Wood placement in BGE plus trick question

Stitches · October 2008

Alright I'm going to smoke a 14 lb brisket tomorrow and I've never used wood chunks on my BGE. What's the best way to place the wood chunks to get a good and lasting smoke? I've used chips before which I just spread them all over mixing them in the coals, is it the same idea with chunks?

Now the trick question, I have pecan,apple,pear and cherry what do you think would go good with a brisket? All the briskets in the past I've smoked using hickory but never used the others. Just wondering what others opinion might be.

Edit:
After some reading pecan might go really well with brisket.

Thanks,

Chris

stike · October 2008

damn. was thinking you were cooking a woodchuck.

The Ohio State Buckeye BBQ Guy · October 2008

I never had much luck smoking until someone showed me a quick trick. After soaking the wood chips, you place the chips in center of a square piece of heavy duty aluminum foil. You then wrap the foil around the wood chips forming a long rectangle except that you leave one of the short ends open to allow the smoke to escape. Hope that makes sense. Good luck!

BENTE · October 2008

listen here is what i would do..

never soak anything!!! the egg controls air so you don't have to worry about anything burning up before you are ready.. (by allowing air in).... when you use a gasser you have no control over the amount of air that comes in to the cooker so you need to soak your chips so they don't burn up

and if you use aluminum foil make sure it is above the coals (meaning wrapped around something besides wood!!!!)

and i use cherry more than anything.. and i don't use chips unless i am using that jack dainels stuff.. and i do not soak it :laugh:

Sweathog · October 2008

No need for aluminum foil baskets or any special arrangement. Just mix the chunks throughout the lump at different vertical levels and horizontal spots so that the wood smolders throughout the burn down.

Hope that helps.

Sweathog

stike · October 2008

i build the fire (for a low and slow) in "lifts". lifts are layers, essentially. dump some lump, and put some wood (chunk or chips) into the middle. some mor elump, some more chips (in the middle, again). more lump, etc. etc. maybe three, maximum four lifts.

the fire isn't going to wander all over the place. it'll burn in the middle/rear, downward, about 99 out of a 100 times.

the fire will find wood as it burns.

no need to soak. there's no spare oxygen to ignite it. it will smolder rather than burst into flame.

Stitches · October 2008

Sorry about the spelling error but spelling was my worst subject many years ago.

Thanks for the great tips ans suggestion.

Stitches · October 2008

stike wrote:

damn. was thinking you were cooking a woodchuck.

No they taste to much like chicken

Mr. & Mrs Potatohead · October 2008

Spelling is my nightmare too!!

But still, I would NEVER place a wood chuck in my BGE…

For sure!
I echo the posts regarding not to soak or foil. That is necessary in a gasser and even on a kettle, but not with the Egg. I have successfully placed smoke wood throught my burn and have never had any problems.
When I smoke a turkey, I use apple smoke wood and do put some through out the burn (the lifts concept), but I concentrate more of it in the first part of the burn. The cold meat takes on more smoke flavor then later on, as it cooks. I like a good pungent smoke taste so I “blast it” right away.
Good luck and have fun!

thirdeye · October 2008

Excellent answer...(Sitches, here is a visual of what stike is talking about. I think for a brisket fire, I would go with one more layer than is shown).

As far as the "trick" question, pecan is one of my favorite brisket woods

Pork Butt Mike · October 2008

Hey there Wayne hope all is good with you buddy, It must be nice to get a variety of different wood for smoking. I can only get hickory or Mesquite here. I use the hickory for the beacon wich I like. But you can use only so much Hickory or Mesquite for other types of food. I can get lots of palm tree wood.

Meat · October 2008

How can you tell when the "bad" smoke is gone, and the "good" smoke is doing it's stuff? In thirdeye's pic it looks like they will both be rolling at about the same time. Thanks. FG

stike · October 2008

no man. no problem with the spelling. have you seen my posts? i ain't exactly the best speller in the room.

thirdeye · October 2008

Yes, during the initial start-up, both the lump and some of the wood will be lighting at the same time. But remember you are only lighting a core fire in one spot. Once the harsh smoke burns off and settles down, you are ready to cook. While you are cooking, this established fire spreads slowly so the effect of a little new fuel or wood is hardly noticed.

CRF450808 · October 2008

I'm a chipper not a chunker too and am just starting to use chunks as well; thanks for all the info folks. I used a few chunks on a kettle once and got the dreaded bitter flav so I've been a little shy of em. I'll try the levels thing tomorrow w/ 2 butts.. Since it will be a long cook I want to use some chunkies..

I used the "spiral method" w/ chips explained in the rib video on biggreenegg.com the last time I did ribs and it produced a nice level of smoke throughtout the cook.. It was cool, you could see when the fire found some wood as little wisps of smoke would be noticible, but the amount never appeared to be too much- Thanks for the pics above of the different levels of smoke!

Stitches · October 2008

Great info and thanks for posting the pics as examples. The brisket is on.

emt_24 · October 2008

Looks good, what did you rub that with?

Stitches · October 2008

Paprika
garlic powder
celery salt
coarse salt
brown sugar
cummin
chile powder
oregna
black pepper
white pepper
cayenne pepper

No specific measurement when making the rub I just guesstimate and works good everytime. I do go a little easy on the salt and pepper.

Wood placement in BGE plus trick question

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