Got my Cookshack! One Question

Although I realize I will have to experiment (and I will!), I guess the advice I could really use is how much wood to use for beef, pork and chicken when doing full loads in the CS 160? I also understand that there are many tastes, so I'm just looking for some generalities. Thanks, as always. Buck

I'm no pro,but I have your cooker and do cook with some pros.

Like you said,you'll have to experiment.

If they sent you a box of wood samples,those large golf ball sized pieces often run about 2 oz each.

The cooker is very efficient in wood use,and it is easy to oversmoke.

Naturally ,it will take less hickory,than it might apple, citrus,alder,etc.

It doesn't flow a lot of air,so your smoke will stay with you awhile.

Cookshack is always conservative in estimates.

You ruin less that way.

You may find that 6 oz is more than you like, on some poultry,or fish,runs.

I'd try a butt and a brisket with 6 ozs and see.

You may wish to add another couple chunks,halfway through the cook.

I think you'll find that you won't get great smoke penetration into any large chunks of meat.

There are ways to increase your smoke levels,if need be.

As to the recipes,read them as ingredient guidelines,but let this forum be your guide as to times,temps,techniques.

Hope this helps a little.

buck,
we have an sm150 and like tom points out 6 oz is a good starting point.
for brisket here is what i have been doing but bear in mind for simplicities sake (since we also have an fec100 and found we got good results using the same pellets in the sm) we only use pellets now but an ounce is an ounce.
at the start of the smoke we load 3 1/2oz of pecan and then after holding a smoker temp of 160f (manual setting) for 4 hours i bump the temp to 250f and replace the wood box with another 3 1/2oz.
meat is put in cold (taylor remote reading lo which means the interior is frozen)
total time for 14 pound packer brisket on my unit is 14 hours before the temp alarm goes off at 185 interior.
smoke taste is just where our customers want it. and we have gone from 1 total sale of 4 ounces to cooking 2 briskets in a 6 months period in a non beef town at a farmers market that is only open one day a week for 4 hours!!
hope this gives you some guidelines to go by.
jack

Thanks so much for the input folks! I know that experimentation and customer feedback will lead me to where I need to be. I was just confused as to what would be a good starting point for wood amounts per pound of product being smoked. It will be interesting to say the least.

Don't get hung into wood per pound of product.

You may find you use the same amount of wood with one brisket,as a full cooker.

Thanks so much for the advice. The wood sample that came with the machine is chunks. Is there much difference between using chunks versus pellets?

The pellets you will find will go to smoke quicker and burn faster I beleive. The wood chunks will last longer.

Preston