Wood Chips: To soak or not to soak.....

[smoker21]

I use chips in the MES smoker dry.  I can contol the air so they don't go up in smoke...  As fast I mean)  I use chunks on everything else.  And those I soak for at least 6 hours.

 

[john 4 21 ribs]

[h2]I have always used dry wood chunks. If I want them to slow burn I cover them in foil & this reduces the available oxygen. They make charcoal by depriving the wood burn of oxygen.[/h2][h2]From Wikipedia - Creosote [/h2]
Burning wood and fossil fuels at low temperature causes incomplete combustion of the oils in the wood, which are off-gassed as volatiles in the smoke. As the smoke rises through the chimney it cools, causing water, carbon, and volatiles to condense on the interior surfaces of the chimney flue. This leaves a black oily residue referred to as "creosote", which is similar in composition to the commercial products by the same name, but with a higher content of carbon black.

The best practices to avoid chimney fires are:

• Use a high efficiency stove or heater that fully burns the volatiles in the smoke.
• Make sure the wood is seasoned (not just dry on the surface) before burning.
• Avoid burning coniferous woods (spruce, pine, fir) as much as possible.
• Inspect the chimney throughout the burning season.
• Clean the chimney annually or more frequently if needed.

 

[micmike]

That is exactly how I do it.

 

Gypsy
LOL !!! not yet.....

P.S.
If I have no presoaked chips or chunks and the smoker is ready; Put your bowl of water and wood in the microwave and nuke it on high for 5 minutes.

 

[smoker01]

Fire wood sits outside in the rain and weather etc and does absorb water (actually ages better) unless of course over years it will rot so soaking woods chips etc does really zero/nothing etc

 

[aussie84]

have you ever wondered why they use hardwood to make jetty pilons..??..  tha's right if they soaked up water they would rot.  next time you have wood left out in the rain go get your axe and split it.  take note of how much water has penitrated into it.  

  the real reason it is done ( soaking ) is not neccessarilly to wet the chips as such to stop the burning, but to keep the temperature lower than ignition point, so it smolders rather than burns.  

i have used chips in my WSM on occasion when i did not have the chunks on hand .  my method is 2 damp (soaked for an hour or so, then squeezed ) 1 dry.  wrapped real tight in foil with holes ( 3 ) .  it seems to work. 

and the reason being is not because the water is retarding the fire, but because the wood temp is lower than ignition point and the foil deprives the wood of  oxegen.

i think

kevin 

 

[Fife]

Just throw them in and let them smoke with no soak.

 

[smoker01]

agree - smoke and no soak only makes sense

 

[jdawg]

If I have time I soak mine in beer. Most of the time I don't have time due to poor planning so I just throw it in dry. It's all good!

 

[junkers88]

Just started smoking in the last few days and this is what I'm going to try. I'll soak a few chunks, lets say 4, and put one in the fire and the other three in my water pan. Then I can add warmed/soaked chunks when I need to. I'll only add on every half hour or hour depending on what I'm smoking since I like a light smoke flavor. I'll let you know how it goes. 

 

[steve k]

Just started smoking in the last few days and this is what I'm going to try. I'll soak a few chunks, lets say 4, and put one in the fire and the other three in my water pan. Then I can add warmed/soaked chunks when I need to. I'll only add on every half hour or hour depending on what I'm smoking since I like a light smoke flavor. I'll let you know how it goes. 

If you like light smoke flavor, forget the soaking.  I've done both, and no soaking means lighter smoke.  The directions to my Cabelas Pro 100 even says to soak if you want heavier smoke. I'm all about the Thin Blue Smoke.  Better flavor.