should I peel the bark??

Patrick,

In general, I choose to remove the bark. I, too, have heard the rumor about bitter taste but I don't know if there's any truth to it or not. My reasoning is that wood harvested from the wild is exposed to many different elements including insects and/or any neighboring animals that tend to "mark" their territory. Ocassionally, the later group may even include some of your more unabashed locals trying to make room for another beer! EEEWWWW!!! So I figure its best to just not take the chance and peel the bark.

That's my two cents!

Cheers,
Brian

 

Patrick, what kind of smoker do you have?

Apple, if well seasoned (dry) will peel nicely, but Apple bark is a very thin bark. Any bitterness is gone once you get full ignition (thats why I ask your smoker. I can give tips if I know the type)

Hickory, on the logs and not the sticks, can have a larger bark, and I peel and split as much as possible.

So do you have an offset firebox?

If so, preheating is the way to go. You get instant ignition of the wood, no white smoke, and no bitterness.

 

One thing you can do is (after what was said about removing bark above) is to preheat your wood.

Throw the chunks or splits you are going to use on top of the firebox.

I actually had some splits catch on fire on top of the box last weekend, and had to remove them. But once I need a new split or chunk, the preheated ones light almost instantly, bark and all.

No smoldering, no white smoke.

If it did smolder a bit, I open the firebox lid until everything is burning nicely again.

So remove the bark if its "removable" and preheat wood when possible.

A tuning plate in the Chargriller might also be an option for distributing heat. I'll look up some of my research when I was looking at one. I can't recall what the "mods" are for the Chargriller off hand