OK..I have asked before..

[richtee]

And now I'm just gonna start a thread.

WHY is it we are told to soak the wood chips? After all that seasoning of the wood, and the whole creosote problem... WHY?!?

Not that I use chips, but...???

 

[walking dude]

i used to, till i was told on this site not too............summin bout it just sits there and steam.............till it dry...........then smokes...........or, like in my case once in awhile.........catch on fire...........

good thread.............

d8de

 

[johnd49455]

You will get a lot of discussion on this thread

Some swear by soaking in that it slows the burn rate & provides a tad bit of moisture to the smoke.

I use to soak the wood now I don't. From what I have read on similar posts is that the water doesn't really penetrate to wood enough to make a real difference. It just lites up slower.

 

[geek with fire]

Correct me if I am wrong, but creosote comes from the the sap of unseasoned wood, not vapors from water. The sap will condence creating creosote, but water wont (as much).

The other issue is with the chips. Soaking chips just keeps them from flaming up due to their high burn rate. There are some really complex thermal calculations to prove this, but basically the burn rate of a thin object burning on both sides is way more than double that of a single sided burn. Larger pieces insolate the heat from it's other surfaces, and are therefore not subject to the same burn rate.

Or I could be totally full of ...... well something that makes your garden grow.

 

[walking dude]

i THINK.......theres that werd again.........that i read here.........hot water helps with penetration.......shush smokin.......of the water...........

but also, didn't i read here bout soaking in apple juice........under vaccum pressure......in one of them dealybobs that you can use with the seal-a-meal.............

course it could of been a bloody mary spam flashback............

d8de

 

[ron50]

From my experiences trying wet and dry wood I have noticed a better smoke ring, a smokier taste to the meat with wet wood instead of dry wood. I don;t have any explanation why it is, but that is my experience. I've also read people on this forum who tried wet and dry and have noticed no difference at all. Wet wood also helps me when I up the temp of the smoker to 325 for a turkey. I am able to keep the TBS where as if I am using dry wood the smoke starts to get excessive at the higher temp.

 

[Deer Meat]

When I started smokin I soaked my chips and chunks. Not any more though. I feel that it is an unnecessary step. I found that it would take longer to get smoke............you had to wait till the wood dried. As far as the wet wood adding moisture, The water pan does that for you. I could see soaking wood if you were using higher temperatures to try and keep the smoke level down to TBS status...........My nickels worth.

 

[kew_el_steve]

I always soak seasoned chunks. The only reason is that it prevents fire in the pan, flare-ups and temp-spikes. Smoke taste and smoke ring in my smoker -- they are all different -- is the same either way. I can push a ton of blue smoke when I want to by putting more chunks in.

 

[walking dude]

luckily.......with my waterpan.........helps out with temp spikes..........

but i still have to watch for flare ups............


but thats what the spray bottle is for..........misting of the meat.........and a little aj and rum don't hurt the fire that bad.........eheheheeh



d8de

 

[smoke_it_up]

dude did you garnish that BM w/ the spam or what

 

[walking dude]

hmmmmmmmmm

they turned out great.......specially the one with jeffs rub........
pics tomorrow...........

but

smoke spam spears n bm's

a thougth

d8de

 

[smoke_it_up]

hmmmmmmm BM w/ spam spears and what next? maybe some smoked potted meat

 

[walking dude]

why not.........there's been discussion here bout canning beef
chili..........etc.



d8de

 

[richtee]

Sooo... what magical happens to wood when it dries? Ain't the soakers just reconstituting, for the most part... the sap?

 

[deejaydebi]

Some people swear by soaked wood chips others don't.

It's like underwear some like boxers some like briefs some don't like em a all!