wood chips vs. wood chunks

Unknown

just started using a bge. oh my god, what an amazing device! anyway, i've been smoking chickens just to get used to controlling the temperature. Tomorrow I'm going to smoke a boston butt for about 12 hours. [p]Question is, what are the thoughts on wood chips vs. wood chunks in a big green egg on a low and slow smoke. What about the same question on a quick, higher temp smoke.

Fidel

geaux wine,[p]Use chunks. Always.

Unknown

geaux wine,[p]We are told the meat takes on the most smoke flavor at the begining of the cook expecially when the meat is still cool.[p]On a low and slow I use some dry, some whet and I also take some wet chips and put them in a tinfoil tub of sorts.[p]My thought is the dry will take off quickly, wet later and the tub with water will later dry our and the chips will dry and begin to smoke.[p]Another thought is to put the chips at the origin of your start then move some chip outwards to the edge of the lump. As the fire grows it will catch those outer chips.[p]Chunks, soaked or not, will of couse smolder longer rendering a longer smoke cycle. The chunks if put at the lump start point will begin to smolder pretty quickly too.[p]I have also tried droping fresh chips though the grill when I thought the original chips were gone. Droping them through the grill is a real pain in the 'ash' I don't advise throuh the grid but use any combo you can think of.[p]Acutally cooking in the egg seems to get a good amount of smoke flavor in most meats without too much fussing or strategic planning.[p]Hope your holiday was great and enjoy your egg.[p]Kent

Big'un

geaux wine,
Chunks are the way to go. I've tried chips, like when they were on closeout, or when someone gave me some to try, but I always come back to chunks. Steady deliberate smoke! Just set them stratigically in your lump and you're good to go.

stike

geaux wine,
i dunno. you got a lot of advice below.[p]frankly, wood is wood. i use chips, chunks, barked, no bark, etc. [p]chips and chunks don't do anything better than the other, unless you use one like you'd use the other. meaning, use chips like chips and chunks like chunks. people win contests with either, so it doesn't affect the food. you just gotta use them "crorrectly".[p]in the BGE chips can be mixed throughout the lump to maximize smoke during a lo and slo. your fire crawls around, so you want chips where the fire will be. you won't use up all the chips because the fire won't use up all the lump. don't screw with wet chips. in a ggasser, you wet chips to keep them from burning outright, and flaming. they can't do that in the egg. you can have a raging fire, and toss in wood, and it WILL NOT CATCH FIRE as long as the lid is shut and the airflow is dialed in. open the lid, and the wood WILL burst in to flame. shut it, and it goes out. it WILL smoke though. and that's what you want.[p]chunks are fine too. you strategically put them around the lump, and maybe push one into your fire right at the start, just to make sure.[p]put in as many chips/chunks as you want. smoke flavor is added as long as there is smoke. that means, if you had a butt going 20 hours, and the smoke only showed up for the last hour, it'll still smell like (and taste like) smoke. it's the smoke RING that only forms in the first hour or so. and the smoke ring is color, not flavor. so don't worry about when smoke kicks in. if you like a lot, add a lot of chips or chunks.[p]chunks vs. chips is the same as "ford vs. chevy". much ado about nothing.[p]oh, as for high temp cooks. i like to toss a couple chips in sometimes when a steak is finishing. did it last night, actually. and again, no worry about flames. i tossed the wood in, shut the lid, and got some decent smoke. only when the lid was opened did it catch fire. i flipped the steak, then shut the dome, and the chips went out. that's nice to know. flames are actually bad for steak. they look pretty, but flamed is less desirable than direct heat from the lump. flame isn't as hot, either.[p]whew. lotta typing.
but this is something that comes up a lot....[p][p]