All,
I'm all unpacked, cleaned, and ready to rock and roll.
I have a questions about where to locate the unit.
Given the setup of my place, I'm considering a purpose-built shelf inside the attached garage on the exterior wall. I would then rig an aluminized dryer hose out the window. I would be able to plug directly into a GFCI outlet.
I'm thinking safety first and convenience second.
If I'm meticulous about venting the out-gasses to outside atmosphere, would I be safe?
To frame the question more appropriately, if it were your house, knowing the properties of the Bradley, would you consider this setup?
If the answer is "No way!", I will respect the advice. Not looking to "hear what I want to hear".
Thanks in advance,
Monch
Monch,
I have my Bradley sitting on its own rolling tool cabinet. I either open the big garage door and roll it over close to it or when the wind and snow is howling here in Iowa I just crack open the walk-in door with the smoker by it. My wife kinda likes the smell of hickory in the garage. When it goes away she asks when I'm gonna be smoking again. So its a matter of weather or not you want your garage to have that distinctive smell to it.
To answer you question using the Bradley in your garage isn't any different than what you would do with a gas grill IMHO
Monch
Tough question.
I think you do want to exercise caution when doing this in an attached garage. I do have mine setup in my detached garage. Having said that I have taken a number of precautions to eliminate or try to eliminate any potential problems. One fire hazard there is, is if you allow your water bowl to evaporate and/or you allow your spent pucks to pile up. The risk is that the pucks don't extinguish properly because of the lack of water in the bowl and the grease dripping from something like a pork butt may cause it to ignite. Now, this rarely happens and can be avoided by emptying the bowl of spent pucks and refilling the water bowl once the smoke portion of the cook is over with, usually about 4 hours into the cook. To eliminate this risk I have build a permanent cold smoke setup. This is made a lot easier now because Bradley offers this as an option. By using the cold smoke setup there is no way for the grease to drip on the spent pucks because they are not there.
Here is a link to my setup in the detached garage. The 3rd photo down is the photo you want to look at, just click on it to enlarge.
http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=7616.msg82164#msg82164
I think there are definitely ways to minimize the risk, but as with any appliance, there still is some risk. With my setup, I have eliminated as much risk as possible and my risk is my detached heated garage only as opposed to my garage, home and family.
Not really an answer... just my thoughts on the subject.
Another option might be to have a separate outside structure to house the Bradley so as not to risk home and family. There are a number on this site that have done this as well.
Mike
My only question is about your vent hose. Here's what i did...
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v504/acesandeights/IMG_2508.jpg)
I got the cheapest scratch and dent hood from Home Depot and mounted it above my Bradley and then vented it to the outside. My concern with your suggested plan is that your smoker may not vent the smoke properly. You don't want to have a fan mounted directly in the hose because it may pull the smoke through the smoker too fast. You also don't want to slow down the smoke and have it back up into the smoker. I don't know how long your exhaust hose will have to be to get it to the window and then out.
I think safety- wise you'd be OK because the smoke is not too hot. You need to be able to air out your garage because you WILL get smoke in the garage as you open the door moving food in and out.
The bottom line is that the Bradley is designed to vent without assistance and altering that - either slowing it down or pulling it through - will alter the performance of your smoker.
I'm sure others will chime in. I can tell you it is really nice to have my smoker inside where i can use it year around, no matter the weather!
Monch
Just to add to my post...
I'm a little over cautious... probably because I'm in the insurance business. There is no question as A&8's said it is really nice to be able to smoke in a comfortable environment especially in our weather here in Canada. It's not uncommon for it to be -40 with wind chill in the winter here in Saskatchewan.
Mike
All,
Thank you for all the FAST advice.
My fallback was to procure a rolling cart and push it to the doorway of the garage...Good idea Tenpoint5!
I am not as handy as A/8 obviously is...I'm envious of your setup!...and the winters in south-central Wisconsin aren't as "stiff" as in Canada.
SO...I'm taking everyone's advice!
Nix the hose exhaust idea; be cautious about the fire hazard..despite how unlikely; and get that puppy on wheels!
Brilliant.
My setup won't be picturesque, but I'm hoping the final results will be!
Ya'll are about the best forum participants I've run across. Thanks a heap.
A&8's looked at your setup.Great looking just one question is your hood and fan hooked up to electricty?
Old SMOKER, yes the hood is powered up. It is right next to the breaker box in the garage so it took all of about 18" of romex to get it going! Basic range hood, high/low fan and light. I've found i need to run the fan on high to keep up with the smoke output ;D
Any more info on the wife that likes the smell of hickory in the garage and says smoke more if the smell goes away ??? Would like to get one of those or at least arrange a conference. ::)
Quote from: West Coast Kansan on February 27, 2009, 09:33:27 PM
Any more info on the wife that likes the smell of hickory in the garage and says smoke more if the smell goes away ??? Would like to get one of those or at least arrange a conference. ::)
:D :D :D ;D
Mike
WCK...WCK...WCK...you know I do know your wife...she is lovely....you should be careful...we chicks stick together ya know... ;D
A&8 do you still get a good amount of smoke backup. I got a similar setup but the hood can't handle the amount of smoke. I get swirling smoke coming from all areas in the hood and it filters back into the garage. A good bit does go outside but I still get a lot inside. I end up opening another door or opening a window with a fan to vent the rest before it backs into the house (not that it is to bad, we love the smell). My hood has some bends up then down to get outside. I worry that the issue is the bend down, the warm air may just refuse to go there and backs in. If that is the case I either will get an inline fan or get new windows where I can vent out the top of it. Let me know your residual smoke.
I got mine also cheap, but not cheapest.
IKnowWood & Aces&eights
Here is a link to my original setup in my garage using a range hood. At first I had some smoke in the garage (not much) until I realized that a range hood with a standard fan (not a drum style blower) actually only sucks air from the very centre. So I added a piece of 4" PVC pipe and that just sits on top of the BS over the vent. It worked very well but tended to draw too much air through the unit causing it to cool down. My solution was to notch the 4" pipe at the bottom to allow it to draw room air as well. I have found that I tend to have the vent slightly more closed now due to the assisted draw on it but I have no problem maintaining temps.
Here is the link & photos....
http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=4142.0
Mike
Mike
I remember your posts on it and one time I tried to replicate it. My hood is a drum style fan. It does not work so good. When I added the extra pipes it still did not work as good. So you recommend not using the drum?
Quote from: Tenpoint5 on February 27, 2009, 09:47:33 AM
Monch,
I have my Bradley sitting on its own rolling tool cabinet. I either open the big garage door and roll it over close to it or when the wind and snow is howling here in Iowa I just crack open the walk-in door with the smoker by it. My wife kinda likes the smell of hickory in the garage. When it goes away she asks when I'm gonna be smoking again. So its a matter of weather or not you want your garage to have that distinctive smell to it.
To answer you question using the Bradley in your garage isn't any different than what you would do with a gas grill IMHO
Like Tenpoint5, I also have mine on a rolling tool cabinet-- it's very stable, and the drawers are perfect for storing my bisquette inventory, racks, and misc (Maverick temp unit, etc)... Worked great so far for me. When it's raining, I just keep the unit under the overhang of the garage and all is good!
Ed
The only one I have tried is the one in the photo and it is not a drum style blower, it's a regular fan type blade in it. I would try to use a cigar or something that has a fair bit of smoke coming off it and turn your blower on. Move the cigar around and see if you can tell where the focused suction is, also where the turbulence is, then design something that focuses the smoke from the Bradley to that spot. Just make sure it's not sucking the smoke right through your Bradley.
When you tried it what was the result?
Mike
All,
The unit is temporarily on a rolling hospital tray-table that came with me when my dear wife moved in.
It's great so far, but not ideal.
I went to my local restaurant supply store today...my idea of a good "shopping" trip but those rolling carts didn't cut it. Going to Home Depot tomorrow, but the hospital cart is a viable stand-in.
I have thrown myself in the deep end.
There's a brisket in the fridge, rubbed with WTS's recommended dry rub, and it's starting first thing in the AM. Plan on serving it with homemade beans and cornbread.
My wife is a dyed-in-the-wool carnivore, so she's 100% on board.
Wish me luck and I'll post pictures....if I'm proud...if not, I'll just cry....QQ!
Monch,
If you have access to a Sam's Club, they have a rolliing cart for $58.00 that is ideal. One hint, there is a difference in the top shelf depth vs. the other two. When you assemble it, use one of the other shelves as the top shelf. Otherwise, the door won't open unless you elevate your smoker on something.
Good luck with the brisket. I have one in the freezer just waiting for my attention.
KyNola
Perfect, KyNola,
That's about half the price of the carts at the resto supply store.
I'll skip Home Depot and hit Sam's during lunch tomorrow. Good tip on the shelf. Most of the carts I've seen so far have the lip around the edges and I recognized that as an issue for the door.
I now have a chicken in the smoker and intend to do the brisket while I'm at work tomorrow. Set it and forget it!
Quote from: IKnowWood on February 28, 2009, 05:51:44 PM
A&8 do you still get a good amount of smoke backup. I got a similar setup but the hood can't handle the amount of smoke. I get swirling smoke coming from all areas in the hood and it filters back into the garage. A good bit does go outside but I still get a lot inside. I end up opening another door or opening a window with a fan to vent the rest before it backs into the house (not that it is to bad, we love the smell). My hood has some bends up then down to get outside. I worry that the issue is the bend down, the warm air may just refuse to go there and backs in. If that is the case I either will get an inline fan or get new windows where I can vent out the top of it. Let me know your residual smoke.
I got mine also cheap, but not cheapest.
IKW, yes i get a bit of smoke leakage, but the hood seems to get the vast majority. I tried the fan speed on low once and it couldn't keep up. My hood has a "propeller" type fan instead of a drum. The exhaust vent goes up from the hood about 4', then a 90° bend and then about 5' out thru the wall to the outside. Directing the smoke from the vent toward the center of the fan intake, like Mr Walleye has done, looks like a great idea.
My setup is a small room i built in the garage so the smoke tends to stay in that room, altho we can definitely smell the great smell of smoke in garage when the Bradley is fired up. ;D It's not a bad thing!
Quote from: West Coast Kansan on February 27, 2009, 09:33:27 PM
Any more info on the wife that likes the smell of hickory in the garage and says smoke more if the smell goes away ??? Would like to get one of those or at least arrange a conference. ::)
Like the old saying goes "If the Price is right Everything is For Sale" This one is AS IS No Warranty, NO REFUNDS!!!! ;D
Really Momma is a pretty good egg I'll Keep her! (That depends on the price offered which will have to be alot more than she would ever get for me)
I got a drum on mine. I added a pipe and moved it around. I did find a sweet spot that did push it thru good. Trouble was I had smoke rolling alon the sides and thru the sockets where the bulbs area. Mine does go up then a u-turn and goes down out the window. I am thinking of first trying up then a 90 degree and out. Our windows are currently single hung. We are replacing all our windows soon to double hung. I will re-pipe it to go up and out and see if that works better. If not change something else. Maybe a different blower.