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Fire proof sawdust?

PostPosted: Fri Oct 16, 2015 10:20 am
by Salmo
Hello all.
Now that the weather has cooled down it's time to get some serious cold smoking going.
I have a few very nice Rainbow trout in the freezer,courtesy of Hanningfield reservoir,& will be making smoked trout for Christmas.
Today I placed my latest batch of bacon in the smoke chamber & charged my pro Q with my latest batch of Oak sawdust.
Trouble is I cannot get it to stay "alight"
I bought about 10 kg of it from e bay at a much better price than the pro Q manufacturers sell it for.
It is more course than the pro Q material,but I would have thought that would make it burn more quickly.
I tried microwaving some,in case it was too damp,but that made no difference.
I tried the blow torch on it & that seemed OK,but again it went out after some minutes.
Never had this problem before & it must be the dust that's the problem.
I'm sure somebody on this site has a foolproof method of getting sawdust to "go", so please share.
Many thanks.

Re: Fire proof sawdust?

PostPosted: Fri Oct 16, 2015 11:27 am
by NCPaul
The size of the dust has a great impact on it's ability to stay lit; I did the same experiment as you and even tried to reduce the dust size with a spice grinder. The pro-Q dust is run through a hammer mill to get the right size. You might be able to make a workable blend with what you have.

Re: Fire proof sawdust?

PostPosted: Fri Oct 16, 2015 3:19 pm
by wheels
The only thing that I can think of would be to use it as a layer on top of (say) ProQ beech dust.

Not that much help when you've got 10kg of it, but the best I can think of at present. :cry: :cry:
Phil

Re: Fire proof sawdust?

PostPosted: Fri Oct 16, 2015 3:56 pm
by Salmo
Thanks for the input gents.
Seems really strange to me that my course dust refuses to burn when the fine stuff is OK.
This course dust must contain more air,so should burn more readily --bizarre
Will sieve some as an experiment and report back.
Smokey bacon toast sandwich for breakfast in the morning- roll on!

Re: Fire proof sawdust?

PostPosted: Sat Oct 17, 2015 5:54 pm
by onewheeler
wheels wrote:The only thing that I can think of would be to use it as a layer on top of (say) ProQ beech dust.


I've got some alder which is a bit coarse and which goes out rather frequently. Mixed 50/50 with beech it nearly always burns straight through. The beech came from hotmoked.co.uk, and all of their dust which I've bought is finer (and cheaper?) than ProQ. Never had any problem keeping it going, although it burns a little (15%?) quicker than the "proper" stuff.

Martin/

Re: Fire proof sawdust?

PostPosted: Sun Oct 18, 2015 9:11 am
by DanMcG
Maybe the dust has to much moisture in it. Try microwaving it for a minute or two.

Re: Fire proof sawdust?

PostPosted: Mon Oct 19, 2015 5:33 am
by ped
Try tamping the sawdust down before lighting

Re: Fire proof sawdust?

PostPosted: Tue Oct 20, 2015 11:57 am
by kil2k
How long did you microwave it for? I usually microwave my Ashwoods dust for 4 x 2mins, leaving it to rest for a min or so between blasts, then mixing and putting back in.

If it's just too course, I'd recommend ordering a sack of dust from Ashwoods [very, very cost effective - even after delivery] and mixing them together.

Re: Fire proof sawdust?

PostPosted: Wed Oct 21, 2015 6:28 am
by Swing Swang
If it's Ashwoods stuff that I split with you kil2k then I'll vouch that it's good stuff - I just keep on microwaving for a minute and stirring until the spoon that I'm stirring it with comes out dry and clean. What I don't do (anymore) is just leave it in the microwave for 5 mins - starts to smoulder and turns the microwave into a mini smoke house, sets of the alarms, stinks out the house, and you get to sleep on the spare bed...

Re: Fire proof sawdust?

PostPosted: Wed Oct 21, 2015 9:38 am
by Salmo
kil2k wrote:How long did you microwave it for? I usually microwave my Ashwoods dust for 4 x 2mins, leaving it to rest for a min or so between blasts, then mixing and putting back in.


I did only microwave it for a minute so perhaps a longer blast is the answer.
The dust was described as "kiln dried" and certainly felt dry even before I microwaved it.
Will try a longer session in the micro & see how it goes .
Thanks

Re: Fire proof sawdust?

PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2015 9:07 pm
by yotmon
I find that 2 minutes can be too much in a microwave - soon goes black in the centre and becomes combustible. Always keep a close eye on the sawdust whilst drying and stir it regularly to distribute the heat.

Re: Fire proof sawdust?

PostPosted: Sat Oct 24, 2015 7:44 am
by DanMcG
yotmon wrote:I find that 2 minutes can be too much in a microwave - soon goes black in the centre and becomes combustible.


I had that happen once, boy did my kitchen smell great, till the wife got home. Now I keep a good eye on it.

Re: Fire proof sawdust?

PostPosted: Sat Oct 24, 2015 7:01 pm
by kil2k
DanMcG wrote:
yotmon wrote:I find that 2 minutes can be too much in a microwave - soon goes black in the centre and becomes combustible.


I had that happen once, boy did my kitchen smell great, till the wife got home. Now I keep a good eye on it.


Ha ha!