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I plan to use a combination of Red-oak, and hard/sugar Maple for fuel, I am using these woods because that is what I have in abundance and at a decent cost locally. In my wood-fired mobile commercial BBQ pits, I use a 70/30 blend and the reasons for that mixture is explained later in this post.
Here lies the problem, what I consider "seasoned, ready to burn fuelwood" suitable for cooking is at a moisture content between 18%-22%, BUT our local firewood dealers refer to any wood species with a total of 6 months age after being cut & split seasoned wood! I commonly see moisture bubbling out of the end-grain of the wood I have purchased, I burn that in our woodstove to heat our home, but I cannot cook with it due to the acrid smoke and huge amounts of creosote that it creates.
I have found 24 months minimum is required to dry oak to at least a 22% moisture content, anything above that moisture level creates a thick black smoke and does not burn well at all, and it tends to coat your food with creosote. Anything under 18% moisture seems to give up it's smoke to rapidly, and you do not get a good secondary smoke combustion, which leads to excessive fuel being needed to keep temperatures within cooking range.
My BBQ pits are indirect-heat style cookers, the fire is contained in the firebox, with the heat and smoke only traveling into the cook-chamber. The semi-technical description of this style pit is an "offset, direct-flow, log-burning mobile BBQ pit"
Wood burning characteristics;
Maple, it creates tons of coals, but offers little live flame, it also creates large amounts of ash after the initial combustion is complete.
Red-Oak, great live flame, very little ash production if burned at the right moisture level for cooking use and minimal coal production.
I do not currently have a WFO, but a large FB WFO is in my plans for the expansion of my business. It will be a wood/gas combo commercial unit kept in a commercial kitchen viewable to the public through glass partitions.
My main concerns are having enough properly seasoned wood each day to keep the oven fired for 14-16 hours each day, 6 days a week. and my cooks being able to properly maintain temperatures, that is why I want a t-stat controlled gas back-up option to keep the temperature in the proper range if they forget to feed it fuelwood.
After the days cooking is done, I hope to stack a large portion of my next days fuelwood in the oven for it to act like a kiln to help dry the wood that has not had enough cure time to reach the moisture level content that I prefer to cook with.
Will this become a problem and possibly cause damage to my oven? does anyone feel that this practice may cool the oven too rapidly where I may damage the structure from too rapid of contraction?
After the oven has all coals removed for the night, and my fuelwood is in there to dry, do I leave the door opening unobstructed? do I close it fully? or do I partially cover the opening for airflow to still be present to help drive out some of that excess moisture in the wood?
What have the members here found for optimum moisture level for their fuelwood, and what species do you prefer to burn, and why?
I look forward to discussing the topics that I have laid out in the thread,
Thanx,
GotRocks
Although I am not a newbie to making pizza, or cooking other food items with wood, I am new to wood-fired ovens and I would appreciate any help that I can garner.
Here lies the problem, what I consider "seasoned, ready to burn fuelwood" suitable for cooking is at a moisture content between 18%-22%, BUT our local firewood dealers refer to any wood species with a total of 6 months age after being cut & split seasoned wood! I commonly see moisture bubbling out of the end-grain of the wood I have purchased, I burn that in our woodstove to heat our home, but I cannot cook with it due to the acrid smoke and huge amounts of creosote that it creates.
I have found 24 months minimum is required to dry oak to at least a 22% moisture content, anything above that moisture level creates a thick black smoke and does not burn well at all, and it tends to coat your food with creosote. Anything under 18% moisture seems to give up it's smoke to rapidly, and you do not get a good secondary smoke combustion, which leads to excessive fuel being needed to keep temperatures within cooking range.
My BBQ pits are indirect-heat style cookers, the fire is contained in the firebox, with the heat and smoke only traveling into the cook-chamber. The semi-technical description of this style pit is an "offset, direct-flow, log-burning mobile BBQ pit"
Wood burning characteristics;
Maple, it creates tons of coals, but offers little live flame, it also creates large amounts of ash after the initial combustion is complete.
Red-Oak, great live flame, very little ash production if burned at the right moisture level for cooking use and minimal coal production.
I do not currently have a WFO, but a large FB WFO is in my plans for the expansion of my business. It will be a wood/gas combo commercial unit kept in a commercial kitchen viewable to the public through glass partitions.
My main concerns are having enough properly seasoned wood each day to keep the oven fired for 14-16 hours each day, 6 days a week. and my cooks being able to properly maintain temperatures, that is why I want a t-stat controlled gas back-up option to keep the temperature in the proper range if they forget to feed it fuelwood.
After the days cooking is done, I hope to stack a large portion of my next days fuelwood in the oven for it to act like a kiln to help dry the wood that has not had enough cure time to reach the moisture level content that I prefer to cook with.
Will this become a problem and possibly cause damage to my oven? does anyone feel that this practice may cool the oven too rapidly where I may damage the structure from too rapid of contraction?
After the oven has all coals removed for the night, and my fuelwood is in there to dry, do I leave the door opening unobstructed? do I close it fully? or do I partially cover the opening for airflow to still be present to help drive out some of that excess moisture in the wood?
What have the members here found for optimum moisture level for their fuelwood, and what species do you prefer to burn, and why?
I look forward to discussing the topics that I have laid out in the thread,
Thanx,
GotRocks
Although I am not a newbie to making pizza, or cooking other food items with wood, I am new to wood-fired ovens and I would appreciate any help that I can garner.
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