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!
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!