I May Have Ruined Some Wood!

[Headgear]

This is a kiln that I made from an old upright freezer for drying bowl blanks for turning wood bowls. I filled it full of some red oak splits that were reading around 26% moisture. I put it in here with a 100-watt ceramic heat lamp for about six weeks. The temperature fluctuated between 95 and 120 degrees depending on how cold it was and how often I was in my shop with the heat on. The humidity in the kiln gradually went down from 40% to 10%. I had been burning the same wood in my offset but it was outside, undercover, and again, moisture around 26.

I fill a landscape trailer full of wood and drag it up to the patio. It recently ran low, so I filled it with the same wood but from the kiln. It was horrible. I smoked a couple of racks of spare ribs and the smoke looked clean and light blue. But the meat had a strong smoke taste that was like creosote.

I was running the offset with the exhaust damper roughly 3/4 closed and the FB damper roughly 3/4 open which is what usually works well on my smoker depending on the wind. So I thought, I needed to clean the drip pan which I had not done for a while. On the next cook, I gave it more air too. I opened the exhaust to about halfway and opened the intake damper completely. I still had nice clear blue smoke, but sure enough, there was still a strong smoke on the meat. I don't get it. I am wondering if drying that wood did something to it that creates a stronger, more pungent smoke. Has anyone experienced, or heard of that? Any ideas?

I can always use this wood for starting a coal bed and then switch to other wood. So it won't go to waste but I am just having a hard time believing that drying it could have concentrated it to where it makes bad smoke. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Have a nice weekend All!

 

[Sid Post]

You pulled all the oils and aromatics out of the wood. What was left was what you tasted.

 

[Callahan-que]

I always run my offset (reverve flow) with the exhaught vent and intake vents wide open. Never had an issue with smoke flavor. I control temps with size of fire.

 

[Headgear]

You pulled all the oils and aromatics out of the wood. What was left was what you tasted.

Well darn! Here I thought I was doing a good thing and turned good wood into fire starter. I was hoping that it made seasoning wood quicker and was going to share my great idea with everyone on how to use an old upright freezer to do it. Oh well, back to drying bowl blanks! I never did taste a bad bowl that way. :caked:

 

[mike243]

I wouldn't say you pulled any of the oils out but rather condensed them, I would try it again leave the exhaust wide open, Not sure how your wood is different than store bought kiln dried other than the longer time drying,

 

[txsmkmstr]

I always run my offset (reverve flow) with the exhaught vent and intake vents wide open. Never had an issue with smoke flavor. I control temps with size of fire.

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THIS.....

I've never heard of a 3/4 closed exhaust working well under any conditions. I used to play with dampers - constantly adjusting and tweaking - it was not enjoyable. Once I figured out temp control with fire size things improved all around.

Note to add - - - It's your cooker and they all have their sweet spots. If you feel you have success using those settings then please continue on. :thumb:

 

[Maylar]

Nice kiln. I'm sure it beats using a paper bag with sawdust.

 

[SMOKE FREAK]

When I've used kiln dried wood, I get little to no smoke flavor.

 

[Sid Post]

When I've used kiln dried wood, I get little to no smoke flavor.

For me, Mother Nature works best drying my smoker wood.

Kiln dried to me always seemed like hardware store lumber. I don't know about anyone else but, I don't use Lowes/Home Depot 2x4's in my smoker! :loco:

 

[sudsandswine]

Do you have any pictures of the fire while you were burning that wood? Any time I’ve used wood that was too dry, I get soot on the meat from the logs burning too quickly, creating large flames, and the flames lick the top of the firebox.

 

[Headgear]

Nice kiln. I'm sure it beats using a paper bag with sawdust.

It sure does timewise. But you have to get used to what wood works best. I had only used the bag and chips a few times and it took longer but the bowls turned nice.

 

[Headgear]

No, I don't have pictures but there were times when the flames were pretty good length. Touching the top of the FB. For the second cook, I opened the dampers more and fed the wood slower to let the wood burn more completely. It still had strong smoke but a little less harsh.

 

[1MoreFord]

Try running your exhaust damper wide open and control air flow with the intake damper. That's the way the majority of pits are meant to run.

 

[Headgear]

Try running your exhaust damper wide open and control air flow with the intake damper. That's the way the majority of pits are meant to run.

That is the way that I used to run it when I first got it and I remember it did not have enough smoke then. With the exhaust wide open, I had to cut the intake down to about a third if it was fairly warm, or a half if it was below 30 degrees outside. I will go back to that and see if it is still a rank smoke. If so, it has to be what I did to the wood. I will get the same ribs and try it again just to keep everything the same except the damper settings. I will post the results on Monday evening. I am watching the games with friends tomorrow.

 

[Callahan-que]

What does your smoke look like coming out of yor stack? It should be a thin blue almost invisable. You don't want to see smoke billowing out, you want a clean thin blue.

 

[sudsandswine]

The times I’ve got soot on the meat, it often looked like there was no smoke. But if you looked real closely, there was faint black smoke whisping out.

 

[Headgear]

What does your smoke look like coming out of yor stack? It should be a thin blue almost invisable. You don't want to see smoke billowing out, you want a clean thin blue.

I said that I was still getting clear blue smoke in my original post. That is one of the things that confused me the most, a good clean burn and light blue smoke. But pungent smoke flavor.

 

[Callahan-que]

I said that I was still getting clear blue smoke in my original post. That is one of the things that confused me the most, a good clean burn and light blue smoke. But pungent smoke flavor.

So you did, my bad.

 

[Headgear]

So you did, my bad.

No problem Rick, it's probably my fault. I always try to give a lot of detail to give a good picture of what's going on. It's easy to miss a detail in all of the details, lol

 

[Headgear]

I wouldn't say you pulled any of the oils out but rather condensed them, I would try it again and leave the exhaust wide open, Not sure how your wood is different than store-bought kiln dried other than the longer time drying,

I'm sure I found the problem! I was going to cook chicken on the Big Joe yesterday and wanted a little smoke on it. I took a piece of the oak that had been dried in my kiln and cut it into small blocks. Then I smelled the fresh cut end and it was awful!!! Pungent is the only word that describes it. So then I went out to the pile of the same wood that is seasoning outdoors and cut a couple of them into small blocks. They just had a very mild hint of a red oak smell. Needless to say, I used those, and as expected, the chicken had a very mild smoke smell and taste.

I am smoking some pork belly burnt ends today using the un-kiln dried wood. I'll post how that goes, but I think I already know what the results will be.

I don't know either, what the difference is between store-bought kiln dried and my wood could be, but I know that mine will be used to build a coal base only from here on out.