Offset Smokers- How many of you rely on kiln dried wood to maintain a clean fire in an offset smoker?

[bbqpitsmoker]

First I have heard of this?

[ame]https://youtu.be/YCX5C0DIrfc[/ame]

 

[bbqpitsmoker]

Seems like that is an awful lot of lit charcoal to have to start off with, and most pits would be able to maintain a clean burning fire without the owners first having to kiln dry their wood?

Seems like this video is a response to various customer complaints about difficulty in maintaining a clean fire on the Wichita. The response seems to be "yes you can maintain a clean fire as long as you start with a fiery mountain of red hot charcoal and kiln dried wood with no moisture content"..........!!!!!!!

When you start off with that much lit charcoal you aren't just providing an ignition source for the wood; you are actually incinerating the log placed above it. Instead of this in a properly designed pit you should be able to rely on a small amount of burning coal and the natural draw of a smoker to provide clean ignition to the wood splits..........

 

[Joe Black]

Not me.......just seasoned and dry. Splits are always pre-heated.

 

[daninnewjersey]

Kiln dried wood for the entire cook? Yeah....maybe if you have piles of cash just laying around your house looking to be used.
Perhaps kiln dried is another of Franklin's secrets....:mrgreen::mrgreen:

 

[TuscaloosaQ]

i would not think you would get the best smoke profile... but what do I know.. I'm a hickory
Man myself...air dryed...

 

[smoke ninja]

Just naming sponsors maybe

 

[smoke ninja]

....Or not. He also mentions to only choke the pit down half way :tape: i guess it dont matter with such dry wood.

Ive seen some of his videos before. I usually like them for being compy

 

[te4handjr]

Depending on how hot of a cook I am doing will determine how much charcoal I start out with. Plus, I might be a bit lazy and find it easier to start the fire when I get the charcoal going first. Use a paint stripper heat gun to light the charcoal.. then when lit add a couple of splits. as for preheating, place the next splits on top of the fire box...

 

[Swine Spectator]

Franklin specifically recommends AGAINST kiln-dried in his book.

 

[GA1dad]

There is a another video just like it on the Yoder Community, though it is done by a different person over there. I was actually planning to give it a whirl ( using nat. seasoned wood ) on my 60 inch offset this weekend, to see what the actual outcome would be. Never hurts to try a new technique.

That said, kiln dried wood pales in comparison to naturally seasoned in my opinion.

 

[BBQ Freak]

I would never use kiln dry wood in a offset it would cost a fortune to run it .

 

[Jason TQ]

I would never use kiln dty wood in a offset it would cost s fortune to run it .

Ya kiln dry is just wasteful to run your pit the entire time. That is why I just use kiln dry to get my coal base going and then keep that fire hot by raining benjies on it!!

 

[BillN]

If I used this technique me and my smoker would be on the curb. No doubt it works but I certianly could not afford it. I do use charcoal and a chimney but only 3/4 to 2/3 full of KBB and it has not failed me yet. I do preheat my splits but not the initial ones.

 

[Doog]

I have had hickory kiln dried to 22% for smoking brisket.
I can get it done reasonable in the slow season.

 

[txsmkmstr]

I didn't watch the video but have used a lot of kiln-dried wood (mini-logs from Academy) in my offset. It works just fine but like others point out it's pricey at well over $1,400.00 per cord.... in 1.5 cubic foot bags. :crazy:

The smoke flavor is definitely milder but it's nice being able to grab a bag that has splits sized perfectly for my pit. I get about 3 cooks per bag but they recently went up in price so I'll be sourcing wood from somewhere else soon.

 

[slamkeys]

I burned some fairly wet splits (red oak) in my Wichita last weekend, but I have a modded fire door with a larger, lowered vent opening that makes it flow way better than the factory door.

There are several threads that discuss the Wichita's flow issues, and I've had great results with this "hack" of a fire door (which doesn't even open):


Here's last week's fire after I first got it lit, and I didn't need a large coal bed or pre-heating any wood to get it going.


Here's the smoke stack after the first 10 minutes. The gauge is only showing about 100 degrees F, and the fire is already burning fairly clean without the help of a large coal bed or leaving the fire door open. The Yoder folks are trying hard to gloss over their flow issues by "training" people via videos to use workaround techniques they want you to think are normal operating procedure for any smoker, but people aren't fooled that easily. They are starting to get lots of negative feedback on the Wichita, which is what prompted that video in the first place.

 

[daninnewjersey]

The Yoder folks are trying hard to gloss over their flow issues by "training" people via videos to use workaround techniques they want you to think are normal operating procedure for any smoker, but people aren't fooled that easily. They are starting to get lots of negative feedback on the Wichita, which is what prompted that video in the first place.

That's crazy. You would think they would do enough testing prior to selling them......

 

[slamkeys]

Yoder_Herb just locked the Wichita fire management topic on Yoder's community forum this morning. I guess they're done hearing from us customers. I have a suspicion they'll delete the thread altogether because the discussion is bad for their sales.

Have a look while it still exists:

http://community.yodersmokers.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=1160

:tsk:

 

[Smokey Lonesome]

Slamkeys, your efforts to fix what appears to be an obvious flaw in that Yoder models design have had an obvious impact at Yoder just by reading their responses which do not address the obvious physics of the problem. The proof will come with time when Yoder modifies the design, i.e., the orientation of the firebox to the cook chamber and/or the size and location of the air intake relative to the exit. Excellent job. I neither own an offset (it's in the works, hopefully) or am a physics/thermodynamics person but your thought process seems like common sense to me. I am sure there are thousands of satisfied Yoder customers out there but a hallmark of a great company is to continuously improve already good products. Just one example which comes to mind is Lonestar and the improvements they have implemented over the years in their products, Shirley I am sure has also made tweeks too. Of course, their basic designs are sound to begin with and the changes are more 'refinements' than what Yoder must make.

 

[minAL]

Around here we can get a truck bed of kiln dried hickory cants for 20 dollars. They are rejects for hammer handles. Don't like them for smoking but they are great for the wood stoves at hunting camp.