Using harwdood only in your WSM?


 
A

Adam B

TVWBB Member
I smoked a corned beef/ pastrami slab this weekend using only cherry hardwood. Had a trouble keep the temp just right at first. The cherry would light up to a raging fire if I opened the front door, then would pretty much get snuffed out immediately when I closed the door. Finally got some decent temps going by wedging some cardboard "shims" in the upper corners of the front door to let a little air flow in. Anyone else tried cooking on their WSM using only hardwood as a fuel source?

Would love to hear any tips or tricks to stabilize temps.
 
The WSM isn't designed to use just wood for fuel. To get a clean burn with wood you need a lot of air flow, and the temps would be really high in the cooker as you found.

Charcoal for heat, a few chunks for smoke.
 
Yep this is why smokers that use wood only have an off set fire box on the end. It allows you to burn wood for heat but the food is cooked off to the side and a ways away from the heat source.
 
Agreement about the viability being best utilized in an offset.

I'll add that cherry can be a finicky burning wood, too.
 
Using Wood Chunks Or Logs Instead of Charcoal

Exceedingly hard to do well in the WSM, although people still try from time to time. In my humble opinion, there's no point in trying to turn a charcoal-fired smoker into a stickburner. Even harder for me to relate to, the few that burn-down wood in a barrel and shovel hot coals into the cooker. :confused:
 
Thanks for all the input! I will say that although it was a challenge to get the wood burning to a point where I could keep the temp I wanted, once I did get it there, I actually had great results with my finished product. It was something that I had wanted to try for a while. My biggest "dislike" or maybe concern is a better word, is that when doing a long smoke using say, the minion method is the smell of briquettes as they are smoldering/trying to ignite. That smoke/odor has to be getting into our food, right?
 
Adam B said:
My biggest "dislike" or maybe concern is a better word, is that when doing a long smoke using say, the minion method is the smell of briquettes as they are smoldering/trying to ignite. That smoke/odor has to be getting into our food, right?
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It will, although one could give the smoker time to burn off these odors before adding meat. Pork shoulder tends to be the more forgiving of charcoal off-odors (Kingsford is the worst in my opinion) however.

Other meats like poultry will readily absorb charcoal off-odors, so I usually make it a point to never add chicken or turkey until those odors are gone. A quality lump charcoal shouldn't be much of a problem odor-wise.
 
Adam B said:
Thanks for all the input! I will say that although it was a challenge to get the wood burning to a point where I could keep the temp I wanted, once I did get it there, I actually had great results with my finished product. It was something that I had wanted to try for a while. My biggest "dislike" or maybe concern is a better word, is that when doing a long smoke using say, the minion method is the smell of briquettes as they are smoldering/trying to ignite. That smoke/odor has to be getting into our food, right?
Click to expand...

That's why I use lump instead of briquettes. No need to let it 'ash over', no chemicals to burn off, no bad smells.
 
Cherry has sometimes been a finicky wood for me on low'n'slow cooks.

I like to run my ribs at 225.

I'm fine with doing my butts at 275 and it seems to burn more consistently on those hotter temps.
 
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