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cayenneman
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Location: Richmond, KY
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 Posted: Sep 25 2012 Post subject: Wood...nothing wrong with soaking it! |
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I already know this thread will probably bring forth many opinions, but I guess my point is...there are MANY ways to cook good BBQ. I read the advice many people give, and sometimes people are explicit about things like, "Don't soak your wood/chips no matter what!" Well thats one way of looking at it but there are many people who do and turn out world class BBQ. Case in point, Ed Mitchell has probably forgotten more than most on this forum will ever learn, and he soaks his wood before smoking. See video below. Whomever wants to sound off or criticize, feel free to do so, but I just think there are many ways to turn out good BBQ and sometimes advice from people seems like "it's this way or you're cooking crap," which may not be the case. I say experimentation is the key to good BBQ. Take everyone's advice and try different ways to see what's best for you and the people you cook for. If you want fall off the bone ribs, then cook them till they fall off the bone. If you aren't cooking for a panel of KCBS judges, then you don't have to worry about the perfect "tug" and leaving teeth marks in the meat. If you feed 20 people "fall off the bone" ribs, and they say it's the best they've ever had, then that's the confirmation of your cooking that you're looking for. Take all advice from this site and tweak it to your desire. There are BBQ snobs on here and awesome backyard cooks as well that have great advice and there is no one right way. Just like Ed Mitchell proves. He soaks his wood and is a legend in the BBQ world. So, anyway I'm done. Agree, disagree or ignore. Have at it. Peace.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJVWk1coEbY
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Mr Tony's BBQ
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GF
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| Posted: Sep 25 2012 Post subject: |
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cayenneman, I agree there are MANY ways to BBQ.
If whatever someone is doing is giving them the results they want, have fun. 
If you're not getting what you want, try something else.  |
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SoEzzy
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| Posted: Sep 25 2012 Post subject: Re: Wood...nothing wrong with soaking it! |
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| cayenneman wrote: | | I already know this thread will probably bring forth many opinions, but I guess my point is...there are MANY ways to cook good BBQ. I read the advice many people give, and sometimes people are explicit about things like, "Don't soak your wood/chips no matter what!" |
But what advise to do you give to someone who is complaining about smoldering wood chips and tingling lips and tongue, and they are using a gas grill and wet wood chips?
| Quote: | | Well thats one way of looking at it but there are many people who do and turn out world class BBQ. Case in point, Ed Mitchell has probably forgotten more than most on this forum will ever learn, and he soaks his wood before smoking. See video below. |
He sure does soak some of his wood, but if you actually look at moisture penetration in seasoned wood, it doesn't actually soak up much liquid.
| Quote: | | Whomever wants to sound off or criticize, feel free to do so, but I just think there are many ways to turn out good BBQ and sometimes advice from people seems like "it's this way or you're cooking crap," which may not be the case. |
It may not be the case... but what about the times that it is?
| Quote: | | I say experimentation is the key to good BBQ. |
I agree!
| Quote: | | Take everyone's advice and try different ways to see what's best for you and the people you cook for. If you want fall off the bone ribs, then cook them till they fall off the bone. If you aren't cooking for a panel of KCBS judges, then you don't have to worry about the perfect "tug" and leaving teeth marks in the meat. If you feed 20 people "fall off the bone" ribs, and they say it's the best they've ever had, then that's the confirmation of your cooking that you're looking for. Take all advice from this site and tweak it to your desire. |
Don't take everyone's advice, there are some folks on here that do know somethings about some BBQ, but there are others that just think they know somethings about BBQ and some of them may be mistaken! Pick your sources wisely!
| Quote: | | There are BBQ snobs on here and awesome backyard cooks as well that have great advice and there is no one right way. |
There are some good cooks and bad cooks, snobs and egalitarians, know it all and know nothings!
| Quote: | | Just like Ed Mitchell proves. He soaks his wood and is a legend in the BBQ world. So, anyway I'm done. Agree, disagree or ignore. Have at it. Peace. |
So I have disagreed, agreed and from now on, (other than checking for site formatting), I'm going to ignore this thread... I hope that satisfies all the requirements!
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Last edited by SoEzzy on Sep 25 2012; edited 1 time in total |
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Manana
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| Posted: Sep 25 2012 Post subject: |
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I'm curious as to why you felt the need to make this post? I thought it was a given around here to read and take from it what you need.
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Mr Tony's BBQ
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1buckie
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| Posted: Sep 25 2012 Post subject: |
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Ok, I own up....I'm a wet shread snob......
I soak shread ( cherry or apple, usually) for anywhere from a few minutes to an hour,
then squeeze out handfuls & pack onto a screamin' brite orange coal pack....
The wood right against the coal dries & ingnites right away & then filters up thru the damp wood above,
like a hookah
or some type of water filter.....
As the succeeding wood dries & burns it continues to filter up thru the remaining wood
& as it reaches near the top, then add more wood.....
Is this a lot of extra trouble to go to ?
Not really, once I got the hang of it...
How ?
By expermenting....
Where did I hear of this?
Thought it up, as dry wood of this type will almost explode if added to a hot fire....
Does it work good ?
Dam straight !!
Produces an extremely smooth smoke flavor that's rarely bitter or overblown...
I've tried different combinations of dry wood & can't come up with anything remotely as good tasting as this....
Do I bomb out & goof it up?
Sometimes, when I'm not paying attention ~~>  
The best ones ( like photo) run @ 190° ~ 210° for up to 3 hours....
Cost of wood abt. $2.00 or a bit more....well worth it for my tastes in 'turds.... 
PS: Pretty much agree with SoEzzy's dissertation.....
PPS: I never soak anything bigger than this ( chunks, chips, splits )
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Chef
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BluDawg
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| Posted: Sep 27 2012 Post subject: |
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I don't soak mine!
Reason #1 Wet wood don't burn
Reason #2 The water don't penetrate very deep
Reason #3 It's a waste of water
Reason #4 I'm inherently lazy
Reason # 5 see # 1
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CliffC
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| Posted: Sep 30 2012 Post subject: |
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I got some fresh apple trimmings earlier this summer and wanted to see what would happen if I used pieces of the unseasoned wood for smoke flavor. I seared burgers over a mixture of lump and Stubbs briqs then moved them off the coals to cook indirect, added 2 1"x3" pieces of the fresh apple and put the cover on the kettle. The result- I got a thin stream of steady thin blue smoke and some nicely flavored burgers. So if green wood with a moisture content of between 45%-55% produces TBS, why can't wood soaked in water or some other liquid?
I have also cooked a 8.5 lb pork butt using the unseasoned apple wood for smoke flavor with no problems. |
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Dace
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| Posted: Oct 01 2012 Post subject: |
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I'm with Bludawg. Mostly because I'm a #4 (inherently lazy).
I started out in the beginning soaking wood, using my water pan as a water pan and foiling 3-2-1. The times I didn't do these things, for whatever reason, I found didn't make a difference in the end product. Hell, I don't even use a digi que or any other monitoring or fanning devices. I had a cheap digital thermo pen which broke so now I use it as a probe and judge doneness by feel and time. I guess as I matured in my barbequing I gave up the toys, so to speak.  |
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Sailor Kenshin
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| Posted: Oct 01 2012 Post subject: |
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Shreds? Different from chips?
We've been soaking chips... This is a bad thing?
I watched that Scandcook guy Andreas Viestad throw a handful of sawdust into a big old hot metal pot, then suspend some fresh raw trout over the dust and close the pot lid. Twenty minutes of hot smoking. I thought that was something I had to try.
And this does bring to mind a question about grape trimmings: to season? Or try as is?
After my corn cob debacle I'm a little gun shy.
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SoEzzy
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| Posted: Oct 01 2012 Post subject: |
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| CliffC wrote: | | So if green wood with a moisture content of between 45%-55% produces TBS, why can't wood soaked in water or some other liquid? |
If you are using green wood you can get moisture content up to 75%, but if you are burning green wood, you still need to burn a hot enough fire to drive off that moisture load.
If you allow the wood to season, it takes months of time to get it down under 20% or so.
If you stand a block of wood in water for a week, you will see very little penetration of the water into the wood... try it, soak a piece of marked wood in a bucket for a week, (7 full days) add another piece marked differently at 3.5 days, add another marked piece at day 6, and the one at 6 days 12 hours, 6 days 16 hours, 6 days 20 hours, 6 days 23 hours.
Take all the wood out of the bucket at the same time and cut them all in half, look at the penetration of each, and I doubt you'll get more than 1/8th to 1/4" penetration on any of them.
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CliffC
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| Posted: Oct 01 2012 Post subject: |
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| SoEzzy wrote: | | CliffC wrote: | | So if green wood with a moisture content of between 45%-55% produces TBS, why can't wood soaked in water or some other liquid? |
1 If you are using green wood you can get moisture content up to 75%, but if you are burning green wood, you still need to burn a hot enough fire to drive off that moisture load.
2 If you allow the wood to season, it takes months of time to get it down under 20% or so.
If you stand a block of wood in water for a week, you will see very little penetration of the water into the wood... try it, soak a piece of marked wood in a bucket for a week, (7 full days) add another piece marked differently at 3.5 days, add another marked piece at day 6, and the one at 6 days 12 hours, 6 days 16 hours, 6 days 20 hours, 6 days 23 hours.
Take all the wood out of the bucket at the same time and cut them all in half, look at the penetration of each, and I doubt you'll get more than 1/8th to 1/4" penetration on any of them. |
1-The moisture content of the apple wood I used when I cooked the burgers was between 45%-55% as measured buy a moisture meter with 1/8 inch pins, the pieces I used for the butt were 30%-35%.
2- Using the same moisture meter I have determined that 3"X2" chunks of red maple that measure 40% content will dry to 15%-18% in about 4 weeks.
I have thought about soaking wood chunks for various lengths of time to see how the moisture content changes, but I think I may put them all in the bucket at the beginning and test one everyday. I just have to figure out which splits to sacrifice, cherry or maple. |
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patruns
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| Posted: Oct 02 2012 Post subject: |
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I just watched an episode of $24 in 24 last night and the city was Chicago. He went to a place called Honey #1 BBQ where the pitmaster literally sprayed the wood with a hose often to create excessive smoke. All I could think of was wtf?
Website here: http://www.honey1bbq.com/
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crashpilot
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| Posted: Oct 05 2012 Post subject: |
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| Manana wrote: | | I'm curious as to why you felt the need to make this post? I thought it was a given around here to read and take from it what you need. |
EXACTLY what I was thinking..
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Skidder
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| Posted: Oct 05 2012 Post subject: |
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| Wet wood and fire = steam take it for what it's worth. I personally don't care how you do it. Me I don't but hey what do I know. |
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Manana
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| Posted: Oct 05 2012 Post subject: |
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| patruns wrote: | I just watched an episode of $24 in 24 last night and the city was Chicago. He went to a place called Honey #1 BBQ where the pitmaster literally sprayed the wood with a hose often to create excessive smoke. All I could think of was wtf?
Website here: http://www.honey1bbq.com/ |
read some reviews on the place and they seem to be about average. 2 or 3 raves and 2 or 3 really bad but most are middle of the road. It says on their site that there is a glass front to the smoker so my guess is the water is for show or they're trying to keep the glass fogged up so no one can really see the stuff.
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Mr Tony's BBQ
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| Posted: Oct 05 2012 Post subject: |
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| patruns wrote: | I just watched an episode of $24 in 24 last night and the city was Chicago. He went to a place called Honey #1 BBQ where the pitmaster literally sprayed the wood with a hose often to create excessive smoke. All I could think of was wtf?
Website here: http://www.honey1bbq.com/ |
I'm thinking the idea there is to get enough of a flying ash buildup on the meat to help hold the sauce, therefore using less - kinda like a corn starch slurry, and making the food more filling.....
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CliffC
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| Posted: Jun 28 2013 Post subject: |
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| SoEzzy wrote: | | CliffC wrote: | | So if green wood with a moisture content of between 45%-55% produces TBS, why can't wood soaked in water or some other liquid? |
If you are using green wood you can get moisture content up to 75%, but if you are burning green wood, you still need to burn a hot enough fire to drive off that moisture load.
If you allow the wood to season, it takes months of time to get it down under 20% or so.
If you stand a block of wood in water for a week, you will see very little penetration of the water into the wood... try it, soak a piece of marked wood in a bucket for a week, (7 full days) add another piece marked differently at 3.5 days, add another marked piece at day 6, and the one at 6 days 12 hours, 6 days 16 hours, 6 days 20 hours, 6 days 23 hours.
Take all the wood out of the bucket at the same time and cut them all in half, look at the penetration of each, and I doubt you'll get more than 1/8th to 1/4" penetration on any of them. |
I used maple chunks, 3" tall and 4" across the widest part of the wedge, soaked in water, bark side up.
24 hours- water penetrates 1/8-1/4 inch
48hours- water penetrates 1/8-3/8+ inch
72 hours- water penetrates 1/8- 1 1/8 inch
96 hours- water penetrates 1/4-1 1/4 inch
120 hours- water penetrates 1/4-1 1/4 inch
144 hours- water penetrates wood completely on the bark side
I also used a moisture meter to measure the water content of the inside of the chunk after I split them, there was a significant rise in moisture in the interior in the chunks soaked for 4 days or more.
If you soak wood chunks long enough you can change their moisture content. Should I tell Chris Allingham at TVWBB?
I actually did this twice, but the first time the pics were kinda crappy and the chunks were smaller and not as uniform in size as the ones in these photos. |
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