Using a Bradley smoker this weekend...info will be appreciated!


 
K

KevinK

TVWBB Member
I'm visiting the in-laws this weekend and they've asked me to do the cooking for Saturday (starting Friday night). The only problem is that I will be using my brother-in-law's Bradley smoker. I've never cooked on one of these and would appreciate any info from those that are familiar with it. I offered to bring down the WSM but they recently purchased the Bradley and would like to use it. Unfortunately, I am not certain of the model.

Specifically:

What can I expect with regard to temp control (I assume it will be easy due to being electric)

Can I use a combination wood discs (apple and oak)

Can I control the amount of smoke?

I hope to do a BOB so any other pertinent info will be greatly appreciated!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by KevinK:
I'm visiting the in-laws this weekend and they've asked me to do the cooking for Saturday (starting Friday night). The only problem is that I will be using my brother-in-law's Bradley smoker. I've never cooked on one of these and would appreciate any info from those that are familiar with it. I offered to bring down the WSM but they recently purchased the Bradley and would like to use it. Unfortunately, I am not certain of the model.

Specifically:

What can I expect in regard to temp control (I assume it will be easy due to being electric)

Can I use a combination wood discs (apple and oak)

Can I control the amount of smoke?

I hope to do a BOB so any other pertinent info will be greatly appreciated! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Kevin,

I've had a Bradley original for several years. They do turn out some good grub.

1. Temp control. It's all about keeping the door shut. The Bradley has a 500 watt heating element and the burner plate for the wood pucks is 150 watt or so. You can save yourself some trouble by preheating the case prior to loading it up with food. Otherwise, they tend to take awhile to come up to desired temp. Recovery is slow, so keep the door shut as much as humanly possible while cooking. Bradley's don't do high heat cooks very well, i.e. like for crispy skin on chicken.

2. No problem on using combination of wood. Simply alternate apple and oak in your feed tube of the smoke generator. One thing to be aware of on Bradley's wood pucks...all but mesquite and alder are a ratio of 60% advertised flavor and 40% alder. Mesquite and alder are both 100%. Example using apple is that puck will be 60% apple and 40% alder is used for "filler".

3. To a certain extent on smoke control. There is an exhaust vent on top of the case that is adjustable. Be careful on closing it off too much as smoke will back up through the smoke generator, gum it up, and eventually cause puck feeding issues.

I had some other comments on the Bradley in this thread:
http://tvwbb.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/3780069052/m/5170068765

If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to let me know, I'll be glad to answer any that I can.
 
Scott,

Thank you...your reply as well as the link to your previous post has exactly the information I am looking for.

You mentioned that most of your cooks were 6-7 hours. However, I plan on doing an overnigher, and now I'm concerned about the puck advancement issue. Should we just put enough pucks in for the first 3-4 hours of the cook and then just go to bed when all of the pucks are used up?

I appreciate your opinion!
 
Kevin,

Yes, I primarily do shorter smokes on my Bradley, cold smoking or smoking summer sausage/andouille as temp control is easy on a lower temp smoke. I have put it through all it's paces in the past. I learned a lot of tricks from Bradley's user forum, it's similar to this one with lots of helpful folks.

To answer your question, considering that you have an overnighter planned, yes, I would apply however many hours of smoke that you want before bedtime and then hit the rack after you have exhausted your puck supply. Most of the Bradey users tend to subscribe to the viewpoint of meat absorbing whatever smoke flavor it's going to get in 4 hours or so and then they finish it off with the case heater, sans smoke. That method will get you some shut eye.

Another suggestion for you, since you have an overnighter on tap, that concerns the water pan. It's a small stainless steel bowl about the size of a cereal bowl or so. It serves a dual function as a water/drip pan (there's a deflector shield above with a hole to direct the drippings to the water pan) and also to extinguish the used pucks. That bowl can fill up pretty quick so you should be prepared to empty it and refill with fresh water every 3-4 hours. Also, the burning pucks dropping in there absorbs the water pretty quick and this does have an effect on temp. In other words, once several burning pucks have dropped in, you will have to make some adjustments to your case heater. The suggestion is this. Lose the factory water pan and instead use a 10 X 13 aluminum pan. You'll want one that is no more than 2 1/2 or 3 inches high so it will fit underneath the burner plate. More water capacity = more pucks extinguished = less fiddling with the case heater. You'll see what I mean when you get in front of the Bradley.

You are more than welcome!
 
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