smoke it and if you have any questions just post them here and we will answer all your questions that you might have. Oh yea there's no stupid questions we were all there in the beginning and we just really like to help others enjoy the fabulous smoked foods that we do. So again

Welcome to Your New Addiction

birdleggs · Jun 8, 2010

chips always

nwdave · Jun 8, 2010

Well, I'm going to go against the trend, kinda, sorta. I smoke with a GOSM. I'm still experimenting with various wood smoke flavors if you will. Being a resident of NorthWest Washington State, I find that my access to the various favored woods is extremely limited. Most of the commercial sources (read big box stores) seem to think that hickory and mesquite are the only woods available, throughout the world. A good friend of mine did his winter sojurn through the south and picked up some Pecan Logs in a bag which I treasure but that's about it. Yes, I could order "chunks and smoking logs" off the internet but then I have to pay big bucks for shipping. Alternative: Pellets, Chips, Shavings, Chunks, anything available locally. Ya do what ya gotta do.

meateater · Jun 8, 2010

Welcome to the SMF. Glad to have you here. Lots of good folks, great recipes and knowledge. Looking forward to your first qview.

TulsaJeff · Jun 8, 2010

I recommend chunks with some chips added in to fill in the voids.. it should give you a nice long session of smoke before you have to refill it.

sgtbarker · Nov 27, 2011

Newbie here as well and also a newbie to smoking. I purchased a Masterbuilt 3 rack electric smoker this summer and started out using chips for two easy reasons, one the manufacturer recommended them and two the wood box is very small and so I'm restricted to chips or pellets. Hope to glean a lot of info from the forum.

SmokinAl · Nov 27, 2011

sgtbarker said:
Newbie here as well and also a newbie to smoking. I purchased a Masterbuilt 3 rack electric smoker this summer and started out using chips for two easy reasons, one the manufacturer recommended them and two the wood box is very small and so I'm restricted to chips or pellets. Hope to glean a lot of info from the forum.

Welcome to SMF Sarge!

Why don't you go over to the roll call section & introduce yourself so we can all give you a proper SMF welcome!

steamaway · Nov 27, 2011

If you have a Gander Mountain locally they have a good selection of woods to choose from. Good selection of smokers as well. I prefer chunks normally as they can also provide some heat.

michael ark · Nov 27, 2011

What jeff said.

steiny8 · Nov 27, 2011

I agree with Jeff. I've got a propane Brinkmann and use chunks and chips. I've found good chips at Lowes, Home Depot, Menards, and some local butcher shops. Typically the wood I find at the butcher shops is the same as the big stores, just a bit more pricey.

Good luck!

owlcreeksmoker4 · Nov 27, 2011

Welcome to SMF, I recommend the free e-course to help get you goin. I would personally go with chips with some chunk. chunk could be your heaver smoke wood if used sparingly to get a great flavor

roller · Nov 27, 2011

Welcome and thanks for joining us here at SMF...I use pellets now that I am a AMAZN smoker guy...

eaglenrv · Nov 27, 2011

At most retailers, chunks are a better buy.

wkydog · Nov 27, 2011

I am sort of new to the smoking scene. A lot of my family had their own smoke houses. They were all home made and of various sizes. Some that you could walk into. All of them used chunks or small logs. That is where I came in. I found the wood and cut it. I even had a customer that used Cotton Wood on fish and it turned out good. His smoker was two 55 gal. barrels that he welded together. I am retired now and so I got one of the Brinkman electrics. I use the biskets and am starting to experiment.

I do have a question. I did some pheasants a while back and they turned out like leather. Flavor was good but it was more like jerky on the bone. I kept the heat at 165 for three hours on 6 birds. Do I need the heat higher and a shorter time or what ? I want to do a goose next if I can figure out how to make it tender and moist.

Thanks

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