Wood only fueled kettle or other Q

[SitDown]

Does anyone use "wood only" on their Q, such as a kettle, wsm or any other box shaped Q
Not talking about wood fueled offset bbqs.
We don't have an offset, much too big for just the 2 of us.

Ive seen crate / half barrel type pits with open flame wood burning, mostly set to the sides of the Q, while meats are spinning on the rotisserie

What I would like to know, has anyone or does anyone use their kettle or other Q (not offset) to do low & slow with the lid on, using wood as the only fuel in the pit.... how did that go

[Davo]

Hiya sitdown,

I've been cooking on a Kettle now since the mid 90's and have never used wood only, basically because you have to wait until it burns down to coals......it's really not feasible, not to say it's not impossible but it'd create a lot of ash that would probably blow everywhere over your food when you lift the lid due to the vacuum it creates, to get enough heat from the coals would take a lot of burning down of the wood, I guess it also depends on what wood you use.
Better to use heatbead fuel and use wood on top to smoulder to get your flavour or use lump charcoal which is wood carbon with all the moisture removed. I also think the distance between charcoal grate and top food grate is too shallow to use with wood to give you the temps you need and to create space in the Kettle to place your food.
Even with BBQs like a offset, it requires a fair bit of hands on monitoring and stacking wood throughout the cooking process.

If you have access to wood and a Weber kettle, give it a go and report back.

Cheers

Davo

[Cobblerdave]

G’day
Back in the day all I had was wood fueled bbq. Built a few brick wood fired bbq for myself and friends.
You have to wait for the fire to die down to coals it’s not good trying to bbq over flaming sticks it just doesn’t work. With Weber kettles running on charcoal beads and gas bbq becoming common it was a no brainer to change.
As for wood fired stoves that you can grill on try looking up Wooska at bunnings and kings camping make one and the Oz pig comes to mind.
https://www.bunnings.com.au/jumbuck-bra ... o_p3170945
Is as cheap as chips Fire pit with a braizier on top that should satisfy the inner need that every man has to tame flame.
Regards CDave

[SitDown]

Thanks for the quick replies

Burning down wood to embers then cooking takes ages, I'm all good with that
It takes me nearly 2hrs including a bit of fluffing around, to do a reverse seared steak, from first light up to plating, so going a bit further & longer doing the wood thing, is ok by me.... altho, I didn't think about babysitting the fire & adding sticks as needed for a low & slow cook

I'm now wondering if a rectangular crate / box looking thing would do better, but in a smaller size so a offset is not needed
Surely in theory, a decent fire burnt down to embers then maintained using the side dampers to regulate pit temps should work.... something similar to the OJ Rambler with more height to it, so a bigger ember pit so save topping up.... maybe ?

We have plenty of seasoned wood to use & more of it coming on, for both firewood & suitable wood for Q-ing... the reason for the new Q-ing fetish

[SitDown]

ok, sort of completely off topic, but on topic with a wood fired Q
After fluffing around with our wsm 14in, I wanted to use it as a wood fired Q. Wrong size & wrong everything else, altho the ego wanted to carry on with it.... bloody waste of time & effort for zero result

I'm part of the way thru a double skinned stainless Q build, similar in principal to the oj rambler...sort of, but not really.... but sort of
Ive completed the base of the Q itself.... lid, legs & rotisserie to come (separate stackable pieces)
What I would like to know - the lid vent, does it need to have a volume controlled damper / slide thingy to regulate air flow.
Ive seen vents that are completely open with a witches hat on top.... have also seen the kamado with a slide thingy to regulate air flow
Can I rely on the base of the Q vents to regulate air flow only & have the lid vent open as is

[Lovey]

I've got both a kettle and a kamado and my theory is that you want to control the inlet air rather than the exhaust air to regulate the temps.

If you have the inlet open and the exhaust mostly closed, you'll restrict the airflow sufficiently to give you reduced temps. However, you'll also restrict the excape of the bad sooty smoke, which will circulate around your food more and can spoil the taste.

If you restrict the inlet air, you'll also achieve lower airflow, but having the top vent open more will allow the bad smoke to escape easier.

If you compare that to a car, think of it as controlling the speed with the brakes (top vent) rather than the accelerator (botom vent).

Again, that's just my theory, which has no scientific basis and I'm happy to stand corrected.

[SitDown]

Kool mate, thanks for the reply

Yes, I get it, regarding the dirty smoke with the top vent partially opened. Ive noticed the sooty build up on my GA using the riser & rotisserie
I will need to change my habits for a better smoking experience

[Davo]

Or something like this perhaps....it's not an offset but a pure charcoal or wood BBQ/Smoker.
https://www.bunnings.com.au/char-grille ... q_p3180388

You could use wood/charcoal or briquettes or combo in the cooking chamber.

You can place the fire up one end and place the meat on the other for indirect.

I've looked at these myself and thought if I had endless supplies of wood, perhaps these would be goood.

They are fairly deep so it's give you a good bit of room between fire and food.

For the price, it's pretty good and it's quite sturdy.....I think you can also height adjust the fire to food to bring more heat to the food or take it away.

Cheers

Davo