I'm looking for a electric smoker and I was just wondering what are the pros and cons of each. I know this is a Bradley website, so there will be bias, but I'm just curious to know what the differences are.
DBS- you can perform longer unattended smokes because of the constant feeding of disks, consistent wood source means more reliable smoke flavors
MBES- the lack of a disk feeding mechanism means one less part that could potentially break or malfunction, a little bit cheaper, does not rely on specific brand of wood
what else?
The BS wood bisquettes do not burn - they just smolder so you get a pure smoke without any ash or rancid type of taste that you can get out of hard wood that actually burns. The trade off is there is no smoke ring, which does not add any flavor anyway. Each of the BS bisquettes lasts for about 20 minutes each. Not really familiar with the MBES. My prior smokers were off-set firebox types.
I've been doing research for about 3 weeks and I think i'm pretty much sold on the DBS. Just seeing if I could find any devil's advocates here.
Quote from: smashraj84 on March 23, 2008, 01:51:30 PM
I know this is a Bradley website, so there will be bias, but I'm just curious to know what the differences are.
Bias here is getting a good smoke and helping people out. :D
Did not own a MBES, but did have a charcoal smoker prior to the OBS. What gets you lazy is the automatic puck feed so you do not have to worry about tending to the wood chips (friend has an electric smoker, but same issue). If you are extra lazy, throw on a PID controller for full hands-free operations (or the DBS) . This leaves your hands free for adult beverages. 8)
Arcs_n_Sparks
What is a PID controller ??
Thanx
Lin
Wrap in Foil, then in a Towel, then place into a Cooler.
Wrong one, Wild........PID, not FTC. :D
A PID is a temp controller that several of us use to more tightly control the temperature in the cabinet, down to 1 or 2 degrees higher or lower than what we set it to. I like mine because I'd rather set the heat to an actual number than to try to figure out where to set the slider to get said temperature (I have the OBS in Black).
Oops! I guess it was tooo early in the morning after last night. I had seen another post asking about FTC and when I got here I guess the old brain was too foggy. ;D
Quote from: Wildcat on March 24, 2008, 10:14:35 AM
Oops! I guess it was tooo early in the morning after last night. I had seen another post asking about FTC and when I got here I guess the old brain was too foggy. ;D
I can sympathize with that. I'm on early in the morning, and often misread posts. ;D
There was a glossary started a couple of time but never got a sticky. Would need to be controlled anyway... Welcome to my world CAT! ;)
Ok fellas (and fellettes), I've decided to go with the 4 rack DBS.
What are all the accessories (besides meats, rubs, etc.) I need to get started?
So far I've ordered:
Maverick ET-73
Bubba Pucks (3)
Bradley Bisquettes (variety of flavors)
--------------------------------------
Anything else I'm missing?
Iceman's sauce and rub and adult beverages.
With what you've ordered and Wildcat added, you're ready to smoke! Of course there are many more things that you way want down the line at some time, but they aren't required for smoking great food. (Injector, PID, sausage stuffer, reveo, slicer, grinder, etc.,etc.)
what's a PID?
That would be your Porter Indicating Device. Shows you where you left your beer. :D
Actually, it is a Proportional, Integral, Derivative temperature controller. A type of closed-loop control scheme.
Arcs_n_Sparks
See Tiny Tim's post above.
Sorry Arcs, posted just after you did and was too fast with clicking the mouse.
Just made the leap and the DBS 4-rack with a cover. Looking forward to it!
So my smoker came in the mail on Saturday along with the bubba picks and wood. I was out of town so I just got to opening it last night. I put it together (that was easy) and registered it online. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on which wood to use when seasoning the smoker. Does it really matter?
Doesn't really matter. I send a 12-pack of Special Blend with sales of new smokers just for this purpose, but if you don't have any, just use whatever you have the most of.
Quote from: Tiny Tim on April 08, 2008, 08:22:51 AM
Doesn't really matter. I send a 12-pack of Special Blend with sales of new smokers just for this purpose, but if you don't have any, just use whatever you have the most of.
special blend it is! i'll get around to it sometime tonight.
Ok, I'm home and seasoning my smoker with the special blend. Everything's going great so far!
Two Noobie questions...
After pressing "^V" to set desired smoker timer set, do I have to press the "Smoker Timer Set" button again to start the 20 minute automatic advance or will it start automatically?
Related to that question...I put 4 special blend bisquettes in and two bubba pucks on top of them. I put the smoke time at 1:20 and then hit the >>>WOOD three times. When the machine turned off after 1:20, there were two bisquettes in the water bowl, 1 bisquette smoking on the burner, and 1 bisquette partially singed. Shouldn't all four bisquettes have been in the water bowl or did I do something wrong? My two explanations are either a)I didn't push the "smoker timer set" button a second time to start the 20 minute auto advance or I didn't push the >>>WOOD hard enough the 2nd and/or 3rd time. Any suggestions as to what I might have done wrong?
Thanks for all the help!
Smash,
You have pretty much diagnosed the most common causes that could explain why. I usually give a quick visual check inside after I think I have the first puck on. It is possible there may be another problem but you will need to watch more carefully on the next couple smokes.
One suggestion, add an additional wood puck on top of the bubba pucks and an additional 20 minutes to the puck time to smoke gen. This will push a bubba onto the burner and therefore pushing off the last spent wood puck.
Quote from: Gizmo on April 08, 2008, 10:06:51 PMOne suggestion, add an additional wood puck on top of the bubba pucks and an additional 20 minutes to the puck time to smoke gen. This will push a bubba onto the burner and therefore pushing off the last spent wood puck.
I'm guessing the error was purely human and not the machine.
So if you don't mind could you just walk me through this? Say I want to smoke for 1 hour and 20 minutes. I'd put 4 wood pucks, followed by 3 bubba pucks. Then I'd set the time for 1 hour and 40 minutes, hit the smoke timer set button again to start the auto advance, then hit the >>>WOOD button three times? Basically, I just want all my wood pucks to be in the water bowl when the smoking time is done and I'm a little confused on how to set up the timer, bubba pucks, etc. so that this happens.
Thanks for the help!
Given your example, here is how I do it. First, I use the smoke generator to aid in preheating the smoker box. When ready to begin the smoking process, I turn off the smoke generator to allow it to reset itself, put the 4 wood pucks and the 3 bubba pucks in the tube and turn the generator back on. Set the time as you described. Watch your pucks as my DBS will sometimes automatically advance the first puck. Wait until it cycles through, press the wood advance button once, wait until it cycles through, then press again.
Hopefully, I didn't confuse you and I'm sure that guys with much more experience and knowledge than me will give you better advice. One thing I think I have learned from this forum is it appears no two DBS's will react exactly the same way each and everytime. Still really like mine though.
KyNola
I think I just hit the >>>WOOD button three times really fast instead of letting it cycle each time. I'm pretty sure that's where I messed up. Lesson learned!
Is it bad for the food if you leave a bubba puck on the burner for 20 minutes? or does it not matter?
This is a great, friendly forum and I'm glad there are so many people here willing to help me out. Thanks again!
Quote from: smashraj84 on April 09, 2008, 07:02:05 AM
I think I just hit the >>>WOOD button three times really fast instead of letting it cycle each time. I'm pretty sure that's where I messed up. Lesson learned!
Is it bad for the food if you leave a bubba puck on the burner for 20 minutes? or does it not matter?
This is a great, friendly forum and I'm glad there are so many people here willing to help me out. Thanks again!
Doesn't hurt a thing leaving the bubba puck on the burner. In fact it helps burn some of the resins off the burner plate. Just watch out if you go to remove the bubba puck. Those puppy's stay hot for awhile. :o :D
Quote from: iceman on April 09, 2008, 10:01:16 AMJust watch out if you go to remove the bubba puck. Those puppy's stay hot for awhile. :o :D
That's a lesson I'm glad I won't learn first hand. (knock on wood)
EDIT: I did some more testing tonight with the tips in this thread and everything worked out great this time. All the wood was in the bowl and the bubba puck was on the burner. Curiosity got the best of me....damn those b-pucks get hot!
If I want to smoke for 2 hours (6 wood pucks, 3 bubba pucks) I usually will add an hour. I push set smoker time, adjust the the time I want then push the smoker time again. Then I set the cook time push cook time again and set the cook temp and push cook temp again. Then I advance the wood just once. The reason I do this is I like to let the burner on the smoker heat up before I have the first wood puck set on it otherwise I don't get a complete burn of the first wood puck. The extra 40 minutes let the bubba pucks push the wood puck into the water. I doesn't hurt to leave a bubba puck on a hot burner and it usually helps my DBS to maintain heat better. Remember what was said earlier though those pucks get real hot. My husband grabbed one and will not make that mistake again but he learned the hard way.
Good Luck this forum is a great source of information. :D
Hey all,
I got a couple small pork roasts smoking right now. The temp is fluctuating between 180-210. It's about 50 degrees outside. Is this alright?
I'd keep it more in the 205-210 range or your cooking time could be way off. 180 is a little cool for pork. You could even go a little higher then 210. Also depends on how big they are.
Quote from: La Quinta on April 10, 2008, 05:55:09 PM
I'd keep it more in the 205-210 range or your cooking time could be way off. 180 is a little cool for pork. You could even go a little higher then 210. Also depends on how big they are.
Yeah I have it set at 200 and It's fluctuating between 180-215. Could it just be the ambient temperature? It's about 50 degrees.
I'd crank it up...to say 225...low and slow is good but...225 is good for hot smoke. There are other people here that can tell ya more...but I usually do pork between 215 to 225...
Quote from: La Quinta on April 10, 2008, 08:00:53 PM
I'd crank it up...to say 225...low and slow is good but...225 is good for hot smoke. There are other people here that can tell ya more...but I usually do pork between 215 to 225...
I'll take that tip next time. Took about 4 hours to get my pork up to an IT of 160. FT'd it for 30 minutes. I couldn't wait any longer though and I sliced off a piece. It was damn delicious. Melt in your mouth good. I'll try to post pictures tomorrow.
Glad it came out good Smash...nuthin better then smoked pork IMHO!!!