New to smoking, bit on the cabelas deal

[goblism]

Well I bought an orginal bradley smoker from cabelas, end price for me was $80 (family member said he would pitch in half if i smoked him stuff every once and a while, plus bought a $200 gift card for $150)

Just wondering what everyone says the must have stuff is.

I ordered a variety pack of pucks, might order a 48 pack of apple, also thinking about getting a maverick et-73 so i can try a shoulder out, or maybe a brisket.

I do a lot of hunting, going elk hunting this fall and several whitetails, maybe a turkey or two, and pronghorn and muleys might be an option as well.  Also looking at buying a half of a pig.  Only 22 years old, so still fairly young

Just wondering what everyone suggests to buy.  Also looking into a set of 2 bubba pucks and a couple of high temp jerky racks from yard and pool.  Also ordered a few books, the smoke and spice book, the great sausage recipes books, and one about marinades, rubs, brines, ect.

[Smokin Soon]

Sounds like you are off in the right direction there Gob. You do need a remote thermometer to properly cook a butt, as it's a long cook. Just cruise around here, and on the recipe sight, ask a lot of questions and have some fun!. And welcome to the forum ;D

[mikeradio]

Welcome  I just bought the bubba pucks and they are great, I use three so it pushes the last burnt puck off the burner.  I have a mavrick 73 on the way so I can not report on it yet.  I am also going to order the jerky racks.  Lots of great people here with good advise.

Cheers  Mike

[Ka Honu]

Since you're a hunter, at some point you're probably going to want to get into making sausage and jerky - a whole new set of skills and toys involved there.  For now, however, an OBS, bubba pucks, a remote thermometer, and bisquettes should start you off nicely.  Next up will probably be jerky screens and a cold-smoke adapter.

[FLBentRider]

W E L C O M E  to the Forum goblism!

Sounds like you are set.

Another book Charcuterie, is a good one.

[goblism]

i have already been eying out the meat grinders and stuffers at northern tool, have heard from a few locals that they are some of the best grinders and stuffers, don't know who makes them though.

I have looked at getting charcuterie, but figure i just spent like $40 on books...I can wait a few months or a year for another book.

I am thinking I might just get the jerky racks right away for doing jerky, i mean i don' know if i will be doing an order with yard and pool for a while after this initial order, so might as wel get the best jerky racks right away.

Does everyone suggest getting all 4 jerky racks?  how much jerky can i get done with 4 racks (finished weight on the jerky)

[goblism]

I am also looking into PIDs, if I build a pid, do i really need a dual probe thermometer like the et-73.

Thinking about building the model like this, http://www.n9adg.com/articles/bbq/bradley-smoker-temperature-controller.html looks like it should be fairly cheap.

Also does anyone else have links to other pid builds?

[NePaSmoKer]

Your better off getting the high temp screens for your racks. The jerky racks peel and i have gone through 3 sets of em. Click the Y&P link on my blog. With 4 racks you can get 3 to 4 lbs of jerky. Now if you get and extra set of racks you can invert them on top of the other racks, so you gone from 4 racks to 8 racks.

Look at some of my posts and you can see pics of the double racks with jerky. Also you might wat 3 to 4 bubba pucks to completly push all the burnt pucks of the slide.

nepas

[Smokin Soon]

These noble members of ours are just being delicate for now. The want-need list just does not stop, but it is so much fun and the results are so rewarding. Just take things one step at a time and you will figure what is best for you.

[goblism]

thanks so far everyone, when i was talking about the screens i did mean the high temp ones, my experience with non-stick and heat (the bradley ones) has not been good, so i don't expect it to be good with jerky racks.

What about the pid attached to the smoker?  is this the way to go or should i save the effort and build an external unit.  I am very good with electronics, so difficulty shouldn't be an issue.

Just looking at yard and pool and I have $150 worth of stuff I want right now....poor college wallet is saying no no no!, but than again most of these items i shouldn't have to buy again for a long time, if at all ever again.

[pensrock]

I would build a seperate external PID, that way if something ever happens to your smoke generator and it needs replaced you do not have to remove everything from one unit and put it into the new one.

[pensrock]

also Auber Instruments has a PID unit made to work with the Bradley available as well as other temperature controllers, thermocouples and SSR's.

[goblism]

I am thinking I will buy a unit off of ebay for around $40, i am sure i can round up a SSR from my old electrical engineer roommate.

Just curious if there are any big negatives to building it in the generator.  Thinking I could do an internal build for about $50.

[Habanero Smoker]

Also another reason you may want to build a separate PID, is that you can also use it to control other heating devices; such as a crock pot, electric frying pan, hot plate etc.

[Mr Walleye]

Also another reason you may want to build a separate PID, is that you can also use it to control other heating devices; such as a crock pot, electric frying pan, hot plate etc.

In addition to what Habs said it is also easier if you want to separate the generator to do cold smoking if you have a separate PID.

Mike