Do you soak the wood chunks before putting them in the egg?

Tier1Terrier

i'm smoking my first pork butt tomorrow. Before I put the wood chunks on top of the Kohl's, do I soak them and if so for how long before putting them on?

Tier1Terrier

I meant coals lol.  I was using voice recognition sorry  

Mattman3969

Negative on the soaking of the chunks. Mix them in while you are adding lump so you have smoke throughout the cook.  I would use maybe 4-5 chunk of a mix of cherry & oak for a butt. 

ChokeOnSmoke

No need to ever soak wood chunks.  No benefit at all.  Just toss them in.

Mosca

I don't. As soon as you close the lid they start smouldering. There's no need to soak them.

Jeepster47

Want to prove to yourself that it doesn't help to soak the lump?  Soak one piece of your normal lump wood for however long you normally soak ... hour or two.  Then split the chunk down the middle and look at how little the water has soaked into the wood.

RRP

The reason you don't need to soak might be of interest - wet wood has to dry out first in order to start smoking! In the meantime you have introduced steam in your egg which is not needed nor is a pan of liquid in a BGE. Make sense now?

PASmoke

I agree with @RRP and would add that soaking wood chunks also prologs the harsh, white smoke that you actually want to burn off prior to adding your meat. It's a necessary evil for those who don't have a natural wood fire burning....but you do....so, just weave it into your coals....open a cold beer....and enjoy the smoke! 

RRP

Jeepster47 said:

Want to prove to yourself that it doesn't help to soak the lump?  Soak one piece of your normal lump wood for however long you normally soak ... hour or two.  Then split the chunk down the middle and look at how little the water has soaked into the wood.

Good point, Tom. I have to wonder if the soaking idea gained a foothold in backyard America when grilling was done fast and furious using chips - not chunks - so to get a rise of smoke then the water created STEAM masking as "smoke" before the real smoke occurred. Thin flaky chips surely absorb more water, more quickly due to the open exposed pores than chunks. Stands to reason doesn't it?

bboulier

There is good scientific evidence that soaking wood chunks doesn't matter.  However, you should soak wood chips.  For example, I use alder chips to fast cook salmon steaks.  They should be soaked, otherwise they just burn up quickly.