Chips, Chunks or Pellets?

[yoni63]

Chunks here mainly due to using a Master Forge double door.  When I upgrade to a full shop built smoker on a trailer this year, I'll use the regular wood cut a bit larger than chunks. Chips on my smoker just don't last long enough and I spend my entire time loading wood.

 

[themule69]

I burn wood for heat so I've got plenty of oak, ash, hickory, maple, poplar. Can someone answer a couple of questions for me ? Should the wood be dry or green, bark/no bark, Maple ?? , what size "chunks" are we talking about ?

do not use green. i repeat do not use green. the better it is seasoned the less chance of bitter taste.i haven't seen any difference about bark on or off. maple is a good smoking wood. don't know about poplar. the size of the chunks can be golf ball or smaller up to 6" long and as big around as a beer can or larger for a stick burner. your better off to experiment with your smoker and find out what it likes. then their is the AMNPS it is great and pervides smoke only. not much heat...great for cold smoking or to add smoke. it burns pellets or sawdust.

 

[rgudyka]

I am a southwestern Washington native.  I have been actively smoking for just over a year.  And I have to say, making my own chunks of smoking wood (vine maple, apple, and the beloved alder) gives me as much pleasure as smoking itself.  Of course, I use these mostly for salmon and shrimp, but it is so much fun to create the chunks from scratch.  I get wonderful smoke from chunks in my bullet water smoker.  Give it a try!!!  Smoke on!  -rfg
 

 

[joe schwierling]

I actually like to use both chips and a chunk or two. Once the chips burn up and you still have the chunk to smoke away. I have no experience using the pellets.

 

[frank68]

HI 

did you go to meatprocessingprots.com thay have recipes there

frank 68

 

[panthermountian]

Jim, you are the envy of most cookers with the selection of wood you have access to , your wood should be dry for the most part, I say this because when you cut your wood and store it you will have dry wood (like you buy at the store ) you can re-hydrate it in various ways (example , water, beer , ) as a competition cooker myself NO BARK ALLOWED !!! thats where the bugs and mold hide when the wood is dryed, as for size, it depends on your cooker, Remember it's easer to add than to take away, I suggest 3'' to 4'' chunks of wood for smoke ( Look at the bags they sell in stores ) dont put wet wood on your fire source, put the smoke wood to the edge of the fire and let the heat come to your wood, this will give a longer burn and smoke, you want just a light blue smoke comming from your stack not a heavy white smoke that will make your food bitter, hope this helps

 

[mountainrubs]

Im old and  lazy .... so chunks for longer ... less work..lol

 

[rtbbq2]

All that sausage looks great. Gonna start myself this weekend. Have about 40lbs. to make sausage with. Small doe I shot during the bow season here in Minnesota.

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• rtbbq2
• Jan 3, 2013

 

[jim s]

Hey, decenty doe man. I like to put 2 does a year in my freezer. They taste better period. Have you played with smoking a deer hind quarter ? I'm  lookin for some advise/recipie on that if you can. Thanks.

 

[jim s]

Hey, thanks . It does help. Have you done venisen hind quarters ? I have an "extra" one I  could use to smoke, if you think it will work. I'm a little comcerned about the lack of fat. Wadda you think ?

 

[dave17a]

Got a New Braunsfel. bought in '99 . Got sources for fruitwoods and cut my own. So therefore I use chunks. Always have. Even used to use hedge. Probably what killed the old round Brinkman watersmoker, which is what I started smoking on. Remember when I got the New Bruansfel Put on a pork loin , Went back 6 hrs later to look and just as raw when put it on. Didnt give her enough heat.  I've used chips Also but maybe once a year in an old heavy steel box .

 

[rtbbq2]

Got a New Braunsfel. bought in '99 . Got sources for fruitwoods and cut my own. So therefore I use chunks. Always have. Even used to use hedge. Probably what killed the old round Brinkman watersmoker, which is what I started smoking on. Remember when I got the New Bruansfel Put on a pork loin , Went back 6 hrs later to look and just as raw when put it on. Didnt give her enough heat.  I've used chips Also but maybe once a year in an old heavy steel box .

The lack of fat is a issue. I would think if you brined the hind quarter then smoked it slow, it would be very good. I would bone it first since the bone on venison is very strong. Brine it with cure #1 then smoke it slow at 225 until you get to 140° - 150° max internal temp. Venison is kind of tricky since it is so lean. A good rub after you brine and a slow smoke would turn out a nice piece of meat. I would rub it down with EVOO and a rub of your choice. Let it sit over night in the fridge then get the smoker going in the morning.  I would also trim off all the tallow and silver skin that is visible...

 

[cellingburgh]

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!

Just a bit more pricey is an understatement at least the butcher shop where I go when compared to the sporting goods store that I wish was a little closer to home.

 

[sirsmokey]

Hey i just quickly browsed the replies on the this because there were so many so this may have been said already.  I have a MasterBUILT propane smokehouse. Let me start by saying i love it!!  I have never used the particular one you are referring to however i think they are all kind of alike in the way they work (the quality of the build seems to be the only difference i see) . I have used both chips and chunks and both have worked well.  If your chip tray is like mine and is "vented" (you can see the flame through the slots), you can use chips. The only problem with the chips was that they lite fire if you just toss them in the tray. I actually soak some of mine and leave some dry. I make sort of a foil ball around them with chips inside. Leave top vented and poke small holes in the bottom. Toss it anywhere on the tray. You can also purchase a cast iron pan that will sit on top but i think the foil does just fine. Another trick i have found to get a longer lasting smoke from the chips is to wrap some that are soaked in water and then make another ball full of them that are not soaked. This works well because by the time the dry ones are done smoking, the wet ones start up making smoke to keep it going for longer without opening the door. As far as chunks go, i have used them and they do last wayyyy longer then the chips but i have also had those catch fire at times. Overall i have favored the chips because i can get more varieties compared to the chunks at my local stores. I also like the thin blue smoke they produce which sometimes my chunks have created a really thick smoke. I hope this has helped you in your decision, Either way, HAPPY SMOKING!!

-john

 

[overground]

Just a bit more pricey is an understatement at least the butcher shop where I go when compared to the sporting goods store that I wish was a little closer to home.

Just the opposite here...there are NO butcher shops around me at all. Plenty of sporting and hardware stores though. I'll gladly trade you. ;-)

 

[dave17a]

Bummer. I bet somewhere there is is a butcher shop. Where the hell do you live? Got 3 within 20 miles of me.

 

[daricksta]

Welcome aboard.  I have a Masterbuilt 30" electric water smoker. I started out using chips but then read about Todd Johnson and his A-MAZE-N pellet smoker. I bought it and now pellets are all I use. I've experimented with cooking ribs with wood chips and with wood pellets and, for me, pellets are much simpler and easier to use. My favorite benefit is that I can fill up the pellet smoker, light it, and I get smoke for hours. With wood chips, I have to refill the tray about every 20-30 minutes.

Good luck.

 

[overground]

Bummer. I bet somewhere there is is a butcher shop. Where the hell do you live? Got 3 within 20 miles of me.

Camarillo, CA. Any place that claims to be a "butcher" are all just resellers of Harris Ranch meats. Either that or the Mexican carnicerias.

There is (was) one called Laird's in Santa Paula, CA (about 20 mi away), but he too has just gone to selling Harris Ranch meats. He told me the regulatory "red tape" (thanks California) just doesn't make having a traditional butchering facility worth it. He said he will butcher a wild boar now and again for "friends" who have killed them.

 

[bruce1334]

Do you think 3" cube chunks are large enough for a long burn? I am using mulberry.

thanks

 

[dewey51]

I have a MES, live in western WA, I have apple, plum, pear, and cherry in my back yard, and alder all over the place.  One 'wood' I've not seen mentioned much is grape vine.  I've used it on chicken, and really like it.  Not tried it on pork yet, but bet it'd be good.   Chips or Chunks?  What ever my little hatchet will give me.... it all smokes.