All Oak or Charcoal/ Oak Mix


 
M

Mark - Yukon

New member
I have a 22in WSM. I've had other offsets before. I have always cooked with Charcoal and Wood for smoke. I came across a good source for Post Oak. I know some of the BBQ shops use all Oak throughout the whole cook. With the WSM can you go all Oak with other Fruit wood for flavor or do you still stick with the charcoal with Oak/Fruit wood mix?
 
good day!

charcoal for heat, water pan filled with 1/3 ACV, 1/3 apple juice, 1/3 water and three slightly smaller than a softball chunks of cherry which i call all for flavor. i do not burn wood in either of my WSM. i have read about some and do know some that burn wood and i am sure they have perfect turnouts, i'm just a charcoal guy, good 'ol briqs! good luck!
 
Yes can I burn just wood for heat and smoke with no charcoal? Understanding that I am not just gonna pile up all apple wood but just use Oak the way BBQ restaurants do.
 
Never tried it. This cooker is intended to be primarily fired by charcoal, with wood added for additional smoke flavor. It works well that way.
 
Mark - Yukon said:
Yes can I burn just wood for heat and smoke with no charcoal? Understanding that I am not just gonna pile up all apple wood but just use Oak the way BBQ restaurants do.
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I don't believe you can "smoke" just wood, because the smoke would be something awful, however you can cook with just wood, I do it all the time....However it is hard on your WSM. I will say this, my fire roasted cooks are my best cooks. People beg me to fire roast meals for them. And then there's pizza, but that's a whole different story :)


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Most smokers that use wood for the heat have an off set fire box and they draft more air than a WSM. That extra air allows for a cleaner burn and a hotter burn. Since the fire box is separate and off to the side it isn't a problem.

If you had that clean burn in a WSM your going to be at a higher than smoking temperature. If you cut the air down then the wood will smolder and produce heavy smoke and not enough heat.
 
I'm sure you can burn just wood. I've always done a charcoal/wood mix. They say(and I can't confirm or deny it because I'm still pretty new to this) that meat will only take smoke for so long. I use charcoal with just a few chunks of wood mainly because of the cost. 20 pounds of charcoal is cheaper than 20 pounds of wood.
 
JBooker said:
Most smokers that use wood for the heat have an off set fire box and they draft more air than a WSM. That extra air allows for a cleaner burn and a hotter burn. Since the fire box is separate and off to the side it isn't a problem.

If you had that clean burn in a WSM your going to be at a higher than smoking temperature. If you cut the air down then the wood will smolder and produce heavy smoke and not enough heat.
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Booker is correct... trying to maintain a steady wood burn/smoke inside the WSM with the door closed in nearly impossible.
The WSM was not made for all wood fuel.
 
I used to use all oak in an offset smoker. I found out the hard way that if you leave the bark on the oak it makes the meat very bitter. When I switched away from oak my bbq got a lot better.
 
ThorS said:
I used to use all oak in an offset smoker. I found out the hard way that if you leave the bark on the oak it makes the meat very bitter. When I switched away from oak my bbq got a lot better.
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Off set smoker will draft more air to promote combustion. The weber WSM will not.
 
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