can I use real wood in the OBS

[jimmyb]

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?

[FLBentRider]

Not really, unless you want to baby sit piles on chips on the burner.

[Ka Honu]

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.

[Habanero Smoker]

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.

[F1D2]

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.



PS: You wouldn't happen to work for Mercury Marine would you?

[KyNola]

Ya know.....................Ah, never mind.  Not worth it.

[Ka Honu]

... or you could slice up some onions (and maybe a rutabaga or two) and use them.

[F1D2]

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

[Ka Honu]

Free is good.

[KyNola]

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.

[F1D2]

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.

[BuyLowSellHigh]

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.

[F1D2]

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.