Smoker Wood


 
R

RobertE

New member
After cooking my last brisket I have concluded that backing off the smoke wood is a wise decision. I used one large piece of pecan wood. My question is this - Does smoker wood go bad or get stale? I have a bag of apple wood that has been open for a while. Is it ok to use as long as the wood was dry? I plan to do another brisket this weekend using the butcher paper method and one piece of wood seems to give me the flavor I am looking for, not too smoky yet beefy and moist.
 
Well it depends on your personal tastes. Some like older dried out wood, and others (like me) like wood with the right moisture content.
I would fire up a few chunks of that bag of apple on your next cook and judge it from there.:wsm:

Tim
 
Pecan can be harsh at times. Apple is lighter. Maybe try some of your old apple on some hot dogs or sausage before your next brisket and see if you think you want to use it.
 
Several species of Oak are the preferred choice for brisket ( I love red ) and some swear by mesquite. For a fruit wood I like cherry or pear.

Tim
 
My buddy cut down an apple tree and gave me a box of wood, so I use that for everything and I have never had a disappointing brisket, turkey, ribs, pork shoulder or chicken.

When in doubt use apple. A stick about 2" in diameter and 6"-8" long usually does the trick. If its really dry I will add a bit more wood because it tends to burn quickly.
 
The amount and type of Smoke Wood that you use / add may also depend, at least partially, on your choice of charcoal.

I find that:

Many common, commercially-produced briquettes have some unique flavors built-into them. In these cases, less smoke wood may be needed because some/most of the flavor that some users want is already "in there", or maybe only requires the addition of a little Smoke Wood to combine in a desired way with the charcoal or avoid combining in a bad way.

Natural Hardwood Lump (I've used a locally-available brand, Royal Oak, and Cowboy) seem to be more "flavor-neutral" to me, and allow me to lay-on a heavy dose of Smoke Wood. (At least, MUCH heavier than I would use with regular K or RO).

Also, be careful about stifling your fire by closing-up the top vent on your WSM. Doing this can cause undesirable bitter smoke to choke-up inside your smoker and can give a burnt/off flavor. Learn to get your smoker going and throttle the vents at the bottom before things get too hot to control. I usually start mine up at full-open on all vents for about 20 minutes, then close down the one most facing into the wind to 2/3 open and the other two to about 1/2 open, after which it usually settles-in somewhere between 225 & the low end of 300 depending on wind, ambient temp, and how big a hunk-o-meat I'm dealing with. Then, if needed, I can tweak the vent settings a bit and I'm good for the long-haul.

In most cases, I like:

Pork = half and half mix of hickory or pecan and apple
Yard Bird = only apple, but a lighter "hit"
Beef = Oak or same as pork

Too much hickory can result in a "hammy" taste - some like this, me not so much (If I want Ham, I'll BUY Ham...)

Hope this helps
 
Last edited:
JohnWallet said:
My buddy cut down an apple tree and gave me a box of wood, so I use that for everything and I have never had a disappointing brisket, turkey, ribs, pork shoulder or chicken.

When in doubt use apple. A stick about 2" in diameter and 6"-8" long usually does the trick. If its really dry I will add a bit more wood because it tends to burn quickly.
Click to expand...

I'm in general agreement with the above statement and love apple wood as well. However, I have found that I can really tell the difference when I add some hickory to the mix when I cook ribs. I'm no expert and don't really like a lot of smoke, but IMHO, ribs need some hickory.

As to the original question - I am in the camp that wood that is kept dry does not go bad. I'm sure it loses flavor and there may be some people that can tell the difference. I am not one of them. A this point, all my wood is pretty old (acquired a lot early on when I got my smoker) and I'm still happy with the flavor.
 
I'm still experimenting with different wood. It really depends on personal preference I guess. I did some ribs last week with two chunks of hickory and two chunks of cherry. From my research online I haven't found anything that uses that combo, but the ribs turned out great. Next time I'll use a mix of pecan and hickory.
 
hay guys just starting a boston butt this morning tryin plum wood az my smoke ill let ya,ll know how the swine turns out
 
Ive used some fruit wood but 90 percent of the the time I use all hickory. Ive never tasted the hammy flavor from it. Love it!!
 
How do you guys store your wood? I've kept the bags of chips and chunks inside the house, but that's going to rapidly take up more space than I want to devote to it. Do you need to keep the bags closed/airtight? Is the garage OK for storage?
 
Too much wood smoke can ruin a cook, no question about it. And chicken is one of the easiest things to over smoke.

I too have heard wood loses it's potency with age, but haven't been able to discern any difference between a new batch of applewood and one two years old.
 
PhilP said:
How do you guys store your wood? I've kept the bags of chips and chunks inside the house, but that's going to rapidly take up more space than I want to devote to it. Do you need to keep the bags closed/airtight? Is the garage OK for storage?
Click to expand...

It doesn't need to be airtight and the garage is fine. Just keep it dry.

For storage I use one of these, kept out on the patio, with the drawers labeled for the type of wood each contains. $18 from Wally World
SPtePXs.jpg
 
Ron G. said:
The amount and type of Smoke Wood that you use / add may also depend, at least partially, on your choice of charcoal.

I find that:

Many common, commercially-produced briquettes have some unique flavors built-into them. In these cases, less smoke wood may be needed because some/most of the flavor that some users want is already "in there", or maybe only requires the addition of a little Smoke Wood to combine in a desired way with the charcoal or avoid combining in a bad way.

Natural Hardwood Lump (I've used a locally-available brand, Royal Oak, and Cowboy) seem to be more "flavor-neutral" to me, and allow me to lay-on a heavy dose of Smoke Wood. (At least, MUCH heavier than I would use with regular K or RO).

Also, be careful about stifling your fire by closing-up the top vent on your WSM. Doing this can cause undesirable bitter smoke to choke-up inside your smoker and can give a burnt/off flavor. Learn to get your smoker going and throttle the vents at the bottom before things get too hot to control. I usually start mine up at full-open on all vents for about 20 minutes, then close down the one most facing into the wind to 2/3 open and the other two to about 1/2 open, after which it usually settles-in somewhere between 225 & the low end of 300 depending on wind, ambient temp, and how big a hunk-o-meat I'm dealing with. Then, if needed, I can tweak the vent settings a bit and I'm good for the long-haul.

In most cases, I like:

Pork = half and half mix of hickory or pecan and apple
Yard Bird = only apple, but a lighter "hit"
Beef = Oak or same as pork

Too much hickory can result in a "hammy" taste - some like this, me not so much (If I want Ham, I'll BUY Ham...)

Hope this helps
Click to expand...

I need 3 years smoking very often to understand the truth in your words.
I used weber briquettes (not the last ones)
I used lump charcoal
i used small lump charcoal
And now Im moving towards coconut eggs due those are WITHOUT any flavour and don't cause any over smoking effect.

I like the idea to be conscious of how much smoke I put into my cooks AND which smoke I like to try !!
 
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