[BERRY-BRO]

Soaking wood does nothing to improve your smoke, soaking chips or sawdust is different so I won't go into detail on that.
Picture this: a piece of wood you use for smoking is similar to a quality hammer handle, how long do you have to soak a hammer handle to get it to swell? Depends on the type of wood! Good hardwood swells very little if at all, you would have to drown it for days to get some real water absorption. Now throw this on a hot bed of coals and what happens? It evaporates real fast. Why? Because the water is only on the outer surface. You can get better results if you just spray moisture into the chamber occasionally, if that is something that makes you happy. If you get good wood, not over dry and not too green, there is plenty of moisture in it already, cooking wood is usually around 20%-40% moisture content. I hope this makes sense! Thomas

http://www.bbfw.com

[BBQCZAR]

Soaking wood does nothing to improve your smoke, soaking chips or sawdust is different so I won't go into detail on that.
Picture this: a piece of wood you use for smoking is similar to a quality hammer handle, how long do you have to soak a hammer handle to get it to swell? Depends on the type of wood! Good hardwood swells very little if at all, you would have to drown it for days to get some real water absorption. Now throw this on a hot bed of coals and what happens? It evaporates real fast. Why? Because the water is only on the outer surface. You can get better results if you just spray moisture into the chamber occasionally, if that is something that makes you happy. If you get good wood, not over dry and not too green, there is plenty of moisture in it already, cooking wood is usually around 20%-40% moisture content. I hope this makes sense! Thomas




Yeah,what he said 

http://www.bbfw.com

[Cornbred]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv7y1TWyKEw&fmt=18   



A little soaking test... time is money folks! Up to you

[BruceBenjamin]

False...burn the chips and drink the beer.

 Also I have heard from alot of people who use a water pan with beer/wine/juice/onions etc. thinking the vapor will impart flavor. This is also false. Think back to jr. high school physics...when you boil liquids...what kind of molecule is the vapor evaporating? H2O right? This is how stills work when purifying water. So that means you have water floating around which will make for a moist environment, but all the particles that has the flavor are still sitting in the pan..which may make for a fine reduction and if catching drippings can make a fine sauce base.

I realize that this is an older thread but I'm new to this forum and I've been reading some of the older posts.  This one caught my eye...

What you say regarding only the H2O evaporating and all of the solids staying put sounds good in theory.  But try this test:  Put on a pot of water on your stove burner right next to a pot of beer or any other flavorful liquid on another burner.  Bring them both to a boil and stick your nose into the steam.  Take a good whiff and tell me that you don't smell beer in the steam from the beer pot.  I don't know the science of it all but that the H2O that's steaming up so rapidly might be grabbing some of the beer solids and carrying them up too.  Boil ANYTHING with flavor, (Like Tomato sauce) and you'll smell a lot more than just water.  I think your idea will work a lot better if something is just evaporating at room temperature.  The hotter the water the faster it will evaporate and therefore the more solids they will pull up into the steam.  I know this doesn't sound very scientific and it's not.  But I think the old saying that, "the proof is in the pudding" would apply here. 

Will this apply to actually flavoring the food?  I've steamed fish in steamers before with various flavors in the steaming water and it definitely added flavor to the fish.  I've never tried it with BBQ in a smoky environment.  It would probably be subtle and possibly hidden by the smoke flavor and any dry rub that might've been applied.

Bruce

[Lizard333]

He has a point.......

[Mark]

When I'm cooking butts in my Kamado, I often pour a 2-liter pineapple or fruit punch soda into a disposable aluminum pan. It serves as a heat deflector and to add moisture to the environment. It definitely does scent the meat and impart some flavor. Why soda instead of water? Laziness as much as anything. It's exactly the right volume for the pan so I can leave the cooker going @ 225-250 without opening it for as long as 12 hours.

[Jaybird]

I've experimented with all kinds of juices and beer...you name it...in the WSM. The end product was never affected by the liquid used in my opinion. I just use water now and save the rest for drinkin.

[Mark]

There's only one way to settle this. Put a pan of diarrhea under the meat and smoke it for a few hours to see if it tastes like sh!t.  
But we can't use my cooker cuz a lot of my meat tastes that way without any help.

[azkitch]

MODERATOR!!!  

 

[Lizard333]

There's only one way to settle this. Put a pan of diarrhea under the meat and smoke it for a few hours to see if it tastes like sh!t.  
But we can't use my cooker cuz a lot of my meat tastes that way without any help.

Truer words have never been spoken.....

[chas]

You'll probably hear two sides on this one. 

I say false.....beer is better for drinking.

[jmcrig]

I've experimented with all kinds of juices and beer...you name it...in the WSM. The end product was never affected by the liquid used in my opinion. I just use water now and save the rest for drinkin.

Jay, you do alot of cooking on WSM's. I've always heard that cooking with charcoal, what the WSM's were designed for, you need some liquid in the pan because there is no moisture in charcoal. But if you're using wood, you don't need the liquid because there's enough moisture in wood. What's your opinion of this statement?

[skou]

False...burn the chips and drink the beer.

 Also I have heard from alot of people who use a water pan with beer/wine/juice/onions etc. thinking the vapor will impart flavor. This is also false. Think back to jr. high school physics...when you boil liquids...what kind of molecule is the vapor evaporating? H2O right? This is how stills work when purifying water. So that means you have water floating around which will make for a moist environment, but all the particles that has the flavor are still sitting in the pan..which may make for a fine reduction and if catching drippings can make a fine sauce base.

I'm going to have to disagree with SOME of this.  I agree with drinking the beer, unless it is Butt-Wiper.  Then, I wouldn't even smoke with it.

Now, have you ever boiled water?  What did it smell like?  Not much, I'll bet.

Now, put some onions in a pot of chicken soup.  Boil it.  Smell like boiling water?  Didn't think so!

Oh, if stills worked perfectly, why would it matter what they were distilling?  After all, it would be just pure ethanol.  (Ever notice that rum tastes different than, say, tequila?)  Also, most distilled beverages get distilled 3 times,and STILL have distinct flavours.

steve

[force]

I say soak oneself in beer..........

[wtrwkr]

There's only one way to settle this. Put a pan of diarrhea under the meat and smoke it for a few hours to see if it tastes like sh!t.  
But we can't use my cooker cuz a lot of my meat tastes that way without any help.

This is really funny!!!!  Good stuff.