🌳🧱 Do you have MWS? What wood(s) do you currently have for smoking? 🌳

[Jetski]

I currently have pecan, sugar maple, oak, hickory and cherry. I found a really good source last year about 30 minutes away from me. This guy has those woods I listed and quite a few more. I was a little apprehensive when I first tried him but his selection and organization was impressive. And 10 bucks for a heaping milk crate full (approximately 25 lbs) is quite a good deal for someone who doesn't have a free source.

[Huskee]

Nice!

[Frozen Smoke]

Red oak, white oak and apple. Oak is readily available in my area. The apple comes from a friend of mine who took a huge apple tree down last year. I have some maple but I don't like using it in the stick burner. I get too much ash from it. Every time I open up the door on the fire box ash fly's all over the place and it builds up in the ash pan quickly.

Oak to me is the best. Burns hot and long and imparts a nice smokey flavor. I've never tried hickory or mesquite but would like to source some one day. I bought a bag of hickory chunks a few years ago from Home Depot. They were drier than a pop corn fart and burned up in a instant with no flavor benefit.

[Huskee]

To me, oak and apple are the two most versatile. Good burning, great on anything from fish to brisket, and usually you can find it anywhere. Ash remains my personal favorite for ribs.

[ColonialDawg]

I'm having to order more chunks soon, but so far I have hickory, cherry, and alder on hand. Just ran out of apple and pecan. I also acquired some pimento wood I'm looking forward to trying on some jerk chicken.

I'm currently looking for a new wood chunk supplier. I stumbled across one called Carolina Cookwood (https://carolinacookwood.com). Does anyone have experience with their wood?

[Elton's BBQ]

I've got;

• Hickory
• Cherry
• Apple
• French Oak
• Norwegian Birch
• Beech sawdust and pellets

[PaulstheRibList]

LOVE THIS! Go Huskee !!

Before I move on to my wood fun, I confess that my palate is not super sensitive. I rely on my other crew members to give me feedback on "a nutty note at the end" jazz. I am VERY sensitive to texture, mouth feel, saltiness, and most particularly, "Is that fat rendered to perfection?" (And is the fat the right depth - I do not enjoy large wads of even properly-rendered fat on my brisket or butts.)

So, I have been wanting for some time but have not done it yet: Side-By-Side blind taste tests using different woods, do see if I can detect the differences in the flavor imparted by each. Have any of you guys done side-by-side's?

Ok, onto my MWS

1. Properly Seasoned Wood (split over 1 year)
2. Lots of it, below $300 a chord

Oh, wait, that's not what you asked. I'm getting back on track now:

1. Pecan
2. Oak (bought 2 chords, this is what's left - in the snow pic behind the Red Vault)
3. Patriotic (ok, it's a pallet, and I'm not going to burn it. But it makes a great beacon for Huskee to remember what street he should move to when he gets tired of arctic everything.)
4. Louisiana Snow Covered

This Pecan is from Hurricane Rita, 2005. The trees were damaged or fell in the hurricane. They guy stored whole logs above the dirt, so no rot, and split them over a year ago. They burn like MAGIC!! This is the last of the Rita wood he had. He's splitting wood and storing it in his covered, concrete barn. I LOVE IT!!!!


Isn't Portrait Mode Great!

We cooked for this country street dance a friend of mine begged me to go to. Not a money maker, but fun, and I bought this excellently crafted USA Flag Pallet!!


"How often does it snow like this in Louisiana, Bishop?" Um...every 30 years?

[texastweeter]

Pitmaker in Houston Texas. Best pits money can buy. Beautiful rig!!!!

[texastweeter]

yes I have. I can tell the difference in hickory, oak (red and poste taste the same), pecan. All fruit woods taste the same to me. Underseasoned have an acrid bite like wet smoking too long. IF i had to pick two, it would be oak and pecan.

[PaulstheRibList]

Dude, love to hear you've dialed in your wood @texastweeter!

Yeah, the Pitmaker is well made! but I've tried a ton, but don't get blue smoke out of a vault style cooker unless I run it more like a stickburner. I'm going to post a thread on that process soon.

[jfmorris]

I just had a half cord of oak delivered, nominally for the fireplace, but plan to use some in the offset as well. While talking to the guy at the tree/firewood service, he told me they had hickory, apple, cherry, etc, separated out on their seasoning lot, and he could deliver those as well. I’m tempted to get a half cord of hickory or apple delivered too at some point.

[EdF]

Not cherry? That's pretty good too!

[jfmorris]

I am certain he had cherry. I didn’t write it all down. I just got done being outside for about 3 hours - stacking a 1/2 cord of wood, taking down all the Christmas lights from an extension ladder, and shoving all the Chrsitmas stuff into the storage area rather than my garage. Fun day!

[GuyG]

Bagged chips of:
Hickory, for first smoke of most everything
Mesquite, mesquite, mesquite for steaks

Chunks of:

Apple, my go-to wood of choice for everything
Alder

If you're smoking salmon, you can use any wood you want, as long as it's alder.

[phrogpilot73]

I've given up on trying to maintain multiple different wood pellets for my smoker. Too much of a PITA to change them out. I use Cookin' Pellets competition blend almost exclusively now.

As for the Weber Kettle - I plan on throwing a chunk on the briquettes every time I grill - and I keep Pecan, Peach, and Cherry on hand at all times (for the propane smoker that's going away), can't see that changing. I have tried Ash, and sometimes have Hickory on hand - but I really prefer Pecan to Hickory.

[Steve R.]

My tree clearing guy called me yesterday and told me he has a pecan tree he cut down recently if I want to come and get it. Yes, I believe I will take him up on that!

[Huskee]

Excellente! Nothing better than a large sum of wood, especially free, even if it entails some work.

[Steve R.]

Yes, and it's a kind of work I honestly enjoy. So win/win!

[Huskee]

I enjoy stacking and splitting wood too. Great exercise and it beats vacuuming and doing dishes any day.

[holehogg]

I to date have only smoked with Rooikrans but you guys woodnt know it. It is a pest alien species from Australia but great for smoking. It is also the go to wood for live fire "braaing". Wattle is another very popular wood but havent used it for smoking just as braai wood. We get Namibian hardwood here that is my preference for braaing as it burns for a long time but have a feeling it is to dry for smoking. Found a place that sells oak wood to the butchers for smoking bacon but at R500 for a 25Kg bag I've put it off for the time being. Can get plenty citrus wood but yet to smoke with it. I have used it for braaing but wasn't that impressed compared with other woods i've used but going to give it a burn when I smoke chicken next.

[Huskee]

Give it a try on some cheap meat, I like to use chicken legs or thighs. Chicken takes on smoke flavor well, being a naturally mild flavor in itself, and is cheap if I ruin it while experimenting. Pork chops are good for that too, depending on what those cost in your area. I like to use only salt, no other seasonings, rub, or sauce when testing a new smoke.

[holehogg]

Huskee Good tips and pork is the most inexpensive meat in SA. I did read on this site about wood needing a certain moisture content something like 28% that's why I thought Namibian wood might be a tad to dry, it is a really hard wood that grows in the dessert. I have been meaning to experiment with other woods but decided to use only one type while learning the art.

[Huskee]

Yeah I've read that 25-28% is ideal. But drier wood will only burn faster really, maybe even have a "too-clean" smoke quality. You can use dry wood to experiment should you get the urge though. You have a solid plan!

[texastweeter]

I always keep oak and mesquite for beef, hickory for pork, pecan for poultry, and apple wood pellets for everything else (fish, veggies, cheese, nuts excetra)

[JGrana]

Ahhh, as winter winds down, time to get some wood going! My latest luck was some apple from the local utility company trimming some trees near power lines, some wild plum (check out the red color) and some fine black cherry from a tree that got topped during a recent wind storm. All are cut to KBQ size and most are split to get seasoning faster!

I already have some seasoned hickory (shag bark) and well seasoned apple.

Apple Wood:




Wild Plum - note the red/pink color - Indians used the red from the roots to color clothes




Black Cherry - and there is more for me to harvest!!! Big tree!