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Has Anyone Ever Cooked Solely With Wood Chunks in a Charcoal Cooker?

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    Has Anyone Ever Cooked Solely With Wood Chunks in a Charcoal Cooker?

    The headline pretty much speaks for itself. I am thinking about trying this sometime in the near future and am wondering if anyone else has done so. For those who answer "yes", any tips on technique would be greatly appreciated.

    #2
    I was wondering the same thing about the PBC, or the WSCGC, with and without the SnS, Jeff.

    I found this on You Tube:



    Kathryn

    Comment


    • JeffJ
      JeffJ commented
      Editing a comment
      I was thinking about a kettle cook w/ SnS, Kathryn. A hot/fast type of cook. I think it would be very difficult to do with a low/slow cook as wood burns much hotter than charcoal.

    • fzxdoc
      fzxdoc commented
      Editing a comment
      Did you click on the link? I just added it, JeffJ .

      K.

    • JeffJ
      JeffJ commented
      Editing a comment
      Yeah, I've seen that video before.

    #3
    I only did it once in an emergency situation when I had no other fuel to throw in. I had a small bed of charcoal lit and it was dying and all that I had left were wood chunks. It burned up as if you threw logs in just burned much faster than they would.

    Comment


      #4
      My only comment is when I've tried to cook with wood chunks, since the majority you by in the bags is kiln dried, it burns much quicker and hotter than charcoal. You therefore have to baby sit the fire a lot more than you would with an equal amount of charcoal or lump. Think of it as a mini version of a stick burner, it has similar characteristics, at least when I've tried. Charcoal is a whole lot more forgiving and predictable.

      Comment


      • JeffJ
        JeffJ commented
        Editing a comment
        Did it provide a noticeably different flavor profile than charcoal?

      • Troutman
        Troutman commented
        Editing a comment
        Not really. Think about it, you are creating a charcoal bed with the wood chunks which is really producing what? Charcoal. You then add fresh wood as you would in a conventional charcoal bed for wood smoke. See what I'm getting at? There really isn't a lot of advantage and you spend more time and money using all wood. Not knocking it just saying I stopped doing it.

      #5
      I really like the usage of the word solely. Not pronounced as spelled. Is it a product of spell check?

      Comment


      • Troutman
        Troutman commented
        Editing a comment
        But he question remains, in my experience I didn't notice a real difference in taste. Once the charcoal from the wood is established you aren't really getting flavor, just heat. Flavor comes from fresh wood smoke. Make sense?

      • ComfortablyNumb
        ComfortablyNumb commented
        Editing a comment
        It's pronounced sole-ly, and it's in the dictionary.

      • FireMan
        FireMan commented
        Editing a comment
        Oh, yes it is dictionary worthy.

      #6
      OK someone who is cooking with charcoal and wood chunks this week has to volunteer to do a side-by-side. I'm committed to the pellet pooper already this weekend...

      Comment


        #7
        Jon Solberg has cook with all wood on the Weber kettle. Maybe he will chime in.

        Comment


          #8
          You could burn the chunks down to coals, but I think I would just buy a bag of lump charcoal and save myself some time and effort.

          Comment


          • jfmorris
            jfmorris commented
            Editing a comment
            I second this. Tossing wood into a kettle or PBC to keep the fire going is a lot of work, and if you burn it down to add just hot glowing coals, you might as well have started with charcoal in the first place. And lump charcoal would be closer to the experience of burning real wood down.

          • Troutman
            Troutman commented
            Editing a comment
            Ahhh bingo, that's what I've been trying to say. Basically it's a waste of time and money.

          #9
          I have, it's fun. Definitely more work than charcoal. And yes I think the taste is vastly different. When I did it I put probably 20 charcoal briquettes in a chimney and then I put several wood chunks on top of that to fill the chimney up half to two-thirds of the way then I lit the chimney with wood chunks on it in the standard fashion. Then I poured the wood chunks in the cooker, let them burn down even further while the kettle preheated, and then I put more wood chunks on and let them burn down and then started cooking. I did steaks & burgers and I've done other stuff with it before too, I wanna say chicken. I stopped doing that cuz it is more of a pain than just using charcoal. But it definitely can be done.

          And Troutman brings up a good point, the bagged wood that you buy may or may not work well. Actually it should work, it'll just work differently. I used home cut apple chunks from one of the many trees in my yard.

          Comment


          • JeffJ
            JeffJ commented
            Editing a comment
            Thank you for the info. Pretty much answered all of my questions. Huskee

          #10
          What if I put the food in the cooker before the wood was reduced to coals? What I'm thinking is maybe 3/4 of a compact chimney in the SnS and then cook indirect-reverse sear just like any other cook. I may have to try it Saturday and update this thread.

          I am still hoping for others to chime in.

          Comment


          • Huskee
            Huskee commented
            Editing a comment
            Absolutely. It may take some experimenting to get the correct heat level in your fire. Otherwise you risk over smoking if the fire isn't the best, but I'm sure you understand that concept. Experiment man, have fun!

          • JeffJ
            JeffJ commented
            Editing a comment
            I was thinking a smaller fire due to the increased heat of the wood over charcoal. Vents wide open so the fire has good airflow.

          #11
          I have cooked with hickory, apple, an mesquite chunks in my ol Sunbeam, my Kingsford, weber kettles, an WSMs.
          I sawed th wood chunks from my log splits, so no kiln dried out storebought stuff, but several years seasoned.
          It has provided a lot more flavour than charcoal alone, in my experiences...

          Comment


          #12
          Ok, I can speak to this.

          I've got a custom offset which for most of its life I have operated with just charcoal and wood chips and chunks. During a few really long smokes, I've run out of charcoal totally and started using JUST wood chunks - either fruit wood (apple) bought from the store, or oak from my wood pile. The wood chunks have the tendency to combust into open flames in the firebox, and increase the temperature of the fire dramatically more than adding charcoal.

          I would think twice before loading up either my Weber kettle (SNS) or PBC with *just* wood alone, as it is going to be hard to control the fire once the wood bursts into flames, and you will find yourself closing all the vents to get the temperature and fire back under control. With the PBC, the flames from an all wood fire could become a big problem for burning your meat.

          Just my 2 cents. To burn *JUST* wood in the offset, I have to make a much smaller fire than I would with charcoal, and feed the fire just a stick or two at a time. I think the same would be true in a kettle or PBC. It will require a ton of babysitting versus charcoal with just a few wood chunks mixed in.

          Comment


            #13
            Interesting this thread came up. It’s one of my reasons for purchasing the M1 grill from M Grills in Texas which is due to arrive tomorrow afternoon! The M1 can be used for charcoal cooking and in addition has a firebox for woodburning/smoking. I really like the design and am looking forward to putting the cooker through the paces so to speak.

            Comment


            • jfmorris
              jfmorris commented
              Editing a comment
              You will enjoy! I personally think that unless you have a grill designed for it - i.e. a separate firebox, or something like a Santa Maria grill where you can get that grate way above the flames - an all wood fire is too much hassle to deal with.

            #14
            Only time I've ever cooked over wood is via a camp fire, which isn't close to the same as using a kettle or PBC. I would think that airflow in a cooking device would be problematic for an all wood fire - as those need much more oxygen than charcoal does to maintain heat.

            Comment


              #15
              Just buy a stick burner and be done with it!

              Comment


              • DWCowles
                DWCowles commented
                Editing a comment
                Yep 👍

              • Attjack
                Attjack commented
                Editing a comment
                What are some options that would be comparable to a nice Weber 22?

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