Wood chunk question for spare ribs?

[kysmoker95]

Hey guys I'm a first time smoker who just bought a master built XL an had a question about my wood chunks for cooking spare ribs. I have hickory and apple chunks and was wondering how many chunks I should put in there at one time? Also should I do a mix of a couple of hickory and a couple apple chunks? Also for Doing the 3-2-1 method how long should you actually use the wood chunks? Thanks for the input guys sorry for so many questions

 

[themule69]

Well! Their is not one correct answer for your question. A lot of it will depend on how much smoky flavor you like. It will also depend on the size of your chunks.How well your smoker converts them into smoke.

I would say put a couple in and see how well and how long they smoke. I would keep the smoke going for the 3 hours. It does no good to have smoke going when in foil. You can mix the wood. The only rule to smoking. Is Patients.

Happy smoken.

David

 

[millerk0486]

I haven't used apple wood but a couple of times, but in my experience, apple is a lighter smoke flavor than hickory. So if you want a lighter smoke flavor use more apple than hickory and if you want a heavier/bolder flavor use more hickory. Either way you should still have a good result. It depends on what taste you like best. The big thing is to keep a good air flow with the smoke. You want the smoke to flow out and not be trapped with no where to go, or else you will get a bitter smoke taste.

 

[millerk0486]

Also to answer your timing question... just like mule said, you only need to smoke the first three hours. You font need to add chunks during the two hours of being wrapped since the smoke won't penetrate the foil. But you can add them for the last hour too if you want to add smoke flavor to your finishing sauce (if you sauce it the last hour.).