Seasoning Start-Up

[CC Smoker]

Today I tried to season our new unit and ran into some problems. Following the directions, I loaded the pucks and advanced them on the burner. I then turned the unit on and proceeded to season. The problem was that three of the pucks started to burn but never completely finished when the next one pushed it into the water. Was the unit to be on for a short amount of time before advancing the pucks? I would like to get this resolved quickly so we can enjoy our first attempt at smoking with a turkey. Any suggestions for our problem?

[Consiglieri]

First, welcome!  I forgot to say that when responding to your brine question.

As for the pucks, a couple of thoughts:

1.  Preheat the puck burner before advancing the first one on.
2.  Make sure you have the Bradley plugged in to its own plug.  Not too much extension cord and definately not an octapussed outlet.

Bradley needs the juice.

Good luck with your bird.

[Habanero Smoker]

CC Smoker;

Welcome to the forum.

I just want to mention don't load the pucks until after you finished preheating. Though it would take about 40 minutes before the first puck would reach the burner, if your warm up is 30 minutes it is easy to forget to check the how many times you will need to push the advance button to get the first puck to the burner; and you may advance too many times or forget to advance at all. Or if you become preoccuppied during the warm up, and there is a longer delay of an hour or more you will be wasting smoke.

[CC Smoker]

Thanks for the replys. I think I pushed the advance button a few times. Next time I will let the unit warm up for a half hour or so. Hope this cures my problem. Do you suggest I attempt the seasoning process again?

[NESmoker]

CC,

I just seasoned mine a week or so ago. If you preheat first with the smoke generator on for a half hour or so you should be all set. That worked for me anyway. I would say yes, you should season again if you think it didnt smoke enough the first time. Of course, the smoker will season as you use it so if the trukey is in the fridge, maybe you should just smoke it!

Good luck!
NES