How to get best results from smoking chips

Babyray

How do you get the max benefit from smoking chips, such as apple, pecan,etc. Some say soak in water, others say not. If smoking something indirect using grill and plate setter, it is not easy to add additional chips once you are set up. I have used larger chunks of hickory that last a little longer. Thanks for any info. [p]Ray Price

djm5x9

RayBaby:[p]Chips do not last very long and I have much better results with chunks. I get the fire going, pre-heat the cooker, and then add the chunks and stir them in a little so they make contact with the coals. Then the vents are adjusted for maximum smoke for about thirty minutes - or your taste. Do not waste your time soaking smoking wood as it really hinders the smoking and does not make the wood last longer.
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trout16

Babyray,
the platesetter does complicate things a bit doesn't it? I always either soak my chips or chunk for that matter. I almost always store them outside though in plastic bag, this way they are "weathered" or seasoned if you will. This seems to make them smolder and smoke better in my opinion, a lil more bang for your buck if you will. Invest in an eggmate or table and good set of gloves and then you can solve your platesetter problem.

WessB

Babyray,
I assume from your post you are cooking lo and slo...I also use chunks over chips, but the same would apply to either...get your egg stabilized with the plate setter inside ( if you have gloves to remove it that is ) once stabilized remove the setter and place a chunk or 2 or some chips right in the center where the coals are burning, then place more randomly and varying distances from the center. This way as the coals start to burn outward they will reach new chips/chunks and continue to smoke...HTH[p]Wess

yaB

Babyray,
You don't describe what kind of cooking you're doing (low and slow or higher temp roasting), but either way I'd advise using chunks instead of chips in the Egg. [p]Don't bother soaking them. Put one big chunk right in the middle of the fire when you start cooking, and if you feel you need more smoke, place smaller chunks around the periphery of wherever the fire is at the time, before assembling the plate setter and grill. As an earlier poster noted, these peripheral chunks will eventually heat up and start smoking. [p]But keep in mind that the greater part of the smoke flavor in the meat is imparted before the meat crusts over. After that, most of the smoke flavor just goes up in smoke, so to speak.[p]If you've got a lot of wood chips on hand, don't throw them out or give them away. You can always just throw a handful of them on the fire for "casual" smoke flavor when grilling.[p]Bob

stike

Babyray,
I don't soak.[p]Soaking only means steam, until the steam burns off. Then you have a dry chip, at which point it smokes.[p]So mine are dry to begin with.[p]I mix them in, throughout the lump. I tried the single-chunk method, or a couple chunks, and you run the risk of the fire burning in the other direction.[p]My chips throughout give smoke throughout the cook.[p]As for the crust sealing off the smoke... Well. that's sounds like a misquote of the truth that after a certain temp, the smoke RING stops forming. But the smoke ring hasn't anything to do with flavor.[p]Smoke will continue to deposit on the meat whether there is crust, or it is at 100 internal, or 200 internal.[p]And that smoke will taste like, um, well, smoke.[p]I find that spreading the chips orsmall chunks throughout gives me near continuous smoke. But it's also light enough that it doesn''t overwhelm the meat. ...though that's an opinion only.[p]