Wood chips - How do y'all use them?

I never got enough flavor from wood chips to make it worth using them for indirect grilling, and lord knows I tried. The chips are just too small and burn up too quickly, and having to add them continually is a real pain.

What I've been using now for years that does work for me are small "splits" taken from larger wood chunks, using a hatchet. Here's two piles of oak "mini-splits" I currently have on hand:






All of these are roughly 2 1/2 -3 inches high, to give you an idea of proportion. The pile on the left of smaller pieces are used for more delicate proteins like fish, seafood, and boneless chicken meat. The pile on the right of thicker pieces are used for larger pieces of meat, usually beef in the form of Tri-Tip, large ribeyes etc.

My whole purpose in using these is not to smoke the meat per se, but rather, to impart a flavor as if the meat was cooked over wood coals, and it works great.



Meat goes on cool side of grill, wood mini split or two goes on hot coals, close lid, shut vents partially, and let the smoke do its thing for 10-15 minutes. After that, I open up the vents and continue the rest of the cook as normal.


You can see this method in action in a Tri-Tip cook I did here:


https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=211488


Sometimes the finished product even gets a bit of a smoke ring:






Hope this helps in some way!

I used them a bit years ago. But never found them to be of much use. I found the chunks work really well in the kettle or drum. I will cut some small chunks out of the woods I have on hand for my stick burner. If I want another flavor I just pick up a bag from the store. I usually have Hickory, Oak, Apple and Cherry on the shelf

Chips are for potatoes, I’ve never found much use for them in smoking.

They burn up too fast so they don’t produce much smoke.
Putting them in foil pouch helps, but then your just smoldering the wood, which is not quite the same

Chunk over chips for me too.

I use chips with the snake method on a Weber kettle. That's where I run a triple (or quadruple for my 26") row of briquettes around the edge of the fire grate and light one end. I lay the chips on top of the "snake."


Otherwise I use chunks, fist size to half fist size or so.

I only use the chips in a foil packet on a gasser. Place the packet with a few holes on top over the lit burner and use indirect heat for the meat. The smoke flavor is light, but better than nothing. If I'm burning charcoal, I go for chunks or small splits mixed with the coals.

Occasionally I'll use Jack Daniels wood chips when grilling steaks or burgers. I add the chips to the fire about a minute before putting the meat on.

For years I mixed mixed chips within my lump charcoal (along with some chunks or splits) and this gave me a constant but gentle amount of smoke throughout the entire cook. As the fire grew, it found new flavor wood. I've used Big Chief electric box smokers my whole life, and they have a pan designed to use chips.

But 4 or 5 years ago.... I switched from chips in the lump, to pellets in the lump. And I began using pellets in the pan in my big Chief. I like using pellets in both applications much better.

I'm using them on smaller cookers like a Weber GA or my mini 13" kamado and usually for shorter cooks.

If I want smaller smoking chunks, I use a hammer and chisel to split chunks into smaller pieces. Tried using chips when I first started smoking, it was a waste of money cuz they burn up so fast. A battery powered rotary saw (skil saw) and hammer+chisel makes chunks the size I want them. Lately I've been making my chunks about the same size as my briquettes and mixing them in with the unlit briqs when using my WSM and Weber kettle indirect cooks. The only thing I think chips are good for is those little smoke boxes that are designed to be used on propane grills. But I understand many folks stuff those boxes with pellets instead of chips...

I'm in South Texas at least once a year for a family visit. I drive by the Western Woods factory / wood yard in Pleasanton - they only sell chips by the "case" which is 6 bags in one larger plastic bag. IIRC $2/bag for hardwood, $3/bag for fruitwood.

I put a handful of hickory and a handful of apple onto a sheet of tinfoil and roll it into a burrito. Poke a few holes into the top, the burrito goes into the pan just above the gas burner in the Brinkmann smoker. Add hot water to the water pan, fire the burner. Once the white smoke clears, load the meat.

I usually shuffle the tray stack every 20 - 30 minutes (it's a cheap smoker after all) and open the fire door to enlarge the holes in the burrito. After a couple hours the burrito is fully open and the chips are pretty well turned to ash. Smoke profile is light for me, perfect for Short Fork. She runs the Brinkmann solo and loves it!

If you want to use chips, go to a pet store, they often sell 3 varieties of wood chips to use in animal benches. Buy the biggest size. They are all hardwood and they are free of any oils etc. And they cost next to nothing, I just shared a 15kg bag with my BIL, total cost was 11 euro.

I use dry chips to go on a hot and fast fire on my BGE right before I put the meat on. They smoke long enough to kiss the meat with some flavor.

Anything indirect or smoking is chunks for me.