Can wood chips go bad?

[Pizza Lover]

I just finished smoking some chicken in an electric smoker and noticed that the chicken had a bitter taste to it - could the apple chips I've used gone bad or were bad to begin with? Or did I do something wrong (such as oversmoking the chicken) ?

I smoked the chicken at 250 f for about 2 hrs (probably too long), soaked the apple chips ahead of time, had some white wine in a container inside the smoker and used about a 1 1/4 cup of chips.

I've smoked in the past on my gas grill and had good results and am just learning the craziness of the electric smoker.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance

[ricepad]

Hmm...I have never used an electric smoker, but usually when your food is bitter, you've smoldered your wood/chips and created creosote.

[diva360]

My guess would be creosote too, though I too haven't used an electric smoker. Were your top vents open? What you don't want is too much cool smoke hanging out in the cooking chamber. I'd try fewer chips and make sure the cooking chamber is well ventilated.

[Pizza Lover]

Creosote it is.

I did play with the vent a tad too much thinking that if a little smoke is good then more smoke will be that much better - obviously I was wrong.

Next time I'll use a lot less wood chips and set the timer for far less time than I originally thought.

Thanks for your responses.

[diva360]

No problem, pizza lover. If you want a crispy skin on your chicken, you may want to use higher heat, like maybe 350. If you use some chips, you'll still get some smoke penetration in your meat at the higher temp.