Getting wood to last

I pretty much fill the wood box. Maybe 10oz of hickory or a mixture of oak and hickory. I've never had a shortage of smoke on my briskets, but the smoke coming out of the smoker will diminish(but not stop completly) after about 10 hours or so.

Don't use 10oz of mesquite though. Way too much.

Put your wood to the front of the firebox and you should be fine.

You may find ,in later cooks,you want more-or less- smoke.

Part of being a comp cook is learning when to give a burst of smoke,to give the balance you seek with the meat,rub,sauce.

Thanks for the help. I ended up putting four small pieces of wood in, half pecan and half hickory. Couldn't find a small scale, so I had to fake it a bit -- figure it is a bit more than 4 oz., but there is a lot of meat in there, so we shall see.

These forums are great for those of us starting out in the smoking world. Couldn't do it without the help from so many Q'ers out there.

Will report on the results sometime tomorrow.

Ben in Pittsburgh

It's all personal preference. Yes, the theory is the smoke will stop penetrating around 140 (I still haven't found proof) but the outside will ALWAYS continue to take on more. That's why people have creosote buildup from too much smoke.

You can always experiment. I don't recommend the 10 oz that Todd does for the average user on their first try. We get lots of "over smoked" comments from 3 or 4 oz, so if you go that route, just be careful. Start with 2, then 4, then 6, etc.

You can also add wood in during the smoke, just be careful that the firebox will be very hot.

I agree with Smokin'. I was a little vague in my response. Brisket will take a lot of smoke is what I was trying to say. I like a lot of smoke on a brisket, more so than any other meat I cook, so I indulge myself and load it up. But I would suggest that you know your wood and tastes before doing that. 10oz of mesquite would likely kill me, and even though I like hickory, 10oz would be pretty strong there as well. The oak is hard to over use so I go with a mixture of it and hickory, but your tastes may and will vary. Also, I usually do two briskets at a time, or a combo of brisket and shoulders, so in addition to a full wood box, I also have a pretty full smoker.

Smoke also probably varies alot from smoker to smoker. (050 - 008) The best brisket (15 pound choice packer, untrimmed) I did in my Smokette only used 4 oz. of wood (cherry and apple), took 20 hours, and was very smoky tasting inside and out.

Some woods burn hot and fast and others burn slow. My favorite combination for brisket is a 50/50 mix of mesquite and white oak. The mesquite gives a lot of strong smoke in the beginning and white oak is great for long smokes. This wood combination gives a killer flavor to brisket. I have found that white oak is a great mellowing wood, which is good for a strong wood like mesquite.

There is a difference between red oak and white oak. Both are good and I would consider them medium in smoke, but red oak is stronger than white oak.

quote:

Originally posted by Ben W:
Couldn't find a small scale, so I had to fake it a bit --

Ben- I picked up a small postal scale at one of the office supply stores and it works great for weighing small pieces of wood.

Don