There are many types of wood that can be used to smoke meat. Everything from Alder to Walnut. Cherry to Mulberry. Lilac to Lemon. But which is the best wood? Different regions swear by different woods. Some say mesquite is the only way to go. Some say hickory. Some say that fruit woods should never be used. The Grillin Fools actually prefer the fruit woods. My cousin Tom and I prefer apple wood. My Dad prefers cherry. Cherry is my second fave while Tom claims he doesn’t like it all. Although he did strike out on knowing which ribs were done with apple and which with Cherry at the poker party at the end of Feb.

The point is there are a million different opinions on the subject. You need to find out which is yours. The good news is the only way to find out is to spend a lot of time grillin, chillin and thrillin while trying different types of wood.

First a little about smoke woods. The Grillin Fools recommend wood chunks over wood chips for a couple of reasons.

• Wood chunks will last much longer than wood chips no matter how long the chips have been soaked ahead of time.
• Chunks do not need to be soaked. In fact we don’t recommending soaking chunks at all. Soaking chunks will delay the wood from producing any smoke at all as can be seen here at our rib cook off in Michigan last summer. Dad used soaked chunks in his grill. Tom and I used non soaked chunks in ours and the two community grills. Guess which one of these grills that had smoke wood added at the exact same time had the soaked chunks:

• Chips require soaking. As soaked wood chips get hot the water that they soaked up is released in the form of steam. That steam condenses at the top of the grill. There is a chance that when enough water has accumulated under the top of the grill that it could drip down onto your meat. Take a look at the underside of the top of your grill and ask yourself if you want to risk some of that dripping down on your meat? One tip. If you are going to soak the chips, use hot water. Opens the pores/fibers of the wood more and allows more water to be absorbed thus making the chops last longer once exposed to heat.
• Wood chips generally need to be added to the fire many more times than chunks and with each time the grill is opened it releases all its heat which will extend grilling times.

We understand that chips are much easier to find with many grocery stores even carrying apple and cherry chips but if you can find chunks of your favorite wood we recommend going with them over chips.

For those with gas grills we recommend placing a handful of dry chips on a sheet of tin foil:

Form it into a ball and then poke holes in the foil with a thin knife:

The tin foil will act as a heat sink as it dissipates heat rather well thus negating the need for soaking the chips. Place the ball right into the flames from the element.  The holes in the foil will allow the smoke to escape and fill the cooking chamber:

You may want to do multiple balls of foil at a time and have extra in reserve.  When a ball stops smoking, just pitch it and toss in a fresh ball.

Bark or no bark. Another great debate. Some swear that bark puts off a different smoke than the wood and does not give the meat a good flavor. I have smoked with bark and without. I have never noticed any difference.

Now on to the types of smoke woods and other smoke producers:

Acacia
These trees are in the same family as mesquite. When burned in a smoker, acacia has a flavor similar to mesquite but not quite as heavy. Acacia burns very hot and should be used sparingly.
Good with most meats, especially beef and most vegetables.

Alder
A sweet, musky smoke that is the traditional wood of the Northwest and pairs particularly well with salmon
Good with fish, pork, poultry, and light-meat game birds.

Almond
A nutty and sweet smoke flavor. Very similar to pecan
Good with all meats.

Apple
The flavor is milder and sweeter than hickory. It will discolor chicken skin turning it dark brown and the favorite my cousin Tom. Dad’s second fave.
Good with all meats.

Apple on the left, cherry on the right:

Apricot
Great substitute for apple as it is also milder and sweeter than hickory

Ash
Fast burner, light but distinctive flavor.
Good with fish and red meats.

Bay
Medium floral smoke with hints of spice & cinnamon
Good with most meats and veggies.

Beech
A mild much used wood like oak.
Good with meat and seafood.

Birch
Medium hard wood with a flavor similar to maple.
Good with pork and poultry.

Blackberry
Much like the woods provided from fruit trees, the small diameter trunks of the Blackberry bush provides a slightly sweet and delicate flavor.
Good for grilling poultry and other meats, such as small game birds like grouse, pheasant, partridge, and quail.

Be careful with these.  Even after they have dried for quite some time those thorns are still needle sharp:

Thanks to James Hebert for submitting these pictures for the site.  We really appreciate it James.

Butternut
Strong smoke, like walnut, bitter when used alone
Good on red meats like beef, pork, venison and other game meats. Can easily overpower poultry.

Cherry
Slightly sweet fruity smoke that’s great with just about everything. Dad’s favorite and my second fave.
Good with all meats.

Check out the great smoke ring that you get with cherry wood on these baby backs.

Chestnut
Slightly sweet nutty smoke flavor
Good with most meats.

Corncob
Although not considered to be a true wood, the heart of the cob that holds the kernels is the fuel section of this alternative for wood. It is ground into small granular bits that can be added to a smoking box or it can be combined with other woods such as woods from fruit trees, to impart several flavors. The Corncob provides a sweet flavor that may overpower the food if too much is used to season the food as it cooks. Begin by trying small amounts until the desired flavor is achieved.
It is often used as a smoking chip when grilling foods such as poultry, fish and small game birds.

Cottonwood
It is a softer wood than alder and very subtle in flavor. Use it for fuel but use some chunks of other woods (hickory, oak, pecan) for more flavor as it is extremely mild. Don’t use green cottonwood for smoking.
Good for all smoking, especially pork and ribs.

Crabapple
Is essentially interchangeable with apple
Good with poultry, red meats, game and lamb.

Fig
Mild & fruity like mulberry
Good with all meats.

Grapefruit
Produces a nice mild smoky flavor.
Excellent with beef, pork, fish and poultry.

Grapevines
Tart. Aromatic, but can be a heavy flavor so don’t overdo it.
Use sparingly on poultry or lamb but otherwise if used in moderation is good with red meats, pork and game.

Guava
Flowery fruity taste
Good for all meats,

Hickory
The most common wood used. Sweet to strong, heavy bacon flavor. This great flavor works well with pork, ribs, hams, poultry, and beef.
Good for all smoking, particularly pork and ribs.

I use hickory when I reverse sear pork steaks as they are sauced at the end and thus I need a stronger smoke flavor to stand up to the powerful flavors in the sauce as opposed to my usually preferred lighter fruit woods like pear, peach and apple.

Kiawe
Kiawe (pronounced key-ah-vey) is a wood that can is only found in one state in the U.S. Hawaii. Very hard to come by. The wood is dense with a dark thin bark. It is similar to mesquite with a sweet strong flavor
Good for beef, fish and poultry

Lemon
Medium smoke flavor with a hint of fruitiness.
Excellent with beef, pork and poultry.

Lilac
Very subtle with a hint of floral.
Excellent for smoking cheese. Good with, pork and poultry.

Maple
Mildly smoky, somewhat sweet flavor. Maple adds a sweet, subtle flavor that enhances the flavor of poultry and game birds. Smoke a pork roast with them for a sensational taste experience.
Mates well with poultry, ham, cheese, small game birds, and vegetables. Wonderful for smoked turkey!

Mesquite
Strong earthy flavor. One of the most popular woods in the country, mesquite is a scrubby tree that grows wild in the Southwest. Sweeter and more delicate than hickory, it’s a perfect complement to richly flavored meats such as steak, duck or lamb. Burns hot and fast and it probably the strongest flavored wood.
Good with most meats, especially beef and most vegetables, but be careful as it can overpower some meats.

Mulberry
A mild smoke with a sweet, tangy, blackberry-like flavor. Similar to apple
Good with Beef, poultry, game birds, pork (particularly ham).

Nectarine
The flavor is milder and sweeter than hickory.
Great on most white or pink meats, including chicken, turkey, pork and fish.

Oak
Most versatile of the hardwoods blending well with most meats. A mild smoke with no aftertaste. Oak gives food a beautiful smoked color. Red oak is believed to the best of the oak varieties.
Good with red meat, pork, fish and big game.

Red Oak:

Click here to see red oak used to flavor grilled carne asada.

Olive
The smoke favor is similar to mesquite, but distinctly lighter.
Delicious with poultry.

Orange
A tangy, citrus smoke. Medium smoke flavor with a hint of fruitiness. Orange gives food a golden color. Produces a nice mild smoky flavor.
Excellent with beef, pork and poultry.

Peach
Slightly sweet, woodsy flavor, milder and sweeter than hickory.  Peach is a bit redder than apple and produces a better smoke ring and is a little more flavorful.  My new favorite.
Great on most white or pink meats, including chicken, turkey, pork and fish.

To see peach wood in action click here for Peach Smoked Jerk Ribs and here for Peachy Sweet Spare Ribs.

Pear
A nice subtle smoke flavor much like apple. Slightly sweet, woodsy flavor.  The smell is absolutely amazing.
Good on Poultry, game birds and pork.

Pecan
Sweet and mild with a flavor similar to hickory but not as strong. Tasty with a subtle character. An all-around superior smoking wood. Try smoking with the shells as well.
Good for most things including poultry, beef, pork and cheese. Pecan is the best for that beautiful golden-brown turkey.

Pecan is great with brisket.  Click here to see pecan smoked brisket.

Persimmon
A strong, sweet, and dry smoke that is popular in restaurants as it is said the dryness of the smoke increases drink orders of patrons.
Excellent with beef and pork.

Pimento
Also referred to as Allspice, Jamaican Pepper, Myrtle Pepper, or Newspice. This wood adds a natural and somewhat peppery flavor that may also include flavors of several spices combined, such as cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg, similar to the flavors provided when allspice is used as a seasoning to enhance the flavor of various foods.
It is a common wood used in grilling Jamaican foods such as jerk chicken. Often used for grilling poultry and fish.

Plum
The flavor is milder and sweeter than hickory.
Good with most meats, great on most white or pink meats, including chicken, turkey, pork and fish.

Sassafras
A mild, musky, sweet smoke with a root beer aftertaste. Some say this is not a good candidate for smoking. Others love it.
Especially good on beef, pork and poultry.

Seaweed
The seaweed is washed to remove the salt and air or sun dried before use. It provides a somewhat spicy and natural flavor to the foods being smoked or grilled.
Commonly used for smoking shellfish such as clams, crab, lobster, mussels, and shrimp.

Walnut
While pecan is hickory’s milder cousin, walnut is the strong one. Often mixed with lighter woods like almond, pear or apple. Intense and can become bitter if overused.
Good on red meats like Beef, Pork, Venison and other game meats. Can easily overpower poultry.

Italian Herbs
A strong smoke flavor that is completely unique! You can use fresh oregano, rosemary, thyme or any combination of them with oak wood to give zesty and robust flavors.
Especially good for lamb, pork and poultry. Good for pizza too, when you cook it on the grill.

Oriental Herbs
A strong smoke flavor with oak that’s truly amazing! A blend of Sesame seeds and Ginger Root with oak wood or Mesquite gives a nice oriental BBQ flavor.
Especially good for beef, pork and poultry.

Onion and Garlic
Soak garlic chunks and/or garlic cloves in water for 60 minutes. Plop the onion and/or garlic right over the coals. Add more when smoke stops. Does not need produce a lot of smoke like typical woods but it doesn’t need to in order to add an incredible flavor to any meat.
Great with all meats, seafood and game.

Other Woods
Avocado, Carrotwood, Madrone, Manzanita, Hackberry, and willow. The ornamental varieties of fruit trees such as Bradford and Cleveland pear, double blossom cherry, crabapple, etc., are also suitable for smoking.

Wood that should not be used for smoking
DO NOT USE any wood from conifer trees, such as pine, fir, spruce, redwood, cedar, elm, eucalyptus, sycamore, liquid amber, cypress, or sweet gum trees. Cooking salmon on a cedar plank is not the same as using chunks of cedar to smoke meat as the meat is not smoked continuously on the cedar.

Never use lumber scraps, either new or used. First, you cannot know for sure what kind of wood it is; second, the wood may have been chemically treated; third, you have no idea where the wood may have been or how it was used.

Never use any wood that has been painted or stained. Do not use wood scraps from a furniture manufacturer as this wood is often chemically treated.

Never use wood from old pallets. Many pallets are treated with chemicals that can be hazardous to your health and the pallet may have been used to carry chemicals or poison.

Avoid old wood that is covered with any mold or fungus.

If you have any questions about the smoke woods and such please feel free to comment below or email me at Scott@GrillinFools.com

Also, you can follow the Grillin Fools on Facebook and post your own grillin pictures.

Would you like the best of both worlds? Would you like an offset that will keep the temp more constant and even rival the consistency of the vertical smokers as well as have that large cooking area if needed? Would you like the temp on one side not be as much as 100 degrees different than the temp on the other side? Would you like the thermometer in the middle of the grill be at least somewhat accurate which is impossible when the thing is assembled out of the box due to the temperature fluctuations from left to right.

With less than $30 in materials you can do all of that. Click below to see how I did it…

The first mod I did to my grill was for the rotisserie attachment that is available for the Chargriller Smoker pro that I have and is in the picture at the top of this post. While the website does not say that the rotisserie really isn’t designed for a grill with a fireside box, a couple of quick modifications solved this problem. One thing, you will need a Dremel or some other device that will grind metal. Dremels are not all that expensive and are extremely handy around the house so go get one.

The main problem with the rotisserie and the firebox is that the bracket that holds the rotisserie motor is supposed to go on the side with the firebox. With the firebox attachment there the bracket must go over to the side with the shelf. But the shelf does not leave enough room for the bracket. The shelf has three slats. Removing the slat closest to the grill makes room for the bracket. Makes the shelf a little smaller but you will survive. Here is a shot of my two slat shelf and the bracket in place:

The next problem is that the bracket props the lid up quite a bit. Doesn’t allow the lid to close all the way. The handy dandy Dremel made quick work of this problem by grinding the bracket down a bit to make room for the lid to sit down completely. Make sure to wear eye gear and take all necessary precautions when grinding metal. Sparks will fly:

Here is the lid now sitting flush:

OK now on to the first modification to get the temp stabilized and evenly distribute the smoke. The problem with the firebox design is all the heat is concentrated right next to the firebox. Temp gauge on the grill might read 200, but it could be close to 250 next to the box and close to 150 on the other side. That heat cooks the meat on the right much faster than that on the left. Constant jostling of meat location will help offset that but that requires opening the lid numerous times and thus allows that great smoke to escape as well as the heat. Frequently opening the lid on the cook chamber will make cause the meat to take much longer to cook.

Time to install a baffle between the firebox and the main chamber. The baffle performs two tasks. First it shields the meat closest to the firebox from the direct heat from the fire. Aluminum is not a great conductor of heat and thus it acts as a heat sink between the fire and the meat. To do this I bought a disposable aluminum high sided pan that can be found at any grocery store. The sides are about 4 inches tall. I cut the pan essentially in half at a 45 degree angle. The angle of the cut goes along the bottom of the grill. The sides of the pan cover the hole between the firebox and the main chamber. This does not look pretty, but the inside of a BBQ rarely does if it has been used at all:

Here is a shot of the baffle from inside the firebox. You can see the small gap along the bottom which forces the fire down to the bottom of the chamber which is the second task the baffle performs:

Why is it a good idea to push the smoke down along the bottom of the chamber? Simple. Without the baffle the smoke rises out of the firebox, heads straight up and then travels the length of the chamber along the roof and exits the chimney. Everything right next to the firebox cooks faster and gets more smoke but requires constant jostling of the meat to get everything done at the same time. Two disposable aluminum cookie sheets, along with the baffle resolve this problem.

Take the two sheets and poke holes in them with a sharp. pointy knife. Here is the underside of one of my cookie sheets. As you can see the smoker gets a lot of work since the cookie sheet has a smoke ring!?!?!

Place the two cookie sheets sideways across the bottom of the
chamber side by side with the edge of one being over part of the baffle:

The smoke is forced down by the baffle and under the cookie sheets. The smoke escapes from under the cookie sheets evenly throughout the chamber rather than just on the side with the firebox and along the roof. This is a pic of my first smoke after I made this mod and I was blown away by the results:

The smoke/heat baffle made the temp much more consistent throughout the chamber as well as the smoke distribution but it came with one downside. While the built in thermometer is much more accurate now that I made this modification, the temp is much lower. I was forced to start using lump charcoal to get the temp in the cooking chamber hot enough to smoke ribs for say 6 hours. And I was going through a ton of charcoal.

The firebox on this grill does not do a good job of keeping the main chamber hot. See the charcoal essentially sits in it’s own ash and chokes the fire out the longer the session. I tried a couple of things that did not work or were dangerous. Finally I bought this at Lowe’s:

How does one use a veggie grill basket in an offset smoker to increase the temp in the main chamber? Well this mod requires some mods to the basket before it will modify the grill. See, even without the handle (which detaches easily) the basket is too big for the firebox:

On the right it is being held up by the metal lip over the ash drawer:

And on the left side the other end of the basket is being propped up inside the cooking chamber:

So out comes the Dremel again:

In a matter of a couple of minutes, the wire metal arc is no longer attached to the basket:

And a few more minutes later the metal wire arc on the other side is gone too:

Now I have a metal basket but I need to elevate it off the bottom of the chamber to eliminate the problem with ash build up squelching the heat of the fire. Four 1.25 inch screws, some hex nuts and some washers solves that problem:

Place the screws, washers and nuts at the four corners of the basket near the bottom and now the grill basket is suspended over the ash drawer:

Here is a shot of from where the ash drawer woul
d normally be showing how much space I now have between the bottom of the basket and the firebox. The coals will now be safely elevated above the ash:

If the ash does build up and gets close to the bottom of the basket with this grill I can simply slide out the ash drawer, dump the ashes, and reinsert the ash drawer.

Now one final mod. In order to keep the smoke from escaping out of the chimney too quickly I have extended the bottom of the chimney down to close to the top of the grill grates/cooking surface. This way the smoke cannot simply rise up and evacuate the chamber. The smoke needs to come back down to find the exit through the chimney and consequently pass over the meat a second time. With this model all I needed was a three inch diameter flexible aluminum duct that cost all of about $8:

Since the bottom of the chimney is nearly exactly 3 inches I broke out the Dremel yet again (See how handy this thing is) and cut a slit straight down at the top of the duct in order to get the duct around the chimney base:

Then I attached the end with the slit around the base of the chimney at the roof of my cooking chamber:

I stretched and bent the piece of duct around the raised shelf in the back of the cooking chamber on this model and cut off the the rest of the duct leaving the bottom just about an inch above the top of the grill grates:

Here is the grill lid being propped open by the Dremel to get a shot of how close the chimney comes to the top of the grill grates when the lid closed:

Next up: Covering the holes created for the rotiserrie with some sort of flange to seal them when not using the rotisserie:

Also, I may look at going reverse flow and actually moving the chimney to the side closest to the firebox and forcing the smoke to travel the length of the chamber along the bottom and then up and back across the meat. But that is an entirely different animal as it requires a cutting torch and some welding skills two things I do not have. That is for another post if my $30 mods are not enough.

If you have any questions feel free to comment below or email me at Scott@GrillinFools.com.

Also, you can follow the Grillin Fools on Facebook and post your own grillin pictures.

First off you need a grill. That is an entirely other discussion. Charcoal vs. Gas. Smoker vs. Non Smoker. If a Smoker, Vertical vs. Horizontal vs. Closet Smoker. Porcelain vs. Metal. I will go into this with another post. And I would guess that the vast majority of people that are coming to this site already have a grill.

Let’s start from the beginning. In order to Grill/Smoke/BBQ, one needs a heat source. Each of these methods will require a different amount and intensity of heat but they all need heat. If you have a gas grill this is provided with the flip of a switch. For most of the rest some sort of charcoal is used. This can be in the form of standard fluid lit charcoal, match light charcoal, premium briquettes, cheap briquettes and lump charcoal. One could also simply use chunks of hard wood to grill but that gets expensive fast. What do I use? Cheapest Briquette I can find and a Chimney Starter:

With a Chimney Starter I dump in charcoal, put some newspaper in the bottom and light. 20 minutes later I have red hot coals. Considering it is December and here in St. Louis it has been really windy getting that paper lit can be a PITA for many people. Not for me. I bought one of these to light the paper:

This thing does a couple of things that are very helpful. First, it is not affected by the wind. I can get that torch going in a Hurricane. Second, it really makes my inner pyro happy!?!? I bought this thing at Home Depot for $12 with the can of fuel. New fuel cans are about $3 and last almost a year. It’s also great for lighting the outdoor fire pit. And yes I realize that is overkill, but that’s not the first time I’ve been accused of that!?!

Now that the paper is lit we have 20 minutes to prep the grill and the food. If the plan is to smoke some meat then some smoke wood is required. I am fond of the fruit woods – apple, pear, peach and cherry – Click here for a complete list of all manner of smoke woods and what they pair well with.

While the charcoal is lighting let’s prep the food. I use a lot of spices in my grilling and do a variety of rubs which is a whole other thread in itself. But no matter what spices you use, Penzey’s is the way to go:

Speaking of necessities for rubs. Have you ever made a sweet rub or BBQ sauce with brown sugar only to have the sugar burn and blacken well before the meat is done leaving you with a burnt outside and an underdone inside? There is a solution. Turbinado Sugar or Sugar in the Raw. This stuff has a much higher smoke point and will not burn nearly as brown sugar. This is a must have for any Pit Master:

Another necessity would be a really good knife or two. I am partial to the Kershaw Shun Classic Series. The knives are ridiculously expensive but are well worth it. The two I use the most are the 10 inch Chef:

And the 6.5 inch Santoku:

The Chef is great for slicing, particularly large cuts of meat such as the Spiral Cut Pork Loin I showed in another thread while the Santoku is great for dicing, mincing, chiffinading, and juilianning.

Now that the food is ready to go on the grill, one needs an implement to get it to the grill and manipulate it once on the grill. I highly recommend tongs. A grill fork is a bad idea for just about any meat. There are all manner of tongs out there. My favorites are the Good Grips Tongs seen here:

I’ve tried many types and these to me are the very best. If anyone knows of any better, please let me know. I want to try them.

Another item that is extremely handy is a outdoor grill pan.  This is not one of those skillets for the stove with the little grooves to put grill marks on meat inside.  This is a pan with holes in it that makes it ideal for cooking veggies and seafood.  This is the model I own:

What makes this one nice is that the handle is removable.  Makes it easy to close the lid on the skillet if I can remove the handle.  It’s sort of a bear to clean but it works really well.

Now that the meat is on the grill, we need to make sure the temperature is what we need it to be. If we are just grilling steaks that temp is as hot as you can get it. But for smoking and BBQing that temp needs to be within a specific range. For smoking I like to keep the temp between 200 and 250 with 225 being pretty ideal. For BBQing I want to keep the temp around 275-300. My smoker has a built in thermometer but the temps in the cooking chamber can very greatly in a horizontal smoker. I like to put an extra thermometer near the heat source to know what the temp is for the meat closest to the heat. That way I can make sure that the meat in that area doesn’t get burned or overcooked. While my thermometer is not wireless like this one, I plan on getting this one after the Holidays:
The one above is wireless and would allow me to leave the grill for extended periods of time. An alarm will tell me if it is too hot or too cold. Some ribs I did recently were overcooked because a temperature spike to something like 280 overcooked them because I was inside. If I had this wireless thermometer that wouldn’t have happened.

Now that we have addressed some key items for the Grillin part of Grillin and Chillin, let’s discuss the later. Here are two things I need to satisfy the latter:

You may want to check back to this post periodically. As I find more grilling essentials I will add them here.

As usual, if you have any questions, please email me at Scott@GrillinFools.com or simply leave a comment below.

Also, you can follow the Grillin Fools on Facebook and post your own grillin