Just bought my OBS and am used to using my own wood for smoking. I have access to many varieties of wood and would like to take advantage of that at times. Is this possible in the OBS?
Not really, unless you want to baby sit piles on chips on the burner.
As FLBR noted, it'd be kinda difficult using the Bradley smoke generator. If you really wanted to, I don't see any reason you couldn't duct your smoke in from another source (like setting up as a cold smoker) or put a smoke generator of your own inside (hotplate-type setup). Kinda defeats the purpose of having a Bradley, but what the Hell.
Hi Jim
Welcome to the forum.
Occasionally I use different woods by using the method that Ka Honu suggests. For more details click on the following link:
Using Different Woods. (http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?488-Answers-To-Bradley-Smoker-FAQ-s&p=819#post819)
jimmyb, I started cutting my own with a sawzall using seasoned maple, oak and pecan branches and it works fine. I still have three packs left from the 48 count original pucks I ordered, I found the original pucks to be a mess with all of the loose fine wood chips they have when handling and loading them. I think that is what causes some of the problems associated with the smoke generator.
Depending on the size wood pieces you have, a table saw could cut them 1/2" thick and then use a 2 1/4" hole saw to finish them up. If you have small chips, that's more problematic.
(http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/yy288/F1D2/puck.jpg)
PS: You wouldn't happen to work for Mercury Marine would you?
Ya know.....................Ah, never mind. Not worth it.
... or you could slice up some onions (and maybe a rutabaga or two) and use them.
Laugh and make fun all you want Ka Honu, it's free and works just as good as the saw chip pucks from Bradley ;D
Free is good.
F1D2,
Just asking. Not making fun. You're cutting these to fit the Bradley feeder tube and it is pushing your discs out on to the burner plate? Do they smoke/burn completely through in 20 minutes and kick off into the water bowl? The reason I'm asking is that I wouldn't think a 125 watt burner would ignite a soild disc of wood that thick and smoke it through in 20 minutes.
Yes, they feed just like the pucks and burn/smoke the same as the pucks. Because they aren't as dense as the pucks, 98% of the time they burn to ash.
I made two of these to push the last two onto the burner. I have to load them one at a time though.
(http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/yy288/F1D2/Push-Puck.jpg)
That's cool. I think STC is going to try that with some sassafras. But aren't the crosscuts more dense than the Bradley bisquettes?
Another option would be to turn the wood into chips/sawdust and use something like the Amazen smoker that NePaS just tried.
KyNola, that 125 watt burner goes to 500°F.
BuyLowSellHigh, those compressed Bradley pucks are way denser than my wood pucks, that's why my wood pucks burn to ash in 20 minutes. That sawdust burner is pretty slick but I would have to do a bunch of cutting to make enough sawdust to smoke with.