Homemade "pucks"/smoker tablets

[Foodie]

I hope it's ok to ask this question on this Bradley site, but...has anyone tried making their own home made wood tablets? They are quite expensive here (AU$54/pack of 60) - making long smokes quite expensive.

I would also like to try some of my native woods and have my own fruit tree orchard which gives me lots of prunings - and a mulcher too.

The tablets don't appear to be held together by anything much (maybe a simple gum/glue - if that?)

Any thougths appreciated  :)

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi Foodie;

Welcome to the forum.

Some have made their own bisquettes, and a few have been successful. I don't have time to search, but is you do a search you will find a few ways members have made their own with the right equipment.

When I want to use a different wood flavor when using the Bradley, I use a cold smoke setup. Then use a hot plate, small disposable aluminum pan, and use wood chips.
Using Different Woods

Here is an example of one made from a cardboard box:
Cold Smoke Adapter

Bradley now sells a cold smoke adapter, but it is too small to fit most hot plates into it.

[FLBentRider]

... making long smokes quite expensive.

Most people apply at most 4 hours of smoke.

Are you running the smoke generator longer than that? what are you smoking?

[manxman]

Hi Foodie,

Try:

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=4368.msg37673#msg37673

This guy lives a few miles away from me and I have seen the pucks he makes himself, impressive and if I had the time would give it a try.

Not spoken to him in a while and not sure is he is still smoking but he certainly had home made pucks working well.

Hope this helps.  :)

The pucks work out expensive around here as well at about ?1 per hour, much more than our colleagues in the US and Canada pay but that's life I suppose.

It is rare you need to smoke anything more than 4 hours as someone else has pointed out, the only thing I ever go more than 4 hours on is cheese.

[viper125]

Well pucks here are not so bad. I can order bulk on ebay for between 35-50 cents. But another way to do it is buy the  A-MAZE-N-SMOKER.
I haven't tried one but have talked to quite a few that have. Looks like a basic sawdust pan with some chambers in it. It's stainless and burns quite well to produce a good smoke. Sit it in smoke generator or cabinet. Also good for cold smoking.

[Foodie]

Thanks everyone - the reason I thought there were longer smokes was because of the recipe booklet? EG Boneless rib roast "7-8hrs smoke cook") and The Stuffed pork loin roast (a fave of mine) smoke cooks for "6-7 hours" - that would cost me nearly $21 in pucks - the 2kg pork loin (with belly) cost me $30 yesterday....??

Seemed bizarre to me that I would pay almost as much for some sawdust as the meat? Makes for expensive bacon too @$25kg (AU $ fairly equiv to $US)

Anyway - thanks for the references!  I will have a look into it (for personal use onlynof course  ;)) as I also want to be able to smoke with tea and herbs - as well as my huge piles of orchard prunings and native woods.... :)

(PS - Due to being in an extreme fire risk area - we have to get rid of all our waste wood (espec wattle/acacia) so I actually made my own Biochar maker and we make our own fertiliser/biochar - and natural charcoal for the grill too.....so I am also a very keen recycler too! If I can work out any easier method of making pucks I will be sure to share - but manxmans mates method looks pretty nifty/fun!?)

[Quarlow]

Your cost for pucks is .90 cents. Most things you will smoke only get 2- 3 hrs. Even pulled pork only gets 4 or so hrs. That's 10.80 for 4 hrs. 5.40 for 2 hrs. Your cost is somewhat higher that here where we pay around .65 - .75 cents.  Try putting a small tin can on your burner and put sawdust in it. You have to watch it though as you don't want to burn past the char stage. When you get to the ash stage your are creating tars and cresote which produce bad acrid flavours and carcinogens. That is the key to the Bradleys.

[Foodie]

That's really interesting Quarlow - as that is the same process by which a Biochar maker works also - except that the char method is pyrolysis ("charring/burning" in the absence of oxygen) The process does give out gases - which can then be siphoned off the char container and used - or completely burnt off in the outer fire-proper (which drives the whole process) This is similiar for making regular lump charcoal. The absence of oxygen prevents ash formation.

I would need to do some homework yet - but the BS method is not in the absence of oxygen - although it must be fairly low as less O2 = more smoke. The BS smoke still produces the resins etc (which is what we are after) chemicals produced include: phenols, formaldehyde, creosote, organic acids, carbonyls etc....And the more smoke you apply - the more u get - regardless of the system.

Smoked food is not something I would eat every day - it tastes great but ALL contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (a known carcinogen)...no matter the wood - and in increasing amounts with increased temp....(soft woods are worst tho)

There is no real secret to how it works - and the claim is that they burner cleaner than "a frying pan or burn box" (only) - I have used a burn box in the past - and didn't like it - it put far too much smoke on the meat - making it bitter and yukk. My dad used to make his own smoke houses out of old fridges with the same results as the BS. He also installed a fan - which was handy for quick drying (but sadly I am not quite that handy myself  :(

I reckon it's the automated puck feeder that makes it a good system - set and forget  :) and yea - maybe that's the key - discarding the puck b4 it turns to ash. I am not handy enough to make my own fridge one...lol..

The mortar in the Great Wall of China is made from rice flour - so I reckon that would make a great binder!?  ;)  I was also thinking of Agar Agar....(apparently dried seaweed gives a nice tangy smoke flavour too...?)

I am fascinated by thought of making up my own wonderful puck creations
(curiously: I have heard dieticians recommend eating citrus after smoked foods - to lessen the impact of the PAH or such - don't ask me how it works tho...maybe try google)

[manxman]

I have used both tea and dried seaweed (dulse better than arame) when oak cold smoking salmon and also used tea when smoking duck.

The possibilities are almost endless Foodie...  :-)

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

[Quarlow]

That's really interesting Quarlow - as that is the same process by which a Biochar maker works also - except that the char method is pyrolysis ("charring/burning" in the absence of oxygen) The process does give out gases - which can then be siphoned off the char container and used - or completely burnt off in the outer fire-proper (which drives the whole process) This is similiar for making regular lump charcoal. The absence of oxygen prevents ash formation.

I would need to do some homework yet - but the BS method is not in the absence of oxygen - although it must be fairly low as less O2 = more smoke. The BS smoke still produces the resins etc (which is what we are after) chemicals produced include: phenols, formaldehyde, creosote, organic acids, carbonyls etc....And the more smoke you apply - the more u get - regardless of the system.

Smoked food is not something I would eat every day - it tastes great but ALL contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (a known carcinogen)...no matter the wood - and in increasing amounts with increased temp....(soft woods are worst tho)

There is no real secret to how it works - and the claim is that they burner cleaner than "a frying pan or burn box" (only) - I have used a burn box in the past - and didn't like it - it put far too much smoke on the meat - making it bitter and yukk. My dad used to make his own smoke houses out of old fridges with the same results as the BS. He also installed a fan - which was handy for quick drying (but sadly I am not quite that handy myself  :(

I reckon it's the automated puck feeder that makes it a good system - set and forget  :) and yea - maybe that's the key - discarding the puck b4 it turns to ash. I am not handy enough to make my own fridge one...lol..

The mortar in the Great Wall of China is made from rice flour - so I reckon that would make a great binder!?  ;)  I was also thinking of Agar Agar....(apparently dried seaweed gives a nice tangy smoke flavour too...?)

I am fascinated by thought of making up my own wonderful puck creations
(curiously: I have heard dieticians recommend eating citrus after smoked foods - to lessen the impact of the PAH or such - don't ask me how it works tho...maybe try google)

Ok, what he said. LOL

[Foodie]

OK - here are my sheoak pucks  :D
I ended up getting a bag of sawdust, mixing in a gelatine solution. Found a trusty cat food can that is a perfect fit and cut the top and bottom out, keeping the top.
Packed the moist sawdust in and pressed it down hard with the can-top - lifted the whole can off (on a sheet that goes in my dehydrator)
Into freezer for 15mins to set - then into the food dehydrator to dry (took a few hours)
They burnt beautifully! Size was critical - my can could be about 1mm smaller - so I will keeping looking for one.

Now I am ready to experiment with "stuff"!  ;)

(edit: No pic until I set up photo bucket, it seems?  :( 

[Foodie]

Here they are....phew...easier than it looked  :o

[Tater]

Very interesting.  Keep us posted on your experiments.  Thanks for your efforts so far!

[Foodie]

Will do.
I am going to test different binders (agar and rice flour) and compare the burn smell (with my nose - very technical ..lol) - and then compare to the smell of the same wood-type in the BS version...?

The sheoak didn't smell that great to me (an Aust native) - wasn't sure of it was the gelatine or just the character of the wood....

Need to compare apples with apples - so I will experiment with apple wood  ;)

It was incredibly easy to make them this way - and I can do a bulk amount no prob's - and the sawdust can be bought quite cheaply. I was stoked that the pucks burnt perfectly without going to ash.

[TedEbear]

I'd be interested in the cost per puck of the materials involved to make these.  Thanks.