Oak - How long to season??

FrankC

Good Morning!

My question is, how long do I need to wait to properly season fresh oak trimmings? I spent all of Saturday morning trimming two very large trees. When all is said and done, I should have about a 1/4 cord....plenty for me.

I've trimmed all of the smaller branches, and am left with anything from a 1 1/2" to 8" diameter trimmings.

As always, any/all advice is greatly appreciated!

fc

Celtic Wolf

3-6 months depending on how dry of an environment they are in.

BajaTom

Use as soon as possible. The fresher the oak the cleaner the smoke. Good luck to all. Tom

FrankC

BajaTom wrote:

Use as soon as possible. The fresher the oak the cleaner the smoke. Good luck to all. Tom

Seriously? This stuff is really green, I mean literally green when you break the bark.

fc

Celtic Wolf

You can do what Tom suggests, but green wood produces more creosote. Creosote produces ucky taste not to mention build up inside the eggs

Midnight Smoker

I concur with CW. Burning green wood can get you some truly nasty flavors on your food. Think of a woodburning stove. You don't burn green wood because of all the extra creosote produced and that will be what is hitting your food. It's definitely not a cleaner smoke.

I usually slice the wood into disks approximately 1 1/2" to 2" think using either a chainsaw or bandsaw, depending on size. This helps them dry faster. I typically air dry them for 6 months. Make sure they have plenty of air cirulation or you could get some mold problems. After they dry I split the disks up into nice manageable chunks.

Good luck and enjoy the home grown smoke!!

FrankC

Midnight Smoker wrote:

I concur with CW. Burning green wood can get you some truly nasty flavors on your food. Think of a woodburning stove. You don't burn green wood because of all the extra creosote produced and that will be what is hitting your food. It's definitely not a cleaner smoke.

I usually slice the wood into disks approximately 1 1/2" to 2" think using either a chainsaw or bandsaw, depending on size. This helps them dry faster. I typically air dry them for 6 months. Make sure they have plenty of air cirulation or you could get some mold problems. After they dry I split the disks up into nice manageable chunks.

Good luck and enjoy the home grown smoke!!

I like the idea of cutting into disks...just need to build a jig to make the cutting go faster. Do you use anything specific?

fc

jeffinsgf

I suppose your approach depends a little on your equipment. I like my splits about 4 inches long and about 2 inches square or triangle. If you cut it to length first, you create a whole lot more splitting for yourself. I cut all my stock into firewood length pieces (16 - 18 inches) and split to a 4 - 5 inch section with a hydraulic splitter. Then when prepping to cook, I split into 2 inch sections and cut to 4 inch length with the bandsaw. That also lets me use the same wood pile for cooking and heating.

GrillDaddy

I was thinking 6+ months as well. You want to make sure it is dry & season wood!

Midnight Smoker

I don't use anything real complicated.

When I chainsaw them, I just put them on a basic homemade sawbuck zipping off 10 or 12 disks before shifting the log. For bandsawing I have an L shaped jig that gives me some support for the odd shape of the branches.

It goes without saying, but always wear your safety gear and don't get in a hurry.

jeffinsgf

I woke up thinking about this thread (I know....sick, huh? The monkey is planted firmly on my back). Logic says that Celtic Wolf and Midnight Smoker are right. There's no question that green wood creates more creosote. That's why I'm cutting next year's fire wood now, so that it has at least 6 months in the hot sun before I put it in my wood stove. On the other hand, the very best smoke flavor that I produce comes in my summer time cooks when I go out in the woods and trim the small branches and twigs off my hickory trees and put them directly on the fire minutes after being cut. :huh:

This brings up a couple questions. Is it species dependent? Could be. I've never tried green oak twigs. If I want oak smoke, I use dry trunk wood. But, since I haven't tried oak twigs, I can't say it wouldn't be pleasant. Same with cherry. In cherry I like to use "kinda green" trunk wood -- I don't mind hearing a little sizzle from the chunks. Also is there a difference between twig smoke and trunk smoke? I've never really tried using fresh hickory trunk wood, because when I have a fresh trunk, I have an abundance of twigs, which are my favorite to begin with.

I think the bottom line is somewhere around here. Experiment. Throw something in the Egg, let it gen for a few minutes and then lean into the smoke. If it smells good, it will more than likely taste good. If it smells nasty, let it burn a while longer before you put your food on --- if it's too green it won't be for long sitting on top of 1100º lump.

Smoke is a powerful cooking tool. Subtle is best. Less is more (to a point).

Midnight Smoker

My statements weren't meant as a judgement on the way you do it, just observations. I'm a firm believer in "if it tastes good, do it!!" when it comes to cooking. No hard and fast rules other than it better be dead by the time it hits the grate.

I like your logic regarding the difference between twigs and trunk wood. The twigs may burn off the potentially nasty stuff quick resulting in good clean smoke whereas chunks of green trunk probably take longer to get to this state.

Anyway, thanks for the alternative view. It's a good day when I can learn my one thing early and coast through the rest of the day. :woohoo:

Unknown

There are a lot of roadside barbecue stands that swear green is best. Mainly because it's cheaper and easier to get I bet. Like you said, if it smells good, it should taste good. I use green wood and dry and haven't ever noticed a difference. If I was using a cord of wood it might be bad, but I use a few chunks or chips.

FrankC

I've been told and read that fruit woods are ok to use green, but that the other hard woods (oak, hickory, pecan, maple, etc) have to be seasoned at least 6 months.

fc

Unknown

Wouldn't hurt to try it.