Attached is a picture of the results, yesterday, of helping a friend down a smallish edible apple tree he planted in his yard 25 or so years ago. The split stack seen on the concrete pad is 6 feet long, 2 feet wide and about 16 inches tall so far. It will grow when larger pieces I cannot turn on the lathe are split and stacked. I didn't identify and diseased portions thankfully. Dark reddish heartwood, which I don't know to be normal or not though...
Being a wood turner, a meat smoker and a long time friend to this gracious man I had volunteered to help him take down what was left of his tree after he did some trimming and put the wood to good use. After unloading at home I began splitting the limbs under 6 inches diameter. In taking the tree down I had cut the pieces to generally 6 to 12 inches. I now do need to keep the apple wood separate from the mixed hardwoods in our fire pit fuel supply, so I carefully stacked the very green apple wood on a spare concrete pad in a way that air and a breeze can circulate and dry it. I alternated bark up/bark down when stacking. I did note that the tree was leafing out and blooming, with a few scattered tiny apples forming too. Hoping I cut the wood at the right time, but really had no choice in the matter.
So friends what from here please? As a former offset smoker stick burner man I am used to simply selecting hickory and oak from my fuel supply, tossing it in the fire box and keeping the fire stoked. But now as a happy and enthusiastic Weber Kettle smoker and griller I must approach smoking differently. Thankfully I will be using much less wood than before!
Can I smoke with the green wood? How long should the splits dry? Cut the splits into say, three inch long chunks to use on my Slow and Sear 2.0?
I store my charcoal in a new, rolling galvanized steel trash can next to my Weber Kettle. I'm thinking that once dry, I'll store the apple wood in another metal can, or, cost depending, a lidded plastic storage bin. I don't want mold to form but does the wood need to have some moisture content to give me the apple flavor I want when smoking?
Please friends teach me some points I need to learn. As always, thank you each and every one for sharing with this new enthusiast!
Don