Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I agree, alder, while good, might not be the be-all, end-all, best-of-all wood for everyone's tastes.

I like alder for cheese, but actually prefer a light mesquite for salmon, but am going to try some lemon wood this year once the branches finish drying.



Frank,

Here's a pair of good salmon recipes:
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/cook.html#fish

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Hey guys... I was thinking about buying this:

http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/pr...Id=prod1180971

or

http://www.basspro.com/Bradley-Smoke...81946/-1270115


Any comments / info would be greatly appreciated

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Gator,T.G. thanks for the advice. I was thinking Applewood so that's good to know. I will let you guys know how it goes.
Posted via Mobile Device

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Both are nice units and do a good job. My brother had the Masterbuilt and loved it. A friend has the Bradley and loves it. The only drawback with the Bradley is you have to use the proprietary "hockey puck" type of smoking wood. They are a bit pricey and not always available in the type of wood you want. Other than that I would say it is a toss up.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden...:referralID=NA

cheaper even yet!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

There are a couple brothers here who have electric smokers, they might be more familiar with the specifics and ins-n-outs of those models, but what I can see is that the first one is basically the same as most other electric smokers, where you can use your own wood, the 2nd one, seems like it might lock you in to only pre-made smoke wood pucks. Maybe this isn't a big deal to you, but it would probably keep me from buying the unit.

---
ADDENDUM: Eh, looks like I had the window open without refreshing it for longer than I had thought. Brent seems to have covered this already.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Honestly this is what I have and use
http://www.brinkmann.net/products/ou...tem=810-7090-S
While I would like to have a temperature control it really is not missing anything else. The constant on elements cooks just under 220 so I adjust my cook time appropriately. I do like that I can use my own wood and would stay away from puck when I move to a different smoker.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I did alot of shopping around when I was looking at those two smokers. Please read the reviews on the Masterbuit Electric before buying. Look on Cabelas and Bass Pro and Amazon. The Electronic module on the top of the smoker does not last. MANY people had it go out numerous times during warranty and after warranty. The Sales rep at Bass Pro even told me that in person.
I went with the Bradley. They have great customer service and a great site with and awesome smoking forum.
Yes the pucks are proprietary, but they are not expensive. Because they are putting out so much pure smoke you do not run smoke the entire cooking time.
I ran the smoke for the 5 hours I smoked my ribs and holy cow, way too much smoke.
I run 2.5 hours of smoke on my ribs and 5 hours on my Pork Butts. This is plenty of time, trust me.
The pucks cost around .30c each. So you're talking $2.25-$4.50 per smoke. Not expensive at all. Plus some electricity of course.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

That is good info Brent. In comps we use two smokers... my Spicewine and my partners FEC 100 which is a pellet cooker. On either one we set them up to provide the flavoring smoke for just about the times you indicate. For brisket we go about 4 hours because too much mesquite can be a turn off.

I had no idea the pucks were that cheap. That is about what a cook with pellets costs as well.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Good info Brent, thanks. I didn't realize your new smoker was a Bradley, kind of convenient for this thread right now.

Looks like they have most of the major ones except peach: Apple, Alder, Cherry, Maple, Mesquite, Oak, Hickory, Pecan, Special Blend.

I like working with plum, peach, almond and other uncommon/unconventional woods. Being locked into their woods would be the hang up for me, but probably not for too many other people. Let's face it, a very large percentage of the woods used in all smokers are offered on that list already.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

What I forgot to mention is that the Bradley burns a puck every 20 minutes. Thats how I came up with the #'s

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I have had it for a year now and I smoke just about every other weekend or at least ever 3rd weekend.
I am doing (2) Bone in Pork Shoulders friday night :dr

There is a way to burn other types of "fine chipped" wood chips, like the Lure Jensen Big Cheif chips. You can use a small round cookie cutter, cover 1 side w/ foil. So now you have pretty much a small, puck shaped bowl. Fill it with your favorite, finely chipped wood. You can substitute 2 of these for your first 2 pucks, inside on the convayer slide. After those 2 you will be using the regular Bradley Bisquetes.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Cool. Neat idea. :tu

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Of course, I never remember to take pics, but I did some nice beef brisket pastrami last week, and a turkey yesterday.

Really liking the big shed the smoker is in during these cold winter months! :tu

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I've got a Bradley smoker as well. I like it for the fact that I don't have to tend to it as much as I did my old side firebox pit. I built a temp controller for it so I can set the desired temp and it'll maintain it with little fluctuation. I"m going to "fire" it up this weekend to do a couple pork butts for some pulled pork. Like Mr. B said, the pucks aren't expensive if you buy the larger count boxes. Plus Amazon will usually run a 4 for 3 special so you can save more there.

One idea I wanted to try was making some foil packs filled with the wood saw dust and put them on the heating element. This would allow me to try other types of woods.

Tupacboy, check out http://forum.bradleysmoker.co.uk/ for a good forum on the Bradley. Lots of recipes and advice on how to use them.

Here's a pic of some bacon I made in the Bradley. That was a small batch. I'll usually do 25lbs at a time now.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

You. Are. A. God.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Thanks Adam. I try. All my friends like it, especially since I give it away. Their kids always ask for "Bob's Bacon". Got my cure recipe down nicely. Nothing fancy, just some salt, sugar and dextrose, then smoke for 2.5 hours. Next time I'm going to try a double smoked bacon.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

http://www.unity.i8i.co.uk/forum/ima...ey_bowdown.gifhttp://www.unity.i8i.co.uk/forum/ima...ey_bowdown.gifhttp://www.unity.i8i.co.uk/forum/ima...ey_bowdown.gif

Good homemade bacon is one of those things that I want to do, intend to do, but simply haven't done. I don't know why, but I haven't.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Another great thing about the Bradley smoker is the ability to truly Cold Smoke. The Smoke Generator can be run without the Heating element in the cabinet.
I actually connect my Smoke Generator to a 24x24x24 box. The box is connected to the Main cabinet by 4 feet of Dryer Duct tubing. I can run smoke for hours and never increase the temp in the cabinet.
Every month I smoke a couple of pounds of cheese. It turns out great. I love making my own smoked paprika also.
I will try to post pics of my Cold Smoke adaptor later.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I put a rub down on (2) 7.5 lb Pork Shoulders last night. They on going on the smoker after work tonight for an all-nighter.
Pics to come later.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I'm picking up a pork butt or two tomorrow at the market to make for Sunday. Been a while since I fired up the Bradley. Mr. B, do you do any injection or just simply a rub?

I've seen the pics of the cold smoker box. I need to make one. Tried cold smoking some cured salmon with the smoke generator still attached. Couldn't get the temp to stay below 80F even with adding ice to the water bowl.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Too bleeping cold round here to smoke....cigars or meat!:td

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Wow only 2.5 hrs? I smoke my bacon for at least 6. I however cold smoke it, In a side box BBQ. How much do you pay for your pork belly? I can only find it around here for about $4/lb. Last time I did a 7day molasses brine and it turned out candied meat, the sugar content is so high you can only cook it in the oven lest you burn it.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

No injections, just the rub. However I let the rub sit on the meat for a minimum of 12 hours and up to 24 hours. I try to use very little salt in my rubs as to not extract so much moisture, since I leave the rubs on so long.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

On that duration of smoke thought, I am with the pro cookers, being a hard-core amateur meself. But when I do ribs,
I only create actual smoke for the first run of coals, unless it burns up too fast, then I will go two rounds. But I only
like to have smoke on the meat for about two hours. After that it is just regular low and slow. It does not really
inhibit the smoke ring, IME, because there is a point in time where smoke just stops creating the ring. It's just
gunking up the outside of the meat. For me that's about two hours. But if you cook on a good low temp, you
can still get near complete penetration with 2 hours of smoke. But again, I am absolutely no expert, just an avid
learner. I am jonesin for some smoke time this weekend.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Have to dig the WSM out of 12" snow for tomorrow.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Pretty much ditto everything you said for myself.

I made a few tarry meteorites in my early days...

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

That's the spirit brother... let that baby ROCK!!!:D

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I know that feeling.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Thanks for the great feedback! I guess bradley here i come!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

you think the 6 rack is overkill? will be smoking for at most 8-10 people...

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I run the 4 rack and it has been fine for me. I have not yet had a need for more racks. I smoke for the smae amount of people as you mentioned all the time.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Same here. You can always buy extra trays and double up by flipping over the top tray. That's how I fit 6 4lb bacon slabs in my 4 rack Bradley.

Got a 9.75lb pork butt rubbed down and chilling in the fridge. Going to put on tomorrow afternoon to have for Sunday football. Tried something different this time by first putting a coat of yellow mustard on the pork before sprinkling the rub on. Should be interesting.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I never liked the mustard wipe method.

Works for some people - I didn't care for it. I think it turns into an icky salty plaster bark on the outside of the meat and also serves as a barrier to the rub flavor penetrating the meat.

I much prefer to take all the ingredients found in my dry rubs, get them as their fresh counterparts and mix them with a little oil in a food processor to make a paste and smear that all over the meat (this is the only type of coating I use on my Denver ribs)

All that chunky fresh garlic, slow smoke roasted with sugar and peppers in the wet rub, oh.... delicious....

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I've seen in done on TV a few times so thought I'd give it a shot. I just pulled the pork butt out of the oven. Finished in there as I'm still very leary of running my smoker unattended in the garage over night. Here's the results after 23 hours to a IT of 195F.

http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/pictur...pictureid=5210

FTC'in for an hour or so before shredding.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

holy crap 23 hrs?

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Looks tasty Bob. How did it turn out w/ the mustard?

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Yikes! How big was it?

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

The pork shoulders turned out great. This is (2) 7.5 lb Bone-In Shoulders. 16 hrs at 210*. Internal temp of 208* 60% apple, 20% Alder & 20% Hickory.
FTC for 1.5 hours. Killer bark and it just fell apart in my hands.
Sorry, not pics after pulling. I was in a rush to get this to our church function.


After the Rub of Love

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a1...D720/ry%3D480/



In the pot ya go!


http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a1...D720/ry%3D480/



MMMMMMMMMM


http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a1...D720/ry%3D480/



I baked up a batch of 3 dozen homemade Potatoe rolls to make Lil sandwiches.


http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a1...D720/ry%3D480/

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I honestly couldn't taste the mustard. Did make for a decent bark though all things considered.

It was 9.75lbs. Part of the reason it took so long was finishing in the oven. Seems my oven has a timer that shuts itself off after being on for x amount of time. I didn't notice that and the IT temp dropped from 174 to 168 at one point. I cranked the oven back up to 250ish to get it going again. If it hadn't have been so cold out, I would've done the whole time in the smoker.

What internal temp do you guys shoot for on pork butts? I've always read 195F+, but it seems that the meat comes out too done. Literally falling apart. Next time I might try 185-190 and see how I like it.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

For me 185-190 leaves the center still bound up and not easy to pull. I have found that around 205 to be the best.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Hmm, interesting. I've never taken one past 195, thinking it was too done at that point. I see you did the pork shoulders at 210*. Do you do the same for pork butts, or do you run it hotter?

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

About 190 give or take 5, but I also go a lot by feel if they weren't foiled at 165ish. Jam a fork or probe in there and twist or wiggle a bit; if it feels like a bowl of al dente spaghetti, it's done.

Might be worth noting though, that I usually don't cook cuts over 5-6 lbs and IIRC, my cooker runs at about 230F ish.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Can I come to your house for dinner?

Looks great!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Pork Shoulder / Pork butt, same.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Duh! For some reason I was thinking of a different cut. With your temp at 210, you're able to get to a IT of 208?

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Ya. I have a foil wrapped brick and a full waterbasin in the bottom. I also run my vents a little more closed than others. I only leave them about 25% open.
I dont know what state you live in, but where I am, in my part of California it has only been getting down to the low 40s at night and mid to upper 60s during the day. My smoker area is very protected form the wind also.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Im in Michigan. Saturday night it was going down at single digits. My smoker's in my detached garage, so it's out of the elements. I also have a range hood above it, vented to the outside.

I've been meaning to buy a brick or two to put in there for more thermal mass. Right now I have teh water bowl and some aluminum pucks. They don't offer much in the way of heat holding capability, but they'll do for now.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Call me crazy, and some of you do, but I LIKE my pulled pork as degraded as possible, tender,
almost fork mushable. Overdone is what most would call it, I like it that way.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I dont like to struggle while pulling my pork either. Dont get me wrong, I dont like it to be mush like baby food, but I do want it to fall apart while I am pulling it with my hands.