HOW LONG DO WOOD CHIPS LAST IN ELECTRIC SMOKERS

 

 

Without question, electric smokers are by far the easiest smokers to manage as they require no charcoal lighting, no constant checking of the fuel supply, and usually no messy ash pan.  These are units that are designed to run on very little wood product, usually between 2-5 ounces because the actual ‘fuel’ is an electric coil.  No gas, charcoal, or pellet.

Are There Flavor Differences?

To answer the question of whether flavor differences exist between an electric unit and those that use combustible fuel sources, you need to weigh who the response is coming from.  For me, someone who has an electric unit (we need to have a good assortment of equipment to produce our recipes), I do indeed feel there are flavor differences.  Without the volatile gases that are produced with combustible items meaning wood and lump hardwood charcoal, there is less of a smoke flavor.  The trademark smoke ring on meats can also go missing with electric units.  Take this into consideration when deciding whether to purchase an electric unit.

The Small Wood Appetite - How Long Do Wood Chips Last in an Electric Smoker

Electric smokers are very specific when it comes to the quantity of wood to use.  Most manufacturers will provide a measurement level in ounces that you need to adhere to.  If you should have an electric unit that does not include the reference to wood quantity but does have a wood tray, be sure not to overfill that tray.  To gauge how long wood chips last in your typical electric smoker, know first that most units use between 2-5 ounces of wood product to start.  You may have to replenish the wood 1-2 more times depending on what your smoking.  Larger cuts of meat, plan on enough wood to fill the wood tray three times.

Solid Black Wood Chips

You followed the directions and placed the referenced amount of wood chip product in the unit but when the cooking time was finished, you looked at the chip tray and found most of the wood chips still in solid form.  Nothing was reduced to ash and all the chips were black in color.  Did something go wrong?

Black color to the wood chips means that the wood processed through most of the stages of combustion and turned to carbon on the outside, giving the distinct black coloring.  If the wood chips are still in sold form, then combustion was not complete.  Complete combustion would have reduced the chips to a pile of carbon ash.

How Long Do Wood Chips Last? - Remember- Combustion Has Needs!

To ensure complete combustion of a wood product specific factors need to be in place: air-fuel ratio, quality of the fuel, reduced moisture or water level, etc.  The 3 ingredients that must be present to sustain combustion are oxygen, heat, and fuel.  If you can achieve a balance of these 3 ingredients, you will achieve complete combustion and have great success with wood product used in an electric smoker.

Can Black Chips Be Re-Used?

The most important thing to remember about combustion is when wood is reduced to carbon, it produces very little if any smoke and has no flavor release.  To answer the question of whether wood chips that are black but still in solid form can be re-used, the answer is no.

Those chips will not give out any flavor, they simply will finish the final stage of combustion and turn to ash. when is a wood chip dead

Remove those black chips and add fresh, keeping the chips in the dry state when smoking with them.  You’ll find better results and less waste in the wood product you purchase.

TAKE TART TO THE SMOKEY SIDE WITH FRESH RHUBARB (SMOKED)!

Our Finished Rhubarb (Smoked)

Rhubarb (Smoked) – I will make a confession: I don’t like rhubarb, a spring to early summer perennial vegetable, on its own, likely due to the very tart flavor.  I do, however, enjoy this vegetable smoked and then blended with a sweet fruit.

This is likely why you may not have realized that rhubarb is a perennial vegetable since this is so widely used for dessert items. The rhubarb stalks are suitable to eat but the leaves are poisonous meaning they should never be eaten or added to a smoothie.  Since this is a tart vegetable, I am going to first smoke it to change the balance of that tartness.  Later, I plan to use these smoked stalks in combination with some smoked strawberry to make a strawberry-rhubarb fool, a delicious treat or dessert.

For now, let’s get about a pound of fresh rhubarb, hopefully from a garden or a fresh market, and meet at the smoker for an easy method of infusing wood flavoring to this tart stalk vegetable.

Selecting and Preparing

Rhubarb is a perennial vegetable that prefers cold conditions to thrive.  When first planted, you won’t be able to harvest any of the stalks until the second year, similar to growing asparagus.  When ready to harvest, you’re looking for stalks 12 to 18-inches in length with good girth to them.  If the stalks are too thin, that means the plant does not have enough nutrients.

Once harvested, clean well under water and pat dry.  Trim all the leave ends from the stalks as these are poisonous, and discard. Note you can compost the leaves as the poisonous oxalic acid breaks down quickly when decomposition begins.

I prefer to cut my stalks into 3-4-inch lengths.  That’s it!  Likely one of the easiest vegetables to prepare for the smoker.  Speaking of the smoker, time to prepare ours.  I’ll be using an electric smoker today since smoking rhubarb takes very little time.

Tasting Notes: Whether to cut the stalks is dependent on what you plan to do with the rhubarb so adjust this step according to your planned recipe.

Fire Up the Smoker!

I’ll be using a standard vertical electric smoker that uses lava rocks as the radiator of the heat as well as an electric element as the fuel/heat source.  My electric smoker allows me to use wood chunks so I have an assortment of small sizes that total about 6 ounces of hardwood.  The double filet wood chunk size is ideal and as a tip, if you note to SmokinLicious® the need for thin chunks, these can be provided.

My set up is simple: I wrap one of my grill grates in aluminum foil, place my element on the lava rocks and insert wood chunks between the element’s spaces.  I’m using a combination of maple and cherry hardwood.  I add my water pan with about 2-inches of hot water so energy from the unit isn’t wasted heating up the water.  On goes my tray of pre-cut rhubarb that are spaced to allow the smoke to penetrate all around.  Leave these untouched on the smoker for about 20-25 minutes or until the thickest stalks are fork tender.

The best part about rhubarb on the smoker is it takes very little effort.  Trim, clean, and cut to size then place on the grate and smoke.  In about 15 minutes time, you’ll see a golden hue come out of the rhubarb pieces.  That means the smoke has penetrated its great flavor.  Using a fork or the tip of a paring knife, I check the thickest stalk to be sure I can easily pass the metal tip thru.  If so, then the rhubarb is tender and ready to come off the smoker.

If your plans are to prepare this for rhubarb pie, then just continue with your favorite recipe.  This step is simply to provide another flavor level and begin the cooking process. Check in with us soon as we release our version of the strawberry-rhubarb fool featuring this smoked rhubarb and smoked strawberry.

What’s your favorite method of cooking rhubarb?  Leave us a comment to opine and subscribe to get all our postings on tips, techniques and recipes.  Bringing innovation to wood fired cooking with recipes, techniques and the science behind the fire, smoke, and flavor. That’s SmokinLicious®.

“MATCH YOUR COOKER” – SMOKERS LIST-OUR WOOD MASTERS GUIDE

Our drawing of the typical offset smokers, which come in a variety of sizes! Study our Smokers list

For those that have followed us for years, you know we are proud that almost from the start of our Company, we were committed to providing a guide for equipment to cooking wood product match.  We refer to our guide affectionately as “Match Your Cooker”.

In this article, we are covering our recommendations for smoker equipment; these are cookers that are dedicated for use as a smoker, usually hot smoking at that.  As there are always new equipment lines and models released, our plan is to provide regular updates.  We also encourage you to send us a message when you don’t see a manufacturer or model listed so we can add this to our listing.

For now, we introduce you to our wood master’s guide to SmokinLicious® cooking woods for specific smokers.

 

Barrel Smoker Logs

The following Smokers list equipment/models would be suitable for the SmokinLicious® Barrel Smoker Log/ Full Cut Log:

BBQ Pits By Klose model: Commercial Indoor & Outdoor Pits; Mobile Cookers and Catering Rigs

Bubba Grills models: T3 Steam, 250 Gallon R, 250 Gallon Ribbox, 500 Gallon R, Hog/Shoulder Box, Custom Grills
 
Cookers and Grills.com model: Mobile Units, Hog Cookers, Pig Roasters

Horizon Smokers model: Trailer Smokers

Jambo Pits model: J-3 and J-5 Models

Kingfisher Kooker’s model: Commercial Rotisserie Cookers, Commercial Grill

Lang BBQ Smokers model: Competitive and Commercial Smokers

M Grills model: M1, M36, M48

Meadow Creek® BBQ model: Barbecue Smoker and Barbecue Smoker Trailer

Myron Mixon Smokers models: H2O Water Smoker, Gravity Feeds, H2O Rotisserie Water Smoker, Trailers

Ole Hickory Pits™ model: Convecture™ Tri Ovens

Peoria Cookers model: Mobile Units

Southern Pride BBQ Pits & Smokers model: Gas and Mobile Smokers

 

¼ Cut Wood Logs

The following Smokers list equipment/models would be suitable for the SmokinLicious® ¼ Cut Wood Log:

American Barbecue Systems model: “The Judge”, “The Smokehouse 6042”

Backwoods Smoker: “The Gladiator”

BBQ Pits By Klose: Combination Smokers and Grills

Karubecue model KBQ C-60 BBQ Smoker Pit

Lang BBQ Smokers model: Competitive and Commercial Smokers

Ole Hickory Pits™ model: Convecture™ Tri Ovens

Pitmaker model: BBQ Edge Smoker

The Good-One™ Smokers model: The Pitboss

Tucker Cooker Co.

 

Unfileted Wood Blocks

The following Smoker list equipment/models would be suitable for the SmokinLicious® Unfileted Wood Block:


BBQ Pits By Klose: Combination Smokers and Grills

Big Poppa® Smokers models: cabinet smokers

Bubba Grills models: Super Cooker, Deck Grills, Custom Grills

Cookers and Grills.com model: Mobile Units, Hog Cookers, Pig Roasters, Backyard Chef & Patio Smoker Grills

Meadow Creek® BBQ

Pitmaker model: Hitman 48, Short Sniper, Long Rifle Sniper, Magnum Sniper Smoker

The Good-One™ Smokers model: The Open Range, The Heritage, The Marshall, The Pitboss

Tucker Cooker Co.

Yoder Smokers

 

Single Filet Wood Chunks

The following Smokers list equipment/models would be suitable for the SmokinLicious® Single Filet Wood Chunks:
 

American Barbecue Systems model: “All Star”, “The Pit-Boss”, “The Bar-Be-Cube”

Backwoods Smoker model: “Party”, “G2 Party”, “The Fatboy”, “G2 Fatboy”, “The Pro Junior”, “The Piglet”, “Piglet Plus”, “The Competition Hog”, “The Pro-Competition Hog”, “The Whole Hog”

Big Poppa® Smokers models: all drum smokers

Bubba Grills models: Deck Grills


Char-Broil model: Highland Offset Smoker, Longhorn Offset Smoker, Longhorn Reverse Flow
Offset Smoker

Cookers and Grills.com model: Charcoal/Wood Smoker Grills

Pitmaker models: Hitman 20×32, Custom Smokers

Smoke Hollow Charcoal/Gas Grill

Stump’s Smoker models: The Baby, The XL Baby, The Junior, The Classic, The Stretch, The Monster, Platinum 4, Platinum 6, Reverse Flow models

The Good-One™ Smokers model: The Patio Jr.

 

Double Filet Wood Chunks

The following Smokers list equipment/models would be suitable for the SmokinLicious® Double Filet Wood Chunks:


American Barbecue Systems model: “All Star”, “The Pit-Boss”, “The Bar-Be-Cube”

Backwoods Smoker model: “Chubby 3400”, “Chubby”, “G2 Chubby”

Best Choice Products model: 43” Outdoor Vertical Smoker

Brinkman models: Trailmaster 57” Vertical Smoker, Roadmaster, All-In-One Gas & Charcoal
Smoker, Grill & Fryer, Smoke ‘N Pit

Broil King model: Smoke Offset, Smoke Grill, Smoke Vertical



Cabela’s 7 in 1 Cooker/Smoker

Char-Broil model: Vertical Charcoal, American Gourmet Offset Smokers, Offset Smokers, Bullet
Smokers, Silver Smoker

Char-Griller Grills & Smokers models: Smokin’ Champ™ 1624 Charcoal Grill, Smokin’ Outlaw
3724 Charcoal Grill, Smokin’ Pro™ E1224, Competition Pro™ 8125 Charcoal Grill, Texas Trio

Cookshack model: SmartSmoker Commercial Smoker & Smoker Oven, Smokette Electric Smokers,
SuperSmoker Electric Smoker, AmeriQue Electric Smoker

Cuisinart model: COS-244 Vertical 36” Propane Smoker, COS-118 Vertical 18” Charcoal Smoker

Dyna-Glo models: DG01176BDC-D Off-Set Smoker, DGX7080BDC-D 36” Vertical Smoker, Signature Series Vertical Smoker, DGX376BCS-D Compact Charcoal Bullet Smoker

Masterbuilt models:  7 in 1 Smoker and Grill, Dual Fuel Smoker

Master Forge Charcoal Smoker/Griller

Meco (Americana) Charcoal Combo Water Smoker

Pitmaker model: BBQ Safe Smoker

Red Box Smoker

Smokin-It®

Southern Country Models: 2 in 1 Water Smoker and Charcoal Grill, 5025 Stainless Steel Charcoal Water Smoker

Stump’s Smoker models: The Mini Stumpster, The Stumpster

Texas Pit Crafters models: PM 500S BI, PM 500U BI, PM 500 U S/S BI, PM 535U BI Smoker, PM 550S BI, PM 550 Smoker with Enclosed Front Load Firebox, PM 550 Upright Smoker/Pit with Enclosed Firebox

 

Grande Sapore® Wood Chips

The following Smokers list equipment/models would be suitable for the SmokinLicious® Grande Sapore® Wood Chips:


Alto-Shaam model: Smoker Ovens

Broil King model: Smoke Offset, Smoke Grill, Smoke Vertical

Camp Chef model: Smoke Vault Smoker

Char-Broil model: Vertical Electric & Propane

Dyna-Glo model: DGU732BDE-D 30″ Digital Electric Smoker

Napoleon model: Apollo AS200K, Apollo AS300K

Pit Barrel®: any model

 

Minuto® Wood Chips

The following Smokers list equipment/models would be suitable for the SmokinLicious® Minuto® Wood Chips: 


Alto-Shaam model: Smoker Ovens

Bastra

Camp Chef model: Smoke Vault Smoker
Char-Broil model: Vertical Electric Smokers, Deluxe Digital Electric Smoker, Analog Electric

Smoker, Simple Smoker

Dyna-Glo model: DGU732BDE-D 30″ Digital Electric Smoker

Fessmann

 
Hakka Electric Stainless Steel BBQ Smoker

Kerres

Koch Smokehouse

Landmann model: 26” Smoky Mountain Electric Smoker

Smoke Hollow model: 44” Two Door Propane Gas Smoker, 38” Propane Gas Smoker

Smokehouse Products model: Little Chief Front Load Smoker

SmokinTex model: 1100 Pro Series Electric Smoker

 

Piccolo® Wood Chips

The following Smoker list equipment/models would be suitable for the SmokinLicious® Piccolo® Wood Chips:


AFOS    

Alto-Shaam model: Smoker Ovens
 
Arcos

Camp Chef model: Smoke Vault Smoker

Jugema

Koch Smokehouse

Lambda

Maurer-Atmos

Ness

Schroter

Spomasz Wroclaw

Vemag

Voss

 

Smokin’ Dust®

The following Smokers list equipment/models would be suitable for the SmokinLicious

® Smokin’ Dust®

Alto-Shaam model: Smoker Ovens

ELECTRIC SMOKERS: WHEN IS A WOOD CHIP ‘DEAD’?

We discuss the Electric smoker and what the before chips and after chips! The chips should have full combustion for the proper smoke flavor.

Without question, electric smokers are by far the easiest smokers to manage as they require no charcoal lighting, no constant checking of the fuel supply, and usually no messy ash pan.  These are units that are designed to run on very little wood product, usually between 2-5 ounces because the actual ‘fuel’ is an electric coil.  No gas, charcoal, or pellet.

Are There Flavor Differences?

To answer the question of whether flavor differences exist between an electric unit and those that use combustible fuel sources, you need to weigh who the response is coming from.  For me, someone who has an electric unit (we need to have a good assortment of equipment to produce our recipes), I do indeed feel there are flavor differences.  Without the volatile gases that are produced with combustible items meaning wood and lump hardwood charcoal, there is less of a smoke flavor.  The trademark smoke ring on meats can also go missing with electric units.  Take this into consideration when deciding whether to purchase an electric unit.

The Small Wood Appetite

Electric smokers are very specific when it comes to the quantity of wood to use.  Most manufacturers will provide a measurement level in ounces that you need to adhere to.  If you should have an electric unit that does not include the reference to wood quantity but does have a wood tray, be sure not to overfill that tray.  Most units use between 2-5 ounces of wood product to start.  You may have to replenish the wood 1-2 more times depending on what your smoking.  Larger cuts of meat, plan on enough wood to fill the wood tray three times.

Solid Black Wood Chips

You followed the directions and placed the referenced amount of wood chip product in the unit but when the cooking time was finished, you looked at the chip tray and found most of the wood chips still in solid form.  Nothing was reduced to ash and all the chips were black in color.  Did something go wrong?

Black color to the wood chips means that the wood processed through most of the stages of combustion and turned to carbon on the outside, giving the distinct black coloring.  If the wood chips are still in sold form, then combustion was not complete.  Complete combustion would have reduced the chips to a pile of carbon ash.

Combustion Has Needs

To ensure complete combustion of a wood product specific factors need to be in place: air-fuel ratio, quality of the fuel, reduced moisture or water level, etc.  The 3 ingredients that must be present to sustain combustion are oxygen, heat, and fuel.  If you can achieve a balance of these 3 ingredients, you will achieve complete combustion and have great success with wood product used in an electric smoker.

Can Black Chips Be Re-Used?

The most important thing to remember about combustion is when wood is reduced to carbon, it produces very little if any smoke and has no flavor release.  To answer the question of whether wood chips that are black but still in solid form can be re-used, the answer is no.

Those chips will not give out any flavor, they simply will finish the final stage of combustion and turn to ash.

Remove those black chips and add fresh, keeping the chips in the dry state when smoking with them.  You’ll find better results and less waste in the wood product you purchase.