Solid wood pucks

[njoyn]

To try and save money while smoking I am looking to find an alternative to having to purchase pucks.  I have read posts where people have make their own pucks.  What I haven't read is anything about using solid wook pucks.  With a lathe it would (no pun intended) be easy to turn a piece of cherry or whatever and then slice it to thickness.  Has anyone heard about this being tried?  ???
Thanks,

njoyn

[Gizmo]

Puck burner may not get hot enough to smolder solid wood.  I believe I remember someone posting they tried to put a solid chunk on but did not get the results they were hoping for, but now that may have been the smoke ring look not smoke flavor.  Solid would not burn in 20 minute increments so that would be a factor but then maybe 1 wood block would last 4 hours.

[MoSmoke]

You guy's might be on to something.......
A block of wood 2 1/4 X 2 1/4 1 inch thick or so with a couple of holes drilled in it so the heat and air could get through it might just smolder. Then just set it on the burner with no other pucks to advance it.
If it works, just vary the thickness and /or replace it every so often.

MoSmoke

[NePaSmoKer]

I have a friend that makes furniture, he got me some solid rounds the same size as the pucks, they didnt burn that good.

nepas

[Wildcat]

I think someone on the forum has tried it before and tried charcoal as well.  Not a success if I recall correctly.

[smokmifugotm]

Alright, maybe this has been addressed before; but am curious.  I understand that the homemade pucks of solid wood may not burn; but on the flip side that could be good.  With that thought, couldn't we use those solid wood pucks as our pucks for advancing and be an alternative to wasting our good pucks?  Just curious!  What does everyone think?  Thanks!

[Habanero Smoker]

The problem I see with this is that if the solid wood puck get on the burner at some point it will smolder, and you could probably only use it once. The unknown is what the wood will do if it sits on the burner for 8 hours or more. If you just use the wood pucks to advance the last bisquette to the burner, the wood puck in contact with the bisquette on the burner will have some damage, but should be reusable for a few times. I would test to make sure that no problems can occure when you are not able to monitor your food in the smoker. I would do a test run, testing both sinarios for 6-8 hours, monitoring it the whole time.

[rbentle2]

My friend said a guy he works with only uses wood chips in his Bradley. Not sure the exact method, but he says he gets great results. I can't see that working very well as the plate is what, 2.25" square? You'd have to change the chips out quite often, forcing you to open the door a lot and leading to really long cooking times. Now if you rigged up the heating element in the smoke generator to a larger container, you could use more chips and change them less often. Still seems like a lot of work to me.

[Habanero Smoker]

My friend said a guy he works with only uses wood chips in his Bradley. Not sure the exact method, but he says he gets great results. I can't see that working very well as the plate is what, 2.25" square? You'd have to change the chips out quite often, forcing you to open the door a lot and leading to really long cooking times. Now if you rigged up the heating element in the smoke generator to a larger container, you could use more chips and change them less often. Still seems like a lot of work to me.

Is he using the generator to heat the wood chips, or did he place a small hot plate inside and is using that to smoke the chips? I would like to know. I would ask him how his friend does it.

[rbentle2]

Hab, I'll see if I can find out anything more.

[Skipystu]

I tried charcoal, the hardwood and the standard stuff. No smoke ring and the flavor it added was not nearly as good as a few mins on real charcoal grill.

[West Coast Kansan]

My concern is less the hot plate would not be hot enough but rather the block catching fire.  Even with a soaked block, trying to use it for an extended period sounds like something i would not want to read the results.

Feels ify  ???

[Stickbowcrafter]

I do, on occasion, use multiple bisquette flavors in my OBS. But the majority of the smoking I do calls for Hickory. You can buy the big box of a single flavor from Cabela's pretty reasonably. They're $39.99 for 120 bisquettes, or about 33 cents a piece. I go by a Cabela's quite often and don't pay shipping so for 33 cents a piece, it's not worth it for me to experiment. But for those of you who do, keep us posted on your results.

-Brian

[Tiny Tim]

I do, on occasion, use multiple bisquette flavors in my OBS. But the majority of the smoking I do calls for Hickory. You can buy the big box of a single flavor from Cabela's pretty reasonably. They're $39.99 for 120 bisquettes, or about 33 cents a piece. I go by a Cabela's quite often and don't pay shipping so for 33 cents a piece, it's not worth it for me to experiment. But for those of you who do, keep us posted on your results.

-Brian

I sell the 120's for $38.99.... :D  But, I guess you'd need to have them shipped if you bought 'em from me. lol

[Stickbowcrafter]

Darn it Tim, too bad I don't make it through Iowa much  :-[

-Brian