when to add wood


 
B

Bruce R

TVWBB Member
I'm abt to smoke some bbacks. I read the receipe for BRITU, however I question the timing on when to add the wood. It seems that if the smoker is 'getting primed' for about an hour (without the ribs); adding the wood at this stage would dimish the smoke from the wood when I actually put the ribs on. Wouldn't it be better to add the wood at the same time as the ribs?
 
Let common sense prevail on this one, what good would it do to have your wood burnt up before the ribs go in. Put the wood in as your loading the meat.
 
OK, let me totally throw a wrench in here. Many (including Doug D. who's opinion I place high value on) actually char their wood prior to placing on the smoker. In Doug's case he writes, "I tend to put my smokewood in the top of my chimney. By the time the coals below are lit and ready to dump, the smokewood is well-charred and about to give off that nice, thin blue smoke." I'm actually going to give this a shot this week.
 
Note that the author of BRITU says not to worry, there is plenty of smoke left. All that white smoke that we see when we put the wood on hot coals goes out the exhaust anyway. It's the steady stream of smoke you almost can't see or can't see at all that does the job
 
Think about it.... the guys that use the offsets just use wood "coals". I've seen some offset users start a fire "off line" from the cooker and just shovel in hot coals and never add "smoke wood". Sure some start a fire right in the box, but after a while it burns down to coals. I think either way , you are ok. I add mine at the time of adding the meat (I always use the Minion Method, so I'm never priming the WSM). It's just a habit, I guess.
 
One of the ways to look at a recipe like BRITU is as a test case. Chris has a number of good "basic" cooks that give you a baseline to compare to or move away from. I would highly recommend that you do the BRITU exactly as described. I'm sure that if you do, you will learn something. I learned that turning up the heat during the last part of the cook gives the ribs a better texture "for me".

You might also find that it doesn't take a lot of smoke to get the flavor of the wood. Personally, I burn off the wood even on a Minion cook. I let the cooker settle and the smoke die down a little before I put the meat on.
 
i guess i don't over analyze things much. i just throw on a chunk or two after i put the meat on and before i close the lid. seems to work for me. preburning makes no sense but what do i know? kinda like idling yer car, uses gas but gets you nowhere. or maybe i'm not understanding the process? the original smoke is no good??
 
try it one way and then try the other way. See what you like best. Taking chances is what it is all about.

Enjoy!

James
 
To date no one has turned down my Q due to the fact that I'm not starting my wood when I'm starting my coals. However, if I can improve what I'm putting out with a tweak here or there, I'm all for it. Example, I thought I had mastered tri-tips, a couple guys on this site pointed out one small change in my process and DAMN, my tris have never been better.
 
I was just wondering these kinds of questions, and have another one to add...

So I'm following these recipes, and they call for 4-5 chunks of this wood or that wood... on top of the charcoal (Minion), or buried within the charcoal pile...

For a longer smoke, is there any benefit to splitting the wood called for, and adding the final pieces later in the smoke? I've done two now (BRITU w/ Spares, and brisket), and both times, there was essentially no sweet blue coming for the latter half of the smoke. Am I missing an opportunity here, or is the smoke really only effective for the first hour or two?

Thanks, everyone!
 
As long as there is any smoke the meat will pick it up. I guess it depends on how smokey you like your food. You can add wood all during the cook if you like lots of smoke flavor. The worst is when you have used too much wood and you don't like all that smokiness when the food is done. Can't fix that. For me, I just add wood at the start.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by LarryR:
To date no one has turned down my Q due to the fact that I'm not starting my wood when I'm starting my coals. However, if I can improve what I'm putting out with a tweak here or there, I'm all for it. Example, I thought I had mastered tri-tips, a couple guys on this site pointed out one small change in my process and ****, my tris have never been better. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

is the improvement the reverse sear?
 
not sure ir it ads anything, but I have been putting wood on the bottom of the grate and then putting the coals on top. Then adding a few pieces on top as well. It is good to wake up in the morning and see a good head of smoke coming out of the smoker!
 
I mix my wood up as well, a few on the bottom and some on top. But I'm not averse to throwing a few chunks of fruit wood in during the cook. We like our pork with a relatively strong smoke flavour, so that's the way I make it.
 
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