Pucks not burning completely???

[chiroken]

Very strange....turned a friend onto the Bradley recently and she commented that the pucks weren't burning completely, they were keeping their form whereas my pucks always end up as powder so to speak. Now today, the first 2 pucks are sitting in the bowl in their whole form...why is this? Element not functioning correctly (not hot enough?)?

Thanks.

[Quarlow]

Your pucks should not burn to ash. They should still be in puck form when done. Take your spent puck and break it up. It should be black threw out. If you are not preheating the puck burner then the first 2 or 3 pucks will not burn complete. Turn you puck burner on when you start preheating the cabinet.

[Quarlow]

Also the pucks burning on the burner will bring its temp up too so that they will burner completer....lol is that a word.

[Sailor]

The smoke generator will push a new puck onto the burner every 20 minutes.  If you do not have have bubba pucks then the last puck on the burner is going to reduce to ash (Bad).  If you you want 1 hr of smoke you will need to put in 3 pucks and then put 2 more behind them to be able to push the 3 onto the burner.  You will have to manually kick the 3rd puck after the 20 min to keep it from burning up.  You will get some burn on the puck that is next to the burner.  I did this for a while before I got my bubba pucks and it made life much better.

[muebe]

Here is what a burned puck should look like ;D

[beefmann]

she needs to warm up the puck burner for 30 minutes prior to smoking

[beefmann]

Here is what a burned puck should look like ;D

looks burnt to me, it will not be ash like you  would think.. is it  black or mostly  black on the other  side as well? if  yes then it is burnt and  consumed, hope this helps

[chiroken]

Ok, thanks everyone.  My pucks are usually in pieces in my bowl, not whole like they are today (no water in bowl). Wonder why? I will break one open to see what it's like on the inside.

I always preheat the burning element as i turn it on at the same time as the main element. Preheat to 280, then drop temp to desired as I load the meat, then reset the smoker timer to desired time. Meat goes in and smoke started simulaneoulsy.

Don't have bubba pucks, just use 3 extras and recycle them. The closest extra to the burner gets burned abit on that edge so I just rotate it 90^ the next time so it pushes correctly. After 2 uses as a spare it is burned on 2 edges and I chuck it. The other two continue to get used until it gets a turn at being burnt twice. No problems doing it that way. ONly thing is if you let the extras absorb moisture (from a damp environment) then they swell and aren't usuable. I've had this happen smoking on the deck where some snow makes its way down the loading tube. Other than that it works great.

[Sailor]

Instead of chucking your pusher just use it as the 1st puck on a new smoke.  I never chucked a puck.  You will not lose that much smoke from using a pusher as the 1st puck in a smoke.

[Quarlow]

If you don't have water in your bowl while smoke is rolling then they will continue the burn in the bowl. If they do they you are getting the tars and carcinogens coming off them and that is the reason the Bradleys have the water bowl and the 20 min. burn time. You should have water in the bowl while the smoke is rollling and then you can dump the water after but make sure to put the bowl back in for the drips. Here are my pucks from yesterday.


It looks unburnt from the top but when broken open it is burnt threw. Preheating the cabinet dosen't preheat the puck burner so make sure you turn it on as well. Of course this applies to the OBS, I don't know about the digital.

[Quarlow]

This is the first puck threw but it also is burnt threw except for the top surface.

[chiroken]

Instead of chucking your pusher just use it as the 1st puck on a new smoke.  I never chucked a puck.  You will not lose that much smoke from using a pusher as the 1st puck in a smoke.

After 2 burnt edges it has become more narrow than a full puck so I was concerned that it would affect the spacing so that the next puck wouldn't be fully pushed on the  burner. I guess I can just manually place it directly on the burner rather than hitting the advance button 3 times to start the first puck smoking.

[Quarlow]

Just pop it in first and advance it, then put the rest in.

[chiroken]

Oops! I thought I had read to not use water when wanting to dehydrate and the water in the bowl added moisture to the cabinet. Doing smoked salmon and jerky I have never used water. Will do from now on, removing water after the determined smoke time.

Guess my pucks have continued to burn to ash in the bowl then?

I manually turn on the puck element when I pre-heat the smoker and I have the digital Bradley. The puck element is therefore hot when I move the 1st puck onto it as I place themeat in the smoker.

It's a good day....learning things!

[Quarlow]

Glad we could help.