Red Oak???

[Hybrid pot still]

So im a pitmaster at a bbq, i cook/smoke the food,.mainly the meat... so i was wandering, how would red oak hearts/ center would work out? Any of you guys tried it? Thats all i use here at work so have plenty of access to it. We get white oak every now and then. Also pecan, hickory and post oak? How about those? What are the key things i need to look for in good wood to use for aging/flavoring?

[Saltbush Bill]

Ive never had anything to do with red oak, it doesn't grow in this country. A quick search of the forum did turn this up by a long term member who knows a bit about oaking.

Also, I hope that oak you have is white oak and not red oak. Red oak will make your drink smell like cat piss. Not the effect youre after.

Whole lot more on the subject here if you want a bit of light reading.
https://homedistiller.org/forum/app.php ... itesearch=

[River Rat]

Never tried red oak myself. That's because I've heard and read about other people's bad experiences with it. Never heard a success story involving red oak. Some folks here have had good results with pecan though. No idea about the hickory or post oak. You could always try some small scale experiments and report back!

[8Ball]

You want good, clean, seasoned heart wood to age with. White Oak works great. Pecan also works. I did an experiment with hickory that turned out too strong on its own, but blended in at 15% of the mix is actually good. I’d pass on risking good hooch on Red Oak, but I never tried it so I don’t know. Look up some of the threads by OtisT, he has done tons of valuable work with different woods.

[Chucker]

I’d originally used some variety of red oak that we had in the yard and it seemed reasonable at the time. Wasn’t great, wasn’t horrid, at times I got some pretty good stuff out of it, but I came to the conclusion that it was one of my limiting factors if I wanted to get to a next level. I think if anything it lended to a more tannic nature and was just sort of lacking a general sweetness, more rounded texture and fuller body.
We don’t have a lot of white oak growing directly close so I sourced some from Amazon as smoker/cooker chunks. It was sold as white oak but I don’t know if it was true white oak or not, or just some sub varietal, but the difference was profound; much fuller and sweeter.
Sometimes I think the old timey methods just shouldn’t be thought of as old fashioned or outdated. Some things worked as well then as they do now.

[8Ball]

If you know what to look for, you can “cherry pick” pre-bundled firewood offered for sale at retail store entrances for some good heartwood. For a few dollars you can source out enough to last a good while and burn the rest.

[Oak Pollen]

I have used red oak. Used sparingly it is ok but nothing as white oak. Red inserts a little bitterness and none of the vanillas that white does. Right now I am using JD chips while waiting on my white to season out.