Stick Burner Questions...

[thunter]

I am a little confused as to the type of wood to use to fire a stick burner. It looks like you should buy a "Cord" of wood but the only cords I find are of some kind of hardwood or hardwood mix. Is that correct? If so, what kind of flavor does that impart to the meat? Am I missing something with this? I am seriously asking because I am considering a Lang but I want to know what I am getting myself into.

Tony

 

[CBQ]

Cords for firewood could be anything, and you want to know what you are cooking with. Some of the soft woods (like Pine) will make people sick.

Red Oak and Hickey are popular for a strong smoke, good with pork and beef. Fruit woods like peach, apple, cherry are good for ribs, chicken, seafood. Pecan, white oak, pear you can play with too. Some like mesquite, but a little goes a long way.

The bottom line is don't buy random wood. Orchards may be willing to part with fruitwood. Tree farms can also give you specific wood in bulk. (http://www.bestbarbecuewood.com/) Look around, but know what you are using. If it's great, you want to be able to use it again.

 

[Alan in Ga]

I can get cords of pecan here in Ga pretty easy just shop around and remember hard woods and fruit woods.

 

[thunter]

Ok, so I need to make sure I can readily get good wood on ample supply before I buy one of these. I guess I have some homework to do.

 

[firecracker jack]

Hey Tony,

I'm not exactly an expert yet but I bought a Diamondplate Pit series 60, last summer and she has a pretty good appetite for wood splits. I can burn about 1/4 of a face cord in a 14-15 hour burn....I found a guy just 'round the corner who owns a tree trimming and tree removal service and he generally has plenty of seasoned woods available. So far I've used maple,oak,cherry,apple and recently bought some hickory from him. I slip him a slab of baby-backs once in a while, and he hooks me up(when he can) with whatever I want out of his selection. He also is happy to sell me however much I want. He just sold me dang near a face cord of a hickory, oak mix for 40$....But I've bought as little as 20$ when money was tight.....Look around your area and see if you can find someone in the buisness that you can buy from....Some where on the forum is a list of hardwoods suitable for smoking....Maybe someone else will remember the post....

firecrackerjack:-D:-D

 

[CBQ]

Tony,

Another option is: don't burn sticks in the stick burner. I burn lump charcoal in my Klose and use chunks of wood to flavor the smoke. I do it for mainly for control and longer unattended burn times. With automated draft control I get over 3 hours before reloading, which isn't bad for an uninsulated offset. (It is also worse than a WSM, UDS, vertical smoker, BGE, or pellet pooper. The only thing it beats is a stick burner burning sticks. )


If you don't have consistent access to wood, this might be a good option for you.

 

[hardy02ttu]

Different woods create different flavors for your meat. An old man once told me that you only use wood from a tree that produces fruit or nuts and ive found that to be mostly true. An exception is walnut, it produces a really bitter taste. I like to use a mixture of Oak, Pecan, and Mesquite, although alot of the time i use straight mesquite. Not sure what yall have up there, but stay away from Elm.

A cord is a lot of wood. If you have the room for it, it will last a long time. A lot of the places down here will split it all of the way down to 1/8th of a rick. A cord of wood is 4'x4'x8'. A rick is 4'x8' with no depth so you have to make sure that they are not trying to screw you with short wood and charging you for half a cord.

Hope this helps.

 

[seattlepitboss]

Yup, running stick burners in pure stick mode means you are in the firewood business. Be careful about those "face cords" as "face cord" has no legal meaning. A cord is 128 cubic feet of firewood, piled. Just think of a 4x8' pile of 2' logs -- that's a cord. I grew up in a big house that had four fireplaces and I *really* did the woodpile thing.

Now I'm a fan of mixing propane with wood smoke. But I won't beat that horse again. It may almost be too late to get wood and get it dry for this summer's smoking season. You may have to buy bundles of smoking wood from your butcher, just to be able to smoke this year. In my experience, running a stick burner is only possible when your firewood is bone dry. Then and only then can you maintain a small hot fire.

Do clean the ashes out of your firebox after smoking. Left in there, they attract moisture out of the air and hold it against your metal, causing it to rust much more quickly than it otherwise would have. My "three S's" of ash cleanout are sweep, shovel and shopvac.

SPB

 

[NRA4Life]

Tony,
Search in Craigslist, I've seen firewood advertised in there and some folks even specify all hickory, all oak, etc... I'm not saying it will be the same over in Indianapolis, but it may be.

 

[tmcmaster]

I get mine direct from www.smith-lumber.com. I call Dan up, tell him how much of what I need, and 3 days later (if he has it dried) I pick it up. Don't ever buy random wood. You could get something that will taint (or worse, poison) the meat.

 

[Lake Dogs]

Tony, I have a Lang. We get plenty of good smoke by laying down a bed of charcoal
first, then lighting a few chimneys of charcoal and placing that on top. As the temps
begin to rise, we'll put on either 3 or 4 big chunks of wood, or 2 small split pieces of
wood (depends on how available it is). We end up with a good sweet blue about the
time we're up to 250 (where we prefer to cook) and go from there, mixing wood and
pre-fired charcoal. You can find good wood chunks at reasonable prices at
doitbest.com. Delivery is free to your local hardware store. Frankly, to date, I've
not found a wood delivery guy that knows hickory from oak. I had one guy that
brought mostly sweetgum (which is almost as bad as pine). I have to get hickory
myself.

 

[southernsmoker]

Hey Tony,

I burn Birch in my Lang, because it's the only hardwood here, :shocked: works well btw.
Most hardwoods are suitable, make sure the wood is untreated though, I usually split it to about the size of a pop can and around 18-20" long.

Here's a link to some options...
http://saucehog.com/smoking-wood-chart.aspx

BTW Lang's are bullet proof...:clap2:

Good Luck,

 

[thunter]

Tony,

Another option is: don't burn sticks in the stick burner. I burn lump charcoal in my Klose and use chunks of wood to flavor the smoke. I do it for mainly for control and longer unattended burn times. With automated draft control I get over 3 hours before reloading, which isn't bad for an uninsulated offset. (It is also worse than a WSM, UDS, vertical smoker, BGE, or pellet pooper. The only thing it beats is a stick burner burning sticks. )


If you don't have consistent access to wood, this might be a good option for you.

Ok, thanks! I thought I was forced to use wood in those and it looks like I'm not. This is a great option! :thumb:

 

[thunter]

I get mine direct from www.smith-lumber.com. I call Dan up, tell him how much of what I need, and 3 days later (if he has it dried) I pick it up. Don't ever buy random wood. You could get something that will taint (or worse, poison) the meat.

Ok, this site is a favorite in my browser now! :thumb: This guys has some great prices too!.

 

[thunter]

Tony, I have a Lang. We get plenty of good smoke by laying down a bed of charcoal
first, then lighting a few chimneys of charcoal and placing that on top. As the temps
begin to rise, we'll put on either 3 or 4 big chunks of wood, or 2 small split pieces of
wood (depends on how available it is). We end up with a good sweet blue about the
time we're up to 250 (where we prefer to cook) and go from there, mixing wood and
pre-fired charcoal. You can find good wood chunks at reasonable prices at
doitbest.com. Delivery is free to your local hardware store. Frankly, to date, I've
not found a wood delivery guy that knows hickory from oak. I had one guy that
brought mostly sweetgum (which is almost as bad as pine). I have to get hickory
myself.

This is what I do in my Chargriller. I get things started with charcoal then I pop on oak logs to flavor and keep temps level. I did not know I could do that with a Lang. Great tip! :thumb:

 

[thunter]

Hey Tony,

I burn Birch in my Lang, because it's the only hardwood here, :shocked: works well btw.
Most hardwoods are suitable, make sure the wood is untreated though, I usually split it to about the size of a pop can and around 18-20" long.

Here's a link to some options...
http://saucehog.com/smoking-wood-chart.aspx

BTW Lang's are bullet proof...:clap2:

Good Luck,

This chart is awesome! It's bookmarked too now. :thumb: Oh, I have wanted a Lang since 2004 when I first got started. I wound up getting the Chargriller and the WSM to have the best of both worlds for a beginner. Now, I am ready to make a big move!

 

[Lake Dogs]

This chart is awesome! It's bookmarked too now. :thumb: Oh, I have wanted a Lang since 2004 when I first got started. I wound up getting the Chargriller and the WSM to have the best of both worlds for a beginner. Now, I am ready to make a big move!

I did similar, then purchased my Lang 60 about a year ago. I LOVE IT. It's
just a bigger offset cooker (that what I already had), and does eat more
fuel. Otherwise, same, except the wonderful reverse flow!

I think you'll really enjoy yours. Best of luck with it.

 

[theBBQspecialist]

Hello Tony,
A few notes to consider. If you plan on cooking for others you may need to use heat treated wood, espically if you travel to other states. When buying orchard wood, you may also want to consider finding an organic orchard considering all the chemicals that they spray on the tress in non-organic. All of Humphrey's wood is heat treated and our fruit and nut wood are from inactive or organic orchards. If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to give us as shout.

 

[thunter]

Hello Tony,
A few notes to consider. If you plan on cooking for others you may need to use heat treated wood, espically if you travel to other states. When buying orchard wood, you may also want to consider finding an organic orchard considering all the chemicals that they spray on the tress in non-organic. All of Humphrey's wood is heat treated and our fruit and nut wood are from inactive or organic orchards. If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to give us as shout.

Oh, I know about Humphrey's Lump - Freakin' Awesome stuff! :thumb: Thanks for the tips and advice too!

 

[Harbormaster]

You got some good advice Tony.
When I was still burning wood to heat my house, I learned that a cord of wood consisted of 3 face cords. A face cord was 16"wX4'hX8'l. Stack three face cords next to each other and you get a 4'X4'X8' full cord.
Of course, back then a full cord of split dry oak ran me $75, I have no idea what it goes for these days.