Smoke Time!!!

powrsmoker · March 24, 2010, 10:06:21 PM

After getting a new bbq last year I tried to do some smoking on it and unfortunately didn't work out very well. It couldn't hold the smoke in long enough to really get the nice smoke ring. This year I decided to go hard and get a dedicated smoker. Can't wait to do my first smoke, I have the OBS setup and tested it to make sure it was working. Everything seems great so far.

Quarlow · March 24, 2010, 10:54:23 PM

Welcome to the forum. But I have to tell you that you will not get a smoke ring while smoking in a bradley. But the quality of the smoke flavour is second to none. You will also find that the amount of time you apply smoke to your food is alot less than other smokers because of the concentration of pure clean smoke you get without the tars and carcinogoens given the fact that the bradley doesn't burn the wood beyond a charcoal stage which is when you start to get the bad stuff from the smoke. Good luck and don't be shy. Ask anything, you'll get an answer. Oh yeah and keep that vent open. 1/4 to 1/2 most of the time and wide open for poultry.

FLBentRider · March 25, 2010, 02:47:44 AM

W E L C O M E to the Forum powrsmoker!

MPTubbs · March 25, 2010, 04:30:24 AM

Welcome to the forum powrsmoker!

Hope your first smoke goes off with out a hitch.

Keep the vent open and the smoke roll'n!

OU812 · March 25, 2010, 11:50:29 AM

Welcome to the fun powrsmoker.

Like Quarlow has stated, the Bradley needs allot less smoke than other smokers.

You will only need to smoke for 2 to 4 hr in the Bradley, the rest of the time your just cookin.

dbondy · March 25, 2010, 12:03:24 PM

Welcome to the forum powrsmoker.

classicrockgriller · March 25, 2010, 12:22:33 PM

powrsmoker, Welcome to the forum

2 to 4 hours of smoke is a good starting point,

but you may be like me and like more smoke.

Here's how to post pics in the forum.

http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showpost.php?p=768&postcount=11

recipe site

http://www.susanminor.org/forums/

And the FAQ"s dept.

http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?p=748#post748

KevinG · March 25, 2010, 12:37:43 PM

Welcome to the forum powrsmoker, don't let the lack of smoke ring discourage you, your food will come out great!

powrsmoker · March 25, 2010, 10:25:33 PM

Wow, learning something new already. No smoke ring with the Bradley. Now that I know I won't be disappointed when I don't see it.

classicrockgriller · March 25, 2010, 10:30:02 PM

Quote from: powrsmoker on March 25, 2010, 10:25:33 PM
Wow, learning something new already. No smoke ring with the Bradley. Now that I know I won't be disappointed when I don't see it.

You can get one, but it requires stuff that is not needed.

Have you missed it, not me.

OU812 · March 26, 2010, 06:52:19 AM

Quote from: powrsmoker on March 25, 2010, 10:25:33 PM
Wow, learning something new already. No smoke ring with the Bradley. Now that I know I won't be disappointed when I don't see it.

You cant taste the smoke ring anyways. ;D

powrsmoker · March 28, 2010, 08:05:10 PM

Just broke in the smoker today with some ribs. I had all 4 racks loaded and I am pretty impressed by the final product. I found I could never get the door thermo to read above 200. I had the slider all the way to high. Does the element cycle on and off? Would the auber help this at all? Is the door thermometer somewhat inaccurate?

classicrockgriller · March 28, 2010, 10:24:42 PM

Does the element cycle on and off? Yes

Would the auber help this at all? Not here to sell Aubers but it would give you a shorter off/on cycle, a more even temp which equals a shorter cook time.

Is the door thermometer somewhat inaccurate? It is probably somewhataccurate for where it is placed..

4 full racks of product is alot, even ribs.

Not knowing the temp and wind conditions, you were probably cooking at higher than 200*

I have read that in order to achieve the highest temp, once you slide all the way to the right, then slide back just a smigten.

It being your first smoke, I'm sure there was some door peeking. You know what, that's ok. You will learn to trust the Bradley

to do it job.

Couple questions:

Did you finish the whole cook in the Bradley?

How long did it take to do what you did?

The main thing is you got started and you were impressed by the final product.

Congrats on your fist smoke.

powrsmoker · March 28, 2010, 11:00:07 PM

Took about 4.5 to 5 hrs to smoke pork ribs. Used a mixture of hickory and cherry wood. Smoked for the first 2 hrs and 40 min, sauced and foiled at the 3 hr mark.

I tried not to peek too much. Reading the forums I knew it would lose heat and with 4 racks of stuff in there I knew it would take awhile for the temp to get back up. I was pretty impressed that the bottom rack didn't look like it was overcooked. I didn't do any rotating due to fear of heat loss. My vent was about half open.

Habanero Smoker · March 29, 2010, 01:40:58 AM

Just a few other comments. Since you have a newer smoker the issue with the slider has been resolved, and you no longer have to back off a hair, after you move it fully to the right. That seemed to have been a problem with some of the earlier models. When you mentioned about the OBS heat cycling off and on, it does not do that in the OBS, unless you have a temperature control devise hooked to it, such as a PID. The OBS uses a rheostat to adjust the heat. The heat is adjusted by apply more or reducing the power to the element, it is not controlled by a thermostat.