I was invited to a ranch to cut some Pecan and Mesquite but..?

[ismoker]

I will be cutting this wood soon. But can I immediately use it for smoking. I searched through the forum and I got mixed answers. Can I use it now or do I have to wait a couple months for it to dry?

 

[fire it up]

You should let it season for at least a full year. If not it will contain a lot of moisture and can be bitter.
Some folks do use "green" wood and claim to like it, last night I was watching some BBQ show on foodnetwork and there was a guy who used nothing but green mesquite and claimed it was great, though it will make a mess of your smoker while burning.
So basically, you can use it if you wanted but I would highly suggest seasoning it.

 

[txbbqman]

If the trees are alive ( green ) I would wait no less than 6 months before using it.

If they are dead and on the ground, find out how long they have been down...a whole tree dries out a lot slower than splits.

Good Luck and you will definitely enjoy both the oak and the pecan

 

[indyadmin1974]

Saw that episode of triple D too...I'm not sure about green mesquite...Seems like a lot of soot buildup would be not so good to eat.

 

[ismoker]

I really appreciate the quick responses guys. The waiting is going to kill me

. Im sure it will pay OFF!! Is there methods on speeding the drying process up?

 

[richp692]

This is the guy.
http://www.greenmesquite.net/

 

[txbbqman]

The biggest method I can give is make sure you split them and try real hard to keep them out of the rain.

No matter what Mother Nature can be a pain in the rump and it is just gonna take time for them to dry.

After a few months worth of sitting start looking at the cut ends, you will start to see cracks, once the cracks grow to a decent size ( I will take pics tonight of mine ) then you are ready to cook.

I speak only for myself when I say you are gonna absolutely love the Pecan, I smoke with a mixture of Oak and Pecan, and sometimes with just Pecan

Good Luck and Happy Smokes.

I will post some pics of my splits either tonight or tomorrow so you have a reference

 

[ismoker]

Wow my fellow texas buddy, I really appreciate the effort of you taking the pic and all. I just want to kick it down a notch on the intensity of mesquite and do pecan.

 

[txbbqman]

I understand completely, mesquite can have a very big flavor, especially if it is green ( my opinion ) Normally if I am gonna use Mesquite, I start with Oak which has a very mild flavor to it and then add a little mesquite to boost the flavor.

With my Pecan I generally try to use all pecan but if I am running low I will use the oak as a filler so I use less Pecan.

And no problem on the pics, gives me a good excuse to stay outside and drink beer

 

[txbbqman]

Alright ISmoker, as promised here are two pics of some of my splits, others may have different opinions but this is what I like mine to look like when I use them. These have been on the ground and split for 10 months






Hope this helps, Good Luck

 

[coyote-1]

I asked this in another thread, but didn't see a reply and it seems relevant here so.... Would the ability to use green wood depend on the intensity of your fire? Which is, in turn, dependent on the size of your smoker?

In the rib throwdown with Bobby Flay, Buzz says he uses only wet (fresh-cut) white hickory. But his smoker is very large, and that fire is roarin' in order to provide sufficient heat for all that meat. Contrast that with the little backyard offset or small upright owned by most of us, where we seek to keep our fires small. I can see where a big rig would burn fresh wood much cleaner than my CGSP.

So I'll keep on seasoning my wood, as I'm not ready to open a restaurant quite yet.

 

[ismoker]

Good deal guys! TXBBQ man I really appreciate the pics now I can run around here talking like a wood pro. Im going to get a piece of meat and do some hot smoking and cold smoking on fresh cut pecan see what that tastes like.

 

[hog warden]

I think the key to using green wood is it's for the smoke flavoring and not the heat source. Green wood by itself isn't going to burn well at all. Throw a piece on a fire and the first thing that will happen is the ends get wet, followed by water/sap moving out, and it will even start foaming on the ends. On some wood that doesn't have a nice straight grain, steam gets trapped in the wood and it will eventually POP.

Once all the water is cooked off, it will start to burn. I don' t know about the size of Bobby's cooker, but it would take a roaring hot fire just to burn green wood if that's all you are using. Real easy to test....just go snip a piece of limb off a tree and put it on the fire.

BTW, unless you give it lots of time or boil it to drive it in, soaking dry wood chunks in water usually only dampens the outside. Takes a long time for water to completely soak into a dry piece of wood.