Where to find oak wood in NJ for brisket smoke

nutshellml

Evening all.. Anyone here in the NY/NJ area know where to get some oak wood for my brisket smoke this weekend???

Sea2Ski

Not to come across as a smarta$$, but it is all around you. If you know anyone with a wooded lot? The PA/NJ/NY area is predominately a oak and tulip poplar deciduous forest area. With the high winds from the weekend, there are probably tons of branches down that you can use. When I need some, I take a log of firewood from my woodpile and split it accordingly. Smoking wood does not need to come from a bag.

Carolina Q

Sorry, but I have never seen any variety of oak for sale anywhere. Other than firewood or lumber. Don't know about NJ/NY, but I would be amazed if you could find any other than that. Got any sawmills nearby? Slab wood would work.

You can order online from fruitawood. They even have the apparently preferred post oak there. Probably other places too. But for this weekend?

Jeremiah

If you're in time crunch and HAVE to have it, lowes does sell it. Just buy a board and cut it up. Obviously not the most cost effective, but if you have to...

Darby_Crenshaw

You can always buy hardwood at a big box store if you absolutely must. 

No. It isn't treated. 

Carolina Q

Sea2Ski said:

Not to come across as a smarta$$, but it is all around you. If you know anyone with a wooded lot? The PA/NJ/NY area is predominately a oak and tulip poplar deciduous forest area. With the high winds from the weekend, there are probably tons of branches down that you can use. When I need some, I take a log of firewood from my woodpile and split it accordingly. Smoking wood does not need to come from a bag.

Your suggestion is way better than mine!

Eggcelsior

You can try Maine Grilling Woods too. Shipping to Maryland was 3 days so northern Jersey may be even less. They offer Acadian Oak.

bhedges1987

Honestly the way wood burns in an egg your probably not going to be able to taste much of a difference between oak and anything else you find.  For a brisket especially.

nutshellml

Sea2Ski LOL... I thought that, but a little naive and wasn't sure if it needed to be dried or something specific.  I'm used to grabbing chunks of fruitwood at local BBQ spots or HD.

Yea, the winds were bad the last few days, so basically any lumberyard should have oak wood and that's basically it??

Thanks for all the quick responses...

Sea2Ski

Carolina Q said:

Your suggestion is way better than mine!

Thanks. 
I use the firewood all the time. I make about 15-20 sticks at a time at about 5/8-3/4" squar'ish and 6-8" long. Depending what I am cooking I will take 1-3 sticks and stick them straight down in the coals as I am getting ready to put the meat on. Brisket usually gets 3 at varying angles,  roast beef for the slicing 2, and burgers and thick reverse sear steaks 1/2-1 stick. Oak and beef go perfectly together. 

nutshellml

EXCELLENT.  And I like the idea about putting them straight down vs. layering them...  THANKS!

Sea2Ski

nutshellml said:

Sea2Ski LOL... I thought that, but a little naive and wasn't sure if it needed to be dried or something specific.  I'm used to grabbing chunks of fruitwood at local BBQ spots or HD.

Yea, the winds were bad the last few days, so basically any lumberyard should have oak wood and that's basically it??

Thanks for all the quick responses...

I use only dry, because that is what I have.  I honestly do not know about burning green wood. That is a good point. Might be bitter?  I really do not know.
Surely someone around you has a pile of firewood.  Oak is pretty easy to identify...

Good luck!  

Darby_Crenshaw

Twigs and deadfall work really well

the bark is not an issue. Don't worry about the mythical bitterness of bark. It's not bitter at all 

nutshellml

Sea2Ski said:

Surely someone around you has a pile of firewood.  Oak is pretty easy to identify...

I have no shame, so I'll say that I have a 1/2 cord of firewood out back I'll have to ID the oak.  Again, little uneducated as far as the wood / smoking / etc... That's why I'm thankful this forum is here.  Thanks...

Sea2Ski

nutshellml said:

Sea2Ski said:

Surely someone around you has a pile of firewood.  Oak is pretty easy to identify...

I have no shame, so I'll say that I have a 1/2 cord of firewood out back I'll have to ID the oak.  Again, little uneducated as far as the wood / smoking / etc... That's why I'm thankful this forum is here.  Thanks...

If you take a clear piece (meaning no knots), split it in half and post a picture of the grain; both showing the entire length of the log and a close up picture, I should be able to tell you if it is oak.  Not what species, but will (probably) know if it is oak. 

kl8ton

craigslist should yield excellent results in finding a source for wood.

Webass

I buy my oak chunks at Academy Sports.  It's even a couple bucks cheaper than their other woods.

dayzed&confused

Don't use green wood in my opinion. To me the it taste terrible. Academy sells oak chunks if there is one near by. If not look for stores that sell bbq pits, chances are they will also sell wood chips or chucks.

Eggaroo

Many places also sell bags of Jack Daniels brand chunks or chips which are made from white oak bourbon barrels. They are good for beef.

robnybbq

There is a restaurant equipment place in White Plains NY that sells Oak chunks in a large bad.  I got some last year there.

When I did not have Oak chunks I used Hickory on the Brisket smoke.

northGAcock

Sea2Ski said:

nutshellml said:

Sea2Ski said:

Surely someone around you has a pile of firewood.  Oak is pretty easy to identify...

 I should be able to tell you if it is oak.  Not what species, but will (probably) know if it is oak. 

@sea2Ski    I am disappointed. Here I thought you were the Bubba Gump Shrimp equivalent of the hardwoods.

Sea2Ski

Maybe I'm not... Then again.....  hmmmm...

pgprescott

I use pellets intended for pellet cookers. They work very well. You can get a really good mix throughout the lump.

nutshellml

Sea2Ski said:

If you take a clear piece (meaning no knots), split it in half and post a picture of the grain; both showing the entire length of the log and a close up picture, I should be able to tell you if it is oak.  Not what species, but will (probably) know if it is oak. 

@Sea2Ski Does the work?

SmokingPiney

@nutshellml,

It's too bad you didn't need this last spring. I cut down 3 huge oaks that were damaged and I had literally tons of it. I knew a few guys that heat their homes with wood stoves and they took it all. 

Carolina Q

@nutshellml, Google image search "oak end grain". See if you have a match.

Or... Red oak left, white right...

Sea2Ski

@nutshellml man oh man.....  I really do not want to give bad advise here, so I have to say right up front, I really can not be 100% sure with the pictures. no fault of your own... I just thought I would be able to tell easier. Maybe someone else can confirm?

With that being said, I really, really looked closely at the pictures and each piece of wood for a while, and this is what I came up with:

The top picture, I can not tell at all. It is so dry, checked, and rough cut with the way the chainsaw's angle was changed during the cut, I can not tell anything.

The second picture, the grain looks good, but I do not see any "fleck" in the wood. If that is really dry wood, then it is tough to see anyway on a rough cut like that once it dries unless the light is right. The stringiness, or really, lack there of, looks consistent with oak.
The last picture, the top right piece looks very consistent with a member of the oak family. From the angle, I can not tell if it is "punky" or "curly".  Punky wood is soft and full of air. Curly wood has several causes but is most often caused by "growing pain" of a tree (tree growing fast when needing to support its own weight.) This is why it is usually found in and around the crotches of trees and where the roots come into the trunk right at soil level. The bottom left piece looks like oak, and the the piece - which if I had to choose only one of the bunch that I felt the most sure of was oak, is the one in the second vertical row from the left and the second one down. The grain of the wood is most consistent with oak traits just under the sclerenchyma layer of wood - at least that is where it is usually most noticeable.

Tough to do over the web. I am sorry I can not help more. I know if I was there in person, I would be able to tell.

Take piece, spit it down the center. Depending on how dry it really is you should be able to tell it by smell, but yours does look well seasoned so maybe not. Oak has a distinctive smell. Whenever I am splitting it, I just want to drink a heavily oaked Cab wine.  If you ever head west of Philly, let me know and I will give you a truck load.

nutshellml

Can't thank you enough for the info... Even if you can't tell 100%, it's 99% more than I could figure out.  So I'll go with your pick, split it up, see if I feel like a glass of Cab and put it vertical in the lump and let's see how it goes.  There's always the next smoke  Learning process...

I'll def take you up on the oak offer if I'm ever out that way!

Again, thank you for info.

WeberWho

Man only if you were closer. 125' a few weeks ago

77bronco

Any difference between red oak and white oak for smoking. Is one preferred over the other. I've seen recipes for brisket that call for "post oak". What is post oak (red or white)?

bhedges1987

77bronco said:

Any difference between red oak and white oak for smoking. Is one preferred over the other. I've seen recipes for brisket that call for "post oak". What is post oak (red or white)?

there's one bbq restaurant around me that uses "white" oak.  It has a VERY VERY mellow flavor.  I honestly can't really taste it at all.  Red oak has a better smell.  Not sure on the flavor.