Yup, I'm a gas-plus-wood-chips guy. I was skeptical at first, and still enjoy the charcoal option, but for me gas won out for one reason - it allowed me to grill far more often. I just wouldn't bother as often when I had to buy, tote, dispense, light, distribute and manage the charcoal. None of that is a deal breaker in the right situation, but with gas I can pop outside to grill a handful of hotdogs. I just wouldn't do that with charcoal.

 

Whats wrong with adding wood chips or even as I do some times a few small twigs from my apple tree to charcoal when grilling? My middle son makes his own charcoal for the grill. I made him a "bucket" type charcoal maker. It burns hotter and lights faster than the store bought stuff, and you don't need the lighter fluid.

 

Whats wrong with adding wood chips or even as I do some times a few small twigs from my apple tree to charcoal when grilling? My middle son makes his own charcoal for the grill. I made him a "bucket" type charcoal maker. It burns hotter and lights faster than the store bought stuff, and you don't need the lighter fluid.

Interesting, I had never heard of that. Can you post a pic of said charcoal maker?

 

Gas makes it easier, when I was in Michigan, I grilled from Jan 1 to Dec 31, rain, snow, or sun shine. On the gas grill, I only use my basic seasoning on the meats. In the smoker, there are wood chips. The best wood I used was some recently fallen maple trees from my brother in law. Smoked ribs, wings, pork loin, salmon, and everything else had a sweet maple flavor.

Now, my buddy in Oklahoma, loves peach wood, cut from his friends home in Ohio.

Fresh wood is superior to the dried woods you get in the store, even if you soak them for hours.

I did three racks of ribs on the fourth. We finished the last of them tonight at the evening meal. Just as tasty as they were on the 4th.

 

Interesting, I had never heard of that. Can you post a pic of said charcoal maker?

I know you weren't talking to me, but...
I "made" one out of a 55gal drum. The quotes are because I really didn't "make" anything; it had a thin rusty patch at the bottom and I kicked a hole in it, and set a 10ft pipe in the hole with leaf blower up to the end of the pipe. Put in a bunch of old wood, light, apply air, burn like hell for a bit, then seal off the top and kick some dirt up over the hole.

This will get REALLY hot. Like hot enough to make the whole drum glow bright yellow and burn your skin just by walking within 5 ft of it. The flames will go really high in a scary firey vortex so do it in the open.

Definitely worth the show even if you're not trying to get charcoal out of it.

 

Whats wrong with adding wood chips or even as I do some times a few small twigs from my apple tree to charcoal when grilling? My middle son makes his own charcoal for the grill. I made him a "bucket" type charcoal maker. It burns hotter and lights faster than the store bought stuff, and you don't need the lighter fluid.

There's nothing wrong with it, actually... it's just that the smoke produced by the charcoal will most likely overwhelm the one produced by the wood, and the taste is not too different from normal charcoal grilling.

BTW, we have tons of mesquite wood available down here... a "carne asada" done on that sort of wood is always delicious.
Check out this article... it's interesting reading!

 

Gas makes it easier...

Gas grills are definitely easier to clean and to set up

 

And BTW... my favorite wood for smoking pork ribs is pecan...

 

I used pecan with the ribs. I'm happy with the results.

It's tough to get Michigan maple wood in DFW Texas.

 

I used pecan with the ribs. I'm happy with the results.

It's tough to get Michigan maple wood in DFW Texas.

Well, down here I can get nothing but mesquite... it's only when I go to Texas that I visit the academy store and buy pecan, apple, cherry and maple chips

 

C
This might answer your question about making making your own charcoal.

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/makinglump.htm

 

Well, down here I can get nothing but mesquite... it's only when I go to Texas that I visit the academy store and buy pecan, apple, cherry and maple chips

No hickory? That's the number one, go-to wood up here in the Midwest. I use mesquite, apple and cherry as well, but I'd guess hickory is 80% of what I use. And cedar planks for the salmon, of course.

 

Don't have a digital camera C. But the bucket charcoal maker is just a steel "bolt bucket", like a metal (remember those?) 5 gallon bucket. Bolt buckets are bigger than 5gal, maybe ~7.5 gal, and have a lid that clamps on with a band. Got a couple of them when they put in a new bridge crane in at work.

I drilled 6 holes in around the bottom of the side of the bucket, spaced evenly on the circumference. Burned the paint off of it in a small fire. Then you fill it with chunks of wood, and secure the lid on. Then you build a fire around the outside of the bucket, like a camp fire. Soon the holes start shooting jets of fire out of them, this is from the sap and other volatile stuff in the wood. When no more flames come out of the holes let the fire go out and the bucket cool down before you take the lid off. You loose around 30% of the wood volume in the bucket but are left with pure carbon charcoal.

Doesn't even compare with the store bought stuff which has a lot of cornstarch or other binders in it. He makes it when he is having a "campfire" any way so it's just a by product of that.

 

Alot of the time, the favorite smoking wood is whatever is indigenous to the local area.

My brother in law inquired about using that maple. I walked down to the tree, broke Off a twig, fired it up and then blew out the flame. It smelled great. We repeated that process with the other trees on his property. The wives also smelled the results. Apple, apricot, and maple passed the test. Box elder failed.

So, I became biased towards freshly cut woods, no older than nine months.

 

No hickory? That's the number one, go-to wood up here in the Midwest. I use mesquite, apple and cherry as well, but I'd guess hickory is 80% of what I use. And cedar planks for the salmon, of course.

Yeah... now that you mention it, we do have hickory. Although it's hard to get since it's a protected tree down here. We also have a little bit of apple, if you go out of your way to find it. And maybe.... perhaps if you dig deep enough you'll find some ebony... but that's as far as hardwoods go in this region

 

C
This might answer your question about making making your own charcoal.

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/makinglump.htm

Nice... maybe I'll try it one of this days when I get my hands on some interesting hardwood...
On the other hand, I don't mean to brag, but the charcoal we have down here beats the one found in the US many times over. We mainly have natural large lump wood charcoal, and not those chemical-smelling press-molded brickettes that I dislike so much

 

There is natural large lump wood charcoal in the U.S. as well, it's not stocked everywhere like the brickettes.

 

There is natural large lump wood charcoal in the U.S. as well, it's not stocked everywhere like the brickettes.

Yeah I know... I've seen it in Brownsville, for instance... but it's not that easy to find

 

My mouth is watering.

 

Here's a video that will clog your arteries just for watching it:

The recipe is a classic Northern Mexican grilled steak.
The title says: "Cowboy Steak Stuffed With Marrow"