Smokers

[Anonymous Modernist 317]

Bradley seems to be the king, as they are very automated and pretty much hands free.

Do you need and external electrical outlet?

They seem a tad expensive for the full machine and disks, if I wanted to smoke for 12 hours or more what are my alternatives?

Does anyone have a Bradley and what is good or bad, my understanding is that the original is the best and the digital is dodgy?

Has anyone used the Bradley smoke engine to build their own smoker out of a plastic garden shed or something?

Drew

[Anonymous Modernist 310]

You need an electrical outlet to use the Bradley smoker. I have an original Bradley smoker.

Pros:

• Very easy to use
  
• Very little user intervention
  

Cons:

• Not easy to set wanted temperature (No temp control just the heating source)
  
• Hard to go outside of 50C-110C temperature window
  
• Limited amount of wood flavors
  

You can easily remove the smoke engine for other use. For cold smoke I used some chimney pipes and drier tubings to put the smoke generator farther away of the smoke box.

[Anonymous Modernist 708]

There are quite a few recipes out of the book that I'd really love to do, but I lack a smoker. Is there anything I can get that's not to big, and not to expensive? Yet still do the pastrami, ribs, all that stuff?

Lachy

[Judy Wilson]

lachyg said:

There are quite a few recipes out of the book that I'd really love to do, but I lack a smoker. Is there anything I can get that's not to big, and not to expensive? Yet still do the pastrami, ribs, all that stuff?

Lachy

There's a thread on indoor smokers that might interest you.

[Anonymous Modernist 708]

What about the required temperatures? I'm a complete smoking noob, never done it before!

[Anonymous Modernist 3878]

The major drawback to the Bradley smoker (electric powered) is the lack of a "smoke Ring" to a BBQ aficionado. In order to produce the characteristic pink ring in the smoked product there needs to be contact between wood and real flame. This is the only way to get enough of the nitrogen rich atmospheric compounds that generate the ring. Bradley does have a portable gas fired generator that can produce the needed environment, but the trade off is less heat control in low temperature smoking. I personally don't get enough of a lingering smoke flavor on a Bradley that can be obtained in a traditional offset smoker, but the simplicity and automation of the Bradley makes it indispensable in the production of deli style meats.

[Anonymous Modernist 7660]

Smoke ring....meh.

Here's what I use:

Smoker: Bradley Digital Smoker, 4 rack (bought at Canadian Tire, in Canada eh?)

Sous Vide: Fresh Meals Magic immersion heater with air bubble circulation and a 18L polycarbonate bucket (bought online)

Temperature controller for the smoker and sous vide bath: Auber Instruments dual probe PID controller WSD-1203CPH + sous vide immersion probe.(bought online)

Foodsaver vacuum sealer (bought at costco). Looking to upgrade to chamber vacuum sealer (Vacmaster vp-112?)

So, the PID controller controls the temperature for several things: the smoker, to maintain a stable temperature over long periods of time, as well as the water bath for sous vide cooking. The Dual probes allow you to smoke and monitor internal meat temp in order to not overcook. I've been experimenting with trying to use the probes in dry bulb and wet bulb thermometers set-up to get the ideal temps and relative humidity for smoking (but so far my post in the forum hasn't generated any guidance on this; where are you Nathan? )

A big advantage of the Bradley over the other types of smokers is the ability to cold smoke by removing the smoke generator from the smoker chamber. My set-up for cold smoking: smoker is in my shed (no snow will stop me!), the smoker chamber on counter top with a chimney to vent outside, the smoke generator on the ground and I put a box over the part where the wood burns to gather the smoke which then goes into some metal dryer flexible ducting into the smoker chamber. By the time the smoke arrives in the smoker chamber it is no longer hot, allowing you to cold smoke cheeses (if you pick a cool day, your cheese won't melt or sweat), for example. Gouda, Havarti, Provolone are good choices to start smoking cheeses.

The Bradley smoker is the size of a mini fridge, which isn't that big...You can easily smoke a pork shoulder in it (I've done 18 lbs pork shoulders for pulled pork (in two pieces) a few times, 4 racks of ribs etc.. Use your imagination. Look online or in the modernist cookbooks for recipes and temps. Trick is low temp and slow for bbq.

You can use the smoker without the PID controller, but I have found that the PID removes the sometimes large temp swings that the smoker will do without it. This is important for temperature sensitive foods like smoked fish, sausage etc.It also speeds up the `ramp up` times and recovery of when you put food in it to get the smoker to the right temp.

Happy smoking!

[Judy Wilson]

Various brands we recommend:

Bradley (sawdust puck smoker)

Traegar (pellet hot smoker)

Cookshack (pellet hot smoker)

BBQ Guru (for computer controllers for custom smokers)

Enviro-Pak (Digital smoke oven with humidity control and cold-smoking capability).

Here are few specific models: http://www.amazon.com/Bradley-Smoker-BTDS76P-Digital-4-Rack/dp/B000FJZ150?ie=UTF8&tag=modercuisi-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0982761007

http://www.amazon.com/Traeger-bbq070-Lil-Tex-Grill/dp/B000VYKN0M?ie=UTF8&tag=modercuisi-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0982761007