How long does wood need to dry out?

[bluegrass smoke]

I cut some limbs off a pear tree this afternoon and Im cooking this weekend
Wondering if I can use it?
thanks

[Pyle's BBQ]

Usually about 6 months. Were these live limbs? If they were dead you could use them right away. You could try a little piece and see what type of smoke is produced. If it makes thin blue then go ahead and use it.

[jestridge]

Pre heat it

[Q-Dat]

I have snapped them off the pear tree and used them numerous times with no problems. It will make more smoke for longer, so just use less of it than you would if it was dry.

[neuyawk]

Mix it with some dry wood and you should be fine. I actually like to get any of the newer woods I stumble across and use them during the pre-heating stage as there's no meat in the chamber yet. This way you save your seasoned stuff for during the cook.

[Fat Woody]

^^ What he said^^

[V-wiz]

Originally Posted by neuyawk

Mix it with some dry wood and you should be fine. I actually like to get any of the newer woods I stumble across and use them during the pre-heating stage as there's no meat in the chamber yet. This way you save your seasoned stuff for during the cook.

So you use the wet/green wood in the smoker just to dry it out? when time to cook you remove the wood and set it aside? Do you actually use that same wood your drying at the same cook?

[CarolinaQue]

I think that what he means is that he uses the green wood in warm up phase for the smoker to burn off the moisture in it so if it puts off a bitter smoke, it won't ruin the meat, but the coals that remain after it burns down will still provide heat.

[GrillinFool]

Last I checked Myron Mixon uses the freshest peach he can. I've used pear cut off the tree that morning and cooked for the food editor/restaurant critic for the St. Louis Post Dispatch that afternoon. That guy has a seriously good palette. He didn't notice a difference.I will say that it took a little longer to smoke, being wet, but otherwise it was fine.

The notion that wood has to be dried out is a false one. We assume that, because by the time we get all our smoke wood it's already dried. Doesn't mean it has to be.

Don't sweat using the fresh wood this weekend.

[jestridge]

When using a few pieces for a whole smoke I don't think it matter what you use

[CarolinaQue]

Originally Posted by GrillinFool

Last I checked Myron Mixon uses the freshest peach he can. I've used pear cut off the tree that morning and cooked for the food editor/restaurant critic for the St. Louis Post Dispatch that afternoon. That guy has a seriously good palette. He didn't notice a difference.I will say that it took a little longer to smoke, being wet, but otherwise it was fine.

The notion that wood has to be dried out is a false one. We assume that, because by the time we get all our smoke wood it's already dried. Doesn't mean it has to be.

Don't sweat using the fresh wood this weekend.

I think that it depends on what wood you're using. Fruit woods are fine to use green IMO. However, some thing like hickory, I've tried to use green and it didn't work out so well.

A couple of reasons Myrons method works is because it is peach wood (a very mild smoke to begin with) and he cooks at a much higher temp which affects how much smoke the wood is putting off.

[neuyawk]

I think context is everything. I cook on an offset. So using the green wood during the heating up stage i.e. burning wood to preheat my pit makes sense. Even if it doesn't give an off flavor, making greenwood into coals is a royal pain in the arse. It takes forever to burn and your temperature in the pit gets inconsistent if you're burning green wood all the way thru.

In a charcoal smoker like what Myron Mixon uses, that's a different story. His wood is for flavor alone and there isn't that much of it to make a significant difference because he has his lighter fluid pee'd on charcoals to support it.

If you're cooking old pit style then it really doesn't make a difference as you're burning the wood down to coals to begin with.

So it's not that Myron is "breaking the rules", he's just using what's good for his cooker.

[GrillinFool]

Originally Posted by neuyawk

I think context is everything. I cook on an offset. So using the green wood during the heating up stage i.e. burning wood to preheat my pit makes sense. Even if it doesn't give an off flavor, making greenwood into coals is a royal pain in the arse. It takes forever to burn and your temperature in the pit gets inconsistent if you're burning green wood all the way thru.

In a charcoal smoker like what Myron Mixon uses, that's a different story. His wood is for flavor alone and there isn't that much of it to make a significant difference because he has his lighter fluid pee'd on charcoals to support it.

If you're cooking old pit style then it really doesn't make a difference as you're burning the wood down to coals to begin with.

So it's not that Myron is "breaking the rules", he's just using what's good for his cooker.

Are you saying that lighter fluid impacts his flavor profile?