Wood vs charcoal

[jimvgt]

I struggle to find lump charcoal tha has more chunks than small pieces. Has anyone used strictly wood?

 

[philpom]

I struggle to find lump charcoal tha has more chunks than small pieces. Has anyone used strictly wood?

In my opinion, unless your cooker is designed to run on pure wood (offset/open pit for example) it isn't going to work unless you burn it down to hot coals and add as needed to your cooker. Just burning wood chunks for example will probably give you a smoldering fire and acrid meat or a raging fire you can't control.

 

[Hijack73]

Agree with Philpom. I love cooking with wood. What kind of rig you using? Big double fist sized chunks are what I used in my homespun cooker and I much preferred to get them going in my firepit before I shoveled them into the smoker. Burned almost to coals to coals were ideal. Super tasty food.

 

[Compulsive Smoker]

I pretty much only use briquettes…I know some people would not agree, but their uniform size creates a very even stable fire…

 

[jimvgt]

Agree with Philpom. I love cooking with wood. What kind of rig you using? Big double fist sized chunks are what I used in my homespun cooker and I much preferred to get them going in my firepit before I shoveled them into the smoker. Burned almost to coals to coals were ideal. Super tasty food.

I just replaced my big green egg with a Weber Smokey mountain 22”

 

[civilsmoker]

I use a combination of of briquettes and wood. The briquettes create a nice base heat and when fully engaged are very mild in smoke…..next I add wood for the supplemental heat and smoke flavor tone of a clean burning splits. For long cooks I add a few briquettes to maintain the base set of coals and it keeps the strong coal flavor to a minimum….

Lump burns hotter and not as consistent but those that have it dialed it like it. I used lump for a long time but didn’t like the lack of consistency…..to me repeatability is very important!

 

[JckDanls 07]

Yea... Your not gonna be able to use wood only in a WSM... I say dump the lump... and go with briquettes and wood chunks (for smoke)... Using the minion method... That's what they are designed for...

 

[normanaj]

When it comes to the WSM I use briquettes and chunks.

That being said now you can go down the rabbit hole of what brand charcoal!