On Sat, 22 Jun 2013 01:20:16 -0400, wrote:

On Fri, 21 Jun 2013 20:55:16 -0400, Earl wrote:

wrote:

In a gas grill, dry chips just burst into flames.

I never tried oak. I did get a bag of mesquite and that is not a
flavor I am trying to achieve. Some around here say buttonwood and
orange are good but I haven't tried that either.
You can't smoke properly in a gas grill. I have one, but I also have a
dedicated smoker - the Weber Smokey Mountain (WSM), as well as a Weber
kettle grill. I use the gas grill most often for steaks, burgers,
chicken, and brats. I prefer the kettle when I have more time. The
WSM is for smoking only. I also never use briquettes of any kind - real
lump charcoal without the fillers and other crap.

Check out this site for smoking info:

http://virtualweberbullet.com/

I have a real smoker but that is not really convenient for day to day
cooking.

You're right about that. The Brinkman does the smokin', the Weber does the grillin'.

John H.
--

Hope you're having a great day!

On Sat, 22 Jun 2013 01:17:12 -0400, wrote:

On Fri, 21 Jun 2013 18:08:17 -0400, John H
wrote:

On Fri, 21 Jun 2013 17:30:45 -0400, JustWaitAFrekinMinute wrote:



Ooooops. it's white oak that makes it sour... **** oak we call it or
swamp oak... Sorry for the other post, I am sure it will turn into a
huge pee pee measuring contest for some here

You know what? I never asked which oak. You may have something there. I'll have to check it out in a
little more detail. Thanks.

John H.

I think he is talking about black oak AKA pin oak. It is the one with
the skeleton like leaves.
White oak has rounder leaves without all the sharp points and makes
great fire wood or flooring because it has a very straight grain. You
can split a pretty big log with a hatchet.
Red oak is what they make a lot of furniture out of. The grain is not
as straight and it is stronger. It is good firewood too but harder to
split. I think I would want white oak for smoking but that is just a
guess.

I've got one of those ******* pin oaks in my front yard. It was here when I bought the house. Pain
in the ass. Starts dropping leaves in August and doesn't stop until about February.

John H.
--

Hope you're having a great day!

On Sat, 22 Jun 2013 01:19:48 -0400, JustWaitAFrekinMinute wrote:

On 6/22/2013 1:17 AM, wrote:
On Fri, 21 Jun 2013 18:08:17 -0400, John H
wrote:

On Fri, 21 Jun 2013 17:30:45 -0400, JustWaitAFrekinMinute wrote:



Ooooops. it's white oak that makes it sour... **** oak we call it or
swamp oak... Sorry for the other post, I am sure it will turn into a
huge pee pee measuring contest for some here

You know what? I never asked which oak. You may have something there. I'll have to check it out in a
little more detail. Thanks.

John H.

I think he is talking about black oak AKA pin oak. It is the one with
the skeleton like leaves.
White oak has rounder leaves without all the sharp points and makes
great fire wood or flooring because it has a very straight grain. You
can split a pretty big log with a hatchet.
Red oak is what they make a lot of furniture out of. The grain is not
as straight and it is stronger. It is good firewood too but harder to
split. I think I would want white oak for smoking but that is just a
guess.


Yeah, I am totally confused.. I have no idea which oak I am supposed to
use. Guess I will have to stick with the chunk of hickory I have here...

What I've been using is white oak. I didn't have any red oak trees in the back yard. Actually, all
my oaks are white, except the friggin' pin oak in the front.

For white oak leaves, think dairy queen ice cream cone - all round edges piled up from the bottom.
For red oak, think fire - sharp flames going out from a source. For pin oak, don't think.

John H.
--

Hope you're having a great day!

In article ,
says...

On 6/21/2013 4:14 PM, John H wrote:
On Fri, 21 Jun 2013 15:18:36 -0400, wrote:

On Fri, 21 Jun 2013 15:08:28 -0400, John H
wrote:

On Fri, 21 Jun 2013 13:02:05 -0400, wrote:

On Fri, 21 Jun 2013 08:46:37 -0700, "Califbill"
wrote:

We bbq mostly chicken, pork and fish. If you have a wood burning grill,
then you will get more flavor. Gas, you might as well use the broiler. We
have an electric skillet with a broiler lid, so not even a lot of mess to
clean up.

That is why I throw hickory chips in there.
I have a spare "floater" from my spa that I drop in a bucket of water
with a handful of chips and let them soak an hour or so and they smoke
up real good.
For chicken or ribs I sometimes use charcoal. Put the charcoal in,
fire up the gas and when the charcoal is good and hot, turn off the
gas. Just be sure to use pure charcoal, not that chemical laced "match
light" stuff.

I have tried soaking the chips and using them dry. I can tasted no difference in the flavor. Now I'm
cutting up chunks of oak for the smoker. Work and taste well.

John H.

In a gas grill, dry chips just burst into flames.

I never tried oak. I did get a bag of mesquite and that is not a
flavor I am trying to achieve. Some around here say buttonwood and
orange are good but I haven't tried that either.

Oh, I was thinking a smoker. For the gas grill I wrap the chips in tin foil, punctured several
times. Works pretty well.

At one of the Bluegrass festivals, 'Pickin' in the Panhandle', there was also a BBQ contest. It was
like the ones you see on TV, with the trailer mounted smokers and grills - big hummers!

There was also a 'pulled pork' contest for amateurs. Each of the contestants were given half a pork
shoulder, about a ten-pound chunk, to prepare for judging.

I took a walk amongst those folks and asked lots of questions, like 'What kind of wood do you use?'.
Almost all of them used oak - regular chunks of oak firewood. Since I've got about two cords of the
damn stuff chopped up in my back yard, it's quite handy. I just chunk it up with a chop saw.

John H.


Ooooops. it's white oak that makes it sour... **** oak we call it or
swamp oak... Sorry for the other post, I am sure it will turn into a
huge pee pee measuring contest for some here

Bull****.

In article ,
says...

On 6/21/2013 6:08 PM, John H wrote:
On Fri, 21 Jun 2013 17:30:45 -0400, JustWaitAFrekinMinute wrote:

On 6/21/2013 4:14 PM, John H wrote:
On Fri, 21 Jun 2013 15:18:36 -0400, wrote:

On Fri, 21 Jun 2013 15:08:28 -0400, John H
wrote:

On Fri, 21 Jun 2013 13:02:05 -0400, wrote:

On Fri, 21 Jun 2013 08:46:37 -0700, "Califbill"
wrote:

We bbq mostly chicken, pork and fish. If you have a wood burning grill,
then you will get more flavor. Gas, you might as well use the broiler. We
have an electric skillet with a broiler lid, so not even a lot of mess to
clean up.

That is why I throw hickory chips in there.
I have a spare "floater" from my spa that I drop in a bucket of water
with a handful of chips and let them soak an hour or so and they smoke
up real good.
For chicken or ribs I sometimes use charcoal. Put the charcoal in,
fire up the gas and when the charcoal is good and hot, turn off the
gas. Just be sure to use pure charcoal, not that chemical laced "match
light" stuff.

I have tried soaking the chips and using them dry. I can tasted no difference in the flavor. Now I'm
cutting up chunks of oak for the smoker. Work and taste well.

John H.

In a gas grill, dry chips just burst into flames.

I never tried oak. I did get a bag of mesquite and that is not a
flavor I am trying to achieve. Some around here say buttonwood and
orange are good but I haven't tried that either.

Oh, I was thinking a smoker. For the gas grill I wrap the chips in tin foil, punctured several
times. Works pretty well.

At one of the Bluegrass festivals, 'Pickin' in the Panhandle', there was also a BBQ contest. It was
like the ones you see on TV, with the trailer mounted smokers and grills - big hummers!

There was also a 'pulled pork' contest for amateurs. Each of the contestants were given half a pork
shoulder, about a ten-pound chunk, to prepare for judging.

I took a walk amongst those folks and asked lots of questions, like 'What kind of wood do you use?'.
Almost all of them used oak - regular chunks of oak firewood. Since I've got about two cords of the
damn stuff chopped up in my back yard, it's quite handy. I just chunk it up with a chop saw.

John H.


Ooooops. it's white oak that makes it sour... **** oak we call it or
swamp oak... Sorry for the other post, I am sure it will turn into a
huge pee pee measuring contest for some here

You know what? I never asked which oak. You may have something there. I'll have to check it out in a
little more detail. Thanks.

John H.


yeah, well I am not sure something didn't get lost in the translation
from my Polish GF.. There is a huge difference though from Red Oak, to
White, to Black... The wood texture, taste, structure etc is huge
different. I know they say use Oak, I assume Red for smoking denser meat
like beef, where softwoods are more (I am told) for chicken and fish, etc...

More proof that you have NO idea what you are talking about here.

In article ,
says...

On 6/21/2013 3:08 PM, John H wrote:
On Fri, 21 Jun 2013 13:02:05 -0400, wrote:

On Fri, 21 Jun 2013 08:46:37 -0700, "Califbill"
wrote:

We bbq mostly chicken, pork and fish. If you have a wood burning grill,
then you will get more flavor. Gas, you might as well use the broiler. We
have an electric skillet with a broiler lid, so not even a lot of mess to
clean up.

That is why I throw hickory chips in there.
I have a spare "floater" from my spa that I drop in a bucket of water
with a handful of chips and let them soak an hour or so and they smoke
up real good.
For chicken or ribs I sometimes use charcoal. Put the charcoal in,
fire up the gas and when the charcoal is good and hot, turn off the
gas. Just be sure to use pure charcoal, not that chemical laced "match
light" stuff.

I have tried soaking the chips and using them dry. I can tasted no difference in the flavor. Now I'm
cutting up chunks of oak for the smoker. Work and taste well.

John H.


Oak will make your meat sour... Be very careful not to get any bark in
there either...

HORSE****!!!!! Almost ALL that compete on the circuit use a mixture of
oak and hickory.

"Earl" wrote in message
...

wrote:
On Fri, 21 Jun 2013 08:46:37 -0700, "Califbill"
wrote:

We bbq mostly chicken, pork and fish. If you have a wood burning grill,
then you will get more flavor. Gas, you might as well use the broiler.
We
have an electric skillet with a broiler lid, so not even a lot of mess to
clean up.
That is why I throw hickory chips in there.
I have a spare "floater" from my spa that I drop in a bucket of water
with a handful of chips and let them soak an hour or so and they smoke
up real good.
For chicken or ribs I sometimes use charcoal. Put the charcoal in,
fire up the gas and when the charcoal is good and hot, turn off the
gas. Just be sure to use pure charcoal, not that chemical laced "match
light" stuff.
I use my smoker about once a month. There is no need to soak the
smoking wood. It's actually better to get as much early smoke as
possible. When the meat is "sealed" from the heat it can't absorb much
more smoke. I learned this many years ago but started with the same
theory as you - to provide constant smoke by soaking the wood.
-------

Not soaking the chips get flames and little smoke in my experience.

"John H" wrote in message
...

On Sat, 22 Jun 2013 01:20:16 -0400, wrote:

On Fri, 21 Jun 2013 20:55:16 -0400, Earl wrote:

wrote:

In a gas grill, dry chips just burst into flames.

I never tried oak. I did get a bag of mesquite and that is not a
flavor I am trying to achieve. Some around here say buttonwood and
orange are good but I haven't tried that either.
You can't smoke properly in a gas grill. I have one, but I also have a
dedicated smoker - the Weber Smokey Mountain (WSM), as well as a Weber
kettle grill. I use the gas grill most often for steaks, burgers,
chicken, and brats. I prefer the kettle when I have more time. The
WSM is for smoking only. I also never use briquettes of any kind - real
lump charcoal without the fillers and other crap.

Check out this site for smoking info:

http://virtualweberbullet.com/

I have a real smoker but that is not really convenient for day to day
cooking.

You're right about that. The Brinkman does the smokin', the Weber does the
grillin'.

John H.
--

Hope you're having a great day!


------------

The Pellet BBQ's give you the best of both worlds. Nice smoke flavor and
quick heatup and cooking. Takes maybe 5 minutes longer to heat my Treager
for steaks then the gas grill it replaced.

On 6/22/13 8:06 PM, Califbill wrote:
"Earl" wrote in message
...

wrote:
On Fri, 21 Jun 2013 08:46:37 -0700, "Califbill"
wrote:

We bbq mostly chicken, pork and fish. If you have a wood burning grill,
then you will get more flavor. Gas, you might as well use the
broiler. We
have an electric skillet with a broiler lid, so not even a lot of
mess to
clean up.
That is why I throw hickory chips in there.
I have a spare "floater" from my spa that I drop in a bucket of water
with a handful of chips and let them soak an hour or so and they smoke
up real good.
For chicken or ribs I sometimes use charcoal. Put the charcoal in,
fire up the gas and when the charcoal is good and hot, turn off the
gas. Just be sure to use pure charcoal, not that chemical laced "match
light" stuff.
I use my smoker about once a month. There is no need to soak the
smoking wood. It's actually better to get as much early smoke as
possible. When the meat is "sealed" from the heat it can't absorb much
more smoke. I learned this many years ago but started with the same
theory as you - to provide constant smoke by soaking the wood.
-------

Not soaking the chips get flames and little smoke in my experience.



I remember reading some connection between smokers and carcinogens, so I
googled it...lots of hits. Here's one:

The carcinogen (cancer-causing agent) is mainly benzo[a]pyrene
(structure is shown), though other polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
(PAHs) and heterocyclic amines (HCAs) are present and can cause cancer,
too. PAHs are in smoke from incomplete combustion, so if you can taste
smoke on your food, expect it contains those chemicals. Most of the PAHs
are associated with smoke or char, so you can scrape them off of your
food and reduce your risk from them (though that kind of defeats the
point of a toasted marshmallow). HCAs, on the other hand, are produced
by a chemical reaction between meat and high or prolonged heat. You'll
find these chemicals in fried meat as well as barbeque. You can't cut or
scrape away this class of carcinogens, but you can limit the amount that
is produced by cooking your meat just until it's done, not blackening it
into oblivion.

Just how dangerous are these chemicals? The truth is, it's very hard to
quantify the risk. There is no established 'this amount will cause
cancer' limit because the genetic damage that leads to cancer is complex
and affected by many other factors. For example, if you drink alcohol
with your char, you further increase your risk, since alcohol, though it
doesn't cause cancer, acts as a promoter. This means it increases the
likelihood a carcinogen will be able to induce cancer. Similarly, other
foods may lessen your risk. What is known is PAH's and HCA's
definitively cause cancer in humans, but they are also a part of
everyday life, so your body has mechanisms for detoxifying them. What
you want to do is try to limit your exposure. I guess that means you
should take the time to toast the perfect marshmallow rather than go for
the quick sugary fireball, but that's just so hard...


http://chemistry.about.com/b/2013/05...arcinogens.htm

Eat up, boys, and pass around those beers!

On 6/22/2013 8:06 PM, Califbill wrote:
"Earl" wrote in message
...

wrote:
On Fri, 21 Jun 2013 08:46:37 -0700, "Califbill"
wrote:

We bbq mostly chicken, pork and fish. If you have a wood burning grill,
then you will get more flavor. Gas, you might as well use the
broiler. We
have an electric skillet with a broiler lid, so not even a lot of
mess to
clean up.
That is why I throw hickory chips in there.
I have a spare "floater" from my spa that I drop in a bucket of water
with a handful of chips and let them soak an hour or so and they smoke
up real good.
For chicken or ribs I sometimes use charcoal. Put the charcoal in,
fire up the gas and when the charcoal is good and hot, turn off the
gas. Just be sure to use pure charcoal, not that chemical laced "match
light" stuff.
I use my smoker about once a month. There is no need to soak the
smoking wood. It's actually better to get as much early smoke as
possible. When the meat is "sealed" from the heat it can't absorb much
more smoke. I learned this many years ago but started with the same
theory as you - to provide constant smoke by soaking the wood.
-------

Not soaking the chips get flames and little smoke in my experience.


The Smoker I have is home made by FIL... The Firebox is seperated from
the smoker by a length of 4-8 feet of 8 inch stovepipe depending on
ambient temps....