Soaking time for smoking wood...

gwopy

...and no, this isn't a question about how long your old lady needs to stay in the bath before she'll fellate you.
Hickory chunks, about .5-1 inch diameter if they were circular...how long should I soak them prior to an ~6 hour smoke at around 240 degrees?

stike

no need to soak really. they won't burn (flame) in the egg because there's no spare oxygen. there's some thinking that soaking will hold their burn temps down, because higher then 500-600 degrees, there can be bitter byproducts produced.

but in the egg, chunks and chips are never on their own, and are always sorta held back from fully catching on fire.

PhilsGrill

None. No need to soak any wood in a ceramic cooker. Food absorbs the majority of smoke the first 20-30 mins, and your wet wood would only steam for a while. If you were on a grill (weber) then soaking the wood is recommended because of the moisture loss.

Celtic Wolf

ZERO...

Soaking wood for smoking is useless. Water boils at 212 and your cooking at 220. Plus the stuff under it is burning in excess of 1000 degrees. Water will be long gone before you put the meat in to cook.

Just throw the wood in and let it burn. Contrary to popular belief it will continue to add smoke till it's ash.

gwopy

Very well stated answer...thank you.

stike

uh oh...
myth alert! (sorry to be the dinkus)

food will accept smoke at any time in the cook. ...but it doesn't really absorb it at all. nitric acid (from the smoke) can wick into the meat a little (it's what makes the smoke ring), but all the flavor is (GASP!) on the outside. it's a persistent myth, and it's probably tiring to read old stike blathering on about it again.

you can cook ribs for the entire cook without smoke, and then smoke away for the last couple hours. you'll have the flavor, just no smoke ring. smoke ring stops forming when the surface of the meat hits 140 or so (not the internal temp, but the temp where the ring forms)

Mr. & Mrs Potatohead

Hey…
Both PhilsGrill,Celtic Wolf and stike have already done the job! Absolutely NO reason to soak smoke wood destined for the Egg.
But…
I do, however, have to share what Grandpa Charlie shared with me about cold smoking: I’m not sure about the temps. already stated in regard to flavor, smoke ring and such…And we’re talking smoke-house here, but still. :unsure:
A cold smoke (no more than about 200 F.) and cold meat will take on the “smoke” the best. The flavor of the smoke wood (of your choosing) will be taken on for about two to four hours (at best) and after that it will not make all that much of a difference.
The idea was to cold smoke, then cook, and the temp. was brought up a bit. Maybe to 300 F. for another two hours or better, dependent on what was in the smoke-house. Still a long / slow / smoke / cook.
OTOH, more than one smoke-house has been burnt down by Grandpa! :woohoo: Me thinks it was a temperature / grease problem.
None the less, even though now many years ago, the sausage, bacon and ham that he, uncle and cousin (actually they all burnt down a smoke-house or two) produced has never been matched!!!
I only hope to be able to get close to what they were able to do!I try to apply this “old time” knowledge to my "Egging" and feel that the first hour or two are the most crucial to a good "cold smoke".
Can't say that Charlie was right or had scientific proof of anything...But it worked! And I'm trying!