Green wood

V

volkanator

Guest
Was wondering something...I know they say to use seasoned wood only for smoking because otherwise you get creosote taste on your food...

As a firefighter, I've taken several classes on the science behind fire and I understand that creosote (and smoke in general) is the result of incomplete combustion (ie. wood burned at low temperatures).

I understand that the seasoning process is basically allowing the wood to dry out so it can burn hotter and easier. I also understand that green wood is just wood with a high moisture content.

So here is my question...if we soak our wood chips/chunks before cooking anyway, why can't we just use green wood instead?
 
I don't soak my chips or my wood. You are wasting your time, especially on the wood. The water does not soak in like most people think it will.
 
Funvet is right. Soaking wood is counter productive. It gives off a sooty, white smoke. You want to achieve a clean smoke, or sweet blue, to smoke meats. If you use a stickburner, you will want a small fire, not a smoldering mass of charcoal.
 
It's my understanding that green wood will release chemicals not found in dry/seasoned wood. Potentially producing a bitter or acrid flavor. The only time I soak wood is if I happen to use chips instead of chunks. I only do it to slow the rate of burn, and I only use chips if I'm out of chunks and I have to borrow some from my neighbor (thanks Kenny)!

If I'm wrong, please straighten me out.

Matt
 
I sure hope you can BBQ better than my grilling FF buddies. They only think they know what good que tastes like !

Matt
 
IMO, you can smoke with green wood +30% mosture, if you have a hot fire and high pit temp above 325 deg. I beleve Mr. Mixon uses green wood in his cookers.

Most of the apple wood I like to use is around 6 months old...with 12-18% mosture.(yes, I test it). If it falls under 5%..........off to the wood stove it goes

The only thing green wood will emit is extra water(I think). If the fire doesnt have enough heat or air, it wont combust properly and cerosote will settle on your food
 
hickory is the only green wood i have smoked with that seemed to give off diff flavors than normal. over all i like using green wood b/c i dont use near as much... 90% of the time i use dry wood b/c thats what i have.

how do you test the % of moisture in the wood?
 
el_matt said:
It's my understanding that green wood will release chemicals not found in dry/seasoned wood. Potentially producing a bitter or acrid flavor. The only time I soak wood is if I happen to use chips instead of chunks. I only do it to slow the rate of burn, and I only use chips if I'm out of chunks and I have to borrow some from my neighbor (thanks Kenny)!

If I'm wrong, please straighten me out.

Matt
Click to expand...

I agree. Never soak my wood any more and get a much better smoke flavor. And I am not a fan of bitter.
 
have any of you ever heard of soaking the wood chips in water and dish soap? a buddy from alabama does this, uses dawn... never tried it myself... he swears by it.
 
A Lang 84 has a large firebox and burns anything you feed it and then some. When I first got it, I cut wood the day before. Whewie.... talking about smoke flavor... too much smoke except for the savages that were smoking cigarettes and/or drunk with no taste buds. If you are are using charcoal as your primary fuel source, maybe a little green wood would go a long way. However, I do not recommend an all wood cook with green wood. If you are getting a lot of white smoke for long periods, it is going to be bitter. Every time you add wood, it will choke the fire for a few minutes, and it does not take long to over do it. If adding green wood to charcoal, I would cut the chunks small and take it easy during the first 3-4 hours.
 
I once used green peach wood and started getting a terrible acrid smell almost immediately. Thankfukly was able to pull it off the fire before any damage was done.
 
The sap in the cambium has not dried out and crystallized yet. That makes a difference in the smoke quality. I'm also a believer in using only heartwood eliminating the sapwood and bark altogether.
 
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