Hello folks,
Just bought our first Bradley a few days ago. It's a 6 rack digital. Have owned Coleman, Big Chief, True North in the past.
Generally pleased with the Bradley, but have some issues on first run: Ran the first batch of salmon through yesterday. Results are marginal.... had trouble keeping the temperature low enough to prevent the white fatty coating on the fish, and of course smoking in the rain wasn't a good plan as I discovered the hard way....disintegrating pucks....no auto-feed....water pouring in through damper.... etc.
But now, reading the forums, am much more optimistic. You guys (and gals) are very informative. Wish I'd read the forums before starting....should be a must methinks. ;D
Cheers.
W E L C O M E to the Forum gofish!
You're going to want to keep your Bradley out of the weather.
If you click on the ribs at the bottom of this post, it will take you to our recipe site.
Weclome gofish,
As FLBR said, you really want to keep that BDS dry as the electronics won't react well with water. I noticed you said "no auto-feed". Do you mean the pucks weren't automatically advancing? Any idea why? That's my biggest concern of your post. All the other things can be easily corrected but we need to figure out what's going on with the puck advancement.
KyNola
Welcome aboard gofish, hopefully the no puck advance was due to the puck disintegration from all the rain. Check it out after drying with some dry stuff and let us know if it's OK.
Welcome gofish! i think you'll find a lot of good advice here, especially concerning the Bradley.
In my rather limited experience smoking salmon, i've found the most important part of the process is to let it air dry and form a good pellicle before it goes in the smoker. This really makes a difference in reducing "buggers" - the white gunk that oozes out of the fish.
Enjoy your new Bradley!
gofish, welcome to the forum and hope everything is better with the Bradley. Let us know if you have any problems.
Welcome to the forum gofish.
I agree with aces on the drying of salmon and would like to add that you should check out adding a PID if you are planning to do alot of salmon. The PID helps in controlling the smoker temp better as well as the ability to ramp temperatures that is needed for salmon. Here is the link for you:
http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=14&products_id=72&zenid=e385dcc4bf9b32b84bf8128ab91482a9
Good luck
Hady
Thank you for the warm welcome everybody. Am not sure whether to continue this discussion in this forum or move it over to one of the other forums. Please feel free to direct me in that regard.
I have been smoking salmon with various other smokers for approximately 18 years and have usually been able to produce good results, with, of course, the occasional not so good results too! :(
Anyway, here is the current situation:
I took your advice and cleaned and dried all the components of the digital smoker/smoke generator paying particular attention to the feed system. (From forum how to's)
Since then, things have gone from bad to worse. I can not check whether the feed system is working now, because as soon as I plug in the smoke generator unit I get an E1 error message and can not proceed with any control selections whatsoever. The biscuette burner is heating without me being able to select it to "on".
I looked up the E1 error on the forums and found numerous references to the sensor cable and keeping it clean, dry, and with a good connection. Have checked all that and seems OK, but I have yet to put an ohmmeter on it to check for continuity. I have tried reversing the cable as someone suggested, and have dried the ends and the receptacles thoroughly with cloths and compressed air. There is nothing obstructing the travel of the feed system as far as I can tell by looking in with a flashlight and the feeder tube appears to be seated correctly.
I am planning to return the unit to the store but thought I'd check with you before doing so in case I am missing something obvious.
Thanks again,
Steve
Hello again and thanks for the PID info. I was not aware of the existence of such a thing, but it is definitely something that makes perfect sense. It is the one thing that seems to be missing in the design of the digital control system. If I end up keeping the smoker, the PID will be first on my Christmas wish list! Any recommendations regarding wall mounted PID sensor versus suspended PID sensor?
Thanks,
Steve
Gofish,
I am not very handy when it comes to fixing things on my own but I have read in several posts that the sensor cable that goes between the SG and the tower, needs to be wiggled some times for a proper connection. Some other times it could be a loose connection specially where the sensor wire attaches in the back of the smoker.
Before you return the smoker, I would give Bradley's customer service a call. They are super and will guide you which way is best to go. Their 800 number should be in the manual.
As with regard to the PID, I have contacted Auber and discussed the matter with them. Their recommendation, based on what I told them I want the PID to do, was to go with the plug and play. I am not at all familiar with the wall mounted but I am sure some of the more, electrically inclined, would be chiming in and give you a better answer.
Hady
Here are some links that may help.
E1 Error (http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showpost.php?p=761&postcount=4)
Since the unit has been exposed to rain, probably some wet saw dust may have worked it's way through inside the generator housing.
How to Clean the Generator (http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showpost.php?p=987&postcount=41)
Thanks Habanero and Hopefull,
Man, don't you folks ever sleep? (hey wait, I'm still up too!!) ;D
Anyway, regarding cleaning the generator: I did go through all the steps to clean out the generator before posting (forgot to mention that in the post), and it all appears as good as new, but still gives the E1 error message. I just read about taking the back off the smoker to check the internal connection to the sensor cable so guess I will try that tomorrow.
cheers
Keep us posted on the progress.
BTW, I am seven hours ahead of EST.
HR
And I just can't adjust can't seem to sleep past 4:00 AM EST; well most days anyway. :)
Hi gofish, any chance that when you cleaned the smoke generator, a wire might have come loose. That could be causing the E1 error.
As for the wall mounted pid sensor. I would rather have the other one as I like to monitor the temp close to the lowest rack I am using. The wall mounted sensor is in a fixed position so you lose that option of moving it.
I move my PID sensor around too.
Hawkeye,
It seems feasible that a loose connection could have occurred during the cleaning, but I have looked, wiggled, pushed, pulled,etc etc and cant see any indication of a loose connection inside. Have even tried doing so (carefully) with the power to see if something was loose.
Also folks, thanks for the moveable PID suggestion and the pellicule comments.
Just spoke to Brian and he is sending a new sensor and cable.
Thanks all for your help. :)
:)Up and running again. All systems go. ;D Bad connection to the sensor.
Thanks forum folks and Brian
Quote from: gofish on November 24, 2009, 02:25:31 AM
:)Up and running again. All systems go. ;D Bad connection to the sensor.
Thanks forum folks and Brian
This is a great place for help and recipes and ideas. Glad you are up and running again.
Here's some links for you.
Try this link to get your pictures going.
http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showpost.php?p=768&postcount=11
recipe site
http://www.susanminor.org/forums/
FAQ
http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?t=481
reference books
http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?t=102
hope this helps
Thanks for the links CRG.
Will definitely be doing some serious browsing.
Asking Santa for a PID this year.
Cheers.