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All wood cooks

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    All wood cooks

    I have a Meadow Creek SQ36 and I have done many all wood cooks. I start with a small amount of charcoal and build my fire from there. I start with 3 to 4 logs. I let that burn down and once that there are some coals I add a log and bring the temp in. My temp once I start adding wood is in the 260 to 275. I don't have any complaints with my finial product, but would like to be able to manage the fire better. I have to add a new log every 30 to 45 min. I cut them smaller to help manage the temp. The bigger logs put out to much heat for my smoker. I burn oak.

    My last cook was ribs 5.5 hrs. At that point I'm almost out of coals and really have to watch that my fire doesn't go out. Should I start with more wood to get more coals?

    Oh I wrap the meat either with paper or foil and I continue to use wood. Should I switch to charcoal? My smoker really uses a lot of charcoal.

    Any pointers would be appreciated.

    #2
    What exactly about your fire are you wanting to manage better?

    Comment


      #3
      I would like to be able to regulate the temp better. If I want to cook at a lower temp I want to be able to dial it in without a fight. When I try to get it to lower temps I get the heavy white smoke and the fire goes out. I'm not sure If I'm building a big enough fire at the start.


      I would also like to know if switching to charcoal after you wrap is something anyone does out there.

      Comment


        #4
        Thanks for the clarity. Just wanted to make sure we were trying to accurately answer your question.

        1. As far as the fire temp goes. My stick burner prefers to dial in between 250-275 for the cleanest burn. I don't feel I jeopardize quality at those temps at all. That is not an uncommon temp range for stick burners especially the smaller cookers that don't take as much to heat as the larger log burners. I highly recommend you go the video / interview section of the pit and find the interview with Dr. Blonder on smoke. It is very informative and may help answer some of your questions as well.

        2. You definitely want a solid bed of coals to start. I typically use a full chimney of charcoal to start and then start adding splits after that. I have to add a split every 30-45 minutes. If you are having difficulties with the fire going out at the end then make sure the ash is cleared out of your cook chamber. My stick burner doesn't have a lot of clearance between the charcoal grate and the bottom of the chamber so I am constantly cleaning it out. You may also need to be adding splits closer to every 30 than 45 if you are still having a problem.

        3. I personally prefer smaller hot fire than trying to have a large fire.

        4. After wrapping.... switching to charcoal, putting it in the oven, using wood, etc... doesn't really matter as it is just heat at that point. If you have a vast endless supply of wood available then it would probably be cheaper than charcoal. If wood is limited and you are having to buy it then charcoal may be the less expensive resource. Unless you are trying to impress someone or it is already in use then you could easily finish it off in the oven (unfortunately i have to do this more than I like because I need the space in my cooker for something else to cook for that same party like chicken).

        5. That is an awesome cooker you have. I am a Meadow Creek fan and would love to have a TS250. Other than your fire management issue what are your thoughts on it?

        I am hoping Huskee will jump in here and share some of his expertise as fellow wood burner.

        Comment


        • Spinaker
          Spinaker commented
          Editing a comment
          This one is going into the "Stick Burner Files"

        • NickdaBeast
          NickdaBeast commented
          Editing a comment
          Thanks for the advice.The Temp is almost the exact same across the entire surface. I have the additional rack for more cooking surface. is nice when I need the room but gets tight when trying to move food, spray or get out to wrap. I switched to wood cooks is due to charcoal cost.

        #5
        I completely agree with Nate on everything, except I like more of a large fire. I then control the smoker box temp with fire bricks as dampers - my pit is set up to divert some of that heat to a cold smoker. Also, I continually stoke the firebox and try to keep a nice airflow pocket between the coal bed and logs.

        The only time I introduce charcoal is in the initial chimney burn. Once switched to wood, I only add more wood. As Nate says, after the wrap, or the first few hours, there is really no difference with regards to smoke.

        The "dirtier" smoke you get at lower, or even higher temps, will likely be a result of using green wood. Do you use post oak?

        Comment


        • Nate
          Nate commented
          Editing a comment
          Yeah a large fire just doesn't work well in my stick burner that is why I prefer the smaller one... That being said I agree it could be the green wood or not enough draw if he is trying to lower the temp too much.

        • NickdaBeast
          NickdaBeast commented
          Editing a comment
          Not sure if it's post. But I live in FL. I use oak and sometimes citrus.

        #6
        NickdaBeast if you are getting a lot of white smoke or the the fire is dying you're choking it to much by not allowing enough air flow. Air flow is the key to stick burners.

        Comment


        • Nate
          Nate commented
          Editing a comment
          I agree and that is why on smaller stick burners that 250-275 isn't unusual because the needed and required draw to get the thin blue smoke.

        • NickdaBeast
          NickdaBeast commented
          Editing a comment
          Thank you. That confirms that I'm doing things the correct way. I've had this for 2 years now and it's been awesome.

        #7
        I use oak to start the coal bed, then switch to fruit wood until wrapped, then back to oak. I use charcoal to fine tune the temp by adding to the coal bed

        Comment


          #8
          I think many of us, at least at first, envision stickburning as having a rip roaring fire in our firebox, as if we're powering the old steamship across the Atlantic. That's simply not the case. We want a fairly small, but hot, fire. Of course this depends on our environment and weather too. On a cold winter day we'll obviously need a bigger fire, on a blazing hot summer day like most of the US has had this summer, a tiny fire will do. Whatever it takes to keep the temp in line. 275 might be normal for the size wood we're accustomed to using, but it can be dialed back if that's what you want.

          I would suggest cutting your wood chunks smaller. If you're using quarter or eighth splits, say 14-16" long (average "bonfire" sized pieces), that's likely too much wood to add at once as you're aware. Cut those logs in half, to 6-8" long, beer can length or slightly over, and try that. If that's what you're already doing, cut them a wee bit smaller, or if they're half splits, split them again to quarters, etc. You want a hot fire, you just don't want it very big.

          Always keep a hot fire. Adjust the total size of the fire by adjusting the size of the wood (fuel), but keep what you do have HOT. If you find your cooking chamber gets too hot and you pull a piece or two of wood out of the firebox but it still won' cool down, prop your cooking chamber door open for a bit to vent some heat out until it's where you want it.

          Another thing I like to do is as I'm preheating my smoker is I like to pre-burn my wood. As you're developing your coal bed, pull several pieces out when they're fully black, maybe even getting that grey cracked look, or shortly before that point. Build up a pile, however many you'll need, of those pieces to use while you're smoking the meat naked. This of course necessitates something to put these in to stifle their burning and save them until later. A metal trash can with tight fitting lid will work, and a heat resistant area or pedestal to put this on will be needed. I use an old cabinet smoker. Anyway, adding these pre-burnt pieces through the cook instead of fresh unburnt wood allows a quick burn and a quick transition of that newly-added fuel into hot coals, instead of big new-wood flames (or worse, grey dull smoke as the cold wood is heating). 30-60 minutes, or anywhere in between sounds perfectly normal for adding a new piece of wood.

          And yes, once wrapped the fuel source matters nada. Use whatever's cheapest for your circumstances. If you can cut your own firewood, or have someone who does it for you, that will by far be cheaper than charcoal. Even if u have a load of firewood delivered, lb per lb it's cheaper than using charcoal in a stickburner. If you order your firewood from online sources in small amounts, you may find charcoal to be the least expensive option in those circumstances, as Nate says.

          Comment


          • Spinaker
            Spinaker commented
            Editing a comment
            Note to self: Copy and paste to the "Stick Burner Files"

          • BryanLloyd
            BryanLloyd commented
            Editing a comment
            This information is incredibly valuable. You probably just saved me a ton of time and frustration. Thanks!

          #9
          I agreed with Huskee except I find no need to pre burn the logs. When throwing a log in the firebox I just leave the firebox door open 5-6 inches until it catches on fire. This allows the dirty smoke to escape out of the firebox instead of going through the pit chamber and out the exhaust pipe. It works for me anyway maybe not for other brand smokers but I don't see why it shouldn't.
          Last edited by DWCowles; August 11, 2016, 10:40 AM.

          Comment


          • Huskee
            Huskee commented
            Editing a comment
            Sometimes I don't preburn either, it's certainly not a necessity. But, if you ever do it, you'll see what I mean that it makes the rest of the cook much easier and more consistent.

          • NickdaBeast
            NickdaBeast commented
            Editing a comment
            I do the same. But have a fire pit and have put some thought into Pre burning for coals. I'll have to give a try at some point.

          #10
          Good info guys...i'm still learning my stick burner, a Texas Longhorn BBW Pits TL-20. My experience so far has been similar in that the fire needs attention every 30-60 min. I use 1/2 chimney of lump to start, and then add a 2-3 splits, get them burning well and blackening, then close it down to hit my temp. I also open the fire box lid when adding logs to let them get going to avoid bad smoke flowing through the pit. I usually cook at ~275 because my pit seems to like it a little hotter. I also bought a coal basket that fills my entire fire box, and have used lump coal, some fire bricks to make a "snake", and the minion method to run a 6+ hour burn at ~275 w/o having to futz with it. When doing that I just use wood chunks for smoke flavor. Yet I still like the idea of burning sticks and using an offset. So sometimes I play with fire and burn sticks, and sometimes I use minion and set it/forget it. Oh yea I have post oak currently for both my fire place and smoker...

          Comment


            #11
            Thanks for all the advice. It is nice to know that my fire management is on point and only have a few things to dial in. I use smaller pieces already. I'll try a few smaller ones on upcoming cooks and see how that works.

            Comment


              #12
              Good info. on log size and fire management DWCowles and Huskee! Thanks.

              Comment


              • Huskee
                Huskee commented
                Editing a comment
                Happy to share what I know! The beauty of The Pit!

              #13
              Hopefully, a relatively quick question — is there a post or thread on "sources of wood" by geography? I have a KBQ smoker, so I’m looking for wood (ideally, to buy locally — hickory, oak, etc — but it would be nice to be able to get fruit woods, nut woods, etc — pecan, apple, mesquite, etc — and I’m in the northern suburbs of fIndianapolis, IN. I know I’ll have to buy "regular size" and cut them down to the 4-5” size the KBQ requires.

              Anyone have info?

              Thanks in advance ….

              JayZ

              Comment


              • HawkerXP
                HawkerXP commented
                Editing a comment
                Craigslist could be helpful and tree care people are always looking to unload wood.

              • Dewesq55
                Dewesq55 commented
                Editing a comment
                Ace Hardware near me started carrying several varieties of mini splits for smoking. They had hickory, pecan, cherry and mesquite (I think). I couldn't really see through the bags due to the graphics applied, but my best guess it's that they were in about the 8" long range. My guess is they well need to be split down with something like a Kindling Kracker. The price was reasonable at around $20 for a pretty big and heavy-ish bag. I think they were B&B brand.
                Last edited by Dewesq55; September 6, 2021, 10:46 AM.

              #14
              Lots of great info here! My stickburner also likes to run in the 250-275°F range. I cut my wood fairly small to help manage the temps, and I leave the firebox door wide open the whole time so the fire has as much air as it wants!

              Cleaning out ash during the cook also does wonders for keeping the fire strong. I keep a shovel next to my pit for this reason. Gotta make sure air can get all around the wood.

              Comment


                #15
                I agree there's good info in this old thread. Recently started watching some YouTube vids by a creator called Smoke Trails. He's a Canadian out west who has an OKJ Highland that he burns sticks in. He has done a couple of vids on fire management in the COS. He claims that he finds that, due to the necessary small fire size, that he needs to add a chimney of lit lump charcoal about every 2 hours to replenish the coal bed since the small number of small splits he has to use to keep the temps reasonable for cooking don't keep the coal bed hot enough over time. I haven't tried it yet, but it seems reasonable.

                Comment


                • Huskee
                  Huskee commented
                  Editing a comment
                  Yeah man, whatever works to accomplish your goal. Some elitists might say that's cheating, or that he doesn't knwo how to manage a fire if he has to do that, but I say that's using the tools available to do just that.

                • Dewesq55
                  Dewesq55 commented
                  Editing a comment
                  Huskee - the fireboxes on these COS's are so small and so lacking in thermal mass, that it hardly takes any size of split to send the temps in the cook chamber roaring past 300+ in the blink of an eye. So the tiny splits burn down to leave very few coals on the "bed" to keep the fire hot to ignite the next split efficiently. I have experienced this phenomenon personally. I don't think a chimney of lump every couple of hours to maintain the coal bed is cheating. I plan to adopt this method.

                • Dewesq55
                  Dewesq55 commented
                  Editing a comment
                  I'm also going to build a contraption similar to the LSG fire management basket for the firebox of my COS, hopefully this week, which should help the process. I would like to get from adding a split every 15-20 mins to every 30-45 mins, so I will also be experimenting with adjusting split size and shape to try to find what works best on my COS.

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