Making my own wood chips or blocks

[johnny1]

I am finding out that my wood chips are burning up pretty fast in my smoker..I have several chunks of cherry on hand..If I cut this into small blocks it should last a lot longer,right..
If so,what size do you all think I should make them? I can cut them into little blocks...
I hate to have to open the door all the time to add more chips..Thanks..

 

[chuckthemillerman]

That will work just fine , just cut several sizes at first and see which size makes you happy , and then just use that size

 

[ds7662]

Sure most will say 2x2 or 2x3. Those are common sizes. Goodluck.

 

[bigarm's smokin]

I have a BBQ Grillware propane, I just lop off branches up to 6" diamater about 1 " thick. Seems to work fine, I don't soak them.

 

[bbqpitstop]

Johnny,

In our commercial smokers the chips are extremely fine, well packed and they take forever to burn up........maybe something to do with air flow I'm sure, but ours never light totally, they just smoulder away in a mesh metal basket. The ignition starts at the top and a blower keeps the chips from going out totally.

I think there's a definite advantage to keeping very little air between the chips, as it prevents flare ups and fast burning of the wood.

Hope this helps.

 

[bustedluckbarbq]

I've been using some fist size chunks mostly but I had some chips.
My chips burned up pretty quickly too... I read a post on here that said wrap them in foil and poke a couple holes it the top... I made a little log out of cherry chips and foil poked a few small holes down along the top... they last quite a long while that way!

 

[flash]

Chips=quick burn
Chunk=longer burn
Log= burn long, long time

 

[zapper]

What kind of smoker?

Chip/chunk size does have alot to do with the burn (Smoke) time, but so does the air supply. Choking off the air supply will get you more time. Either closing dampers, a foil pouch, commercial chip box or a homemade tin can chamber or the likes can help. Something else to consider is your heat source. If your smoking wood is burning up too fast, maybe consider putting it into a cooler area of the fire if possible.

My electric Brinkman is set up pretty good for using chunks. I try to keep most of the chunks off to the sides to avoid high heat. I have noticed though, if I remove the lid of the smoker for too long to mess with whatever I am cooking, the smoking wood will get enough extra air to cause it to ignite into flames.


I like about a 3" cube for smoking wood, unfortunatley I use whatever comes out of the store bought bag

I do try to cull out anything with too much bark or peices that are nothing but bark



Don't over load your smoker with wood to try and gain extended smoke time, most likely you will just end up with too much smoke. Use small amounts and check to see if there is smoke coming out every 30 minutes or so. When my rig stops smoking I just add a couple more little peices or one bigger chunk depending on what comes out of the bag. I don't stoke it while it is still smoking. How could I tell how much longer the already smoking wood will last?

 

[fla-gypsy]

Made my own out of some well seasoned oak. They are about 2"x2" some smaller.