Home Brewed Pucks

[TomG]

Dalby, I don't think the small amount of flour paste that you're using is enough to push the inert/neutral limit.  If you want more binder bang for your buck try a paste with gluten flour. 8)

[Dalby Spook]

Thanks for that Tom. I have tried using no binder but no go with the modest pressures I'm using.
It's  that tricky balance of just enough binder so you can handle them afterwards  without imparting any distorting flavour.

Im' putting a boned out duck through today with some "low flour dose" pucks. i.e. one teaspoon full for 30 pucks. I'll post you when it's been eaten.

John

[TomG]

John, Have you actually had problems with "toasty" off flavors using the flour binder or is the problem theoretical?

I'm tempted to use a stack of bagels for my next smoke to see if I can come up with a new ethnic flavor. ;D ;D

[Dalby Spook]

To be honest, Tom I hav,nt been at this smoking caper long enough to make a defiitive  judgement.
The stuff I have been putting through is pretty strong flavoured anyway. Herrings, duck, pheasant and the like.

I plan to do some free range bacon and a couple of sides of atlantic salmon for christmas.  I think these will be the acid test that shows up any burnt crouton flavours. Then again I might bottle out and use the Bradley pecans I have left.

Mmmm! bagels as pucks. Cinnimon or plain?

[meathead]

Great idea.   ;D I thought a similar thing, except instead of a Ram, just use a heavey weight on top of the tube and leave it a few days. Ie , maybe a container of water, or a box full of something dense like scrap iron etc.

I wonder if a mild mixture of molasses n' water with the wood-chips, instead of flour might not work too?? Maybe make the wood too sweet however? Never tried anything like it, so I D' no..

Thoughts?

MH, git er dun

[Kummok]

TomG has his finger on the pulse of this one.....when I asked the question, it was purely conjecture. It is quite possibly similar to the old Hi-Fi purest challenge to obtain the purest sound when most of us couldn't tell the difference between Motorola and Magnovox  ???

I still couldn't say for certain IF the flour (or molasses?) binder would affect the smoke flavor, but I DO recall the nasty smells eminating from kitchen fires where larger doses of food product, subjected to carbonizing temperatures made an odoriferous impression, in a negative sense, on the olfactory nerves. (That'd be "stunk to high heaven when burnt to a crisp" for us plain talkin' folks! ;) )  I'm vaguely recalling that when this discussion took place a year or so ago, there was some speculation that Bradley used a glycerin binder, but I have no evidence of that either. It'll be interesting to her back from you on your actual experience this, Spook!

[Dalby Spook]

Yeah kummock, the binder turns out to be gelatine. At least thats what i came up with on the web when I punched in the chemical name off the box.

Have tried it. No go. Fall to bits.

[Chez Bubba]

Gelatin is the binder, but it's the pressure used in forming that holds the pucks together. If you had (I'm purely guessing here) a 10,000psi press & mold, I bet the results would be better.

Kirk

[TomG]

The single argument against high pressure compression is that a puck weights 14 grams and if you start with 14 grams of sawdust and 1-2 grams of binder, compress it with 5-10k psi, you'll probably end up with a 2 ¼" disc, 1/8" thick, not the 5/8" thick Bisquettes that we've all learned to love. 8)

[Chez Bubba]

See Tom, there you go again, introducing knowledge! ;)

I may as well stop wasting my posts.

Kirk 8) 8)

[headgames]

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=2857.msg26153#msg26153  just one of my previous posts for info purposes 

[grg]

Yeah kummock, the binder turns out to be gelatine. At least thats what i came up with on the web when I punched in the chemical name off the box.

my box says it's hydrolyzed collagen, which is just old-fashioned glue.

"old-fashioned" is the key here; over the past few decades most glues have become synthetic, but the Old Ways are still followed for things like furniture restoration and bookbinding and musical instruments and art canvases, so it's still available.  what you want is a "hide glue"; one I found online is Titebond Liquid Hide Glue: http://www.titebond.com/ProductLineTB.asp?prodline=5&prodcat=1

collagen is what makes connective tissue connect.  it's a main ingredient of cartilage, tendons, ligaments, and bones.  the main point of low heat for long time in bbqing is to break down the collagen in the meat's connective tissues, leaving it oh so tender (and to "brown" the resulting components).  hydrolyzing is just reacting with water, like in boiling.  so hydrolyzed collagen is boiled bones and cartilage - aka glue.

you're right that this is just gelatin, but normal food-grade gelatin usually has a significantly lower collagen concentration than glue and so doesn't bind as well.  you probably need glue concentrations here, not jello concentrations.

hide glue was the first glue ever made (about 8000 years ago!) and was the common glue in use from then through WWII.  that's why the elmer's glue logo is a bull: it was made by boiling him down (though now elmer's has switched to synthetic glue).  gotta love it when the logo is also the ingredient list!  more than you care to know on this subject: http://www.wpatrickedwards.com/gluearticle.htm

it's appealing to glue together the pucks with the same thing you're smoking!  hydrolized collagen itself is perfectly safe to eat (maybe even yummy, if you cook it right!) and won't gum up your smoker because it should itself easily break down/burn off at bbq temps.  just make sure the preservatives they put in your hide glue (since it's just beef soup this stuff can spoil) aren't nasty to people - read the MSDS before you eat it.  they probably use less preservatives in the dried hide glue flakes than in the liquids.

general hide glue info:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hide_glue

[HCT]

Finn is a beaut!! My wife asked me if there will be dogs in heaven and I told her that it IS indeed the presence of dogs that will identify that we've made it to the right place.....

All I have to say is, if there ain't no dogs in heaven I'm not going!!!

[Dalby Spook]

Just a update on my original post as I've been using home brewed for several months now and compared with Bradley ones I cannot detect any real difference.