"Monroe, of course..." wrote in message
...
In article , "Graeme... in London"
wrote:

Hi all,

First post to this group for a while, but I've got a question.

I've been using whisky cask staves to produce my "smoke" over recent
months.
I have been soaking them in water for an hour or two and double wrapping
them in strong foil with small pin holes. The problem is that after
about an
hour of smoking the stave ignites. I've not had any mishaps as yet as I
can
pull the wrapped stave out the smoker and toss it.

I have been using 4" x 4" lengths of stave. Is this where the problem
lies?
Are the pieces to big or is it the whisky igniting the wood?


G-
Dont soak the wood and do a double wrap of foil on the pieces. The
foil needs to be tight and most of all needs to cover the top of the
wood. The top of the piece is where any flame will appear. Pinholes
won't really matter too much, you can't wrap a piece so snug that it
won't burn-at least I've never managed to do that.

monroe(more and better foil)

Yowsa, yowsa, what Monroe said. At least a double wrap of heavy-duty foil
and even that eventually burns through in my Kamado lump basket, but it's
given up its smoke by then, so it doesn't matter. No soaking. Soaking
doesn't do anything good, it just makes steam and leaches flavor out of the
wood. Chips are a waste of time and money. Chunks are what do the job.

Jack Curry
-Opinionated on this-