Wood weight

[old sarge]

Something I have found critical to good tasting food from an electric smoker is knowing what weight the wood is. This style smoker is  are very efficient at producing good smoke.  As such, I weigh my wood and cut/chop it into 1 and 2 ounce pieces. I have found that with chunk hickory, 2 ounces produces a very smokey end product while 1 ounce is subtle and best for those who have never experienced smoked BBQ sans sauce. On a full load of meat, I will bump it up to 3 ounces.  For my taste, I have found 4 ounces to be a tad too strong. This is for hickory. I will need to experiment with different woods, same weights, and adjust the quantities based upon the strength or mildness of the wood.  And I make sure the wood is dry and without bark. The scale I use is an OXO digital.

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[Chef Willie]

I've been experimenting with some older wood chunks I still have around from my old ECB days and find the cherry chunks was a nice choice for a recent beer can chicken and some ABT's I did. With the cherry I ran about 2 ounces in the #3 and it seemed more than sufficent for my taste.

[old sarge]

How about some photos?

[bordercollie]

I have the directions for making a large load of lump charcoal but was in a hurry the other day and made a quick small load of charcoal. I cut debarked pecan into small pieces and  cheated a bit by doing it this way in the "charcoal starter". I let it burn till a lot of the white smoke  stopped and turned more blue. Then I smothered it out by dumping in a pan and lidding it.  This was my first try with homemade charcoal. I placed it in the smoker box and it turned out some tasty bbq pork butt. I wasn't sure how much to use  so used about 5 pieces- It was good. I am going to make a barrel full when I get the time this Spring.    That is good info  on the weight of the wood sarge. That needs to be in a "sticky" or what every the easy reference  area is called     judy aka    bordercollie

[old sarge]

Hello Judy,

Tried to use the sticky feature, clicked on it a few times and maybe I am doing it all wrong. Thanks for the idea.

How did the food taste with the charcoal compared to a chunk of raw wood? I experimented with an empty smoker and a lump of mesquite charcoal.  Great smell, no visible smoke. I have got to do this with a rack of ribs and a piece or two of lump hickory charcoal since hickory is my wood for smoke. Also need to control this with the same weight.  It will be a few weeks before I do any smoking but I will get back to the forum with the results.

Dave

[steamawayinc]

Greta information! Glad there is finally a forum more dedicated to electric smokers. I have the smokin-it #2 and I love it.

Keith

[old sarge]

Keith,

Glad you found it.  I check several times a day and when I can, or feel qualified to do so, I take a minute to post.

Hopefully this forums grows by leaps and bounds.

Dave

[bordercollie]

Welcome steamaway.
  Sarge, There was less white smoke with the homemade charcoal. The meat  tasted really good to me. , but the inside of the smoker also smells wonderful when it heats up because it is so well seasoned.I am going to keep experimenting for sure.       bc

[old sarge]

I sometimes pop the smoker door  open in the evening when having a last cup of coffee for the evening. Ahh, memories......

[Desjeany]

Judy,
About how long did it take you to get the charcoal burned down before panning and covering?  I'm gonna give it a try and make a small batch with hickory in my fire starter as well.  Thanks for the post.
Ryan

[Rob Babcock]

I concur with the OP- I have a pretty accurate digital scale and always carefully weigh out my wood.  For baby back ribs anything much over 3 oz of wood is too much smoke for me.  Generally I use between 2oz and 3oz.  Sometimes I will use 2 oz of hardwood + an oz or so pellets, usually 100% apple.  This is especially good with pork and chicken.  The pellets probably don't smoke more than 20-30 minutes so the effect is subtle but noticeable.