Making smoker chips/chunks

[reddogrunner]

Anyone on here make their own smoker chips or chunks? I know most of us are not likely to let any BTU go to waste, but I was looking at a hickory branch and looking at my smoker and I decided I would try and make my own. Cut the 6" branch into 1" slices. I plan to remove the bark and then chunk it into smaller pieces and let it dry in a milk crate or something like it for a few months. Anybody on here have any experience with this? Surely some of you smart buggers have figured this one out.

 

[NSMaple1]

I got an LP smoker this summer but it was late in the summer. It was on sale and a good price, but it had a couple shortcomings. Started out with some chips I had left over from using a box in the BBQ. The smoker chip tray wasn't designed right, it turned the chips to ash pretty quick - chips were pretty well exposed to open flame. So I got a small shallow round cast frying pan (more like a crepe pan I think), unscrewed the handle from it, set it on top of the chip tray, and cut some 1" thick slices off a sugar maple split from the basement wood pile with the recip saw. That works awesome - the heck with ever using chips again. The second mod was getting a bigger water pan/drip tray for it - easy to find in the bakeware section. And I got a wireless thermometer setup - the dial on the front was goofed. Also learned that there is a spot in the LP burner valve dial between full blast & closed that you can get the valve set to to adjust the flame exactly as low as you want - at first, it was too hot even turned down to what would normally be full low.

I have since set aside a few more smaller maple splits I came across in the wood pile, and some apple splits. That should keep me in smoker smoke for a long time. And my wife just informed me a couple days ago that a local beef person she was talking to a month ago has a brisket set aside with our name on it. Yeehaw.

 

[reddogrunner]

I bought a Masterbuilt out of a Cabelas bargain cave. It's electric and it's maiden voyage was a brisket. Oh gawd was it yummy. Still working on the burnt ends for lunch I have a bag of chips and they seem to do OK in the little box they make. As I work through my scrounge piles I am going to pull out some hickory, oak and maple and then go cut on a wild apple tree to try that. I did a search on the forum and found some posts. I am on the right path it appears.

 

[NSMaple1]

I haven't done a brisket yet - but really looking forward to it.

Chunks are definitely where it's at. I can put 2 or 3 or 4 of them in when I start and they last for the whole smoke - unlike the chips which were only lasting a half hour or so.

 

[reddogrunner]

10-4.

 

[jags]

Right or wrong, I use chips on the grill (think burgers or chops) and chunks on the smoker when low and slow is what is needed.

 

[Ernie Kash]

I've done cherry. Slabbed off rounds a couple inches thick and used an ax and chipped off thin chunks or whatever size. Soak 'em in water 'bout a day till I use 'em. Takes a little prep time but worth it.

 

[zogger]

I just cut up my fuji apple tree trims with the jawsaw, made them all around 3 inch long. Put them in light duty bundle/onion bags and hung them up in the shed. I know it has bark on it though, so maybe that's no good, but I wasn't going to waste it just for regular firewood. When I have done hickory chunks I started with heartwood splits, full size 16", then used the chopsaw to make them fist sized. In the propane grill, we just use small chips/chunks leftover when I am splitting, put them in those little steel boxes. Most of my cooking wood though goes out full size, those pro or semi pro guys use big smokers.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

When I want chips for grill smoking, I take a piece of what even kind of wood I want to use, into my shop, set my jointer for a deep cut and run the wood over the jointer, making all the chips I want...

Chunks are even easier...just cut them!

SR

 

[Shagbark]

I make sure there is no residual bar oil on the smoker wood I make. Trim the ends with a circular saw and chunk it up.

 

[Wood Doctor]

Last year I made all of my own smoker wood and even sold several dozen or so sacks of it for $3 a sack. Green red oak works very well. I cut split logs in half first and then hand split each half into fourths. I can usually get 16 lb of chunks into one shopping sack that I double up for strength. Twist tie the top and add a price tag showing the weight, wood species, and the price. I dubbed mine BBQ Cookin' Wood.

It's a very seasonal product around here, but in the spring they sell like hot cakes when the meat smokers start right back up after winter says good bye.

 

[cuinrearview]

I've processed my own apple, cherry, and hickory chunks for my WSM. I don't worry about bar oil, bark, moisture, or anything and it's some of the finest chicken, brisket, pork, prime rib, etc I've ever tasted.

 

[reddogrunner]

Thanks for the input guys!

 

[bbxlr8]

I've done cherry. Slabbed off rounds a couple inches thick and used an ax and chipped off thin chunks or whatever size. Soak 'em in water 'bout a day till I use 'em. Takes a little prep time but worth it.

I do it this way exclusively & also use chunks on grill as well as smoker.

I tried all types of wood & LOVE hickory & cherry best all around w/ oak for beef. Would also go for the fruit or pecan but not readily available to me and I refuse to buy any more bagged given the my unlimited access to the above. Give to friend and relatives as well.

 

[ponyexpress976]

I get a lot of tree service wood...so naturally none of it is cut to firewood length. I have a lot of cut offs and oddball pieces. Naturally, this has lead to an increased use of the smoker. Can't let those btu's go to waste. I need something bigger than a milk crate...seems like I have them spread out everywhere full of drying chunks. An IBC cage might be a little overkill

 

[ponyexpress976]

The only wood I knock the bark off of is the wild/black cherry. Seems like that stuff can't grow around here unless it has some poison Ivy attached to it!

 

[flashhole]

I use mostly apple wood from my orchard. Adds wonderful flavor to the smoked meat. In the spring I'm going to pick up a Kamoto Joe ceramic grill. My next adventure will be making lump charcoal. I have a pile of Hickory reserved for that effort.

 

[allstihl]

for my smoker I take a chunk of hickory , wrap it in a dbl layer of foil , poke a hole in the foil and lay it on the coals .nice steady smoke and no flair up . when it stops smoking I unwrap a nice chunk of charcoal .

 

[SS396driver]

I use oak ,apple ,cherry, maple i use small spits 16 to 18 inch only use charcoal to get the coal bed established . ash gives a nice light flavor ,this was Sundays smoke with black cherry. Ribs,chicken thighs and rump roast

 

[reddogrunner]

Hickory chunks of about 1" cubed worked great in my smoker. The smoker tray is about 4' x 8# and about 2.5" tall. So, I cubed a bunch of small cookies up and gave them a good soak in some water and on a 3 hour smoke the flavor was pretty damned good.