ProQ CSG keeps going out

[Pete Franklin]

Hi All

Sorry if this has been done to death

I recently purchased a ProQ cold smoker and had one successful burn to smoke some bacon. Very happy with the product.

I went to buy some more dust and found that i could only get it in large quantities from the authentic shop. so i found a supplier on ebay selling oak dust that he stated could be used in the ProQ. said dust seemed slightly finer grade (less big bits) than the dust that came with the smoker. i have now tried 3 times and it keeps going out. It gets about 1/3rd of the way around and then goes out. i have tried drying the dust in the oven, cleaning the smoker etc but cant get it to burn all the way around. im using the smoker in a webber one touch with the vents open about 1/3rd.

Is there anything else i could do or should i just bite the bullet and buy a larger quantity of the right dust from macs bbq?

Cheers

Pete

[jasonmolinari]

The ProQ seems quite sensitive to having the right dust. I was going to suggest drying it in the oven, but you did that already.
There isn't stuff dripping on it, is there?

[saucisson]

Is there anything else i could do or should i just bite the bullet and buy a larger quantity of the right dust from macs bbq?

Cheers

Pete

Would you be happy to send me a sample of your dust to try out/have a look at ?.

I managed to get another member's homebrew dust working with a bit of tinkering.

Thanks,

Dave

[kimgary]

Hi
Bearing in mind that you can buy 3.6 kg of smoking dust for £25.00 incl vat and delivery this would work out at 0.70p for a 10 hour burn or ).07P per hour.

To me this seems a very reasonable price to pay, add to the fact that if their supplied dust does not perform as stated you have decent reasons to complain.

I am in no way connected with the supplier but I do use a pro Q.

I would agree to have to layout £25.00 in one order in these difficult times is not easy and that when I purchased the pro q I could order much smaller amounts of dust, maybe this needs to be looked into by the company.

It must be better business sense to sell a lot at a small profit rather than the odd large amount at a great profit!

Reminds me of a story my grandfather told me, he was a masterbaker and a customer came in and asked him for a cornish pasty, he said that will be 2/6, the customer said ----- down the road only charges 2/- for his, my grandfather said well go down the road then!, she replied he does'nt have any, to which my grandfather replied " When I don't have any mine are 2/-

Regards Gazza.

PS RIP Les ( you still make me smile)

[wheels]

Three ProQ dealer still sell dust in smaller quantities (at least they're listed on their websites:

http://www.forfoodsmokers.co.uk

and

http://www.hotsmoked.co.uk

also

http://www.gardenxl.com

It's also worth noting that 'Hot Smoked' advise that the oak and beech are fine to use on their own but that the others may need mixing with with the milder beech dust.

HTH

Phil

[Pete Franklin]

cheers for the replies

Saucisson- thanks for the offer but to be honest i havent got enough of the dust for it to be worthwhile but i only bought a few hundred grams.

I didnt realise that you can buy individual packs online- i'll probably do that to start with. its a shame that you cant do a mix and match on the 8 pack deal as 8 packs of one variety is probably too much for occasional use and I doubt i would want to use all the different varieties in the sample pack. If you could buy 3 x oak 3 x applewood and the a couple of others for experimenting it would be a lot more attractive.

Pete

[wheels]

Macs BBQ do a variety pack, is that not what you're after?

http://www.macsbbq.co.uk/Wood%20Shop.html

Phil

[Pete Franklin]

Yeah I saw that, what i meant was that i wouldnt mind buying that amount but i wouldnt want 1 of each variety- as i wouldnt use some of the wood types. i'd be more interested in a pick and mix system if you see what i mean. i might give them a call and see if they could do a deal.

[wheels]

I'd give them a call, the worst that can happen is that they say no. However, bear in mind that (if their dust is priced anything like I buy) bulk fruit woods cost about 6 - 7 times more than oak and beech.

HTH

Phil

[saucisson]

Although if you buy the 8 X 450g single wood packs they all cost the same whichever you order...

[welsh wizard]

Hi I just thought i would post this:

Thismorning I did my 100th smoke with the ProQ and I just thought I would pass on some help to keep it going. I have had more than my share of the smoker going out and it is very annoying. However if you do the following it seems to be OK. Please note I only use the ProQ dust because at c70p a smoke it really is not worth trying to find an alternative - at least not for me.

1) Always use dry wood
2) Fish can drip so I have my proQ placed under a trivet which I have placed a old biscuit lid on top. this stops any drips going into the dust and therefore will stop it going out.
3) Tap and clean the proq with an old tooth brush after each use
4) tamp down the wood when you fill it with your finger / thumb. I always thought to place the wood in the maze as lightly as possible was the correct way but it is the opposite.
5) after each 10 or so smokes place the proq in a dish and cover it with boiling water from the kettle. This will loosen the black tar like substance that builds up and clogs the tiny holes, clean this out, and air will circulate properly keeping the smoker smoking.

hope this helps

Cheers WW

[saucisson]

Thanks WW... very useful

[Terry]

Hi all,

I find that adding washing powder to the boiling water, soaking it for a few hours, then giving it the toothbrush trreatment helps to unclog it

Terry

[wheels]

My wife cleans the oven shelves in a strong solution of washing powder. I hadn't thought of using it to clean the csg. Thanks for the tip.

Phil

[Hoggy]

I use the BBQ pellets that you can buy at the store, I make saw dust out of it myself, how I do that I describe in this post :

http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?t=7516&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

I dry it well in the oven, have NEVER any problems with it, I can do almost 5 loads with a 1 lbs bag. The dust looks big in the images, but don't let that fool you, the CSG always burns until the end, around 9 hours on one load. The good part is, that you can buy it at a lot of places ( no shipping ) and you can chose the flavor.

I pay 5$ for a bag in the store, and if you are lucky ( like me ) you can find hem at a garage sale ( next to the BBQ ....)

Hoggy