New Smoker from Canada

[yul]

Hi Mike, I have made some pucks from aluminum but they are only 2" dia. (it was a scrap piece of bar we had hanging around). I notice that you gave the diameter as 2.25".
Is the diameter critical or do you think I can get away with it. I was thinking that the smaller diameter would be lighter but was wondering if jamming might become an issue.
I see that you have modified your OBS quite a bit. Did you wait until it was out of warranty or will Bradley still honor the warranty even after we have done the various mods.

[Mr Walleye]

Hi Brian

I'm not sure what to think about the diameter on your homebuilt Bubba Pucks. My first thought is the smaller diameter may cause them to have a higher potential to jam. I'm not really sure if this would be an issue or not. The other thing to keep in mind is once you 2 of them in the shoot and the 3rd comes along to push the final wood puck off the other end into the water bowl, will they push far enough? Each puck would be 1/4 inch smaller times 3 pucks equals 3/4 inch less of a push. Again I'm not sure if this would be a problem or not. I would probably do some testing with them while you are there to keep an eye on it. You never know they might work perfectly too.

Actually my Bradley started off life as a DBS. I kinda like to, almost have to, tinker!  :D I can't help it, it's in my blood!  ::) So, yes, I did do my mods while it was still under warranty. I don't really think there is much of a problem with Bradley as far as warranty goes, depending on the modification. As far as a PID goes it's completely removable, providing you don't mount it into the generator.

Mike

[yul]

The old cumulative error eh. I will go ahead and drill them and then try them through the smoke tower and see what happens. At least they kept the "little grey cells" working. ;)

[yul]

  Yep..you were right. My pucks push the last bisquette to the edge but no farther, it is just not past the C of G.  :-[

[Mr Walleye]

That's too bad Brian. The actual size I believe is 2.25" x .5". You will have to try and find some larger diameter material.

Mike

[yul]

Hi Mike., I was looking through the McMaster –Carr catalogue for some 2.25 round bar (they sell it in 2 ft lengths) and saw that they sell an alloy pipe, 2.25"dia with a 1.25" hole. Do you know if anybody has gone this route? :-\
Maybe I will check the catalogue for Mortons Tenderquick, they seem to sell everything else.  ;D

[Mr Walleye]

Brian

Here is a link to a post from StickBowCrafter. He made some pucks from some aluminum pipe. Here is the link.

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=5849.msg55290#msg55290

Mike

[yul]

      Great stuff Mike ,you must have an encyclopedic memory. I will give the pipe a try, at least it will save on the drilling again.  ;D ;D
Any ideas on the Mortons Tenderquick , I have an urge to try curing my own bacon. :)

[Mr Walleye]

Brian

If you are going to make Canadian Bacon (Back Bacon for us Canucks) give Habs recipe a shot. It always turns out great for me and it's easy to boot. Here is a link.
http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?p=500#post500

Habs also posted about making his own TenderQuick. It's also a goo read. Here is the link.
http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=5463.0

Habs has the nickname around here as "IronHabs".... and well deserved it is!

Mike

[yul]

Hi Mike, I looked through the post you sent and it seems quite straight forward and I think I am going to give it a shot. I am having trouble finding  the Instacure #1. I found it online from a sausage making supply company in Buffalo N.Y. but an $9 bag ends up costing $24 thanks to shipping etc. :o What sort of stores should I be looking in, the local grocery stores don't  stock it.  ??? Is there a Canadian supplier with cheaper shipping that you know of. 

[Mr Walleye]

Brian

I buy it from JB Sauasage in Regina, SK. It's a sausage supply store. Try looking in your yellow pages or online yellow pages in your area for sausage supplies or something like that. There must be somebody there that sells it locally. It is sold under many names, the stuff I get is called Super Cure. What you are looking for is cure #1 which contains Nitrite. There is also cure #2 which contains Nitrate and is used for long term curing/drying such as salami.

Mike

[yul]

Mike
       Thanks once again, sorry to keep bothering you with all this newbie stuff  :-[
        I will check in the local yellow pages now I know what to look for.  ;D
        I found one Canadian company online in B.C. if I get stuck here I will try them.
         www.stuffers.com

[Mr Walleye]

Thanks once again, sorry to keep bothering you with all this newbie stuff 

Not a bother Brian... ya don't know if you don't ask. I too asked a lot of questions when I started out... That's what it's all about!  ;)

Mike

[Habanero Smoker]

Mike
       Thanks once again, sorry to keep bothering you with all this newbie stuff  :-[
        I will check in the local yellow pages now I know what to look for.  ;D
        I found one Canadian company online in B.C. if I get stuck here I will try them.
         www.stuffers.com

While you are on that site, make sure you down load their recipes. You can download to PDF or excel file.

[Mr Walleye]

You're right Habs! I have them at home. I kinda forgot about them.

Mike