Smoke wood 2 questions


 
Wolgast

Wolgast

TVWBB Olympian
Is the bark giving a bad smoke flavor?
i read that u should debark em before using is that true?

And is fresh felled trees good to smoke with or do u need em to dry up first?

Well 3 questions counted!

Bless//Me
 
Bark is considered to give off a more 'bitter' smoke.

If you want to debark, go ahead. I tried it once but found it too much trouble.

Most fresh wood should be allowed to dry for at least a few months. Some have used fresh cut fruit wood though.
 
Wolgast, hello. If you don't have dry seasoned wood I would put a few peaces on the lower grill next time you smoke. It should dry out pretty well. Let sit in the sun a few days and you should be good to go. Of course if you have dry aged wood so much the better. I was at a BBQ class over the weekend and the stories were told of folks in covered wagons who had nothing to burn but "prairie logs" They are buffalo and steer scat. Smelled pretty bad but produced heat. You gotta use what you got.

Mark
 
i use chunks for smoking that have bark and tasted no differance. many have said that the bark makes no differance. the wood should be dried for about a year.
 
Iam new to the WSM but NOT to smoking ! I personaly have never been able to taste any diffrence in the flavor of meat smoked with wood with or without bark but YMMV To big a PITA to debark wood anyway for me .
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Ok this is what i did(1 month ago) with some of the wood i got

Debark,choped up in 2x2" pieces(faster to dry)

But i debarked with an axe/knife and as u said it was a **** of a job.

Next time ill skip that and se if i get any bitter taste to it.



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Bless//Me
 
There are folks that are adamant about no bark. I think they're nuts. I guarantee they couldn't pass a taste test identifying the food smoked with bark and without.

As for fresh or seasoned, I was in the seasoned camp but then I heard Myron Mixon say that he uses fresh peach because he wants the sap to smoke. I have not had a chance to test that but he has way more cred on this than I do so I'll trust him. He may be a jackarse, but he knows what he's doing with the grill...
 
I cut nothing. I get medium sized chunks and do not care if there's bark. Whatever they send me I use. I notice zero bad taste in my food when I use wood with some bark.
 
One thing i read(former to this question) was that choped wood should be used within 12 month or u loose taste.(the taste of the different woods)

Like tobaco inhaled that should not be dry or u loose the taste that the quality ciggarshave to offer(humidity dome anyone)

And as my brother said if u use "fresh" wood whats the difference if u use dry and soak them?

And offcourse the woods that sales in bags are dry or u would bougt mold in a bag.

Think ive read to many its like this or no thats not true listen to me post´s(not here but on the WWW.

A well i guess ppl go with what they think is best,still i wanna know the "best" answer
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//Me
 
Your brother's observation is a good one.

What's "best" can pretty easily be determined for yourself: Throw some bark in on the coals and and see if you notice a difference. (Some people use just bark - no wood at all - to generate smoke, I'm told, so chances are you won't have any problems with a small amount).

Smoke roasting is not a high technology endeavor, as much as we might like to make it so.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Wolgast:
And as my brother said if u use "fresh" wood whats the difference if u use dry and soak them? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>There's a BIG difference.

Fresh cut wood is wet throughout. And it's wet with sap.

You can soak dry wood for days and it won't get wet beyond 1/4". And it's just wet with water.


BTW, *never* put wet mesquite in your smoker!
 
if the bark comes off easily, take/knock it off, otherwise don't worry. soaking wood really only applies to chips. not enough water there to matter. as to soaking chunks, alton brown did a test. he soaked wood chunks at differant intervals. he measured the weight starting with a dry piece. after wood was soaked for over a day, the amount of water soaked up was so little as to make no differance. wet wood would be to bitter for small smokers like weber kettles and wsm's. but really, the only test is what you do and if you like it or not. to many likes and dislikes out there to have one set rule.
 
A little bark isn't going to hurt anything. It isn't really worth the time to strip it off. But I would probably not throw in a lot of bark.

I only used seasoned wood. I have seen people I trust say they use green wood, but usually in small amounts if memory serves.

You can also add in fresh herbs like rosemary or basil.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Carl H.:
Some people use just bark - no wood at all - to generate smoke, I'm told, so chances are you won't have any problems with a small amount </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Here in Misery, uh, Missouri we use shagbark hickory. Just tear off a nice big piece and break it into few smaller ones and toss 'em on the coals. I've got a bag of it from a few years back. It doesn't take NEARLY as much as wood. So, you gotta be careful. I've tasted some pretty bitter meat when someone used WAY too much.
 
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