HOLY SMOKE BATMAN!

SoupGuy · August 08, 2005, 06:41:16 PM

Oldman- No, I am not somebody who caused some kind of trouble here in the past and came back to cause more. Not my style, nor is labelling people after their first post my style as you admit it is yours.

Not trying to stir any pot here. I can imagine that the BS is a perfect machine for what we would call a "home smoker". It certainly is very easy to use and we think priced quite fair for what it is. Still trying to teach our friend how to use it. We understand that not everybody is going to go out in the woods and chop hickory (or whatever you can) and wait 12 months to use it. The Bradley pucks are a easy solution to that.

We've seen/researched plenty of commercial smokers. At the high end, were talking stainless steel, thermostatic heat control, automatic dampers and almost always using saw dust. Honestly, the saw dust smudge is about the same as seasoned chunk wood with the advantage that the tempurature is controllable using electronics. Chunks require constant damper adjustments which is a pain for long hours of smoking. This is what lead us to give the BS generator a try. While it can be fun to sit in front of the smoker drinking beer watching the temperature (ours, not the BS) it would sure be nice to be able to throw something in and let it go 'automajically' for 10 or more hours while we sleep.

CHEZ; feel free to share the story I told you on the phone about what happened to the first generator we bought and ruined. Perhaps some might find solace or humor in it (embarrassing as it was!) And thanks for being the steady-Eddy not quick to turn on the flames...

As I told you, I was a SYSOP of a BBS years ago before the internet and I know all about handling a public forum. It takes a special person to handle all the situations that arise in a manner better than some of the participants here. I just hope they appreciate you like they should!

To the poster who flamed Mesquite: We couldn't agree more!

Now for something a little different....(off topic)

We still have 3 boxes of hickory and 1 box of mesquite pucks. (BTW- those aluminum pucks CHEZ sells are a GREAT idea!). We are thinking about smoking up a bunch of coarse kosher salt, and all the peppers (japs/anchos/HABS) we have grown at the same time. Anyone out there ever done anything like this before? We make chipotle and chile powder (ancho) once a year (great on jerky) but never did salt before... just curious if anyone has any advice on this?

If anyone got offended at the original post, please accept my apology. It was just an honest opinion and not intended to inflict any hostilities... really.

** And yes- the generator will be 'available' just as soon as we burn off all the pucks we have left on the 'Salt Experiement'. If you're interested (as opposed to brusque) ask.

** ** How much does 30 full baby back ribs weigh? That's how big our custom smoker is. Maybe we underestimated its size (50LB), but the size overall is 2 feet by two feet by 4 1/2 feet tall. 10 racks. A 1500 watt electric element (Cabela's believe it or not) is all it needs to ensure even temp along with the smoldering chunck wood).

Just in case you were curious.

Best know not for soup, but rather smoked meats...

Oldman · August 08, 2005, 07:09:09 PM

Got your E-mail Quack Quack.

Olds

MallardWacker · August 08, 2005, 07:30:55 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Oldman
 Got your E-mail Quack Quack.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Wasn't my email QUACK QUACK.

SmokeOn,

mski
Perryville, Arkansas
Wooo-Pig-Soooie

If a man says he knows anything at all, he knows nothing what he aught to know. But...

Chez Bubba · August 09, 2005, 03:31:18 AM

SN,

Your first paragraph got me ready to tattoo you, but then your post came around. Olds is a very respected member here & attacking him wouldn't go over so well. Glad you turned it around & fully explained.[:)]

Now I remember our conversation. You have to understand that I'm on the phone all day for the real job, then at night for the CB thing. Conversations tend to melt together & then you throw in all the board names as opposed to the real names of people I talk to. Definately gets mixed into a sludge of info.

I'll let you tell the story as I'm sure you will tell it better due to the above. I do think the members will get a chuckle out of it, but also feel your pain as most of us have already done something as equally stupid.[:D]

To answer your question about the salt, I've tried numerous "cuts" & the same holds true for all. It's a rock. Smoke won't penetrate a rock. It can coat it, but the coating will wipe right off when you lick it. The only way to get a true, even flavor throughout is to evaporate the salt water using smoke & scrape off the residue. I'm not sure what flavor profile you're after, so maybe that's OK. Just don't expect it to be the equivalent of the $20/lb real thing.

Olds, like I said, I've talked with SN on the phone. He is a standup guy IMO, and I welcome his posts here to share his knowledge. For him, the Bradley setup just didn't do what he thought and he's OK with that (I think). IMO, his input might help another Bradley NooB from getting something less than they expected.

Believe me, I like a happy forum, where everyone is talking about the great meals they have made & how satisfied they are. I also feel we owe it to our visitors to allow for posts that describe their feelings of the shortcomings of their purchase. Especially when we can do it as civil adults, unlike our bestbudinTX.

Smoke On all,

Kirk[8D]

http://www.chezbubba.com
Ya think next time I check into a hotel & they ask "Smoking or Non?" they would mind?

Oldman · August 09, 2005, 06:54:10 AM

Chez....whatever

Olds

SoupGuy · September 12, 2005, 06:10:59 PM

Wow! Missed some of the responses here on this thread.

What interested me on this site/forum was the enthusiasm of the people who are getting into smoking. It reminds me of when I first tasted smoked goodies, when I learned how to do it myself (with a great teacher) and the business I got into with it (you can too!)

At this point I should stop saying "we" as my partner has decided to leave me on my own. He is getting up in his years and honestly has not participated in the business end much recently. All I can say is that I would not be in this business if it were not for him and I just hope you all appreciate the expertise afforded to you from our elders; I do!

If you read through all the posts on this thread starting with the original, all I can say is that my opinions were honest and not at all intended to belittle anyone with a BS. There is a long story behind why the generator was purchased, but I think someone here (in addition to Kirk/Chez) correctly pointed out it was a mistake on my part for not knowing exactly what I was getting into. All I have to say in retort was that I tried- after a ton of surfing for alternatives seeking an automatic smoke generator.

For those of you familiar with my other posts in different areas of this forum, I am now experimenting with a BS that a friend of mine bought earlier this year. He loves the stuff I do in my (custom) smoker and is VERY EAGER to learn how to do it himself... probably describes many of you who own the BS I would expect? :)

My reference to the BS as a "home-smoker" should be taken literally. I apologize if anyone found this reference belittling as it was NOT meant as such. In fact, it was a compliment. There are plenty of times when I have family/friends visit where I wish I had a unit more appropriately sized for such gatherings. I waste a lot of $$$ doing small batches in a large smoker for such events.

I am presently teaching my friend how to cure/smoke jerky and Salmon using HIS BS. As I type, his BS is outside next to my smoker doing jerky that I made HIM slice and cure yesterday. (Mine is STILL doing jalapenos...)

A couple of comments...

The baskets/racks seem to have very large openings in the BS. IMHO, they should be a lot smaller! Just my opinion.

Is there a air supply that can be regulated on the bottom of the unit? (sometimes to reffered to as a damper). The 'spin' top air outlet on the top appears to be the only air regulator on the BS?

Can anyone tell me how best to operate the temperature contol slide on the front? What does half-way end up to be (in Farenheight please), what is the lowest and highest tempuratures attainable?

Lastly, has anyone ever tried using chunk wood instead of the pucks on the BS? (no, not in the feeder silly! on the bottom in a pan)

Best know not for soup, but rather smoked meats...

nsxbill · September 13, 2005, 12:01:52 AM

Soup. I solved the rack problem by hanging anything I can, and not using the racks, but also purchased some "Silpat"like non-stick smoking maps with holes in them from //www.thebbqguru.com. They add a nice, nothing-sticks to-them-capability, and you can also roll up meat to make skinless sausage-haven't tried that yet. I have 12 of them for both of my Bradley Smokers, and quite pleased with them.

BS also makes Jerky racks which are non-stick coated, and have much smaller grid.

Bill

There is room on earth for all God's creatures....on my plate next to the mashed potatoes.

bsolomon · September 13, 2005, 10:15:53 PM

As nsxbill said, you can purchase the Jerky Racks which have a much finer grid than the standard racks, and they are also non-stick coated which helps somewhat to prevent sticking.

Intake air comes through the smoke generator and is unregulated on the intake side. The only adjustment for air on the unit is the vent on the top for the smoke exhaust. I guess that since the Bradley is not really concerned with true combustion of the wood as fuel, there was little need to vary the intake air.

The slider on the front is simply a rheostat, rather than a thermostat, so it doesn't necessarily translate directly into a particular setting equals a particualr temperature. Specifically, it controls the amount of wattage for the cabinet heater. The more wattage, the more heat. However, temperature in the cabinet will be affected by: 1) The amount of food in the cabinet, 2) the amount of moisture in the food, 3) ambient temperature, 4) the vent setting, 5) how often you open the door (since the small heater doesn't recover well), and 6) the tempearture of the water in the bowl when placed into the unit (some people use boiling water to help with heat recovery). While this all sounds pretty vague, you will tend to find that despite all of this, there are some slider settings that become pretty reliable. For the most part, on mine, if the right edge of the slider is sitting over the "TR" in CONTROL (somewhere around 3/4 of the way to the right), it will keep the cabinet at about 205 +/- 5 degrees pretty reliably.

As to temperature extremes, there is a safety cut-off which kicks in around 300-320 degrees, but typically this high a temperature is only attainable with an empty cabinet. Most of the units will only get into the 260-280 degree range, which is well above the 200 or so degrees most of us shoot for. On the low end, by sliding the slider all the way left, you should effectively be turning off the cabinet heater, but many of us simply unplug the cabinet for cold smoking purposes. The breakdown is as follows: smoke generator burner = 125W and cabinet heater = 500W. For this reason most people leave the smoke generator on the entire cooking time, even if not generating smoke sice it accounts for 20% of the total heat. with just the generator burner on for cold smoking, expect about 20 degrees increase over ambient, unless you use the generator remotely (i.e., using dryer tubing to bring smoke to the cabinet), or you add trays of ice to keep the cabinet closer to ambient. Using the ice trick, I can keep my cabinet to within 5-10 degrees of ambient.

I don't know if anyone has tried using chunk wood, but I don't think it would be recommended due to concerns regarding a potential fire within the cabinet. The smoke generator is designed to dispose of most of the bisquettes after they burn for 20 minutes each. The use of 2 or 3 Bubba Pucks (aluminum spacers shpaed like bisquettes) will push all or all but 1 puck into the disposal bowl. I would worry that long-term contact between chunk wood and the heater would eventually lead to it burning rather than smoldering, and the system is simply not designed to deal with that.

SoupGuy · September 21, 2005, 02:32:03 PM

THANKS for the explanation bsolomon! You even answered other questions that I was about to ask.

As for burning chunk wood in the BS, my friend has a ton of apple wood he wants to use (I'd surely take it off his hands!!!). I told him he could try using a small pan, a couple chunks of charcoal to get the wood going and a can of water in the middle. I now wonder if the excersize is worth the risk... I've lots of experience using chunk wood, and no matter how talanted one thinks they are, flame-ups DO happen from time to time. Fire in the BS wouldn't be a good thing!

For his purposes, I don't see $1/hr using the pucks to be a big deal. I could take care of his apple-wood problem for him too! :)

Thanks again!

Best know not for soup, but rather smoked meats...

bsolomon · September 21, 2005, 06:48:44 PM

There are a few threads you can search about making or home made bisquettes. A few people have tried this with some mixed results. In your friend's case, since he has free access to the wood, the time and effort might be worth the try.

Tim C · November 02, 2005, 02:23:15 AM

Hi guys just wanted you to know that I did buy a BS and am thrilled with it . It does just what I hoped it would do . Thanks for all the advise . It is great for smoking things in small batches perfecting recipes and trying new ones .Saves me a lot of time energy and wood .As I said before I have a big brick commercial model that did cost thousands it will smoke a whole pig or 8 big turkeys at once . I am a caterer and quite often cook for 100 or more people .Just did a wedding of 150 the main meal was ribs 40 racks cooked all at once they turned out great . But it took 1/4 of a face cord of wood and 8 hours 4 hours fire biulding/ warm up time 4 hours cooking time .Was also happy that bradly offers maple .Thats the wood of choice up here and I am quite familiar with it . The maple pucks work great I dont see much diference I used seasond chunks all a long cut right out of a sugar bush .But in my spare time Iam all so a sports man hunting fishing and the like this is where I will get the most out of my bradly have all ready turned out some great jerky for deer season next week and some supper smoked lake trout . Thanks for putting me on the right track .I guess bradlys arnt for every one but I sure like mine . All the best Tim C

Kipper · February 13, 2006, 06:52:51 PM

Used my B/S for the first time on salmon steaks I was disappointed with the result. Some were over smoked and others were undersmoked.
I put this down to inexperience using the B/S and not to the product.
I have used a Little chief for years and had mixed results with that as well.
I like the features of the B/S but it could be improved by maybee installing a automatic temperature control.
Soupguy had a complaint about not being able to control the smoke
(probably a valid complaint). As a newbee this may be a dumb suggestion to control the smoke. How about alternating the Bradley pucks with the Bubba pucks during the smoking, it would be hit and miss till you find a something that will work for you, but it possibly could would work out for you,or is this an old suggestion that has been discussed before.
Kipper