BGE Newb (Charcoal)

dkmiller16 · August 2018

So I got my a BGE, Large, about a month ago. I have been playing around with learning how to control temps, all the different ways to use the BGE to, smoke, grill, cook, etc. I was usually a, fire up the propane grill quickly, type of guy till I first started using the BGE. I love it, and the community of Eggheads is a mostly wonderful group from what I have experienced so far.

Now for the main reason for my post. I work at a woodworking facility, we produce all the components for cabinets but don't assemble or stain/finish anything at our facility. We use approximately a semi-load of wood per day. As you can imagine that produces a fair amount of scrap/waste product. We used to only pile up the scrap and sell locally to the people that have wood burners and want some kindling to burn with their larger chunks of wood, still do that. About a year ago we decided to venture into some charcoal manufacturing. The species of wood we use are Red Oak, Maple, Hickory, Cherry, and Ash. Obviously the size of the charcoal that we produce is smaller, average size is 2" x 4" x 1" and not the big chunks like some of the lump charcoal. I get all the charcoal I want for free so I haven't tried any other charcoal yet. The moisture content of the wood that we use in our facility is between 6%-9%. I have gathered that isn't ideal to use as smoking wood and that most people prefer 20%-25% moisture.

I am looking for opinions, I know there will be a lot of different opinions and I am fine with that as I am not looking for a right or wrong reply. What are your thoughts on pros-cons of a smaller charcoal like this versus the larger lump charcoal? have you used something similar? I think the smaller charcoal restricts the draft slightly but not to the extent of me noticing a big drawback of using it. I am wanting to do a test run of how long the charcoal lasts if i set my temp at 250' and let it run out.

I have a local Green Egg Distributor that sells the charcoal at his facility along with other brands. So far the feedback that he has gotten from our charcoal was mostly positive.

Thanks

Lumber ready to be processed

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/u3/wgbv8bjgoils.jpg

Small Scale Charcoal Maker

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/7d/p5a0yg5jaurt.jpg

Charcoal ready to be bagged

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/2p/uig6r3jurrze.jpg

Scrap wood kindling pile.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/0z/htfzpffteqy6.jpg

TEXASBGE2018 · August 2018

maybe @stlcharcoal has an opinion??

slovelad · August 2018

I think it's perfect size and a helluva deal

Carolina Q · August 2018

Not sure I've ever seen moisture content questions with regard to smoke wood. Usually, it's "do I need to dry the wood or can I use it green?" I say, either though dried is probably better (air dried is fine, no kiln needed though I don't see why it would hurt).

As for lump, free is a great price!

If you have an airflow problem, try a wiggle rod up through the fire grate to open up air passages. Most commercial lump has its fair share of small pieces anyway.

lousubcap · August 2018

Welcome aboard and enjoy the journey. Above all, have fun.
It all burns and as long as you have adequate air-flow all is well. Gotta love the "price". Enjoy experimenting.

Kent8621 · August 2018

where are you located out of?

dkmiller16 · August 2018

Kent8621 said:

where are you located out of?

North Central Ohio

Begger · August 2018

When I intend to smoke, I take the wood and SOAK it in water. Overnite is best, but shorter if I must.
That gives a good aromatic steam first, moderating the grill temp and providing additional moisture.

HeavyG · August 2018

Size sounds fine to me. I don't really like huge pieces of lump.

dkmiller16 · August 2018

Carolina Q said:

Not sure I've ever seen moisture content questions with regard to smoke wood. Usually, it's "do I need to dry the wood or can I use it green?" I say, either though dried is probably better (air dried is fine, no kiln needed though I don't see why it would hurt).

As for lump, free is a great price! If you have an airflow problem, try a wiggle rod up through the fire grate to open up air passages. Most commercial lump has its fair share of small pieces anyway.

True, I had seen that maybe once and wasnt sure if it was a personal preference or not.

GATraveller · August 2018

Welcome to the forum. Size seems fine to me and you can't beat the price!!!

stlcharcoal · August 2018

Looks like good stuff! Good wood to start and small scale for proper carbonization throughout. I would have someone look into the state laws on emissions though. Not sure where Ohio is on the matter, but it's a 5-figure fine per day here in Missouri to if you have white smoke coming off a charcoal kiln. Need a smoke burner firing the chimneys to 1500F, then a dust collector is needed for the bagging. Your neighbor state of PA flat banned charcoal plants regardless if you have smoke burner. There may be a minimum production you're under, but I'd still look into it.

On the moisture content, seasoned wood is usually around 18-20%, then anything kiln dried is like you said 6-8%. Here in MO, anything wood traveling over 50-100 miles is supposed to be kilned dried because of the bugs. But if you take a kilned dried piece of wood and immerse it in water for a week, it's not going to soak all the way through. Wood doesn't "rehydrate"--once it dries out those pores close up. If you saw a piece of kiln dried then soaked wood in half, you'll see a moist ring around the outer millimeter, then anything inside is dry as a bone. I heard some say that kiln dried woods are not as sweet or something......yes, you're going to lose some of the tars & liquors due to the heat. But I highly doubt it's really changing the smoke profile. That's going to be an experiment for somebody to do and prove.

dkmiller16 · August 2018

stlcharcoal said:

Looks like good stuff! Good wood to start and small scale for proper carbonization throughout. I would have someone look into the state laws on emissions though. Not sure where Ohio is on the matter, but it's a 5-figure fine per day here in Missouri to if you have white smoke coming off a charcoal kiln. Need a smoke burner firing the chimneys to 1500F, then a dust collector is needed for the bagging. Your neighbor state of PA flat banned charcoal plants regardless if you have smoke burner. There may be a minimum production you're under, but I'd still look into it.

On the moisture content, seasoned wood is usually around 18-20%, then anything kiln dried is like you said 6-8%. Here in MO, anything wood traveling over 50-100 miles is supposed to be kilned dried because of the bugs. But if you take a kilned dried piece of wood and immerse it in water for a week, it's not going to soak all the way through. Wood doesn't "rehydrate"--once it dries out those pores close up. If you saw a piece of kiln dried then soaked wood in half, you'll see a moist ring around the outer millimeter, then anything inside is dry as a bone. I heard some say that kiln dried woods are not as sweet or something......yes, you're going to lose some of the tars & liquors due to the heat. But I highly doubt it's really changing the smoke profile. That's going to be an experiment for somebody to do and prove.

Thanks for the info. I will for sure check into that some more. Also agree on the re-hydrating, can only do so much with kiln dried wood. As far as what difference kiln dried and seasoned makes, I guess that would be something that I will try to keep some notes on as I try different processes.

gdenby · August 2018

Some years ago, Cowboy lump was said to be made from all red oak furniture and flooring end cuts. The porous nature of dried red oak made it burn faster, and hotter than what was made from denser wood w. a higher carbon content. Lots of people disliked it. Myself, I understood that if I was using Cowboy, the mass of lump might be so airy that really long cooks were not possible.

For your customers' enjoyment, you might want to limit the amount of red oak, tho' many people claim to like the flavor.

Again, afaik, the moisture content is not crucial for use as smoking wood. I've tried fresh cut fruit wood, peach, apple and mulberry, for smoke, and the fruit flavor was at best a suggestion. From what I've read, and experience seems to bear this out, the more desirable flavors in smoke some from lignin breaking down. In other words, harder less flexible woods. Hickory and ash both qualify.

Let the Eggers know if the venture gets off the ground.

dkmiller16 · August 2018

gdenby said:

Some years ago, Cowboy lump was said to be made from all red oak furniture and flooring end cuts. The porous nature of dried red oak made it burn faster, and hotter than what was made from denser wood w. a higher carbon content. Lots of people disliked it. Myself, I understood that if I was using Cowboy, the mass of lump might be so airy that really long cooks were not possible.

For your customers' enjoyment, you might want to limit the amount of red oak, tho' many people claim to like the flavor.

Again, afaik, the moisture content is not crucial for use as smoking wood. I've tried fresh cut fruit wood, peach, apple and mulberry, for smoke, and the fruit flavor was at best a suggestion. From what I've read, and experience seems to bear this out, the more desirable flavors in smoke some from lignin breaking down. In other words, harder less flexible woods. Hickory and ash both qualify.

Let the Eggers know if the venture gets off the ground.

Thanks, I appreciate the info. I did my first pork butt, first long smoke/cook, this past weekend, 235 degrees for 11 hours and then another hour at 250 with some 1/2" thick bacon. I did use the DigiQ DX2 to control the temp since I was in and out a lot while it was on the egg. I was wondering how the heat would hold for this. Did that Saturday and then yesterday I was going to throw some steak and stuffed jalapeno's on and I grabbed my bag of charcoal to fill but when I opened it up and stirred down the ashes I realized I only used up, at most, a 1/3 of the charcoal. I was pleasantly surprised.

I will say it does definitely burn hot. With a reverse sear I can go from 250 to 650+ in just a couple minutes.

BGE Newb (Charcoal)

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