Chips or Chunks?

[Wornslick]

I am going to try and add a little smoke flavor to my BBQ to see how much my wife can handle it. I am going to start her on some apple wood. All I can find around here is apple chips. I have found a site on the internet where I can order apple chunks if that is what you all believe I should use. :D Is there a big difference?

[redneck cooker]

Logs......tree halves....50 yr old pecan trees...:roflmaoha0::roflmaoha0:....If I were you if you have room use chunks...they burn better and give more smoke than chips...:thumbs:

[Buckeye]

I am going to try and add a little smoke flavor to my BBQ to see how much my wife can handle it. I am going to start her on some apple wood. All I can find around here is apple chips. I have found a site on the internet where I can order apple chunks if that is what you all believe I should use. :D Is there a big difference?

Apple iz a milder wood so I think that's a good choice. If yer doin beef I don't think there'll be much flavor.....but I think apple will do well on chicken or pork. Tha difference batween usin' chip vs chunks iz......chips even if soaked will burn up kwicker than chunks. If ya put tha chips in a foil pouch, this'll keep 'em from burnin up so fast. Personalee, I'd go with chunks. Jus my :twocents: :thumbs:

[redneck cooker]

Jus my :twocents: :thumbs:




You want change back?:dis::roflmaoha0::roflmaoha0:

[Buckeye]

You want change back?:dis::roflmaoha0::roflmaoha0:

Ya got that much on ya?:roflmaoha0::roflmaoha0:

[PitBull]

Chunks...

[cappy]

I usually just eat the chips:

http://www.taquitos.net/im/sn/Seneca-CinnApple.jpg

I'd go with chunks. Chips don't last long and you're liable to get more smoke than you think unless you only used a few. Volume for volume, they represent more surface area than chunks, meaning that more of them can be alight at once and produce more smoke than the same volume of chunks.

[Paymaster]

Chunks. They last longer and apple is mild anyway. I have apple tree prunings cut into 8" pieces that I use.

[Wornslick]

I will go with the chunks but I will have to order it on the internet. I've searched all the local stores, hickory, mesquite, in chunks is all over, apple no luck. We were in St. Louis yesterday and we tried a few places with the same results. :shrug: Thanks, I will post some pics of the pork shoulder I have on now, along with some ABT's and some pig candy later. :thumbs:

[txsmkmstr]

I am going to try and add a little smoke flavor to my BBQ to see how much my wife can handle it.

The answer in this case (IMHO) is chips. No sense taking a chance on over smoking with chucks and not getting a second chance. A lot has to do with the type of smoker too. I've used chips in a chip box on a gasser with great success. Start slow and work your way up the wood ladder size wise....

[TexLaw]

Chips are fine in a grill but don't do much of anything in a smoker anything bigger than a grill.


TL

[M38A1]

Chunks.

[totally smoked]

I usually just eat the chips:

http://www.taquitos.net/im/sn/Seneca-CinnApple.jpg

I'd go with chunks. Chips don't last long and you're liable to get more smoke than you think unless you only used a few. Volume for volume, they represent more surface area than chunks, meaning that more of them can be alight at once and produce more smoke than the same volume of chunks.

Cappy....you work for the government, or some kinda real smart place?...I'm not pokin fun..Your explanations are so defined and on the nail on every post you make..Your scarin me..you hang out here?:idea:

Oh yea..I use chunks slick..just a few in the charcoal as she burns..:)

[jptexas]

chunks or logs

[cappy]

Cappy....you work for the government, or some kinda real smart place?...I'm not pokin fun..Your explanations are so defined and on the nail on every post you make..Your scarin me..you hang out here?:idea:

Oh yea..I use chunks slick..just a few in the charcoal as she burns..:)

I went through three stages (screening, test battery, main application) for the CIA back in the late 1980s but I decided to withdraw after that point - that's about as close as I've come to working for the government. The test battery was pretty interesting at the time, including standard skills but also two situation thinking tests, and ending with a psychological test disguised as a 500-question true/false with carefully reworded versions of questions sprinkled throughout the test to verify consistency in answers.

[bigwheel]

You speaking of the MMPI test here? Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. They axe a lot of crazy questions such as.."As a child I liked to play Drop the Hankey" and "Sometimes I think my stomache is missing." Never knew how to answer the hanky question. Guess it some kind of gay yankee game. Always knew my stomache was there. That one was purty easy.

bigwheel

[cappy]

You speaking of the MMPI test here? Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. They axe a lot of crazy questions such as.."As a child I liked to play Drop the Hankey" and "Sometimes I think my stomache is missing." Never knew how to answer the hanky question. Guess it some kind of gay yankee game. Always knew my stomache was there. That one was purty easy.

bigwheel

Basically that's what it was. I've done the MMPI before also (also Stanford-Binet and many others); this one was probably customized to their tastes.

Back on topic, though - There are some choices on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=apple+wood+chunks

I'd say maybe go with a 10-pound bag or larger. I suspect the 5-pound ones labelled "chunks" are probably small chunks and almost chips. I get what I think are 10-lb bags (labelled as 9.43-liter) of hickory chunks at Academy that I use to supplement the mesquite sticks I burn. I'll toss a few chunks on in between adding sticks to maintain the size fire I want.

Here's a typical 250-degree fire on my Klose Backyard Chef with a 52-inch cooking chamber plus upright (you can see a couple hickory chunks in there along with a mesquite stick and the original charcoal base that began the fire):

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/9864/firea.jpg

And this is the smoke generated from the fire:

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/56/pitcooking.jpg

In other words, not a lot of wood is needed to get smoke taste and you don't get much visible smoke from the exhaust.

[Texas 1836]

I use chunks or logs, but then im a newbie too.

So Cappy, do you keep adding charcoal as you go through the cook? I was just using the charcoal to start the fire, then judt kept feeding it mesquite and oak. And I would love to know your take on whether to use regular charcoal briquets or lump charcoal?

And anybody else that wants to blow 2 cents!

[cappy]

I use chunks or logs, but then im a newbie too.

So Cappy, do you keep adding charcoal as you go through the cook? I was just using the charcoal to start the fire, then judt kept feeding it mesquite and oak. And I would love to know your take on whether to use regular charcoal briquets or lump charcoal?

And anybody else that wants to blow 2 cents!

I prefer to stick with mesquite, supplemented with hickory chunks when the fire base needs just a small amount. If I don't have hickory I'll thrown a few briquettes on instead. Basically, the fire sizes I show in this thread (http://forum.texasbbqrub.com/showthread.php?t=36718) are what I maintain. I probably add a stick about every 45 minutes or so depending on the stick size. If it's a smaller stick and I want just a little more to the fire, I supplement with the hickory chunks. All I want to do is to hold the fire size about the same.

The initial charcoal is just to get the pit to temperature, light the first mesquite logs, and build a base (why use up lump or wood just for getting the pit to temp?). I use regular Kingsford briquettes for that. The pit takes 60-90 minutes to get to temp depending on outside conditions. The charcoal is pretty much gone between 90-120 minutes from start, so the main smoking is over wood.

I don't really bother using lump since the briquettes are only to get the pit to temperature.

[Texas 1836]

Good info Cappy! Thanks so much!

[joe arras]

[QUOTE=cappy;582537]I usually just eat the chips:

[Chips are for dippin. Go with chunks

[Wornslick]

Lot of good advice here. I ordered 5lbs. of chunk apple wood from Hawkeyes BBQ in Iowa. $1.49 a pound and $11.43 for Fed Ex. That will last me a while, not going to put much in at a time, so far she has liked everything that has come off the cooker, but so far no wood has been involved. Would chicken be a good meat to start with? :idea: Do certain meats take on more smoke than others?

[david brace]

I never worked with chips.

DB