Briquette Burn Amounts

[jstrom]

Just built a new smoker, and fired it up over the weekend.  Installed a Bradley Smoke Generator, and it seems to work fine except the briquette is only burned about 20% when it is kicked out by the next briquette, and I don't seem to have as much smoke as I expected.  What is the normal amount of burn that I should see?

[MoSmoke]

Welcome to the forum Jstrom.
Bradley says that they cycle about every 20 minutes.
I usually start my smoke by placing one puck on the burner at the start of the smoke and advance one puck so there is a space between the pucks and I get about 40 minutes on the first puck and it's pretty well burned up. The rest of them are well charred when they get dumped into the water bowl and are about 1/4 of the original size. It would be nice if they were powdered ash when they get pushed off but they aren't. I get plenty of smoke. How big is your smoker? I read somewhere that the generator will handle a pretty big smoker at least twice the size of the OBS.

How this helps.

John

[Wildcat]

Welcome to the forum.

Yep, 20 minutes per puck is about right.  Should have plenty of smoke.  Is your unit vented enough to allow smoke to rise out the top?  Size of your unit will also come into play.

[jstrom]

Thanks for the comments.  I will try to let the first bisquette burn for 40 minutes and see how the results ar on the following bisquettes.  I converted a 12 cubic foot despatch oven to create my new smoker, it is powered by a 36kW 240 volt burner with a recirculating fan to keep a constant temperature.  Currently I have two 2 inch diameter vents on the top of the smoker with one inlet on the bottom.  They were already part of the original oven, and I can add more if need be, thought I would try it as is before I start cutting more holes in it.  Will attempt to post an image in a couple of weeks when I get my first batch of sausage into the smoker.  Commitments this weekend force me to wait.

[Ontrack]

You can also try preheating the burner for a 20 minute cycle with no pucks on it. This will get it good and hot and make the first puck burn as much as the rest.

[jstrom]

Thanks for the help.  I was able to play with the smoker a little more today.  The bisquettes I was using were from the sample pack that came with the generator.  I opened another pack and they burn just fine, so I think there was an issue with the first sleeve that I opened.

[Ontrack]

Until this past weekend I had not noticed, but I had a few alder and hickory pucks stacked side by side(3 of each), and the hickory stack was about 3/16" taller than the alder. I have every flavor of wood Bradley makes, except for mesquite and the special blend, so when I get time I'll compare the thicknesses of them all. Doesn't really matter, just interested in knowing...

[yul]

I tried my OBS for the first time yesterday, seasoning it. I placed the pucks in the tower and advanced the first one onto the burner. After all was finished I cleaned out the catch bowl and found one puck only partially burned. I was thinking that maybe this was the first puck to hit the hot plate and that it took a while for the plate to reach the required temp.  The timer went on counting down the 20 min and then pushed it into the bowl before it had time to char properly. Do any of the users pre heat the burner before advancing the first puck? :-\

[Mr Walleye]

You got it figured out Brian!  ;)

Turn your smoke generator on with out pucks at the same time as you fire up the tower for your preheat. This definitely helps that out.

Mike

[Ontrack]

Yul, read 5 posts above this one... ;) ;D

[yul]

Yikes Ontrack, the meds are wearing offf............ :-[

[Ontrack]

Then it's time for more, Yul! Just messing around with you, buddy. You gotta question, you ask it. Lots of very smart people (not smart a$$es, like me) on this forum who love to give answers, and are up for any challenge. :)

[Stickbowcrafter]

Interesting idea on leaving a space behind the first bisquette. Will have to experiment with that.

-Brian

[jstrom]

The information has been great, I have finally find the absolute cause to my problem, and thought I would post for others to learn from.  The oven that I turned into a smoker is basically a convection oven with two recirculating fans, pulling heat from the side of the smoker down over the heating element and then dispersed out the opposite side of the smoker across the meat.  The fans were moving too much air which I believe caused the aluminum heating plate of the Bradley to be cooled by the air crossing over it.  When the fans were turned off the bisquettes would burn very well and create nice smoke.  I have since disconected one of the fans, and wired the other with a variable switch to control the fan.

[Gizmo]

I did some temperature testing and measured the bisquette burner temperature.  It appears (and makes sense) that the temperature of the burner is just enough to smolder the puck in 20 minutes.  I would also say that it burns more completely if the heating element of the box is also on which further supports the just hot enough to smolder the puck.  If there is anything to cause air flow over the puck burnter, I would think it would drop the temp just enough to not burn the puck completely.  I have measured around 500 to 540 deg for the puck burner.  I believe the pucks after the first one on the burner typically burn through more effectively as they benefit from preheating being near the burner and inside the oven.  They will also pre-ignite from touching the puck on the burner.  I think the temperature range of 480 deg F to 550 deg F is the general range that the puck will smolder but moisture content and density of the wood will contribute to the actual optimum temperature.