Smoke Flavour

[elk_smoker]

All:

I am new to the Bradley Smoker and have a question:

After 30 years of charcoal and stick burners, I purchased a Bradley Digital 4 Rack Smoker.  After only two smokes, I am very pleased with this unit, but have a question about the smoke flavor:

I smoked 4 racks of St. Louis spare ribs for the 4th of July using hickory bisquettes. I used the 3-2-1 method.  There was a good smoke to the ribs, but I could not identify a distinct Hickory smoke flavor.  I cooked the ribs at 225F and left the vent wide open. Naturally, I didn't use any pucks (or bisquettes) during the two hour foil phase, but did use two pucks during the final hour tighten-up phase.  I was very pleased with the results, but question the lack of a distinct hickory flavor. I should mention that this was only my second smoke on the BDS. When I got the unit, I did complete the seasoning steps.

Any ideas or advice?

Thanks to all...

[beefmann]

you may want to go to 4 hours of  smoke, also  lower your  box temp till after the smoking process has completed ...meat  stops absorbing smoke at 140 f you  also could d a cold smoke... then cook your ribs .. see if it is more to your  likeing

[Saber 4]

How many pucks did you use for the first 3 hour smoke? Also if you were out near the smoker a lot during the smoke periods your taste buds may have been de-sensitized to the smoke flavor somewhat, many on here have reported that happening to them.

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi elk_smoker;

Welcome to the forum.

The smoke from the Bradley bisquettes is a much cleaner smoke than you will get from charcoal or wood. The flavor you may be missing is the additional flavors that charcoal and wood produce that adds to the taste. It took me awhile to appreciate the two distinct flavors you get from the two different cooking methods.

[elk_smoker]

I used 9 pucks (+2 pusher pucks) during the first 3 hour smoke, and 2 pucks (+2 pushers) during the final 1 hour tightening phase.

I don't believe that I spent too much time in the smoke, thus losing my taste buds. Even my guests stated that there was a smoke flavor, just no distinct hickory flavor. It may very well be the difference between using hickory logs in my stick burner and the pucks in the Bradley.   :)

I am looking forward to trying additional woods on various meats!

Again, thanks to all for your help.

[Saber 4]

That's the fun part of it, you get to eat your experiments until you find the flavor/smoke profile you like.