BGE Forum to the Rescue!

BBQfan1

A few notes, and then a question today. First of all, thanks to the BGE forum for saving the day on Sunday. I bbq'd Saturday night, a mixed grill of wings, 3 kinds of sausage, pork loin chops and ribeye steaks. I got the Egg nice and hot for the steaks, which were the last item on the grill, and then shut it down. Since it was -20 celsius (-5 or 6F? I forget), some condensation must have built up on the cooling down, and, yup, you guessed it, the Egg was frozen shut when I went to cook for more company on Sunday. Thankfully, you guys had been talking on the forum recently of just this very thing, and I [p]calmly dropped a firestarter through the chimney opening and worked it[p]down to the remaining coals where it caught enough to get to 200[p] degrees; enough to free the lid. Thanks to whomever posted that idea (TimM?). Also, mentioned the forum and great advise there to my wife, plus the upcoming Eggfest. To my surprise, she thought it would be great if we could make it down! We're starting to saving our coins (remember, here is Canada we have 1 and 2 dollar coins, so it adds up fast!). If we are looking good when the registration deadline comes along we will make the Eggfest an International event. A visit to the Mapquest site tells us it's 525 miles and 11 and a half hours away. Just right for an extended weekend!! [p]Now, my question: I've only used wood chips for smoking, but most of you use wood chunks. Our local paper has classifieds under 'firewood' for apple and cherry etc (I like apple wood), but my question is, is this suitable for cooking with if I chopped it into chunks? Should I ask if wood is 'organic'? I can't imagine using something that's been sprayed, for example. I hate paying $4.99 for a little bag of chips. I think chunks would give a more even, subtle flavor that the quick smoke blast that soaked chips seem to. Any feedback?

Nature Boy

BBQfan1,
Glad to hear you are thinking of joining us at the fest![p]Wood chunks are great. They really burn for a long time. Seasoned for a year or so, your chunks should be excellent. 1 or 2 on the fire should smoke for a while.

Earl

BBQfan1,[p] Good question about the pesticide. I do believe that most
of the spary would be rendered to weak to have any ill
effect to the user. Most wood has been dried for 6 months
or more & the heat from the Egg should kill the remainder.
Think of all the times we have eaten fruit, some of which
may or may not have inadvertantly gone unwashed.
I also see you may be going down to Eggfest, you will love
the experience. We are from Toronto & have gone to Atlanta
each Eggfest great memories, great people. Will also try
for DC, time will tell.

Earl

Ear

Bryan

BBQfan1,[p]As mentioned above; Chunks work great. I got a big bag on the deck by my Egg. I just put one or two in every now and then. This way I keep some wood in the fire and always get a good smoke flavor in the food. If you want to smoke with a particular or special wood one night (different than what you normally put in) just empty the firebox and re-load fresh coals and wood. Put the old back in when you're finished, for the next cook.[p]Bryan[p]

Mark

BBQfan1,
A friend of mine has apple tree's in his yard, when he prunes them I am alway's there for the harvest. The organic question is legitmate with all the differnt chemical's used today. The wood I gather I know is not sprayed with anything, lucky the tree's are even pruned.
Here in the States we have county extention agency's, don't know about Canada, I'll put in call to my local ex.ag. and ask, will post the result's.
Good question,
Mark

Tim M

BBQfan1,[p]I love getting credit for something I didn't do - I hate telling people I didn't do it though. I am glad you got Humptey open again and that all turned out well for you (it's just the beginning), but I didn't give you the idea to drop in a fire starter to unfreeze the seal. Heck, I would have suggested putting it under the grate as thats an easier place to start the fire from anyway. I start all my fires for grilling under there now. Actually I would have assumed it was the felt liner that got stuck together from food or grease that dripped on it or something like that. Glad it all worked out.

Nature Boy

Tim M,
Do you put the firestarter on top of something to jack it up close to the grate, or just set it at the bottom of the egg under the grate? I have great luck with starting 1 at the top for low slow... or 2 in different spots, mid-level in the lump pile for grilling, or high temp. With the trivet the fire moves down quickly, and consumes the bottom coals before the top coals anyway.[p]But I would like to see how the under-the-grate method compares, if you could describe your method.[p]Thanks,
NB

Tim M

Nature Boy,
The Webber fire cube works great just laying in a pile of ash under the grate. Once lit I push it to a center position under the grate.[p]Tim --- Eggfest2000 is getting more sign ups!!

KennyG

Tim M,[p]C'mon now guys, the old starter cube in the ash pit trick was my idea from EggFest98 and I can prove it in a court of law with JJ as my primary witness hehehehe[p]K~G

Nature Boy

KennyG,
Thanks for introducing this wonderous and genius idea!
Tonight I am gonna crack one of those PBRs i been ssvin ya, and attempt this magical under-the-grate phenomenon.

Nature Boy

Tim M,
Thanks. Great to hear about the new sign-ups. I got a feelin the outcome will suprise everyone. Still over 3 more months.[p]Eggfest2000![p]NB

Tim M

KennyG,
I am not tring to take credit for it. I tried it when I had a ceramic grate and claimed it the best way to start a grilling temp (375+)fire. When I added the metal grate - I found it to be even better. [p]Tim

Mark

BBQfan1,
Found Arthur Haskins, Dept. of Agri. Nova scotia, Canada, he states "most chemicals used on apple treees break down very rapidly and using the wood should not be a problem."
Mark

BBQfan1

Mark,[p]Thanks so much for taking the time to check out the wood chunk/pesticide connection for me! I really appreciate it. Saturday morning will involve a trip to local seller of firewood for some apple, and maybe some oak, which I have read on bbq sites is excellent for smoking beef. Also a stop at our local BGE outlet for some more lump is in order.

Dr. Chicken

BBQfan1,
I see you've gotten quite a few posts on this! If you don't mind, I'll throw my $ .02 worth in. Four years ago, we got to questioning the same thing! We were using pecan, apple, cherry, grape vines, hickory and white oak! The trees that we knew were sprayed, were sprayed with a "dormant oil" and a multi use insecticideal soap. We later found out the grape vines and the apple had a "multi purpose insecticide" sprayed on them early in the growing season. One of the guys we hang out with, is the lab supervisor for a well accredited lab. His tests could not detect residues of any of the products or subsequent by-products down to a level of 1ppb (1 part per billion) and in some of the searches he went as low as 1ppt (1 part per trillion). I venture to say from these results, an orchardist would have be soaking his trees in stuff that would throw his fruit out of the marketplace before you'd find residues high enough to even detect. IMHO, unless he stacks the wood directly in the path of some field spraying or weed spraying target, you won't have any problems.[p]Dr. Chicken

Elder Ward

BBQfan1,[p]I'm sure that you got all the advice anyone could want or use from the great people here. Just let me say glad to see you posting and if kyou have any of those chunck of wood extra you can send them to me.
&^))[p]Elder Ward