Bradley smoker?
- Thread starter triton
- Start date
I've used one for years and it's pretty good. If you were going to use it more for cooking things like several whole chickens at once I would recommend looking at something like the larger propane fueled smokers as it would be easier to get the heat up around 225F on a cold day. For smoking and making jerky etc, the Bradley is hard to beat. The Bradley forum is pretty good too with tips, recipes etc.
I wore one out, just tossed it last week. If I was to buy another one the digital 6rack would be at the top of the heap. I like the set and forget of the digitals. The four rack version just isn't big enough for big sausage making get togethers, or large batches of jerky.
My original puck feeder gave trouble after the first couple of years, then the feed mechanism gave up completely. When the main element started to give trouble it was retired. Don't get me wrong I'd buy another Bradley.
My original puck feeder gave trouble after the first couple of years, then the feed mechanism gave up completely. When the main element started to give trouble it was retired. Don't get me wrong I'd buy another Bradley.
Like it
Guess for the first few years I felt perhaps buying the big stainless digital 6 rack was a bit of a waste for we seldom used more than 2 racks.
this year Sausauge making and 4-5 different mixes of goose deer and antelope jerky it was running into the second day a few times as we couldn't get it all on 6 racks.
I was also concerned about the cost of the wood flavour pucks but bought the large boxes in two flavours and find I don't notice any difference if smoke is on for 3 hours than if I lefft it for 5-6 hours. 2 hours may be enough.
Love the control I have on heat, smoke and humidity.
Guess for the first few years I felt perhaps buying the big stainless digital 6 rack was a bit of a waste for we seldom used more than 2 racks.
this year Sausauge making and 4-5 different mixes of goose deer and antelope jerky it was running into the second day a few times as we couldn't get it all on 6 racks.
I was also concerned about the cost of the wood flavour pucks but bought the large boxes in two flavours and find I don't notice any difference if smoke is on for 3 hours than if I lefft it for 5-6 hours. 2 hours may be enough.
Love the control I have on heat, smoke and humidity.
savage express
CGN Regular
- Location
- In a house built outside
I get good results with it smoking 8lb batches of jerky (double stack rack) but after a couple hours I finish the jerky in my convection oven.
wood pucks?? Auto feeders?? temp/humidity control?? Sweet jebus you guys are lazy...I have a cheap charcoal smoker that I bought for $30 at TSC...On "smoking days", me and my buddies get up at 6:00am and fire up the smokers, open a case of beer, and enjoy our saturday.
My wife gets pissy when my buddies start smokin' and drinkin' at 6:00am outside the kids bedroom window. Come to think of it 6pm isn't well received either.
Here's a good tip I got off the Bradley forum.....make yourself a couple of Bubba Pucks and you won't waste any wood pucks. I had two machined out of aluminum (same size as the wood pucks) and you put them last on your stack in the feeder. If you want two hours of smoke you put in 6 wood pucks and then the two Bubba Pucks and when it's done feeding the last wood puck is on the element followed by the two aluminum ones. I've also heard of guys using engine block frost plugs that are the same size as the wood pucks.
Mount Sweetness
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Southern Ontario
Princess Auto carries them and they do go on sale at certain times
longbranch*
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Victoria,BC.
I find after a while you dont need as many pucks as the inside of the unit is black with residue. We smoke those Costco pork backribs for 4+ hours....can't be beat.
I managed to do a Christmas dinner in one. It was all jointed, turkey legs, Hams steak, Beef, absolutely loved it. Admittedly our christmasses are usually wet over here rather than snowy. It does great work at BBQ's fish and big lumps of cheddar and I also throw in fat free venison sausages for those with religeous or health reasons for not eating pork. Not eating meat then I'm sorry the salad bar is next door!
Yes it is "hot".
Now the but. You can run it with just the smoke generator and not the heating element. In the winter this works fine for cold smoking. Bradley has a kit available to make the smoke generator remote to the unit, allowing cold smoking in the warmer months.
