Any rule of thumb for amount of smoking wood?

BabyBoomBBQ

I wanted to see how much volume of smoking wood everyone uses. When I started last year, I only had the BBQ Bible to use as a guide. The GF mentioned last night that I had made a couple of "too smoky" batches of BBQ over the last year. (There were a couple of rather inebriated cooking events, so I think I know which ones she means.)[p]Apparently, she didn't want to dampen my enthusiasm. Needless to say, I was not happy about being robbed of honest input. How are you supposed to improve when your getting smoke blown up your you-know-what? I’ve got to start going to eggfests and competitions.

dhuffjr

BabyBoomBBQ,
I use chips more so than chunks and just use a small handful and throw them in so they are spread around. I you use chunks I would only use one or two at most.

Essex County

BabyBoomBBQ,
I generally use a good handful of chips or a couple of chunks when cooking something that will be done in less than 2 hours. I may use a bit more when doing ribs or something else that takes a while. Another factor is the type of wood you are using. Hickory and mesquite are pretty strong. Pecan is mild. Most of the other fruitwoods are in the middle. The Naked Whiz has a nice compendium of wood types on his website.[p]HTH[p]Paul

Unknown

BabyBoomBBQ,[p]This has been an ongoing issue in my household as my wife and kids prefers the milder tasting smoked meats. I tend to use 2-3 chunks of hickory for thick meats like Boston Butt so there's a good mixture of smokey bark and meat when I pull it. I tend to use one chunk for ribs, but not hickory, I use Cherry, Pecan or Guava (sp?)as the meat is so much thinner. I also let the wood cook a while, 1/2 hr or so before I put the meat on, to let the wood dry out a little bit. Lastly, I never use mesquite for slow cooking as it's too bitter. I would throw a little on for a steak or burgers though.[p]Howard

thirdeye

BabyBoomBBQ,[p]The rule of thumb will be your rule, once you figure out what you & the family likes. As important as the amount of wood are the type,how long you let it burn down before loading your cooker and matching the wood to the meat.[p] If you http://playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com/1994/02/smoking-woods.html you will go to my wood page which has some basic info as well as a picture of the amount I would use on some ribs. [p] If you http://playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com/2004/02/introduction-to-barbecuing.html you will go another page that has some photos of vents you might mind useful.[p]~thirdeye~

BabyBoomBBQ

thirdeye,[p]I love your site! Thanks for the information. [p]I think I'll try the pastrami soon too.