# How do I process cherry for the smoker



## ailanthus (Jan 15, 2014)

What are the important aspects of preparing cherry to use for smoking?  I've got quite a bit of it in the stacks and ready to be processed and I was thinking of setting some aside.

Bark or no bark?  
Heartwood only or OK to include sapwood?  
Seasoned or green?  
What size chunks are best to work with?
Any other tips?

Thanks!


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## bmblank (Jan 15, 2014)

I would stay away from the bark cause who knows what is in it. And I think it should be seasoned otherwise you'll get a bitter taste if I'm correct. What you buy in the site is seasoned and then you soak it in water for half an hour to make it smolder. Chunks depend on the smoker. I'd go as big as your smoker can handle otherwise they burn right up.


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## Missouri Frontier (Jan 15, 2014)

bmblank said:


> I would stay away from the bark cause who knows what is in it. And I think it should be seasoned otherwise you'll get a bitter taste if I'm correct. What you buy in the site is seasoned and then you soak it in water for half an hour to make it smolder. Chunks depend on the smoker. I'd go as big as your smoker can handle otherwise they burn right up.


 

second that. the only other thing I do is soak the pieces in some water for awhile before putting them on an already burning fire. They smolder slow. i dont do it with green wood. it tastes funny.


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## HackBerry (Jan 15, 2014)

The length and size depends on your type of smoker. Green or seasoned smoke wood is one of the holy wars of BBQ. I like green pecan in the smoker but I've never used green cherry to compare to seasoned. I built an ugly drum smoker so I prefer chunks about the size of a baseball. If using an offset pit I would use splits slightly smaller than the firebox with no bark.


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## paul bunion (Jan 15, 2014)

When processing logs I cut off 1" to 1.5" cookies and split them into appropriate sized chunks for use in my Weber Bullet.  I don't care about bark or seasoning or heart wood.   Although a 1" cookie will dry out so fast they are seasoned by default.


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## BobUrban (Jan 15, 2014)

Less is best with lots of time.  Smoking is not "smoke-out"  a smokeless fire and a lot of time will provide the best results.  I used to compete and built a hog smoker on a trailer.  May have to share pics in the inglenook sometime.  My plan is to make another one that is not quite so large for cooking shoulders, ribs and brisket instead of whole hogs. 

If you subject meat to hours of heavy smoke you may as well use an ash tray for a plate.


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## red oak (Jan 15, 2014)

Ailanthus what are you planning on smoking?


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## jeff_t (Jan 15, 2014)

BobUrban said:


> Less is best with lots of time.  Smoking is not "smoke-out"  a smokeless fire and a lot of time will provide the best results.
> 
> If you subject meat to hours of heavy smoke you may as well use an ash tray for a plate.



Amen. 

I use lump charcoal, and a few sticks of whatever the flavor of the day is. I generally just go out to my stacks, find a split I want, and make small, kindling sized pieces out of the heartwood.


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## stircrazy (Jan 24, 2014)

ailanthus said:


> What are the important aspects of preparing cherry to use for smoking?  I've got quite a bit of it in the stacks and ready to be processed and I was thinking of setting some aside.
> 
> Bark or no bark?
> Heartwood only or OK to include sapwood?
> ...



first thing is what are you using for a smoker?   I use my cherry all the time in my smokers.  couple things you want seasoned wood, and don't soak it in water, like our fireplaces you want it to burn clean, soaking it makes it impart a bitter flavor from the creosote that is produced, and if there is a lot of it you will get that numbness/tingling on your lips an in your mouth. the greener or wetter the wood the more you get.  I have a wood burning smoker, I just burn what ever wood splits I have bark and all in that one, well only fruit wood.  In my charcoal one I use 2x2x4" chunks of wood.  like what was mention before you don't want white smoke pouring out but rather a slight blue haze.  

when I prepare my wood I use my chop saw and take a skim off each end in case there was some chain saw oil.  that's it for my stick burner, if I am using my charcoal smoker I use my table saw to rip it into 2 x 2's then chop them into the length I want (usually 4")

my other smoker is a Bradley, so for that one I just open the package and load up the hopper 

Steve


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## tsquini (Jan 25, 2014)

No bark. As for moisture content, if you are looking for a hotter fire shorter cook time go with a higher moisture content. If you are going for a low heat slow cook you need a lower moisture content so the wood can maintain a burn with lower heat level. I usually cut chunks 4"x4".


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## KB007 (Jan 25, 2014)

We have a Big Green Egg, IMHO, one of the best things to smoke and/or low and slow on. I used to think you needed to use an all wood (seasoned) fire to get good smoking. Never seemed to taste right - bleah.  What I forgot was that charcoal is at heart, wood, and depending on the wood species imparts some of it's own flavor as well.  Now I use a good lump charcoal (check here for lots of reviews  http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lumpindexpage.htm?bag  ) with only a small quantity of "flavor" wood and most stuff is low and slow @ 200F and it all comes out fantastic. By small quantity, I'm talking 3-4 chunks no bigger than a baseball. All I've ever done for the flavor wood is cut it to size and let it dry, since it's pretty small chunks, they dry fast and don't take up a huge amount of space.  Sometimes I just lay a few chunks out indoors to keep the rain/bugs/mold off them.  Done it with apple, sugar maple, pretty much any fruit tree I can get my hands on. One of these days, I'll try to collect some chunks from the insert, see if they work as decent charcoal.


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## Kyle LI (Jan 25, 2014)

And remember you want the nice blue smoke coming out.  The way I prep my wood for smoking is that I take about 3 inch thick disks and chop them into fist size pieces. After that they sit  in a milk crate and just let them dry out in that. I will use about 6 pieces per smoke in my smokey mountain. Smoking and BBQ comps is what I do when I am not processing wood.


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## firefighterjake (Jan 25, 2014)

stircrazy said:


> first thing is what are you using for a smoker?   I use my cherry all the time in my smokers.*  couple things you want seasoned wood, and don't soak it in water, like our fireplaces you want it to burn clean, soaking it makes it impart a bitter flavor from the creosote that is produced, and if there is a lot of it you will get that numbness/tingling on your lips an in your mouth. the greener or wetter the wood the more you get*.  I have a wood burning smoker, I just burn what ever wood splits I have bark and all in that one, well only fruit wood.  In my charcoal one I use 2x2x4" chunks of wood.  like what was mention before you don't want white smoke pouring out but rather a slight blue haze.
> 
> when I prepare my wood I use my chop saw and take a skim off each end in case there was some chain saw oil.  that's it for my stick burner, if I am using my charcoal smoker I use my table saw to rip it into 2 x 2's then chop them into the length I want (usually 4")
> 
> ...



This could explain things . . . a few years ago I gave my buddy some black cherry to use for smoking. He usually is fantastic at smoking meat . . . typically has used apple or maple, depending on the meat. Normally, the smoked meat is incredibly good . . . this time around the meat was terrible . . . tasted like eating creosote . . . very bitter. The wood was well seasoned, but I think he may soak the chips in water which might have caused this . . . thanks for the info . . . I'll pass the info on to him for his future attempts as I think he has steered clear of black cherry ever since that one failed attempt.


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## cuttingedge (Jan 26, 2014)

I have used Black Cherry to smoke meat exclusively for the last few years due to the fact that hurricane Sandy left me with an abundance of it. I have always cut it down to about 8 inch rounds and threw it in the splitter to make small chunks. I let it season for at least 6 mos and I do not soak it when smoking. I use a barrel grill with lump charcoal and usually go through about 3-4 pieces of cherry when smoking. I place the cherry near the charcoal and after about 10 minutes you can see the smoke coming off of it. Yes it does light on fire sometimes but a quick spray of water or apple juice which is what I spray the meat with will put out the flames. I have always kept the bark on and have never had any problems with the flavor. My specialty is Ribs, Pork Butt, Brisket and last year for Thanksgiving I did a 12 pound Turkey.


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## Jags (Jan 27, 2014)

One thing I haven't really seen mentioned yet (it was brushed by)...if you are using your chainsaw to produce this smoking wood, consider using veggy oil instead of bar oil.
I don't soak my wood and only one or two doses of smoke for long sessions.


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## Kevin Dolan (Jan 27, 2014)

stircrazy said:


> first thing is what are you using for a smoker?   I use my cherry all the time in my smokers.  couple things you want seasoned wood, and don't soak it in water, like our fireplaces you want it to burn clean, soaking it makes it impart a bitter flavor from the creosote that is produced, and if there is a lot of it you will get that numbness/tingling on your lips an in your mouth. the greener or wetter the wood the more you get.  I have a wood burning smoker, I just burn what ever wood splits I have bark and all in that one, well only fruit wood.  In my charcoal one I use 2x2x4" chunks of wood.  like what was mention before you don't want white smoke pouring out but rather a slight blue haze.
> 
> when I prepare my wood I use my chop saw and take a skim off each end in case there was some chain saw oil.  that's it for my stick burner, if I am using my charcoal smoker I use my table saw to rip it into 2 x 2's then chop them into the length I want (usually 4")
> 
> ...


I have a Bradley too and it is easy. I also use wood from my piles, I never soak the chunks, waste of time. As long a it is seasoned seems to be good.


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## Studdlygoof (Jan 27, 2014)

I have cherry, oak, hickory and apple rounds I cut on the band saw hanging from burlap bags in the rafters of the shed to stay dry and ready depending on what meat I'm smoking in the WSM. I second the notion of not pre soaking the wood. Actually read a study that soaking the wood does nothing. Cross sections of the soaked wood showed the water penetrated the wood less then a 1/16". The water that is on it immediately vaporizes adding nothing. Just my .02


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