Bradley Smoking Wood Discs/Pucks

[mrwizardgi]

So someone was wondering in another post if a person could make the wood pucks used for Bradley smokers at home and it got me to thinking. I don't have a Bradley smoker and I've never been witness to the pucks they use, but here is my idea for making your own. I've never tried, but I might just for fun.

What if you took some already chipped wood and put it into a food processor to 'grind' it down a bit more. Not necessarily to powder consistency, but into smaller bits. Then bind it together with a homemade glue like this:

http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howtos...uefrommilk.htm

it's basically milk, vinegar, water, and baking soda.

You could, theoretically speaking, then mold it into the shape you need.

What do you think? Would the milk sour when you would burn it leaving a nasty smell/taste? Would the vinegar or baking soda leave any undesirable residue?

I'm just thinking out loud here. If someone has done something like this I'd be interested in hearing about it. Anyway, nothing much to add to the forum smoking wise...just mindless, random thoughts. Peace

J-

 

[zapper]

I am just guessing here, but I would bet that the pucks/bisquits/pellets are made with EXTREME pressure and added heat if the pressure did not add enough heat. Basically smash a given amount of wood chips into a correctly sized die/mold with a high powered hydrolic ram. Smaller pellets I believe are extruded through a die from an auger. I think that the economics of scale would prevent most do it your selfers from even trying.


Self feeding smoking material has always been on the back burner of my mind so to speak (bad pun intended) Measuring the smoke output and the heat in the cooking chamber and then feeding that infromation to a control unit for a more automated smoker is more than one persons dream.

 

[mrwizardgi]

Right on...good info. Like I said I've never been witness to what these things actually are other than what I've seen in internet pics. I'm sure making your own is nearly impossible/impratical or someone would have done it by now! Thanks for the input though!

J-

 

[zapper]

Don't let me put anyone off of the idea of making their own. Someone may have just the right clever idea or parts and pieces laying around to accomplish the task!

 

[curious aardvark]

actually it would be possible. The biscuittes are simply wood chips compressed and dried into moulds. They flake apart quite easily. I don't think there is any glue involved, on the other hand the wood chips aren't a solid mass.
You could probably make a mould simply enough with a bit of pipe and a vice.
put in damp chips add moderate compression and let it dry to crispy.
But given that one biscuitte only lasts 20 mins. Would it be worth it ?

 

[supervman]

Pretty sure you would severely and permanently dull your blade.

 

[williamzanzinger]

Yea, I bet the process would be a lot like making your own paper. Allowing the super fine chips to soak to a pulp then putting the pulp into molds with pressure applied then dried evenly. Easier said then done unless you got a machine shop and a real perverse desire to get over on the man.

 

[phreak]

maybe add some maple sap as a binder...

 

[mrwizardgi]

Absolutely! We use a food processor from Goodwill to grind down solid chemicals we use for labs here at school. Definitely wouldn't want to use the misses processor in the kitchen!

 

[zapper]

Use a lathe to turn out solid pucks

Kind of reminds me of the old cartoon that shows a factory spinning a whole tree on a lathe just to get one toothpick


Not having a Bradley to play with (I do accecpt almost all gratutity and gifts) I would venture to say that one could be modded to burn loose chips with some kind of automatic feeder with a little tinkering

 

[williamzanzinger]

Its the opposite of everything the bradley stands for. Excessive convienience. Its part of the reason why I picked back up the ECB. 1:20 an hour to smoke.