Oak Barrel Staves

[Murray]

Recently picked up a Weber Kettle, telling my neighbor that I’m looking for suitable wood to toss on the coals to add a bit of smoke to my new found kettle. This gentleman has been all over this area so we were discussing old abandoned farms that might have some Apple, Cherry, Plum, Pear trees that a guy could salvage for the kettle. Picked up some leads that will require a road trip later, in the meantime he offered some pieces of oak that he had from an old whiskey barrel, why he has a 20L pail of oak chunks is beyond me. The top piece is as I got it, the middle I’ve taken a wire brush to it for maybe 30 seconds and knocked off what I think is dry rot. I’m ASSUMING this whiskey barrel was a planter at one time. With a bit more elbow grease I’m confident that I can get rid of all the dry rot with little effort. Question: Would these chunks be suitable for the kettle to add a bit of smoke?

 

[Chris_in_SoCal]

I see nothing wrong with using them. I am actually looking at buying pellets that are made by the same whiskey barrels for my smoker.

 

[1MoreFord]

They will work fine.
Don't worry about cleaning them up. They were charred before they ever held whisky and that's why the odd looking appearance.

 

[Fueling Around]

I've got 2 pails of them from decommissioned planters. They are oak and nothing more. The whisky is long gone same as the expensive chips or pellets one buys in the store.

 

[bill1]

Some of my favorite smoking chips came from Jack Daniels barrels. That said, these look a bit weathered, not like they came straight from the rick house. If they really had wood rot, for sure I wouldn't use them but this looks more like rain, sun, temp extremes, and dirt which is probably OK. Put one on some hot coals and see what it smells like to your nose. If you like it, put on the meat.

Never hurts to start with chicken thighs. If your experiment fails, you're not out much money.

ADDENDUM: I differ with Fueling Around. If these came from decommissioned planters, so they had years of mud and fertilizer against them, I'd be leery of using them with food. For sure any of the bourbon smell is long gone.

 

[Murray]

Gentlemen, Thanks for your replies. I can scrape off all the wood rot very easily. The guy that gave me the chunks is big into organic type fertilizers and only uses well rotted manure. I’ll ask him if he ever used chemical fertilizers and get a better “history” on the barrels. I haven’t used charcoal in 30 years plus the food grate is rusted so bad that I won’t be cooking anything on it until the new grate arrives in the mail. Once I get to town to get some charcoal I’ll likely fire it up without any food and see if I can detect any weird odours. Thanks again.

 

[Fueling Around]

...
ADDENDUM: I differ with Fueling Around. If these came from decommissioned planters, so they had years of mud and fertilizer against them, I'd be leery of using them with food. For sure any of the bourbon smell is long gone.

Good points.
My planters had plaster liners and I added drain hose to keep the plants from swimming after a good rain. I didn't think about those that just loaded them.
I'm probably going to give them to my wood stove neighbor.
I cut a big limb off one of my oak trees and I have more than enough splits

 

[bill1]

...only uses well rotted manure...

I'll cook over wood that's had some rain, spiders, and lizards running over it. But I draw the line at manure.

 

[thirdeye]

A friend in Washington would buy barrels from local wineries during the year, and cut down the staves into manageable pieces and send them out at Christmas time. Really good flavor wood for chicken and pork.

 

[bill1]

... barrels from local wineries...good flavor wood for chicken and pork.

I'll trust you. I can envision smoking bourbon wood better than wine wood. But good chefs cook with wine all the time, although I confess my culinary results with wine have been a lot more hit-or-miss than using bourbon.

 

[thirdeye]

I'll trust you. I can envision smoking bourbon wood better than wine wood. But good chefs cook with wine all the time, although I confess my culinary results with wine have been a lot more hit-or-miss than using bourbon.

I got a bag of Jack Daniels wood chips a few years ago and when opening the bag the aroma was pretty strong. If I recall, I used them for grilling burgers.

 

[Murray]

Thank you for the replies. Tried one chunk after whittling away the dry rot and it did add a pleasant smoky flavour to wings. Glad I used a small piece though any larger and it would have been too smoky for my wife’s taste. The chunk did burn rather fast, been reading here that soaking wood isn’t usually recommended but at the rate it burned up thinking of trying an hour or 2 soaking. The chunk did produce lots of blue smoke compared to my tube with pellet dust.

 

[bill1]

I got a bag of Jack Daniels wood chips a few years ago and when opening the bag the aroma was pretty strong. If I recall, I used them for grilling burgers.

Me too. The aroma was like heaven itself, eh?