I'm new and not an owner.
I was told by Bradley you must refill the water bowl every 3 hours. If so then it kill the smoke over night idea. Also, must loose alot of heat from the open door. Is this a problem. I don't need to only smoke over night.
Next question is do you have to use a digital thermometer?
Thanks
I personally have never applied the smoke for more than 4 hours. If I do an overnight smoke I start with 4 hrs of smoke, change the water and go to bed.
I have replaced the bowl it comes with and use a 9 X 13 aluminum pan (you can use a disposable if you prefer).
You don't have to use anything. Many use the maverick due to its remote capabilities. I set the alarms on the maverick so it goes off and wakes me up if the temp gets to high or low for whatever reason.
Hope this helps.
Welcome to the Forum. Do you currently own a smoker? If so, what kind do you own? A Bradley Smoker is vastly different than most smokers. The pucks that provide the smoke produce a much purer, cleaner, concentrated smoke than a stick or pellet burner so you don't have to roll smoke the entire time. The water bowl serves two purposes. 1.To extinguish the burnt pucks and 2. To hold the fat drippings in water to prevent a grease fire.
Hope this helps so.......tell us a little about yourself so we can help you make a good decision.
Hi jaticker,
Welcome to the forum.
With the Bradley, I generally will change and refill the water bowl after the smoke has been applied, which can be from 2 - 4 hours depending on how much smoke I will use. Then change/refill it ever 5 - 6 hours after that. Even if your water bowl looks full, change/refill it because most of what you are seeing may be fat drippings. No matter what time has past I will always change/refill the bowl just before I go to bed. The most sleep I have every had during an overnight smoke was about 5 hours, so when I get up I will change/refill the bowl again.
A digital thermometer probe is a good accessory to have. Most of us cook by internal meat temperature, with a digital probe you can monitor the meat temperature without opening the door. Also if you want a probe to monitor the cabinet temperature, that will be more accurate than the door thermometer, since the probe can be place in an area to give you a more accurate reading. If you have a remote digital probe like the Maverick ET-732, you can monitor the cabinet and meat temperatures from up to 300' away, although 50' seem to be what I get, by the time the signal travels through several walls.
Hi jaticker,
Welcome to the Forum, typically most smoke for 4 hours or less, so you would only need water in the bowl during the smoking process to extinguish the Pucks, secondly the bowl catches the grease / drippings from the meat being cooked.
yes you will loose some heat from opening the door, which comes to the next point, most people will not open the door very often, like my self I preheat the smoker and smoke generator, for 40 minutes, then place the meat in , the water bowl full of water ,, let the smoke roll , once the smoking process is complete i remove the burnt bisquets and bowl replace with a bowl of orange soda or other flavored drink and continue cooking,,, at this point in time I also insert a remote thermometer into the meat, yes it is digital and monitor the temp of the meat till i get it to the desired temp then pull...
other then the two or three times i have opened the door above i keep it closed,,, only exception is when i do a mop on a piece of meat and that is only done when it is almost done and over the course of the last hour or so
Quote from: beefmann on May 29, 2013, 07:15:30 AMtypically most smoke for 4 hours or less, so you would only need water in the bowl during the smoking process to extinguish the Pucks, secondly the bowl catches the grease / drippings from the meat being cooked.
Hmm...I don't know that I agree with that one. I have water in the pan for the entire time something is cooking. The first 3-4 hours or whatever is to extinguish the burning pucks. After that I dump the spent pucks and add fresh water to provide additional moisture and to dilute any fat or grease that drips into the pan/bowl so there isn't just one big accumulation of grease in an otherwise dry bowl or pan that can overheat and catch on fire.
Quote from: TedEbear on May 29, 2013, 06:43:18 PM
Quote from: beefmann on May 29, 2013, 07:15:30 AMtypically most smoke for 4 hours or less, so you would only need water in the bowl during the smoking process to extinguish the Pucks, secondly the bowl catches the grease / drippings from the meat being cooked.
Hmm...I don't know that I agree with that one. I have water in the pan for the entire time something is cooking. The first 3-4 hours or whatever is to extinguish the burning pucks. After that I dump the spent pucks and add fresh water to provide additional moisture and to dilute any fat or grease that drips into the pan/bowl so there isn't just one big accumulation of grease in an otherwise dry bowl or pan that can overheat and catch on fire.
Have to agree with Ted. The water dilutes the grease and minimizes the chance of grease fire.
In reading beefman's post, he said water in bowl while smoking, then in next paragraph after empting burnt pucks and water, then using orange soda or other flavored drink in bowl. That sounds good to me as there is still the bowl with liquid in smoker to catch grease.
I tried using a 9" x 13" pan instead of the bowl, but went back to the bowl because it seemed to me that the extra surface for the water to evaporate from lengthened cook time due to heat spent evaporating water was not available for cooking. Just my opinion though.
Ted, and Gus,
Read my full post,,, the bowl is never empty during the smoke use water,,, after the smoking process i change from water to orange soda or other flavored drink,
Oops...I somehow overlooked the part about refilling the bowl with a beverage. I might try that sometime and see if I notice any difference in the flavor.
Quote from: TedEbear on May 30, 2013, 09:22:33 AM
Oops...I somehow overlooked the part about refilling the bowl with a beverage. I might try that sometime and see if I notice any difference in the flavor.
i can taste the difference .. give it a try , It does not have to be orange soda,,, your favorite soft drink , juice or beer even