How much wood is usually used?

[DimTim]

Hi Peeps,

Having obtained and lovingly restored a New Braunfels Black Diamond (horizontal offset) I finally managed to fire it up over the weekend. YAY!

I have to say I was somewhat disappointed

The main trouble was maintaining a steady temperature (want to use wood only if I can). Too low (100F), then WAAAAY to high (350F), up and down like a whores ... (oops! too far) I also used what I thought was too much wood (oak). I kept it going for about 6 hours and used almost a whole bag which is about the size of a bag of onions, you know, the net bags that bulk onions are sold in some supermarkets. I'm not too sure that the wood was completely seasoned. How does one tell ?

I tried to make small adjustments to the firebox damper leaving the exhaust fully open. At one stage I had to keep opening the smoke chamber to lower the temperature.

The only mod I have done is to drop the exhaust down to the grille and sealed the door and chimney (high temperature silicon) so there is minimal leakage now. I used a metal dish (reliably informed by "the boss" that it is a 7 inch flan tin) filled with water just inside the smoke chamber right next to the firebox. Also using a temperature probe just above the grille.

Guess I wasn't expecting much really and I tried some pre-prepared ribs and a spatchcock chicken. I attempted to maintain 250F The ribs were cooked 2-2-1 as per other advice and the chicken for three hours until the temperature of the breast reached 170F. Pulling the chicken apart I noticed some blood in the leg joints. Tasted a little of the breast wayyyy to smokey! Didn't eat the rest on the grounds of safety, might try the oven to save wasting food.

Anyway, I was surprised to burn so much wood. Please can anyone comment upon how much wood I should have used, say, per hour or whatever measure of time you prefer.

I guess that maybe the excess smoke flavour was due to poor fire control.

Does anyone have a photo of what their fire looks like? (seems like a silly question "what does a fire look like ?

Sorry this is so long but thanks for reading.

[Tiny]

hi
cant offer much help other than I have never heard of anyone using all wwood in an offset firebox, and with oak right up there on the smokiness range I think this explains the strong flavour. personally would use good quality lumpwood charcoal or aussie heat beads and a couple of chunks of oak to do the job.

Sorry cant help more.

Cheers
Tiny

[KamadoSimon]

One of these?
http://bbq.about.com/od/smokerreviews/g ... 72405a.htm

A friend cooked for me using something similar and used Big K restaurant quality lumpwood charcoal along with some wood chips - didn't use a huge amount of lump at all to keep it going a good few hours.

[DimTim]

Thanks for posting back.


@Tiny, Thanks for the info, I was sure I had read that all wood was ok. Bummer! I was hoping to keep the costs down using wood that I can obtain virtually free locally.

@Simon, Yes, that link is the one but I think the one I have is a little older because the legs look a little sturdier.



Looks like I will have to rethink where I am going with this and consider using charcoal.


Thanks for posting your replies.

Tim

[keith157]

Hi Tim, you will have seen the commercial smokers in the states using huge amounts of wood in their smokers but from watching numerous shows and reading blogs etc that is gerally for heat generation, ie coals and then they add wood to flavour the smoke, usually the same as the wood for coals. Can I just confirm that you get seasoned hardwoods or fruit woods virtually free and those are what you are using?

Lucky chap. If you have access to that sort of quantity why not make your own charcoal to cut prices down. (I'm not sure if you can get away with softwood for the charcoal)

[DimTim]

Hi Keith,

Thanks for posting back and my apologies for taking so long to reply. I was waiting for the opportunity to try again and include any results in this reply.

To confirm, yes, I have a friend-of-a-friend from whom I can get hardwood at silly prices. It seems to be fairly well seasoned but I really can't be certain. I filled the boot of my Citroen Picasso (and that is one large boot) for £10.00! He wasn't asking for any payment at all but to offer nothing would be a poor style so I pressed the aforesaid tenner in his hand.

Before anybody replies asking if I can get the same for them, sorry, this is done as a favour to me and I couldn't possibly take the mickey.

Anyway, I had the same problem maintaining the temperature. Perhaps that is why most use charcoal for the heat. I have found other sites on the web that say the fire should be small and hot and top up with logs/splits about the size of your forearm. Yeah! right, that worked, NOT! In fact there was no improvement from the first time I tried.

I like the idea of making my own charcoal, it would be interesting at least. Trouble with that is that I'm not sure the neighbours would be pleased with me creating all that smoke and smell for soooo long.

It is very time consuming experimenting like this but it must be worth it so I guess I will have to try again.

Or maybe I should go electric (GASP !!). Anybody wanna but a New Braunfels Black Diamond in reasonable nick?

If anyone has any good ides, I would love to hear them.


Happy Q-ing

[Gary Morris]

Hiya, you can buy a wood moisture meter at http://uk.rs-online.com/web/c/test-meas ... ture_meter

[Steve]

Offsets are called stick burners for one reason, you burn sticks in them

You should be able to run your cooker from wood alone but you need to be burning it properly. If its slowly smouldering you will get too much smoke.

I'm no stick burner expert but what you probably want to start with is a bed of lump to get the fire going then add your logs slowly, probably 1 log per hour is enough.