Mildew smoke wood?

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I bought on closeout a large bag of hickory chunks from HD. Upon opening the bag all the wood smelled like mildew. I was wondering what the consensus was on using the wood? Since this is my first smoke using the Weber, I didn?t want to chance it and used the rest of a bag of chunks that I already had.

So should I keep them or chunk them!!

Excellent forum, great information!

Jim Aldridge
 
Anyone have any ideas? Would air'ing out the wood remove/eliminate the mildew smell?
 
I would go ahead and try using it. Let your nose be your guide. I always let my wood burn a little while before putting on the food anyway, to burn off whatever impurities may be lurking on the surface. I have this thing about making sure the cooker smells good before I put the food on. If the smoke smells OK, I wouldn't worry about it. But then again, I reuse charcoal and never clean the inside of my WSM, so I might not be as picky as some others. /infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif

Steve
 
Yeah, I agree with Steve, if it smells ok, chances are it will taste fine.
Get a small fire going with your fuel, and then add a chunk of the hickory. Throw a few hot dogs, or a couple chunks of Ring Bologna on the top grate and let them cook for about an hour. After the first bite of the food, you will have the answer to your question.

Jim
 
Jim A.,

How'd you come out on the mildewy hickory chunks? I have a bunch of cherry branches that got wet and moldy....

Kelly
 
Don't know about store-bought wood but I have been using moldy wood nad pecan hulls(best thing in the world for pork IMHO). I have some oak that came from a friend's tree that was trimmed. Branches about 1-1/2 to 2" diam. I cut them into pieces about 1-2" long on a band saw and put them in an old drywall compound bucket. I should have left them in the sun with the lid off but I didn't and they looked real ugly when I took some out for the butt I did last week. AS I normally soak anyway,I just too k small scrub brush and cleaned them off under running water before I used them. It was only 4 pieces so no big deal.
I have not noticed any effect on the Q from using this wood. Your milage may vary,though.
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Thanks, Pat -- I'll give these a try. Pecan hulls sound like a good idea, too. Certainly more available than actual pecan wood around here!

Kelly
 
Kelly,
You won't be sorry. One of the best BBQ places in Texas is called the Salt Lick outside of Austin.
They smoke all meats with pecan hulls. the hulls give it a real sweet flavor. It also provides a lot of pecans for some killer pecan pie. Because it is porous, it stays moist longer which gives more smoke which means you don't have to use as much. I have a friend with a pecan tree-same guy with the oak-and he saves the hulls for me when he
shells his pecans so if he does well so do I.
 
Pat, how many pecan hulls do you use? When you add them, do you also use the same amount of wood you would normally use?

--Mickey
 
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