Homemade Sausage Making

I don't know if this has been discussed but I see a lot of comments on what types of wood to use, but very little if anything on the preparation of that wood. For instance does anyone bother to bark the wood they use? Seeing that fully 90% of the creosote in trees is found in the bark and creosote is a known carcinogen and a very strong one at that I think that it might be a good Idea to mention it.

Whilst I an surrounded on all sides by oak forest I don't use it for smoking, for one because I'm lazy and I don't like peeling bark (been there and done that as a kid) and two I have access to a cabinet shop owned by a friend who sends me all of his end cuts of Oak, Cherry Maple, Alder and birch. It's clean, dry, stacks wonderfully and when stacked tight in the firebox smokes beautifully. And oh Yeah it's FREE

Also I would like someone to explain to me just what the difference is between the black crap that runs down my chimney when I'm heating with oak, the black stuff called Creosote that I paint on fence posts to keep them from rotting and that stuff they sell in the little bottles called liquid smoke. Personally I don't think adding a wood preservative to my food is a good idea but thats just me.

Swallow

First of all creasote is a generic term for wood distillate. The creasote that you use on fence posts is probably coal tar creasote.
The second part of your concern has to do with consumption per kilogram of body weight. Sodium nitrite is a very strong poison but we can use it in small quantities with great benefit.
Every sailor knows that salt water will not rot wood and he uses it to scrub his boat. so salt is also a wood preservative and yet we use it in small quantity everyday.
Mercury is a well known poison yet it is used to make almalgam for filling teeth for restoration of decay damage. I have had many almalgam fillings in my teeth for sixty years with no harm.
To answer your other question I don't debark the wood that I use for smoking but it isn't too bad a job if you have a good draw knife.

IMHO, creosote is caused by burning wet wood. The wood I use for smoking is all dried for minimum 6 mos. to 2 years depending on size of the logs. If the wood is dry, you'll see checkering/ cracks in it as it dries. Also, at this point the bark will come off by itself due to lack of moisture. Never smoke with pines, conifers, etc. as they will leave a bad taste on the product.
The stuff you buddy gives you is kiln dried- a controlled drying process. Creosote in the chimney may come from rain, snow, etc getting into the chimney by Mother Nature.
Hope this helps.

" Creosote in the chimney may come from rain, snow, etc getting into the chimney by Mother Nature." nuynai , So your telling me that creosote comes from rain and snow, Interesting. I wonder how much Creosote there will be on my lawn when all of the snow melts in spring.

Swallow

I can see where cold, rainy or snowy weather would cause a chimney to run cooler and thus condense more goodies/baddies out of the smoke. To complicate things, there are an astronomical number of different compounds in creosote, so creosote varies with wood species, fire and chimney conditions, et cetera. (People have built careers on analyzing such things. I saw cigarette filter tar analyses once "in a former life" and, believe me, once is enough!)

But that's why we try different woods for smoking, and why we all have the fun of getting different results. I use mesquite, bark and all, and make great smoked brisket. I do it with the live oak that grows on our property, too, with not quite as good results. But I once used oak from South Alabama when I was in the Army, and it made my tongue go numb. (Made me question which was worse in the mess hall SOS, the first S or the shingle.)

Each to his own type of creosote, I say! (I choose mesquite.) ...but I wish I could try some of Swallow's variety of woods. :envious smiley:

Neg. As smoke mixes with the moisture, it creates the creosote that forms on the chimney. Guess to each his own. Burn whatever you want and how you want, as it's what you're going to eat.

Let's try this:
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Community Members
Toxicological and Health Professionals
Creosote
CAS ID #: 8021-39-4, 8001-58-9

Affected Organ Systems: Dermal (Skin), Hepatic (Liver)

Cancer Effects: None

Chemical Classification: None


Summary: Creosote is the name used for a variety of products: wood creosote, coal tar creosote, coal tar, coal tar pitch, and coal tar pitch volatiles. These products are mixtures of many chemicals created by high-temperature treatment of beech and other woods, coal, or from the resin of the creosote bush. Wood creosote is a colorless to yellowish greasy liquid with a smoky odor and burned taste. Coal tar creosote is a thick, oily liquid that is typically amber to black in color. Coal tar and coal tar pitch are usually thick, black, or dark-brown liquids or semisolids with a smoky odor. Wood creosote has been used as a disinfectant, a laxative, and a cough treatment, but is rarely used these ways today. Coal tar products are used in medicines to treat skin diseases such as psoriasis, and are also used as animal and bird repellents, insecticides, restricted pesticides, animal dips, and fungicides. Coal tar creosote is the most widely used wood preservative in the United States. Coal tar, coal tar pitch, and coal tar pitch volatiles are used for roofing, road paving, aluminum smelting, and coking.

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/

We are getting opinions and not nearly enough facts.

Boys, boys, boys!
Let's not complicate things. Creosote is a hydrocarbon. Liquid smoke is a distillate.
Simple.

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

Actually, CW, creosote is a mixture of hundreds (thousands) of hydrocarbons in solid and liquid form. Liquid smoke is an aqueous (i.e. water-based) solution with creosote, soot, partially-oxidized wood or lignite, et cetera dissolved in it.

Creosote per se shouldn't be used for food. Don't go wiping the nasty liquid drained from your smoker onto your meats and sausages. (See "fence posts," earlier in the thread.) Liquid smoke is a food grade mixture, and is as safe as smoke or any other (possibly carcinogenic) food additive. (Smoke, like nitrite, is toxic to both bacteria and humans if concentrated enough and ingested in enough quantity.)

...smoked sausage, anyone? Yum! (Cough.)