Man, after reading the forum, I'm almost ready to call Bradley CS and tell then not to ship my unit. I recently purchased the DBS 4 rack and am waiting on delivery. It seems to me for the price, buyers would not have so many problems with the unit. I was happy at first anticipating painless smoking. I'm really tired of dealing with my Weber Bullet although it produces a superior results. But the coals and maintaining the temp, clean up and all that gets old after a while. Please, can someone assure me that I haven't made a $500 mistake. I try to read as much as possible before making a purchase, but now I'm having serious reservations. ::)
By the way, can anyone tell me what a PID is and how it's installed. How will it enhance the DBS in doing it's job?
MJack,
Welcome to the forum. I too have a BDS 4 rack and love it. Yep, the Bradleys have some issues from time to time that you may or may not have to deal with. Let me assure you that once you get used to using your BDS, the superior results of your Weber bullet will be inferior. Everything new you buy has a learning curve. The plus is you found the forum. There are many of us here who are ready to help you with any questions or issues you may have.
You do what you feel like you need to do but I'll promise you that you won't be disappointed with your BDS, especially with us to help you.
KyNola
Regardless of the model, I think you'll be quite impressed with what you can do with a BS that you frankly can't do with nearly any other consumer "smoker."
A PID lets you predetermine a temperature (or temps and times) without having to manage it manually.
http://auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=72&zenid=db2625035664ebc7b1defca7e187bb5e
For what it's worth, I've had a Bradley now for 3 years. I've had it out in horrible weather conditions (even smoked during a 19" snowstorm with nothing covering the Bradley except a little lean-to that I made to try and keep the snow off). I have yet to have a problem with the Bradley and I do a lot of smokes with it. But, I rest assured that if I ever did have a problem, Bradley Customer Service is outstanding and it'd get taken care of with no problems.
I'm not saying that there aren't problems that come up, but tell me an electrical product that doesn't have issues?
It's your call obviously, but there have been a lot of people who have produced some excellent results with the Bradley and if "set it and forget it" is what you're looking for, the Bradley is the smoking unit for you.
A PID, as can be found on the forum as well, is an electrical unit that allows a more exact temperature with the Bradley. For most items smoked (pork butt, brisket, etc), temp swings are not as critical; for sausage, the PID allows one to control the temp swings to +/- 1 or 2 degrees or whatever the tolerance is for that particular PID.
Again, there are folks who've had problems, but read a little further down in there posts and they always say that Customer Service has taken caqre of them very well. Of course, there are a lot more folks who extoll the virtue of their Bradley as well.
SD
Quote from: KyNola on December 28, 2008, 06:21:17 PM
MJack,
Welcome to the forum. I too have a BDS 4 rack and love it. Yep, the Bradleys have some issues from time to time that you may or may not have to deal with. Let me assure you that once you get used to using your BDS, the superior results of your Weber bullet will be inferior. Everything new you buy has a learning curve. The plus is you found the forum. There are many of us here who are ready to help you with any questions or issues you may have.
You do what you feel like you need to do but I'll promise you that you won't be disappointed with your BDS, especially with us to help you.
KyNola
Thanks so much for the reply. I think I just need some reassuring. There's nothing like that sinking feeling you get when you've made a bad purchase. I've been smoking meats for a while now. I had an off-set fire box smoker that was great. But you still had the wood storage, charcoals and all that stuff to deal with. Plus the thing was huge. Get use to hearing from me on the forum as I know I'm going to need a good support system. ;D
Quote from: JNB on December 28, 2008, 06:25:34 PM
Regardless of the model, I think you'll be quite impressed with what you can do with a BS that you frankly can't do with nearly any other consumer "smoker."
A PID lets you predetermine a temperature (or temps and times) without having to manage it manually.
http://auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=72&zenid=db2625035664ebc7b1defca7e187bb5e
Thanks for the reply. Since I've ordered the DBS, will a PID still be needed? I thought the DBS controlled the cooking temps. And what in the world is a "bubba puck"?
A PID isn't essential for either model, actually, if you're not going to be doing sausage as pinpoint accuracy isn't essential. However, I would highly recommend getting a Maverick ET-73 remote thermometer. My chief complaint with the Bradley is that I don't think the the thermometer in the Bradley is as precise. Plus, with a remote thermometer you can do overnight smokes and set your thermometer to alarm if the meat comes to temp or the smoker goes above or below your set temp points.
SD
Quote from: Smoking Duck on December 28, 2008, 06:41:03 PM
A PID isn't essential for either model, actually, if you're not going to be doing sausage as pinpoint accuracy isn't essential. However, I would highly recommend getting a Maverick ET-73 remote thermometer. My chief complaint with the Bradley is that I don't think the the thermometer in the Bradley is as precise. Plus, with a remote thermometer you can do overnight smokes and set your thermometer to alarm if the meat comes to temp or the smoker goes above or below your set temp points.
SD
I was reading on the forum about Maverick owners who were having interference problems with the transmitter. I have a wireless router in my home that handles all my laptops. Will that cause a problem with the Maverick units properly communicating with each other?
MJ,
I too had an offset smoker that was so large they loaded it in my Jeep with a forklift. I have considered a PID even though I have the BDS just like yours but so far haven't gone to that extreme. First thing you should buy is a Maverick ET-73 dual probe thermometer. You can monitor the temp inside the "oven" as well as monitor the temp of what you are cooking. It has a remote receiver so you can sit inside and monitor the temps. The Bradley doesn't do a good job of accurate temp monitoring until the food in the "oven" begins to come up to temp. Then the BDS and the Maverick temp readings get very close.
Trust me, once you become accustomed to your BDS, you will wonder how you ever made it with that Weber bullet. BTW, I gave my heavy offset smoker away. :D
KyNola
Quote from: KyNola on December 28, 2008, 06:46:18 PM
MJ,
I too had an offset smoker that was so large they loaded it in my Jeep with a forklift. I have considered a PID even though I have the BDS just like yours but so far haven't gone to that extreme. First thing you should buy is a Maverick ET-73 dual probe thermometer. You can monitor the temp inside the "oven" as well as monitor the temp of what you are cooking. It has a remote receiver so you can sit inside and monitor the temps. The Bradley doesn't do a good job of accurate temp monitoring until the food in the "oven" begins to come up to temp. Then the BDS and the Maverick temp readings get very close.
Trust me, once you become accustomed to your BDS, you will wonder how you ever made it with that Weber bullet. BTW, I gave my heavy offset smoker away. :D
KyNola
From prior experience, I've always found it helpful to let the meat sit awhile before putting it into the smoker. Letting your meat get to room temp normally keeps the smoking chamber from dipping too much when you start. How do you pre-heat the DBS without generating smoke; thus wasting pellets?
MJ,
I have a wireless router in my house as well. No problems at all with that. Relax and anticipate a great experience. Bubba pucks are aluminum disks that are used to push the last wood puck off of the heat plate. You will need 3 of them or at least 2 and one more wood puck behind them. You will set your wood burner timer for 20 minutes more than the amount of smoke you want in order to have the bubba puck push the last wood puck into the water pan.
By the way, did you notice how many folks have already responded to you to calm your apprehension? I'm telling you, we're all here for you and you ain't seen nothing yet! :D
KyNola
Quote from: KyNola on December 28, 2008, 06:52:58 PM
MJ,
I have a wireless router in my house as well. No problems at all with that. Relax and anticipate a great experience. Bubba pucks are aluminum disks that are used to push the last wood puck off of the heat plate. You will need 3 of them or at least 2 and one more wood puck behind them. You will set your wood burner timer for 20 minutes more than the amount of smoke you want in order to have the bubba puck push the last wood puck into the water pan.
By the way, did you notice how many folks have already responded to you to calm your apprehension? I'm telling you, we're all here for you and you ain't seen nothing yet! :D
KyNola
Man this is great. I feel more confident already. This is a great support group...DBS Anonymous. :)
One more thing. I've always had a problem doing briskets... the low and slow thing has always been a problem. Have you done briskets on the DBS? What technique did you use, i.e. wrapping in foil to finish etc.
MJ,
Preheating is simple, turn on the puck burner as well as the "oven" burner. Don't load any pucks in the burner until you're ready to go. Then, reset the wood burner timer. You used the term pellets. The wood supply is not a pellet like a Traeger smoker uses. The BDS uses a round disk of compressed wood. You can purchase them from several different sources in many different woods.
KyNola
Mjack, if my Bradley exploded or vaporized into thin air, I would be on the web to order another. I did the Bullitt, and the large offset and gave them away. It does exactly what it was designed for.
I have a wireless router in my house and no problems whatsoever.
This is by far one of the friendliest and helpful forums I've ever been a part of. You're usually never more than a couple of minutes away from an answer on most any question.
I can understand your apprehensions, especially in these economic times. I think in a lot of cases, operator error plays a big part in a lot of problems. But, for those that aren't, Bradley is quick to help with customer service. They usually have someone from the Head Office monitoring these boards and if they don't see it here, they can be reached quite easily. Additionally, what you'll find is that there are many members here who can help with quite a few issues before Bradley even gets involved.
SD
MJ,
I have not done a brisket as I'm in Kentucky where beef is not the king of smoked meats but there is a member of this forum, WestTexasSmoker who is the KING of briskets although he insists on using mesquite wood. He will be happy to guide you through a brisket. In the meantime, here is a link for a website that we have all contributed to for recipes of all things in the Bradley along with a good FAQ section. Check it out! http://www.susanminor.org/ May help you with some of your questions.
KyNola
MJ,
For what its worth, I am a real new owner of Bradley.
I use to use a bullet smoker with got old for many reasons. Couldn't control my smoke times, to hard to adjust my heat, ambient weather hijacking my meat chamber temperatures, hard to clean and very messy to deal with.
I did alot of research on smokers in general which lead me to Bradley. The members here can vouch I still waited awhile before I finally got mine. They were very kind and walked me through many recipes and such until I got mine. During the wait, there were some times I became skeptic.
However, I went ahead with it, and to be honest, I'll never look back again.
As Smoking Soon perfectly said which I agree... if my Bradley were to be swept up in a tornado or something, I would be getting another one as soon as possible.
It is effortless to use, built incredibly well, and smokes your food very evenly with out all that soot taste from resin and barks that chunked wood has in it.
Another thing I noticed right away was how well insulated this baby was. I have seen others smokers insulated just as good, but they have a $1200 starting price tag for their base model. Even the top is double pained on the Bradley. It's just very solid, nothing flimsy about it.
The first smoke I did was pretty cold out side with high winds. I was more then sure it would mess the heat up like when I used to use my old bullet. Not with Bradley. It just stayed nice a toasty inside, cooking like a champ. Actually that was very shocking, in a good way.
I hate to say it but, I really wasn't expecting Bradley to be this good.
Mind you, I am no where near the experience of the others here on this forum. Not even close even though I do look up to each one of them for support in recipes and such. However, I seen your post and had to reply because at one time I even felt this way. But that skeptic feeling disappeared fast soon as my delivery arrived.
I do hope you enjoy yours as much as I have and still enjoying.
Happy holidays and keep us posted :)
Quote from: Stargazer on December 28, 2008, 08:24:59 PM
MJ,
For what its worth, I am a real new owner of Bradley.
I use to use a bullet smoker with got old for many reasons. Couldn't control my smoke times, to hard to adjust my heat, ambient weather hijacking my meat chamber temperatures, hard to clean and very messy to deal with.
I did alot of research on smokers in general which lead me to Bradley. The members here can vouch I still waited awhile before I finally got mine. They were very kind and walked me through many recipes and such until I got mine. During the wait, there were some times I became skeptic.
However, I went ahead with it, and to be honest, I'll never look back again.
As Smoking Soon perfectly said which I agree... if my Bradley were to be swept up in a tornado or something, I would be getting another one as soon as possible.
It is effortless to use, built incredibly well, and smokes your food very evenly with out all that soot taste from resin and barks that chunked wood has in it.
Another thing I noticed right away was how well insulated this baby was. I have seen others smokers insulated just as good, but they have a $1200 starting price tag for their base model. Even the top is double pained on the Bradley. It's just very solid, nothing flimsy about it.
The first smoke I did was pretty cold out side with high winds. I was more then sure it would mess the heat up like when I used to use my old bullet. Not with Bradley. It just stayed nice a toasty inside, cooking like a champ. Actually that was very shocking, in a good way.
I hate to say it but, I really wasn't expecting Bradley to be this good.
Mind you, I am no where near the experience of the others here on this forum. Not even close even though I do look up to each one of them for support in recipes and such. However, I seen your post and had to reply because at one time I even felt this way. But that skeptic feeling disappeared fast soon as my delivery arrived.
I do hope you enjoy yours as much as I have and still enjoying.
Happy holidays and keep us posted :)
Stargazer,
Thanks for your post. I'm a little more comfortable with my decision. I realize that a company like Bradley couldn't possibly manufacture a 100% of defective free units. There are bound to be some problems. I'm just hoping to get a great defective free unit. Everything you said about the WB is true. I normally smoke brined turkeys for the holidays. Getting the temp right, dealing with coals, clean up and all that is just too much. Hopefully with the DBS, I can pre-heat, leave the meat at room temp for about an hour or so and then get going.
MJ,
Just went through some of the same thoughts. Bought my BDS without knowing about this forum. Received the unit, but then had to wait to use it due to circumstances beyond my control! LOL. In the mean time, I read a few bad reviews, had my doubts, then found this forum, and felt better. I too have used big trailer rigs of various descriptions over the years as well as a bullet or two. Currently down to a Bandera and my BDS. Finally did my first smoke on the 26th. Ambitious smoke for a virgin, Butts (3), spareribs, fatties and moinkballs. Wasn't as carefree as I would have hoped, but that was just me peeking. Unit held good temps in 50-55 deg. ambient and quite a bit of wind. That was a pleasant surprise. Taste was great! All did not get done by time for dinner, but finished those off in the oven (in foil) a couple of days later - my lips are still smacking. I may have just smoked my last BBR, those spareribs were great!!!!! I'm not looking back even though I am in the process of thinking out my next big rig. That's the Tim the Toolman mod.
Mike
Quote from: Caneyscud on December 29, 2008, 06:44:13 AM
MJ,
Just went through some of the same thoughts. Bought my BDS without knowing about this forum. Received the unit, but then had to wait to use it due to circumstances beyond my control! LOL. In the mean time, I read a few bad reviews, had my doubts, then found this forum, and felt better. I too have used big trailer rigs of various descriptions over the years as well as a bullet or two. Currently down to a Bandera and my BDS. Finally did my first smoke on the 26th. Ambitious smoke for a virgin, Butts (3), spareribs, fatties and moinkballs. Wasn't as carefree as I would have hoped, but that was just me peeking. Unit held good temps in 50-55 deg. ambient and quite a bit of wind. That was a pleasant surprise. Taste was great! All did not get done by time for dinner, but finished those off in the oven (in foil) a couple of days later - my lips are still smacking. I may have just smoked my last BBR, those spareribs were great!!!!! I'm not looking back even though I am in the process of thinking out my next big rig. That's the Tim the Toolman mod.
Mike
That was indeed a bold undertaking in a brand new DBS. Were you using the 6 rack or 4 and what time did you start. Briskets normally take quite a bit of time. Also, was the smoke chamber temp consistent throughout, i.e. any temp spikes or lows?
mjack1957
Congrats on joining the Bradley team!
Are you ever going to make sausage? If not, I'd guess the BDS will be awsome. If you are, you may want to read more of the forums quick, and consider changing your order to an Original smoker, and buy the pre-made PID from Auber. The OBS and a PID would be close to the same price as a BDS. The PID will give you precise temp control. I ran mine for about 20 hours over the last 2 days w/ my new Auber PID, and it never got more than 2 deg off the set temp (unless I opened the door--then it was back in ~10 minutes).
Precise temp control is great for sausage. Keeping the smoker at 175 or 180 deg cooks it as fast as possible, and doesn't get too hot or too cold. I've also got a Love digital thermometer controller (an on/off type switch) that would keep the smoker about +/- 8 deg because the temps overshoot the set temp on heater on/off cycles (just like your house gets warmer/cooler than the thermostat setting). A PID, being a "smarter" controller, prevents this.
But I'm sure plenty of people make sausage on the BDS too, so yes it can be done, but a PID helps us make a better end product (in my opinion).
When you get it set up and seasoned, I'd recommend a small, easy smoke for the first go, such as 3-4 lb pork butt (set smoker to 220 deg and leave in on until meat is 190 deg, it will be pull apart in about 8 hours), or do a chicken. Resist the urge to fill the smoker on the first try. Get some experience first. Don't jepordize lots of $$$ of meat and have no nothing to serve come eatin time.
OK, I'll stop rambling.
Enjoy your Bradley.
drano
Quote from: mjack1957 on December 29, 2008, 10:43:08 AM
Quote from: Caneyscud on December 29, 2008, 06:44:13 AM
MJ,
Just went through some of the same thoughts. Bought my BDS without knowing about this forum. Received the unit, but then had to wait to use it due to circumstances beyond my control! LOL. In the mean time, I read a few bad reviews, had my doubts, then found this forum, and felt better. I too have used big trailer rigs of various descriptions over the years as well as a bullet or two. Currently down to a Bandera and my BDS. Finally did my first smoke on the 26th. Ambitious smoke for a virgin, Butts (3), spareribs, fatties and moinkballs. Wasn't as carefree as I would have hoped, but that was just me peeking. Unit held good temps in 50-55 deg. ambient and quite a bit of wind. That was a pleasant surprise. Taste was great! All did not get done by time for dinner, but finished those off in the oven (in foil) a couple of days later - my lips are still smacking. I may have just smoked my last BBR, those spareribs were great!!!!! I'm not looking back even though I am in the process of thinking out my next big rig. That's the Tim the Toolman mod.
Mike
That was indeed a bold undertaking in a brand new DBS. Were you using the 6 rack or 4 and what time did you start. Briskets normally take quite a bit of time. Also, was the smoke chamber temp consistent throughout, i.e. any temp spikes or lows?
Four rack BDS - non stainless, but beautiful nonetheless. The inside is starting to look good now - that smoked in look! Started about 10:00 am. Put in 3 hours worth of Hickory. Set it for 200 and was pretty variable at first (+- 15 deg) then settled in and stayed pretty much +- 5 deg of 200. IT seemed to stay at a plateau of 155 for ages, so I bumped the temp to 225 and it started rising again. Took out moinkballs about 4 hours I believe and fatties about 5 hours. The largest boneless butt (3.75#) came out at 180 deg about 7 hours - it was on lowest and hottest rack. Would have liked to have left in till 190, but they were hollering at me from the table. It didn't pull very well, but was tender and tasted very good. Left the spareribs and other 2 butts (about 2.5# each) and set temp to 250. In about an hour they had gotten up to about 150-155, (cab temp of 235-240) but took them out because it was requested that I go shopping with them. Cooled down, foiled and put in refrig. until Sunday and put them in a 300 deg oven until 190. Spareribs looked they could stand more, so they stayed in another hour or so. Pretty tasty!
Temp. control totally okay for butts and spareribs and would be totally ok for briskets (next smoke). Unless using a very large and heavy smoker, I can't control the temp any better than that - probably worse than that if you hold a gun to my head for a confession.