First Cook with the P10

[Habanero Smoker]

Not sure if I should post this here or in the poultry section?

Just a quick report. I did a short smoke/roast today on my P10. On Monday I thawed out what I thought was two small packages of chicken thighs, but it turned out to be chicken wings, therefore I didn't use any temp probes for this cook. The cook time took 1:30 hours, with 1 hour of hickory smoke; at 250°F. I didn't feel like cleaning up, so I smoked the wings in a 13 x 9 disposable pan with low sides. The pan easily fits either lengthways or sideways on the tray with plenty of space for heat and smoke to circulate. I was running short of time so I didn't use a third party thermometer to verify the temperature the smoker was reporting. Any third party probe will have to be inserted through the top vent, without the vent adjuster installed.

It's a cloudy day, with no wind, and ambient temperature at the time of the cook was 75°F. During preheating the smoker overshot about 4°F. Once it tuned in, the temperature on the Bradley stayed within temperature of plus/minus 2°F. After 1:30 hours, the wings were done. The skin wasn't rubbery, but neither was it crisp, so I put them on the grill for 10 minutes.

No complaints with this cook. I noticed that the P10 seems to produce more smoke, or it could be the draft is better than my Old Original. The first bisquette did not completely burn, even though I had the smoke cycle on during the preheat. According to the manual, even if you don't turn on the smoke cycle during preheating, the turntable is designed not to feed the bisquettes until the burner is at the proper temperature, this is to avoid wasting bisquettes. So I don't know why it partially burned, when I did my seasoning, all bisquettes burn properly. If you are going to use the lifting hook, remove it from the storage area prior to heating up the smoker. If you don't, it becomes too hot to handle.   

I'm hoping to do a longer cook this Saturday.

[Edward176]

Thank You Hab for the detailed posting on your new P10. Looking forward to reading everyone's postings on the new Bradley P10 and comparing the results to the Original and Digital Bradley's. Once again Thank You and keep posting everyone.

[Orion]

Hey HS. I'm curious about the puck burner design . Has it been upgraded in any way to improve burning and prevent pre-ignition of trailing puck? How was the burn on your pucks?

Whoops, just saw you reported them as all burning well. Is the design and operation of the burner the same as the digital?

[Habanero Smoker]

Hey HS. I'm curious about the puck burner design . Has it been upgraded in any way to improve burning and prevent pre-ignition of trailing puck? How was the burn on your pucks?

Whoops, just saw you reported them as all burning well. Is the design and operation of the burner the same as the digital?

The puck burner has been completely redesigned. Bradley refer to it the manual as the bisquette dispenser. The bisquettes travel on a turntable, and the only area the bisquettes touch each other is in the feeder tube. There are two slots on the turntable. At any given time, one slot is positioned over the burner, the other slot is under the feeder tube. When the turntable feeds a bisquette to the burner, it rotates half a turn to place a bisquette on the burner, then the other slot lines up briefly with the tube feeder so a bisquette can drop down into the slot. Once the bisquette loads into the slot, the turntable backs up slightly to prevent any bisquettes that are stacked in the tube from possibly causing a jam. When the turntable rotates, the burnt bisquette is pushed to a opening away from the burner, and it drops into the water bowl. The fresh bisquette that was in the slot under the tube feeder is moved to the burner. The bisquettes do pile up in one location of the of the water bowl so if you don't check it, it may cause a jam. Two hours of spent bisquettes will not be a problem, but three or more hours may build up too high. You can't visually see what is occurring in the water bowl, unless you pull it out.

The burner burns the bisquettes more fully than it does on my Old Bradley, except that first one during this cook. The broacher says there are two burners, but I believe there is only one. The only problem, to date, I've had with the bisquette dispenser is a slight jam when I was seasoning the smoker. I used some old mesquite bisquettes that I've had for many years. There is not much clearance for the bisquettes to travel while on the turn table. The bisquettes that I was using were old, and not as compressed as Bradley is making them now. One may have been slightly swollen, so it temporarily got jammed while being pushed on the turntable.

The bisquette dispenser seems easy enough to remove, for maintenance. One screw holds the unit into place, and you have to disconnect a cable. I'm going to take it out this weekend to see how much sawdust has collected, and if there is any residue on the burner.

[Orion]

Thanks for the detailed explanation. By the sounds of it Bradley has eliminated any chance of pre-ignition and partially burnt pucks will be a thing of the past.

[Habanero Smoker]

For this model the pre-ignition has been eliminated. I'm not sure if this bisquette dispenser design can be use in the other models that Bradley has on the market.