Old Wood

[Brian Trommater]

I had bought a large bag of pecan probably 8 yrs ago. It still looks ok but am wondering if I should just throw it out. I used it awhile back on some pork butts and they did not have much smoke flavor but I did cook at high heat.

 

[Ken Nelson]

As long as the wood has been kept dry and free of decay and/or critters, it will be fine to use.

As to whether that was the reason why your last cook didn't seem to have much smoke flavor, I'd say it's much more likely due to your being around the smoke for an extended period as you cooked and deadened your senses a bit.

But, perception is reality to many people and if you truly believe old wood is the cause, then you've nailed the reason.

HTH

 

[Bryan S]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Brian Trommater:
pecan probably 8 yrs ago. It still looks ok but am wondering if I should just throw it out. I used it awhile back on some pork butts and they did not have much smoke flavor but I did cook at high heat. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Toss it, not much good left in the wood after all that time. The ideal moisture content of wood used for smoking is 30%. After 8 years, that pecan wood has little to no moisture left in it, and that's why you didn't get much smoke flavor when you used it on the butts.

 

[j biesinger]

I posted a similar question a few months back when I had made the same observation. It seemed like I kept adding more wood each time I smoked and I never got any more smoke flavor. I finally figured it might be the fact that I kept going back to the same source to get more wood and he kept selling me the same wood from the same batch he cut a couple years ago. Each trip his wood was smaller and more grey.

I dug up that thread:

http://tvwbb.infopop.cc/eve/fo...570027675#1570027675