digital or not!?

[boxofrain]

I am looking to purchase the Bradley smoker.....my question's are these, what is required of the person who uses the original smoker. Do you have to manually advance the bisquettes?, do you have to attend the unit constantly to turn the smoke off and the heat on?
A brief summary of how you use the system would be great!
Thanks in advance for the help here, I want to buy the correct unit for my needs.

[FLBentRider]

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

You do not have to manually advance the bisquettes.

You do NOT have to attend the unit constantly, there is a learning curve to figure out where you will need to have the slider heat control.

For a lot of things, you will have it on MAX most of the time anyway.

If you are going to be making your own sausage or smoking fish, you will probably want to add a PID controller later.

[boxofrain]

thanks for the welcome FLBentrider!
my buddy just got a digital and I am hooked on the products performance.
Butt...I am a minimalist, and will prolly get the OBS instead. I just wanted to know what type of rouitine there is to using these non-digital units.
I live in Brookings Or and we hunt, fish and slaughter our own pork and beef annualy. I would like to "do it all" with the OBS.
What are the big advantages to the digital units?

[RAF128]

I would recommend a PID with both the OBS or the digital.    Of course it means more money if you add it to a digital.   The PID means more accurate heat settings.

[FLBentRider]

What are the big advantages to the digital units?

I will first state that I have an OBS, so my knowledge of the Digital is second had at best.

In My Humble opinion:

There is the advantage of setting a temp and not having to worry about the slide control on the OBS. The temperature control is not all that precise, there will be temperature swings above and below the setpoint. Most foods will not be affected by these swings. A house oven swings the same way.

There is a disadvantage that the oven will only run for 9 hours and 40 minutes unless reset - not a big deal, reset the timer before you go to bed if doing an overnight smoke.

Temperature swings can be a big deal for sausage and in particular Salmon. For these a PID will hold the temperature +- 2F in most cases.

[ArnieM]

Hi boxofrain and welcome to the forum.  I have the 'original' (OBS).  This is my routine.

• Preheat:  Put water in the bowl, turn on the smoke generator (SG) and move the slider to max.
• When up to temp, add the food.  The temp will drop at this point.
• Count out the number of pucks you'll need at 3 per hour plus 3 (or plus 3 aluminum pusher pucks).
• Press the 'Advance' button 3 times to feed the first puck onto the hotplate.
• Cook until done.

A few notes:

• Some (like me) add one or two foil lined bricks to the cabinet for mass (heat sync).  This helps temp recovery after opening the door.
• Don't open the door  ;D
• The cabinet temp will rise as the meat/food heats up.
• Most apply smoke for 1-4 hours, depending on the type of wood and the type and amount of meat.
• Keep the vent at least 1/2 to full open to allow moisture to escape.
• Allow sufficient time for the cook.  You can FTC (Foil, Towel, Cooler) a hunk of meat for several hours.  It's better rested anyway.
• Get something like a Maverick ET-73 remote thermometer.  You won't have to keep running out to check the cabinet or meat temp.  Hint: Throw away the batteries that come with it and get some fresh, quality batteries.

More questions?  Keep asking.  :D

[boxofrain]

My boat just came in! literally...I am off to go bottom fishing now. I do thank Y'all for all the help here. I think I will get the OBS as it is on sale at Cabelas right now for $299.00.
I will pull the trigger on this unit when we come in today. I will also check back here first for any more gems of knowledge that appear from you good folks.
Cheers and tight lines to all!

[Caneyscud]

Other than the digital readout and temp control, there are a few construction differences.

1.  The inside of a digital is stainless steel rather than aluminum
2.  There are no electronics on the bottom of the unit - they are all on the smoke generator
3.  The door construction is different. 
4.  There is no thermometer mounted on the door of the digital. 

[RAF128]

There are positives and negatives to both.   Only thing I might add in favor of the digital is it comes in 2 sizes.   I have an OBS and then I've bought a 6 rack digital.   I wanted the larger cabinet size for hanging sausage.    That might be a consideration.

[Ridgerunr]

I just ordered my original yesterday from a place on amazon. I saw the cabela's price of 299.00 but they wanted 32.95 to ship it. I paid 311.94 includes shipping. Shop around, also got a varity pack of 60 pucks for 26.95 & free shipping.

[boxofrain]

anxious! I ordered the OBS last night.
$354.00 Total with a 48 pk of Pecan....yummmm!
now I gotta go look at all Y'alls recipes.  :)

[ArnieM]

Congrats boxofrain.  The recipes can keep you busy for quite a while  :D