Soaking hickory?

[edwardtobin]

Guys, Iam going to use hickory chunks about the size of my fist, to smoke some venison jerky. How long should I soak the wood? Is 4 hours long enough? thanks for any advice.

[sausageman]

4 hours should be plenty long to saturate the hickory enough to slow down the burn. If your smoke generator is located out of the smoke box there is no reason to soak the wood at all.

[Salmonsmoker]

This is a general question,

Over the years, I have used chunks of wood, wood chips, and course sawdust in my smoker (if I remember correctly, in some of my old smoked food books, sawdust was recommended.) Then, this past summer I was able to get some extremely fine sawdust from a band-saw type portable sawmill. The fine sawdust produced more smoke at a lower temperature, and lasted much longer than the other kinds of wood. I have not yet had time to experiment with that process to see if it can be replicated. Maybe very fine sawdust is a better product to burn - or maybe it was just a weather-realted fluke. Do any of you have any experiences related to this?

Salmonsmoker

[sausageman]

It seems what works best has a lot to do with how the smoke generator is set up. I've tried sawdust in my smoker and I only get about 45 minutes of burn out of it. Fist sized chunks give me about 4 hours of good strong smoke but I have to start the burner a little early, it takes about 20 minutes to get the smoke going strong. I place my smoke wood in a stainless steel pan that sets directly on a 110v stove burner (tryed 220v but burned up the pan and the wood). This all sets in a box outside the smoker, doing this allows me to tend the smoke generator without loosing all the heat in the smoker and it works well for cold smoking. As you said SalmonSmoker, play with it and find what works well for you. I'm going to try your suggestion of red oak in the generator and see how it tastes.

[Salmonsmoker]

Sausageman,

I have been using a Brinkman Horizontal Smoker for the past year. It was a gift from my wife after my home-made (from an old gas oven) one finally rusted out so bad that the door wouldn't shut. The Brinkman has an external smoke generator with air inlet and smoke outlet vents.

The horizontal concept took some getting used to - but it has an external smoke generator and lots of internal room (will hold a hog.) I bought an electric hot plate from a department store to use for the heat source. On that, I use an old iron skillet. The fine sawdust - when dampened and packed into the skillet smoulders very slowly with lots of smoke.

Given my interest in primitive cooking - lately I have been studying the Native American practice of using a rack covered with a buffalo hide and a small wood fire inside as a way to smoke/dry meat. This past fall, my Wife bought a heavy-duty wooden clothes drying rack (specifically for this experiment) from the Amish (I used a heavy application of mineral oil to seal the wood.) I don't have a bufalo hide but some canvas sail-cloth will probably work. Will use a small pot of briquetts for the heat source. Hopefully, the distance from the heat and the low R-value of the canvas will allow for heat control - don't know yet - just fun to experiment with - kind of like my stone-pit oven - which, once I perfected its use, is a wonderful back-yard cookout conversation piece - particularly when I bake bread in there.

These are just some early morning ramblings prior to having a second cup of coffee.

Salmonsmoker

[flydunker]

I have been reading some of the articles above about external smoke generators, where can I find oneor plans to build one? I currently use a brinkman th athad an electirc element in it covered with lava rock and you put the chips on the rock. It works OK but drys the h%%%ll out of the meat and a majority of the smoke escapes out the top. I would like to make one out of an old stove with an external smoke generator if possible any help and guidence is greatly appreciated.

thanks, flydunker

[sausageman]

Flydunker,
A smoke generator is a relatively simple thing to build. My smoker is an old 3 door upright commercial freezer. On one end I built a metal box 18" X 18" X 12" in which I mounted a 6" stove element and wired it to 110 volt. A door on the front of the box allows me to place the smudge pot directly on the burner element. I then have a 4" metal duct running from the top of the smoke generator, bending 90 degrees and entering the actual smoker.
I originaly wired the burner to 220 volt but it was so hot my wood only lasted about 30 minutes, the 110 volt setup gets me around 4 hours of smoke from a small amount of wood. Any other questions I'll be glad to help.

[Salmonsmoker]

Flydunker,

I agree with Saussageman, they are easy to make. I made a smoker out of an electric oven - dug a small trench from just below it to a small pit about 6 feet away. Covered the trench and pit with some old roof metal (two pieces - one for the trench and one for the pit) and put an electric hot plate in the pit.

This is an excellent way to utilize cold smoke. If you want a hot oven, just put some charcoal in the bottom of the smoker.

Salmonsmoker

[flydunker]

suasageman and slmonsmoker

What is the heat source for cooking the meat in the smoker? I can visualize the smoke generator going to the oven.

[Salmonsmoker]

flydunker,

The heat source......it is anything that you use....can be characoal, gas, electric, wood....anything that provides heat to the oven.

Generally, I use my own hardwood characoal (a by-product from my wood-fired Sauna.) A few years ago, I used gas. That was quick and easy but did not give the flavor that I wanted. I tried electric. Again, that did not give the flavor that I wanted (also, electric heat for the smoke generator can give a reduction smoke. The best flavor comes from an oxidation smoke. Run a search for "oxidation smoke" - a posting from last year about this subject.)

About 4 years ago, I was able to attend a National BBQ Cookoff in Paduka Ky. The contestants in that event burnt their own special blend of woods to get the special flavor that they needed to be at that level of competition.. From that experience I learned that the source of the heat matters a lot. It is another opportunity to give your foods the special flavor that you want them to have.

Whatever you use - the idea is to put heat in the smoke-oven. Keep track of the temperature. Also, keep detailed records. One time I made some smoked baked-beans. They were excellent....took them to a party and many people wanted to know how I made them. For almost 20 years, I have tried to duplicate that recipe - so far, my best efforts have only come close.

Hope this helps.

Salmonsmoker.

[flydunker]

thanks for the information and help gentlemen. I hopefully wil have something put together shortly and will update you how the efforts turned out.

flydunker

[bigmule]

as for soaking your wood i just dont do it, take a large chunk of hickory and put it in a bucket of water overnight then in the morning split the chunk open and notice as to just how little the water soaked in, if you need to use water then put it on sawdust or chips small enough that the water actually does soak it.

[RollingRock]

One sure way to get moisture in your chips or chunks is to boil them for 5-10 minutes on the stove. This opens the pores of the wood, allowing the moisture to get deeper in between the grains and will give you a longer, moister burn.

[SpinFly]

Question,i have read all the responses,and myself in the past have used a little chief,big chief,and a homemade one all elec,and they seem to be drying out my products way to much.I have never tried a smoke box on the outside due you believe it is much better than the units all combined in one like i listed.And many others like them.

[WeimsRus]

Question,i have read all the responses,and myself in the past have used a little chief,big chief,and a homemade one all elec,and they seem to be drying out my products way to much.I have never tried a smoke box on the outside due you believe it is much better than the units all combined in one like i listed.And many others like them.

This is the cold smoking method. If you do not properly brine your product and smoke it for the proper amount of time, you can make someone very sick. The advantage to cold smoking is, you have less shrinkage of the product and IMHO it is superior to hot smoking. You do have to have the correct setup to do this right. FYI, cold smoking of meats takes alot more time and effort than hot smoking. If you are drying out using the hot method, are you soaking your chips? This adds steam and will help to prolong the smoking time, also try raising your product higher from your heating element. Also, try shortening your smoking time.

[Halffasthog]

I don't bother soaking chunks, I do, however, soak chips. Soaking chunks only seems to delay the smoke about 20 minutes until it evaporates the water. Keep incoming air to a minimum if you really want them to smolder. I don't think water in the wood has much to contribute.