Cheap CharGriller Offset
22" Coleman Kettle
Traeger Tailgater
Jackson Grills Luxe 580 Gas Grill
Weber Q2200 Portable Gas Grill
Some other no name portable gas grill.
Smoke X4 with Billows
Classic Thermapen
Thermopop
Dreams/Future Purchases:
The Good One Open Range (or build something similar)
Grilla Grills - Grilla
I live out on the bald prairie, and really have no good options for hard woods. It's even difficult to find birch around here. However, I have a lead on some ash, and I'm wondering if anyone has ever cooked with it?
My idea is to cut it into little 3" square cubes and fill up my gravity fed smoker with Ash, instead of charcoal.
MAK 2 Star pellet
Big Green Egg
Fuego gasser
Pitboss ceramic griddle
Eastman Outdoors wok burner
Ooni 16 pizza oven
Cast iron chimenea with pizza steel
Breeo smokeless fire pit, with Titan rotisserie and Titan Santa Maria style adjustable grate
Oklahoma Joe Bronco
Dad and my son used ash to do a pig in a pit several years ago. Worked fine. They cut down a dead tree in a shelter belt, Central Nebraska. Fed over 100 folks.
I use ash regularly with great results. I’m a woodworker and use it often in my projects. It’s very plentiful here, looks really nice as furniture, and I get it mostly for free. Anyway, as a result I have a limitless supply of cutoffs. I use it with charcoal for the main heat source though. The ash is just for smoke. I have no idea if your idea to substitute wood chunks for charcoal will work in your gravity feeder.
Last edited by Jfrosty27; January 27, 2025, 01:22 PM.
If not cooking outdoors, I am cooking on the stovetop with my 14" carbon steel wok, 12" CI skillet, or in the oven with my two Lodge CI pizza pans, or two dutch ovens. I've also got a nifty Lodge carbon steel grill pan that rocks for veggies outdoors.
I think the ash will work fine, but you may have too much smoke if you do nothing but chunks of ash, versus mixing some chunks in with the charcoal in the hopper of the gravity feed. Using my charcoal smokers, I use 3-4 chunks of wood for smoking, scattered across the charcoal.
Glad to know we are talking Ash the wood, and not Ash the ashes, or Ash the Pokemon trainer my son watched when he was little...
Alan Bice the one time I ever bought Cowboy lump, the bag had some peices of lump that was made out of window and door molding, and crazy stuff like that. I am sure it was just scrap hardwood. Also had some nice rocks in the bag. No metal. But I only bought that one bag of Cowboy charcoal, 20 years ago, and never went looking for another...
Have a ton of ash here in Michigan but never smoked with it. Have plenty of cherry and sugar maple so I figure they have more flavor. I was quite surprised to read the comments that people have smoked with it and enjoyed it.
John "JR"
Minnesota/ United States of America
******************************************** Grills/Smokers/Fryers Big Green Egg (Large) X3
Blackstone 36" Outdoor Griddle 4-Burner
Burch Barrel V-1 Karubeque C-60 Kamado Joe Jr. (Black) Lodge L410 Hibachi Pit Barrel Cooker Pit Barrel Cooker 2.0
Pit Barrel PBX
R&V Works FF2-R-ST 4-Gallon Fryer *******************************************. Thermometers
FireBoard (Base Package)
Thermoworks ThermaPen (Red)
Thermoworks MK4 (Orange)
********************************* Accessories Big Green Egg Plate Setter
Benzomatic TS800 High Temp Torch X 2 Bayou Classic 44 qt Stainless Stock Pot
Bayou Classic 35K BTU Burner Eggspander Kit X2 Finex Cat Iron Line FireBoard Drive Lots and Lots of Griswold Cast Iron Grill Grates Joule Water Circulator
KBQ Fire Grate Kick Ash Basket (KAB) X4 Lots of Lodge Cast Iron Husky 6 Drawer BBQ Equipment Cabinet Large Vortex Marlin 1894 .44 Magnum Marquette Castings No. 13 (First Run) Smithey No. 12 Smokeware Chimney Cap X 3 Stargazer No.10, 12 ******************************** Fuel FOGO Priemium Lump Charcoal Kingsford Blue and White B&B Charcoal Apple, Cherry & Oak Log splits for the C-60 ************************************************* Cutlery Buck 119 Special
Cuda 7' Fillet Knife Dexter 12" Brisket Sword Global Shun Wusthof ********** Next Major Purchase Lone Star Grillz 24 X 48 Offset
It is great stuff. I use it all the time. Unfortunately, there will not be any ash trees left before long. Cut it while you can and use it. The EAB is going to kill every last one of them. Even the trees that have been treated, will eventually get hit and die.
Ash also has a low moisture content, even when freshly cut. So it takes about half the normal time for it to dry when compared to other hardwoods like oak, hickory or cherry.
The key is getting a small hot fire. That will give you the best flavor over all. As long as that fire is getting the oxygen it needs, then you will be just fine. Provided you allow the wood to dry down to below 15% moisture or so. The flavor is pretty neutral. So it works well for all kinds of cooking. The hotter your fire, the cleaner your smoke.
In the St. Cloud area dead ash trees are everywhere. Very sad to see as there are many huge, beautiful ashes that were fine one year and completely dead the next. As a consequence, there is a lot of ash wood available.
If not cooking outdoors, I am cooking on the stovetop with my 14" carbon steel wok, 12" CI skillet, or in the oven with my two Lodge CI pizza pans, or two dutch ovens. I've also got a nifty Lodge carbon steel grill pan that rocks for veggies outdoors.
UncleSpike I found some discussion of the topic of using only wood chunks in a gravity feed over on Reddit.
The folks in the Reddit discussion said that you need to run your pit temp at 275F. If you try to run at 225F the flame will go out, the wood starts smoldering and then produces very dirty smoke. At 275 or above, they say it can keep a small flame going, which prevents the dirty smoke.
However... it was also said that if you fill the hopper with more than 30 or so minutes of fuel at a time, you run the risk of the fire growing and growing, and the temp running out of control. And there was lots of discussion of issues with billowing white smoke as a possible issue if the flame goes out.
The fact is, the gravity fed was not designed to burn straight wood, but to control air flow to charcoal, which has different needs than burning wood. Charcoal is wood that was already pre-burned and carbonized, getting rid of most/all of the volatile components and moisture that can produce bad smoke. To not have that with a wood fire requires a hotter fire.
So.... my advice is to keep a VERY VERY close eye on things when you run this experiment.
John "JR"
Minnesota/ United States of America
******************************************** Grills/Smokers/Fryers Big Green Egg (Large) X3
Blackstone 36" Outdoor Griddle 4-Burner
Burch Barrel V-1 Karubeque C-60 Kamado Joe Jr. (Black) Lodge L410 Hibachi Pit Barrel Cooker Pit Barrel Cooker 2.0
Pit Barrel PBX
R&V Works FF2-R-ST 4-Gallon Fryer *******************************************. Thermometers
FireBoard (Base Package)
Thermoworks ThermaPen (Red)
Thermoworks MK4 (Orange)
********************************* Accessories Big Green Egg Plate Setter
Benzomatic TS800 High Temp Torch X 2 Bayou Classic 44 qt Stainless Stock Pot
Bayou Classic 35K BTU Burner Eggspander Kit X2 Finex Cat Iron Line FireBoard Drive Lots and Lots of Griswold Cast Iron Grill Grates Joule Water Circulator
KBQ Fire Grate Kick Ash Basket (KAB) X4 Lots of Lodge Cast Iron Husky 6 Drawer BBQ Equipment Cabinet Large Vortex Marlin 1894 .44 Magnum Marquette Castings No. 13 (First Run) Smithey No. 12 Smokeware Chimney Cap X 3 Stargazer No.10, 12 ******************************** Fuel FOGO Priemium Lump Charcoal Kingsford Blue and White B&B Charcoal Apple, Cherry & Oak Log splits for the C-60 ************************************************* Cutlery Buck 119 Special
Cuda 7' Fillet Knife Dexter 12" Brisket Sword Global Shun Wusthof ********** Next Major Purchase Lone Star Grillz 24 X 48 Offset
I would add that running a smoker at 225 F is not ideal anyway. It takes forever for things to cook. I am firmly in the 275 F camp. That is the only temp I smoke at. Keeps the fire clean and pushes the cook right along.
Scotch: Current favorite- The Arran (anything by them), Glenmorangie 12yr Lasanta, sherry cask finished. The Balvenie Double Wood, also like Oban 18yr, and The Glenlivet Nadurra (Oloroso sherry cask finished) among others. Neat please.
About meReal name: Aaron
Location: Farwell, Michigan - near Clare (dead center of lower peninsula).
Occupation:
Healthcare- Licensed & Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) at MyMichigan Health, a University of Michigan Health System.
Ash is one of my favorites, used it for many years. I love it on pork ribs. It burns fast, faster than oak, and I think hotter. Wonderful flavor and it is quite plentiful for many of us. Enjoy!
Cheap CharGriller Offset
22" Coleman Kettle
Traeger Tailgater
Jackson Grills Luxe 580 Gas Grill
Weber Q2200 Portable Gas Grill
Some other no name portable gas grill.
Smoke X4 with Billows
Classic Thermapen
Thermopop
Dreams/Future Purchases:
The Good One Open Range (or build something similar)
Grilla Grills - Grilla
Well, I haven't sourced the ash, or any other quantities of hard wood yet.
On Saturday, I ran a very expensive experiment. I went to the local hardware store and spent $60 on four very small bags of hickory chunks. I started about a half a chimney of lump charcoal at the bottom of the hopper, and filled the rest with hickory. I filled the smoker up with a bunch of beef and pork ribs.
Using Billows, I ran it at 275 - no problem. I lowered it to 250, and it held that no problem as well.
However, on a full hopper of lump charcoal, I can run the smoker for 16 hours at 250. The hickory was gone in 6 hours...
I did not notice a significant improvement on the flavor. Next time I run the experiment I'll do a 50/50 mix of charcoal and wood...
(I typed in "firewood Alberta Canada" and got several hits for firewood sellers. Maybe I'm telling you something you already know and you're just not near any of the suppliers. B)
mrteddyprincess There is lots of firewood available in Southern Alberta, just not any hardwood. And there are some pretty stringent rules about transporting wood over provincial borders...
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