Wood Smokin'

I prefer to not soak the wood. Just a nice clean fire with a light blue smoke. Red Oak is readily available here, so I use that for heat. It is very mild so I may add some cherry or apple wood when cooking pork or chicken. I'll add Hickory or Mesquite when cooking beef. Just my .02. I'm sure you'll get a lot of opinions on this.

For shorter cooks on my weber I usually soak da chips.

Ey vic are you originally from SA?

Let's talk physics...

When you heat up water you make steam
When you heat up wood you make smoke

Water starts steaming at 212°F
The wood doesn't start smoking until it hits >400°F

In my opinion, the water delays the start of smoking until the steam is gone.
People soak wood chips because they can't control air flow. The wood then ignites because of high heat and lotsa air. Wetting the wood gives them the false impression that they are getting the wood to last longer, but it is really just delaying the onset of smoke by keeping the temperature of the wood lower than the smoking point.

My advice:

If you can control airflow just put the wood on the fire (maybe minion style)

If you can't control air:
Make a "smoke infuser": essentially a 4" black pipe with drilled out end caps. It creates an oxygen starved environment. Stuff it full of wood chunks. Throw it on top of your fire. It gets hot, wood smolders but doesn't ignite. When you are done you end up with a pipe full of charcoal.

Worst case make a foil pouch, but they can burn up and you don't want to eat a bunch of barbecue that has around vaporized aluminum foil.

Soak a chunk of wood for a MONTH and then split it open. It's moist about 1/8 inch in. The rest is DRY. IMHO, skip soaking and use then dry.

No soaking here either!

My smoker is so large that I use Oak for heat and then some kind of fruit wood for flavor ( Cherry is my favorite )

Do yourelf a favor and move away from the soaking. I used to do it too until I met up with the Brethren. Now I never soak anything.

No soaking. Chunks, not chips. Better smoke.

jiarby said:

Let's talk physics...
If you can't control air:
Make a "smoke infuser": essentially a 4" black pipe with drilled out end caps. It creates an oxygen starved environment. Stuff it full of wood chunks. Throw it on top of your fire. It gets hot, wood smolders but doesn't ignite. When you are done you end up with a pipe full of charcoal.

Click to expand...

I like the smoke infuser idea. It is similar to the way you smoke wood on the Afterburner. I am curious though could you show a pic of the size and how many holes you drill in the caps?