Anyone have or use a Bradley Smoker?

So I was watching a little Primal Grill (http://www.primalgrill.org/) this morning trying to come up with something to BBQ this weekend and I saw that he was using one of these



To do some smoking.

Well I think it was a Bradley Smoker and man the idea of have precision temp control and automatic feeding of smoker chips got my mind turning.

Does anyone have one of these or have an experience with one? I am really wanting to get one. I have one of these currently:



But have had trouble maintaining a constant temp or even keeping the temp in the smoking portion up to 225 toward the end.


Just currious is anyone has or used one of these?

http://bradleysmoker.eseecommerce.com/detail.php?pid=39&pageno=&maxPage=&maxRow=&category_id=2&parent_id=

I do not have a Bradley smoker but the price scares me. I have a UDS ( ugly drum smoker) that I built for about 40-50 bucks. I can maintain 225 all day long and have smoked over 12 hours without needed to add more coals. I am in no way saying the Bradley is not good. I love bells and whistles and have them all over my brew system. But for smoking I like simplicity.

I have looked at the bradley but then decided that the char-griller is much better and only about $15 more. Lowes carries them. There are a few mods that need to be done for just a couple bucks and they work like a champ.

dataz722 said:

I have looked at the bradley but then decided that the char-griller is much better and only about $15 more. Lowes carries them. There are a few mods that need to be done for just a couple bucks and they work like a champ.

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Which model do you have and what mods did you do?

I have a Masterbuilt Electric Smoker from Lowes($200). It's one of the best thing's I've recently bought. I love it. IIRC the Bradley uses some type of wood pucks or some type of thing. The masterbuilt works the same way but uses chips. Three weeks ago I made an 8lbs pork butt on there and started it at 10 pm. Fed it chips for four hours. Went to bed and had the best pulled pork ever for lunch. Literally set it and forget it. Couldn't ask for more really. You set the temp and the time.

I've had a Bradley since February of this year and I love it. I did not get the digital version, however, instead I got their 4-rack black smoker and bought a PID for it from AuberIns. There's a pretty active forum for the Bradley: http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php and prior to buying (actually, receiving as a birthday gift) I lurked there for about a month making up my mind, and decided that an aftermarket or DIY PID was a better solution than the digital smoker.

I use it about twice a month, and it's great. With the PID it's set it and forget it. I load it up with my seasoned meats, and then go about my business (load a pork butt at 2am, or some ribs around 8am and they're ready by dinner after a nice FTC (Foil-Towel-Cooler) rest.

I'm typically able to leave, run errand, play with the kids, and whatever else I want to while it's running - give the meat a spritz every 90 minutes - and get great results. Cleanup is a breeze (unless you're anal, a little bit of crud left in a smoker that operates at 225 is NOT gonna hurt you!).

The ribs I made last weekend were the best ribs I ever had in my life - period (and about the 6th batch I'd made on the Bradley, with each batch a little better than the last as I got my technique and timing down)

A little OT... I think the awesome quality of the meat I used on that last batch helped a bit, and wish I'd of bought about 20 racks. These were the most perfectly marbled baby backs I'd ever seen, heavy on the meat and small on the bones. I usually get spareribs, but these were on sale, and after seeig how beautiful they were in the package I could not resist. I bought 6 racks, smoked 4 (we had company) and froze 2.

Anyway, if you like a set-it-and-forget-it smoker, this is the way to go. One other thing to note of the Bradley and all electric smokers - your meat will have little or no smoke ring because the smoke ring is formed by compounds arising from the combustion of hydrocarbons in wood and/or fuel. There's not much of these compounds released when you're just smoldering small quantities of wood for smoke - not heat (heat comes from the electric element) - so you won't have a pretty pink/red smoke ring on your food, but your mouth won’t know the difference!

http://www.barbecuebible.com/board/

The Forum at the above link would be my recommendation.

You can search for the type of smoker you're looking for...and there will probably be a lot of posts with tips techniques etc...

As Mike mentioned...the Chargriller that Lowes' carries was my choice as well...but it does require some manual manipulation. You have to monitor the temp...the wood chunks and charcoal are your responsibility... You can't just set it and forget it...like a lot of the digital models. On the other hand...I can take it with me anywhere...and it doesn't require electricity to operate. Some folks like being hands on with their smoking...others love automation. It's up to you. The other thing to consider is how much space you have. I can do 6 full slabs of ribs...or two boston butts...or a brisket and a boston butt...at the same time. That seems to be enough for most of my cooking.

I'd love to get one of these one day....

http://www.diamondplateproducts.com/50_Series.php

My brother had one of these...until some thief cut his chain and made off with it. My two brothers and I cooked all the food for my baby sisters wedding reception on the FAT 50 model. We used less than half the available rack space and cooked a dozen turkeys and a dozen pork tenderloins at the same time. Heated some beans...and even cooked some venision. These things are amazing!!!

humann_brewing said:

Which model do you have and what mods did you do?

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I don't have one yet but I will soon. I have a friend that has one though. Check out www.smokering.com. They have a forum on there that has tons of info about the chargriller. The one I am looking at is the pro and buying the side box separate.

Some of the mods are extending the smoke stack down, reaplacing the thermometer, redoing the rack in the side box and a couple other little things.

eschatz said:

I have a Masterbuilt Electric Smoker from Lowes($200). It's one of the best thing's I've recently bought. I love it. IIRC the Bradley uses some type of wood pucks or some type of thing. The masterbuilt works the same way but uses chips. Three weeks ago I made an 8lbs pork butt on there and started it at 10 pm. Fed it chips for four hours. Went to bed and had the best pulled pork ever for lunch. Literally set it and forget it. Couldn't ask for more really. You set the temp and the time.

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This one looks like a good options with the ability to not have to buy proprietor y wood chips and still have the set it and forget it with the heat.

I will have to head in to lowes and check it out. I know I will have to get rid of my current smoker as I doubt the wifey will let me add a #6 BBQ but you know you have to have one for each type of grilling/BBQ/portable/gas etc...

I have both a char-griller and a Bradley. I really like both. I use the Bradley for smoking sausages but pretty much use the Char-griller for everything else. The Char-Griller makes a great grill too! I can get that thing so hot that it glows! It's great for searing thick ribeyes. I'm sure you can get that thing well over 1000*F. Do the mods if you plan on smoking. You won't get the temps right otherwise. The thermometer that comes with it is garbage too. Get a good one and replace it.

My Bradley isn't feeding the pucks properly right now. I think there is a short in something and one of these days I'll call customer service. I haven't gotten around to it yet. I make smoked kielbasa every year for Christmas so I guess I should start looking into it.

RayInUT said:

My Bradley isn't feeding the pucks properly right now. I think there is a short in something and one of these days I'll call customer service. I haven't gotten around to it yet. I make smoked kielbasa every year for Christmas so I guess I should start looking into it.

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Funny you shold mention that. Out of the box mine had the same problem, I called customer service and they talked me through opening it up and fixing it... A quick connect in the smoke generator had come off during shipment, so all I had to to was slide it back in place, it could be something similair for yours. It took me all of 15 minutes from when I initiated the cal, through opening it up, them diagnosing the problem and me fixing it. Saved me the trouble of having to return it and wait replacement (got it from Amazon with free shipping & no sales tax).

I've heard others say that little fragments from the pucks can get caught in the feeder mechanism and cause it to malfunction. A good blow out with a compressor or even a leaf blower after each use will keep it cleared up and running well.

Lowes has this one on clearance currently for $119 but is analog, but uses gas as a plus.

I had one similiar to that before and didn't care for the heat distribution...too hot on top, not hot enough on the bottom. I threw mine out this past spring. I think I've tried just about every kind of smoker. I really like the char-griller best because I just go to a place that sells firewood and buy 50# of cherry or oak at a time, split it, and use it in the side fire box. It's very cheap to use. It's definately more hands on than the bradley but I'm starting to feel that is the point of using a smoker like the char-griller. A friend of mine made some rib racks for me and I can do eight racks of baby backs no problem. I like to smoke a bunch of meat at one time and freeze it for later use. Ribs freeze very well and you could easily smoke a bunch for eating over the winter.

Do you cook them all the way or just par cook before you freeze?

RayInUT said:

I like to smoke a bunch of meat at one time and freeze it for later use. Ribs freeze very well and you could easily smoke a bunch for eating over the winter.

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I do the same thing. I have ribs, pork butt (Carolina Style) and Barbacoa (made from chuck instead of a cow's head) all in the freezer. For the butt and barbacoa, I have them already chopped/shredded and seasoned in 1 pound foodsaver bags. It's nice to decied to have one of these meats on a whim and be able to consume them soon after deciding we want them instead of having to go through the whole smoking process.

It's kind of like having a lot of beer bottled/kegged, it's always there where you want it and you don't have to scramble to get it. I need to do a big brisket soon, to add to my collection!

It really sounds like i just need to stick with what I have:


and just source hard firewood like apple, oak etc...