Let's Talk BBQ

Outdoor Cooking Equipment => Grills & Smokers => Electric Smokers => Topic started by: Wingman on June 19, 2014, 12:23:55 PM

Title: Anyone tried Peterson pucks?
Post by: Wingman on June 19, 2014, 12:23:55 PM
I saw a post somewhere about pucks made by someone other than Bradley and was wondering if anyone has experience with them.  Apparently they are a little too big for the puck feeder but are suppose to last a lot longer so they are put in manually.  They also work in a chip box.
http://www.petersonpucks.com (http://www.petersonpucks.com)
Title: Re: Anyone tried Peterson pucks?
Post by: rexster314 on June 19, 2014, 11:20:28 PM
SOooooo. Every 20 minutes or so you open the Bradley up, knock off the spent Peterson puck and place another one on the puck burner?
Title: Re: Anyone tried Peterson pucks?
Post by: GusRobin on June 20, 2014, 12:00:49 AM
SOooooo. Every 20 minutes or so you open the Bradley up, knock off the spent Peterson puck and place another one on the puck burner?
That kind of defeats the purpose of an automatic puck feed. I would (and do a lot) just use an amazn smoker tube if I didn't want to use Bradley pucks
Title: Re: Anyone tried Peterson pucks?
Post by: TentHunteR on June 20, 2014, 04:11:01 AM
SOooooo. Every 20 minutes or so you open the Bradley up, knock off the spent Peterson puck and place another one on the puck burner?

No. Watch the video on his website.  You load up four at a time, and it looks like they would work pretty well.



Title: Re: Anyone tried Peterson pucks?
Post by: Wingman on June 20, 2014, 04:28:39 AM
SOooooo. Every 20 minutes or so you open the Bradley up, knock off the spent Peterson puck and place another one on the puck burner?

Wellllll, they reportedly will last an hour a piece and cost half of what Bradley's cost.  That's why I was asking.  I would find that worth a try if it were true.
Title: Re: Anyone tried Peterson pucks?
Post by: GusRobin on June 20, 2014, 10:00:10 AM
SOooooo. Every 20 minutes or so you open the Bradley up, knock off the spent Peterson puck and place another one on the puck burner?

Wellllll, they reportedly will last an hour a piece and cost half of what Bradley's cost.  That's why I was asking.  I would find that worth a try if it were true.
From the info on the Bradley forum, they last longer but don't fit thru the smoke generator so you have to manually place them and remove them. (Not sure how old the data is, but that is the latest I could find.)
Title: Re: Anyone tried Peterson pucks?
Post by: Wingman on June 20, 2014, 12:33:45 PM
SOooooo. Every 20 minutes or so you open the Bradley up, knock off the spent Peterson puck and place another one on the puck burner?

Wellllll, they reportedly will last an hour a piece and cost half of what Bradley's cost.  That's why I was asking.  I would find that worth a try if it were true.
From the info on the Bradley forum, they last longer but don't fit thru the smoke generator so you have to manually place them and remove them. (Not sure how old the data is, but that is the latest I could find.)

Yup.  I know they don't fit in the puck feeder but I get into the OBS at least once an hour so I wouldn't mind hand feeding.  The other advantage to hand feeding is that I know that it happens which I don't with Bradley's feeder.  Sometimes it feeds and sometimes it doesn't.  I've repaired it twice.
Title: Re: Anyone tried Peterson pucks?
Post by: GusRobin on June 20, 2014, 02:32:01 PM
SOooooo. Every 20 minutes or so you open the Bradley up, knock off the spent Peterson puck and place another one on the puck burner?

Wellllll, they reportedly will last an hour a piece and cost half of what Bradley's cost.  That's why I was asking.  I would find that worth a try if it were true.
From the info on the Bradley forum, they last longer but don't fit thru the smoke generator so you have to manually place them and remove them. (Not sure how old the data is, but that is the latest I could find.)

Yup.  I know they don't fit in the puck feeder but I get into the OBS at least once an hour so I wouldn't mind hand feeding.  The other advantage to hand feeding is that I know that it happens which I don't with Bradley's feeder.  Sometimes it feeds and sometimes it doesn't.  I've repaired it twice.

Have you compared the cost of using an Amazin smoke tube to the peterson pucks?
Title: Re: Anyone tried Peterson pucks?
Post by: Keymaster on June 20, 2014, 03:01:29 PM
I tried pederson pucks and did not like them. They are more of a compressed wood dust and not compressed wood chips like bradleys. When I purchased the pederson pucks I was told they worked in the bradley smoker. I would go with an amazin smoker and pellets.
Title: Re: Anyone tried Peterson pucks?
Post by: Wingman on June 20, 2014, 03:16:24 PM
I tried pederson pucks and did not like them. They are more of a compressed wood dust and not compressed wood chips like bradleys. When I purchased the pederson pucks I was told they worked in the bradley smoker. I would go with an amazin smoker and pellets.

Great feedback.  That's what I was looking for.  Thank you, Keymaster.  We'll be moving on now.
Title: Re: Anyone tried Peterson pucks?
Post by: Sailor1 on June 21, 2014, 12:21:45 PM
Been using the AMNPS for over 2 years now and have not burned one puck in the Bradley since switching.  As far as I am concerned they can quit making the pucks.  The Bradley pucks are expensive and the 140 pack are hard to come by.  A 20 pound bag of pellets costs less than a 140 pack of pucks and will last you well over a year doing 3 smokes a week.  Just sayin  ;D
Title: Re: Anyone tried Peterson pucks?
Post by: muebe on June 21, 2014, 12:53:46 PM
I may have my Uncle make up some reusable metal pucks that can be loaded with pellets. He is a really good machinist and can make up some prototypes.

I can give him a bubba puck and let him go to work ;)
Title: Re: Anyone tried Peterson pucks?
Post by: Las Vegan Cajun on June 21, 2014, 12:54:19 PM
Been using the AMNPS for over 2 years now and have not burned one puck in the Bradley since switching.  As far as I am concerned they can quit making the pucks.  The Bradley pucks are expensive and the 140 pack are hard to come by. A 20 pound bag of pellets costs less than a 140 pack of pucks and will last you well over a year doing 3 smokes a week.  Just sayin  ;D

That's good to know, I just got mine and plan on using it quite often.  ;)
Title: Re: Anyone tried Peterson pucks?
Post by: teesquare on June 21, 2014, 02:11:58 PM
I may have my Uncle make up some reusable metal pucks that can be loaded with pellets. He is a really good machinist and can make up some prototypes.

I can give him a bubba puck and let him go to work ;)

You may be onto something there Mike!....
Title: Re: Anyone tried Peterson pucks?
Post by: GusRobin on June 21, 2014, 07:17:41 PM
I may have my Uncle make up some reusable metal pucks that can be loaded with pellets. He is a really good machinist and can make up some prototypes.

I can give him a bubba puck and let him go to work ;)

You may be onto something there Mike!....

Step back a minute. So you make a bunch of pucks that can be loaded with pellets? What are you going to do with them? put them in Bradley puck feeder and have them feed every 20 minutes? Do them manually?  Wouldn't it be easier to just use an Amazn smoker tube?
Just thinking.
Title: Re: Anyone tried Peterson pucks?
Post by: Keymaster on June 21, 2014, 08:05:42 PM
I may have my Uncle make up some reusable metal pucks that can be loaded with pellets. He is a really good machinist and can make up some prototypes.

I can give him a bubba puck and let him go to work ;)

You may be onto something there Mike!....


Step back a minute. So you make a bunch of pucks that can be loaded with pellets? What are you going to do with them? put them in Bradley puck feeder and have them feed every 20 minutes? Do them manually?  Wouldn't it be easier to just use an Amazn smoker tube?
Just thinking.
I'm thinking the rings would be stacked just like pucks in the tube feeder and filled with pellets. I see a whole bunch of jamming going on. It may work with Sawdust chips. 
Title: Re: Anyone tried Peterson pucks?
Post by: muebe on June 21, 2014, 09:17:25 PM
I may have my Uncle make up some reusable metal pucks that can be loaded with pellets. He is a really good machinist and can make up some prototypes.

I can give him a bubba puck and let him go to work ;)

You may be onto something there Mike!....

Step back a minute. So you make a bunch of pucks that can be loaded with pellets? What are you going to do with them? put them in Bradley puck feeder and have them feed every 20 minutes? Do them manually?  Wouldn't it be easier to just use an Amazn smoker tube?
Just thinking.

Gus I like being able to control the amount of smoke using the pucks. I know 3 pucks give me exactly one hour. So I can set my PID to turn on my convection fan right after the smoke is done ;)

And yes... I picture removable tops on hollow metal pucks that can be filled with pellets to use in the Bradley puck feeder.

The Bradley design I have allows for great cold smoking while using the smoke generator.

And my uncle lives for this stuff. You give him something like this and he will figure it out and machine it. He is crazy! They will probably be made of Titanium :D
Title: Re: Anyone tried Peterson pucks?
Post by: teesquare on June 21, 2014, 10:14:22 PM
"And yes... I picture removable tops on hollow metal pucks that can be filled with pellets to use in the Bradley puck feeder."

Now that I think of it....I will bet there are "lozenge tins"  that are metal, and about the right diameter...If you can find some that are the right size....and you drill a couple of holes in the top, and one really small one down low on the side.... and you load up 8 or 10 of them.....might be the ticket ....
Title: Re: Anyone tried Peterson pucks?
Post by: Saber 4 on June 21, 2014, 10:21:05 PM
"And yes... I picture removable tops on hollow metal pucks that can be filled with pellets to use in the Bradley puck feeder."

Now that I think of it....I will bet there are "lozenge tins"  that are metal, and about the right diameter...If you can find some that are the right size....and you drill a couple of holes in the top, and one really small one down low on the side.... and you load up 8 or 10 of them.....might be the ticket ....

That's not a bad idea as long as you can sand blast or burn off all the paint or coatings inside and out.
Title: Re: Anyone tried Peterson pucks?
Post by: teesquare on June 21, 2014, 10:31:03 PM
Yeah...But we are back to an argument that i have used before...Since the product ( the tin) was never intended to be "food safe" interns of heating....will it off gas anything? I don't know.
Title: Re: Anyone tried Peterson pucks?
Post by: muebe on June 22, 2014, 12:05:38 AM
Time to take my bubba puck with me and start sizing up lozenge containers  :D
Title: Re: Anyone tried Peterson pucks?
Post by: Saber 4 on June 22, 2014, 11:25:26 AM
Seems like a bubba puck with the inside milled out to create a cup would work without a lid if you made sure there were no pellets sticking up. The only thing I see as a potential problem is the 20 minute puck cycle possibly not being enough time to heat up the container enough to start the pellet's smoking before it get's dumped in the water.

I think I would just stick with Bradley pucks or the AMZN Tubes. Cabela's has the 120 puck packs back in stock on a regular basis and if you watch for sales it's only 90 cents an hour to smoke with the original.
Title: Re: Anyone tried Peterson pucks?
Post by: muebe on June 22, 2014, 01:53:56 PM
Seems like a bubba puck with the inside milled out to create a cup would work without a lid if you made sure there were no pellets sticking up. The only thing I see as a potential problem is the 20 minute puck cycle possibly not being enough time to heat up the container enough to start the pellet's smoking before it get's dumped in the water.

I think I would just stick with Bradley pucks or the AMZN Tubes. Cabela's has the 120 puck packs back in stock on a regular basis and if you watch for sales it's only 90 cents an hour to smoke with the original.

The metal on the bottom would not be thick so I am sure it would transmit the heat. The top would be steel mesh. I am also leaning toward used steel mesh on the top and bottom with a solid metal rim. Top can be lifted off and filled with pellets or chips or dust. Then you could stack them into the puck feeder just like a regular puck.

Heck you don't know how it will work until you actually try ;)
Title: Re: Anyone tried Peterson pucks?
Post by: Saber 4 on June 22, 2014, 04:37:27 PM
No great solution ever happened until someone tried it, so go for it and post the progress I love R & D
Title: Re: Anyone tried Peterson pucks?
Post by: KyNola on June 22, 2014, 07:30:46 PM
I have absolutely no dog in this fight  but before doing anything else I would place some pellets on the puck burner plate of the Bradley, set a timer for 20 minutes and see how complete the pellets burn within the 20 minute window.  If you are going to stack a number of the pellet holders in the feeder tube they are going to be cycled off of the burner plate every 20 minutes.  It is possible you may have a bunch of half burnt pellets in the water bowl.
Title: Re: Anyone tried Peterson pucks?
Post by: muebe on June 22, 2014, 07:59:17 PM
I have absolutely no dog in this fight  but before doing anything else I would place some pellets on the puck burner plate of the Bradley, set a timer for 20 minutes and see how complete the pellets burn within the 20 minute window.  If you are going to stack a number of the pellet holders in the feeder tube they are going to be cycled off of the burner plate every 20 minutes.  It is possible you may have a bunch of half burnt pellets in the water bowl.

You have a point KyNola. That may well be the case. Won't know until I try.

But I have felt that the spent Bradley pucks are not burned completely also.

So the question will be will they produce enough smoke to be worth it? We shall see ;)