Soaking wood

[dr1nkbeer]

back in June... I cut down a peach tree for a family member who just couldnt stand the bugs around it.  I kept all the wood 1" and larger in diameter.  I have read that you can use green wood that burn longer and slower.  Well i just put on a two racks and a few shortribs today about 4 hours ago I used the semi dried out 1" branches to smoke i used about 5 or so at 14" each and got great TBS for the duration.  There foiled up now and will be ready for sauce in about 15 min.

I smoked for three hours at a steady 225 degrees.. then I foiled them up and kicked it up to 240 degrees.  I dont use a water pan (yet) but my last few smoke outs my ribs were a little drier than i expected.  I partially blamed the quality of the ribs themselves they werent fatty, i paid a little more for them too.  I used to soak my chips but found it wasnt worth the hassle I moved to hunks and leave them dry.  That is when i dont have a great pile of Fresh peach wood laying around.. sorry had to throw that in there.. :-)

Of course i took video instead pics... not of the phone yet.

 

[thsmormonsmokes]

All I know is that you'd have to soak wood for an awful long time to get the water to penetrate too deep.  The thicker the pieces you're dealing with, the more true this is.  And if you put wet wood on a fire, it is going to burn.  Before it burns, it has to get rid of the water.  It requires energy -i.e., heat- to convert liquid water into water vapor.  So it's going to pull some amount of heat out of your fire, and isn't going to contribute any noticeable amount of steam in the chamber.  Maybe the heat drop is not enough to concern you, but it draws heat out.  No two ways around it.

So my $0.02 is that soaking really doesn't seem to do much of anything.  But if someone's got a system that's producing good results and soaking wood is part of the equation, you're obviously not doing anything horribly wrong.  

But the whole wood soaking thing seems more superstition to me than anything.

I am curious about burning green wood.  My experience with wood burning stoves is that you get more creosote build up if you burn green stuff, and that you get a cleaner burn if you get the wood good and cured first.  But I think I saw Myron Mixon use completely green peach wood in a competition I watched on Grill Masters a while back.  That got me curious because it seemed to go against what I learned as a kid with our wood burning stove. Seemed like that would give you lots of thick white stinky smoke.  But he knows this stuff a whole lot better than this dummy does, so there's obviously something to learn there.

 

[cliffcarter]

I am curious about burning green wood.  My experience with wood burning stoves is that you get more creosote build up if you burn green stuff, and that you get a cleaner burn if you get the wood good and cured first.  But I think I saw Myron Mixon use completely green peach wood in a competition I watched on Grill Masters a while back.  That got me curious because it seemed to go against what I learned as a kid with our wood burning stove. Seemed like that would give you lots of thick white stinky smoke.  But he knows this stuff a whole lot better than this dummy does, so there's obviously something to learn there.

You can not use green(unseasoned) wood as a fuel source but you can use it as a smoke source. I use green apple wood all the time, it gives me thin blue when used with a charcoal based heat source. Myron Mixon uses fresh cut peach wood as a smoke source laid on a hot charcoal cooking fire.

 

[dragonmaster194]

I also used to soak chips for smoking, now I use chunks dry, and get much better results.  I agree with the no soak guys here.  Steve

 

[thsmormonsmokes]

You can not use green(unseasoned) wood as a fuel source but you can use it as a smoke source. I use green apple wood all the time, it gives me thin blue when used with a charcoal based heat source. Myron Mixon uses fresh cut peach wood as a smoke source laid on a hot charcoal cooking fire.

Ah. I figured there must be something I didn't understand. Thanks for the info.

 

[mnmulisha]

If you use well soaked wood chips, will the steam released from the boiling water help to keep the product in the smoker moist?  Would this benefit the product if it was say, ribs and they were going to be wrapped in foil for a few hours after the smoke?

 

[dewetha]

If you use well soaked wood chips, will the steam released from the boiling water help to keep the product in the smoker moist?  Would this benefit the product if it was say, ribs and they were going to be wrapped in foil for a few hours after the smoke?

that would be a hell of a lot chips! if you want moister use a water pan.

 

[gnlsr]

I have used green wood before and I don't get much satisfaction with it for my uneducated (in the finer arts of smokin) abilities...I have used well dried oak...orange, grapefruit...like them the best...want to get some maple next trip I make up north..my issue is too much smoke flavor...(wife likes the flavor of the smoke to be very slight...I will continue to experiment...and listen and learn from this learned group...thanks in advance...

 

[dr1nkbeer]

I have used green wood before and I don't get much satisfaction with it for my uneducated (in the finer arts of smokin) abilities...I have used well dried oak...orange, grapefruit...like them the best...want to get some maple next trip I make up north..my issue is too much smoke flavor...(wife likes the flavor of the smoke to be very slight...I will continue to experiment...and listen and learn from this learned group...thanks in advance...

yeah.. I was a littel weary of using green GREEN wood but these have dried out for two months (we had a HOT summer here)... Well first time for using Peach (Green) i used hardwood coals as heat source and used 5 Branches that were about 1" thick and about 14" long ( I cracked them in half before placing them right on top of fire).  The smoke was TB all the way through and that gave me plenty of smoke. My wife and family also like the smoke flavor to be there but not over powering.. i like it to be noticable.. more "front and center".  The peach gave it a real nice smoke (the way i like it) wife ate it as they were tender tender tender... but with a cringe.. she said it was sucking on wood... :-) (thats what she said). 

Wouldnt be fair to not post the pic!!  You can see the nice bundles i have from that fresh peach tree stashed under my grill... I also have plenty of trunk and large logs to let dry out sum.

IMG_1376.JPG

• dr1nkbeer
• Aug 15, 2012

 

[bigdog7]

Can anyone tell me how long to keep smoke during cooking process? Smoker manual says for ribs to use chips for the first two hours of cooking, then after three hours place in foil for another 1-1/2 hours. Does this sound about right?

 

[chinavoodoo]

Here is a question for you. If you soaked wood chunks in something with lots of flavor, like mulled wine, letting capillary action pull the wine through the grain, then let it dry again, then smoked with it, would you get an interesting smoke?
 

 

[chef jimmyj]

Here is a question for you. If you soaked wood chunks in something with lots of flavor, like mulled wine, letting capillary action pull the wine through the grain, then let it dry again, then smoked with it, would you get an interesting smoke?
 

There are companies that sell Wine Barrel and Bourbon Barrel Oak in Chips, Chunks, Pellets and Pucks.  But remember dry wood resists liquid for a LONG time. Those barrels are in contact 1 to 25 years with the liquid. That is a lot of Mulled Wine for a long time to flavor a few wood chunks in your basement. I would drink the wine and buy what you want...JJ