What size of splits to use in an Offset

[NorthernMN]

Just wondering how big of splits people use in their offset smoker? I will be cutting some wood this weekend and want to experiment with different sizes.

[mikeleonard81]

All depends on how big the pit is. A have a chargrill off set and it do sent take a lot of wood to keep it at 300. A hand full of chunks will hold for a half an hour. On my large pull behind it takes 2 to 3 18in to keep it at temp for about an hour.

[DownHomeQue]

how big is your firebox? depends on that if your firebox is 20 inces deep your going to want to go with a 12-16 inch long split.. that is no bigger in diameter than about 4-6 inches..

[DownHomeQue]

my FB is abt 30"s deep so i burn 24-20 inch long splits..

[cpw]

We have a Lang 84, and have the best luck with a 14-16" split about 4" wide. It seems to work better with more, smaller splits then less, big ones.

[gtr]

I have a 20x20 firebox. I go for around wrist to forearm size in diameter.

[NorthernMN]

That's what I was wondering about with the diameter

[dwfisk]

^ these guys are all pretty smart and offering good advice. To me the key factors will be the size of your firebox and your wood, specifically how dry it is. My firebox is 24x24x22 and I use kiln dried hickory almost exclusively so once I get s good coal bed I can get away with a pretty good sized or what I call a full split. Think of an 18" long 6-8 inch diameter log, quartered - that's a full split. I preheat mine and add 1 or 2 every hour to hour-and-a-half depending on how hot I'm running my pit, how crowded it is, weather and a bunch of other factors. One hint I don't think I saw mentioned: you are trying to cook with thin blue (almost invisible) smoke but when you add wood to the fire you will probably get some white nasty stuff. As soon as the new wood ignites the TBS should return pretty quickly; if it takes more than 5 minutes give it some more air and try smaller splits. So instead of a 4 inch wedge, split it down into 2 or 3 smaller pieces. More surface area means they will ignite and get back to TBS quicker. Just my $0.02.

[davefan360]

On my 120gallon ref with a fire box of 22by22by24 I like to use 2 14in to 17in splits that are about 4 to 6 inches across. I found that bigger logs in mine don't burn that well.
But my buddy on his Lang 84 uses more firewood size logs that are larger.

[nucornhusker]

Mine burns much cleaner with smaller diameter splits.

[Swine Spectator]

^ these guys are all pretty smart and offering good advice. To me the key factors will be the size of your firebox and your wood, specifically how dry it is. My firebox is 24x24x22 and i use kiln dried hickory almost exclusively so once i get s good coal bed i can get away with a pretty good sized or what i call a full split. Think of an 18" long 6-8 inch diameter log, quartered - that's a full split. I preheat mine and add 1 or 2 every hour to hour-and-a-half depending on how hot i'm running my pit, how crowded it is, weather and a bunch of other factors. One hint i don't think i saw mentioned: You are trying to cook with thin blue (almost invisible) smoke but when you add wood to the fire you will probably get some white nasty stuff. As soon as the new wood ignites the tbs should return pretty quickly; if it takes more than 5 minutes give it some more air and try smaller splits. So instead of a 4 inch wedge, split it down into 2 or 3 smaller pieces. More surface area means they will ignite and get back to tbs quicker. Just my $0.02.

mine burns much cleaner with smaller diameter splits.

^^^+1^^^

[Armadillo]

It's better to burn 3 or 4 smaller diameter than one large one I like mine about the 3.5" in diameter they burn cleaner and its easier to maintain temp with smaller fire

[Smokinwright]

my FB is abt 30"s deep so i burn 24-20 inch long splits..

Same as mine.

Just make sure you leave enough room for air flow and that the splits are not touching "both" sides of the box. Measure your box and and cut your splits down a few inches from that.

[hawkeye29]

I also split mine small so I can fine tune the temp. If you put small pieces on and the temp goes up slow you can ad another instead of putting on 1 big piece. Seems like if I add a big piece i get to much white smoke and the temp will rise to fast which results in choaking the fire down and getting more white smoke. Im using a offset firebox stick burner built by brett trailers.