My one buddy needed chips for the smoker the other day, and having just cut that hickory down over the weekend I went ahead and made a heap of chips on my lathe. Big pile of hickory chips.....all from just a couple of 8" long rounds that were only 4" diameter Went up on the farm this evening and cut a couple slabs from the mulberry tree that fell during a storm last summer, brought the two small slabs home, chucked them in the lathe, and spun a boxful of chips from them.... Still want to spin some applewood, sugar maple, cherry and white oak.......Might try selling bagfuls of them this spring. Buddy used the hickory in his smoker and he loved it!
Yup, that's a pile of chips Ok so I gotta ask why chips? I have much better luck with chunks as the chips off all off gas to quick. I bury the chunks throughout my fuel so that as it burns down during a smoking session it get to a new chunk giving me even smoke throughout the day. That Mulberry ought to be some awesome smoking wood though make sure you get to try some of the food
Certified, we use the chips on a small closed tray above the heat source (electric or wood fired), the tray has a perforated lid to let chips smoke but wont catch fire. I wet the chips down real good, then pack them i the tray tight. Smokes for quite a while that way and seems to work well.
Gotcha, I never tried one of the chip boxes maybe I will have to give one a shot. How long does it usually smoke and what size box are you using?
I can usually get a cycle of an hour and a half or so on a full box. I haven't built my home smoker yet But the one we used at work had a small box that sat directly on the electric burner? It was around 12" x 12" wide by 2"deep. Lid had holes drilled in it to let smoke escape. Worked really well. Reload it several times for heavier smoking applications.
can't imagine needing to smoke anything more than 2 hours I quite often pull the wood out of my smokers after an hour or so
When I smoke cheese, I hit it HARD. Usually two cycles of smoke, couple weeks sealed in a bag in the fridge and its DEEEE-LISH!!
You must tell me of this smoking cheese process. I have a round of Cheshire again for about another month, and that sounds like a nice option.
I can see needing the extra smoke for cheese since it's so dense. I was thinking of the meats, especially chicken. Gearhart's in Turkey Valley has some good smoked cheeses. He smokes things pretty heavy.
Cheese, being denser than meat, needs more smoke IMO. I like to have at least three hours of smoke when I do cheese. I hit it two separate times (1 1/2 hours each) as to not melt it. Then, refrigerate it for 3-4 weeks so the smoke can absorb into the cheese. I like smoked extra sharp cheddar using a mix of applewood and hickory.....probably my favorite.
