Brand new guy begging for basic insights...

danattherock · August 27, 2009, 08:21:48 AM

I posted earlier in the "New digital smoker" forum, but had some specific questions that would be appropriate here. I have never seen a smoker. Love to grill and do about half our meals on it. Can anyone tell me what a smoker would do for me that a grill won't. Smoke. OK, but past that. I am curious what the main types of meats folks cook in smokers. Beyond fish, what is the main thing you use your for. I am not so interested in jerky or sausage. Any thoughts at all most appreciated. I will post my other message below for anyone that is feeling patient this morning.

I live in NC and love to cook on my grill. I cook half our meals in some way or another on the grill. I heard of smokers of course, but never seen one at a persons home. Just the big tow behind pig pickin cookers. I am interested to learn what a Bradely smoker can cook. I have heard tons about smoking fish, but to be honest, don't know what else. Also, what model should I get and why. For the sake of arguement, assume I am not overly worried about cost, but of course don't want to buy more than I need. Well, not much more anyway. I have my grill on my attached backporch. 8 foot ceiling and cedar sided house. Picture below. Want to know if I can leave this on the porch all the time. Is it a fire hazard? Is it going to decrease the life of the unit? Any info at all is most helpful. Thanks for your time and patience.

Wildcat · August 27, 2009, 08:40:10 AM

Welcome to smoking. IMHO slow smoking pulled pork is hard to beat. Many things can be smoked, i.e. cheese, shrimp and other seafood, fish, brisket, etc. I guess that practically everything except liver can be smoked. For me, many things that require high heat to prevent dryness or toughness like NY strips and other steaks, is better if grilled over charcoal and hard wood. Steaks CAN be smoked and then grilled with good results, but for me high heat over hard wood gives me better results. I use my Bradley primarily for butts, brisket, and chicken wraps. (See link at the bottom of my post for receipe site). For skin on chicken, most seafood, and all steaks I grill over either charcoal, hard wood, or both.

danattherock · August 27, 2009, 09:45:46 AM

Thanks for the info. I have been reading old post about cold and hot smoking, but not sure what the cold smoking is for. It sounds like the hot smoking is what I am most interested in. Is one model of Bradely better for this than another? I have read lots of complaints about the thermometer indicating a higher temperature than what is actually inside the smoker. Or other complaints it heats up slow, doesn't work well in cold climates, etc.. I am not sure which model to order. Thanks for any insights.

Wildcat · August 27, 2009, 12:42:17 PM

Original and digital both have their respective problems with the built in temperature probe. With either model you will want something like the Maverick ET-73 to monitor meat and cabinet temps. The probe that is built in (at least on mine) is realitively accurate. The problem is its location. With the Maverick you can place the probe close to the meat to see what temp the meat is actually being exposed to. Well worth the few extra bucks. You will probably want 2 or 3 bubba pucks. It will save wood bisquette money in the long run. The high temp screens are a nice if you do not mind putting just a little bit more money into it. This will make clean up easier and comes in handy for smoking small things like nuts, etc. Makes meatloaf a little easier also. Both units function well. I went with the original and later added a PID for tighter temp control. This was not necessary, but made tending the unit even less demending than it already is. I simply could not justify the higher cost of the digital at the time I purchased.

Wildcat · August 27, 2009, 12:49:36 PM

Forgot to mention - you will want to cold smoke steaks for cooking later if you plan to finish indoors or use a gas grill. You also will need to cold smoke cheese if you decide to get into that. I have not yet, but will give it a try one day. I believe you cold smoke for curing purposes in some things, but I will defer to the folks on here that have more experience in that area. Other than to try it out on steaks, I have not experimented with cold smoking.

Hopefull Romantic · August 27, 2009, 12:54:54 PM

Quote from: Wildcat on August 27, 2009, 12:49:36 PM
Forgot to mention - you will want to cold smoke steaks for cooking later if you plan to finish indoors or use a gas grill. You also will need to cold smoke cheese if you decide to get into that. I have not yet, but will give it a try one day. I believe you cold smoke for curing purposes in some things, but I will defer to the folks on here that have more experience in that area. Other than to try it out on steaks, I have not experimented with cold smoking.

You have to try that on cheese. You do that once and you will never buy store smoked cheese, of any kind, again. Even Children will note the difference.

HR

BigJohnT · August 27, 2009, 12:56:15 PM

I have the exact same grill as you and use my smoker more now than my grill. I have the manual SS model. Some kind of PID control makes the lower heat recipes easier to do like jerky. I'm crazy so I built a PLC controller for my smoker. For higher temps like 225 - 250 the manual is ok but you still will want to watch it. I would opt for the manual with a PID controller over the digital one as you can place the probe where you want it.

Once you do some jerky on your smoker you will never buy factory made jerky again.

John

danattherock · August 27, 2009, 10:38:03 PM

Sorry for what I am sure is a stupid question, but what is PID?

FLBentRider · August 28, 2009, 04:29:11 AM

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

A PID is a device that allows precise temperature control.

You can find this and answers to other questions on our FAQ page : http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?p=748#post748

Wildcat · August 28, 2009, 05:39:43 AM

From what you have said so far you will not really need a PID. I do not truely need one, but I got one so that I would feel more comfortable in leaving the unit un-attended for longer periods. Without the PID your cabinet temp can vary +/- 10 degrees. For cooking purposes this is fine for most things. With the PID the variance is more like +/- 2 degrees or less. As the internal meat rises the cabinet temp has a tendency to rise as well (at least in the OBS) requiring periodic adjustments. I cook butts at around 205F cabinet temp. Without the PID, if I did not monitor the cabinet temp by the time the meat temp was where I wanted it, the cabinet temp could be as high as 230. I do over night smokes and I was not comfortable with this scenerio so a added a PID. Peace of mind kind of thing.

BigJohnT · August 28, 2009, 06:20:46 AM

Quote from: danattherock on August 27, 2009, 10:38:03 PM

Sorry for what I am sure is a stupid question, but what is PID?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PID_controller

http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8&products_id=72&zenid=c5cc5a0c9ff8d9e37ae9422e14553738

John

OU812 · August 28, 2009, 07:37:33 AM

Quote from: Wildcat on August 28, 2009, 05:39:43 AM
From what you have said so far you will not really need a PID. I do not truely need one, but I got one so that I would feel more comfortable in leaving the unit un-attended for longer periods. Without the PID your cabinet temp can vary +/- 10 degrees. For cooking purposes this is fine for most things. With the PID the variance is more like +/- 2 degrees or less. As the internal meat rises the cabinet temp has a tendency to rise as well (at least in the OBS) requiring periodic adjustments. I cook butts at around 205F cabinet temp. Without the PID, if I did not monitor the cabinet temp by the time the meat temp was where I wanted it, the cabinet temp could be as high as 230. I do over night smokes and I was not comfortable with this scenerio so a added a PID. Peace of mind kind of thing.

The Digital will eliminate the "periodic adjustments"

For what you are wanting to cook the Digital would work fine.

danattherock · August 28, 2009, 10:03:58 PM

Thanks for the link FLBentRider.

And thanks to all for the insights.

One question on the Pid versus the "plug in play" temp monitors. I see the difference in price is about 300%. Do you use these together or is the plug in play all you need. Saw the link above and it is pretty impressive. Sounds like it keeps the smoker just where you want it. I love the idea of controlling the temp as this is one of the main turn offs I have seen on these Bradely smokers. Not sure if the Pid or plug in play is what I need. I do love the idea of the remote thermometer. Very slick indeed. Do folks use the Pid (or plug in play) and the remote thermometer together? I apologize for my ignorance and hopefully the learning curve won't be too long:)

Still trying to figure out what model to order and where to order (online). Any suggestions? Are the digital models worth the extra dough? I am wondering if the OBS would be the way to go if adding the above items to control temps. Isn't that the only advantage of the Digital models? If am missing the boat so to speak, please advise. Hoping to order something in the next few days. Thanks for your patience and any additional insights you may offer.

Dan

Hopefull Romantic · August 29, 2009, 04:09:16 AM

Hi there Danattherock,

the PID and the remote thermometer serve two separate purposes. The Maverick ET - 73, which is about the best dual sensor wireless thermometer around can give you two readout; the internal meat temp (IT) and the temperature inside the tower itself. This is very important as the IT is more or less the main factore and indication to pull your meat out of the smoker. The PID can not do that.

On the other hand, the PID would allow you to set the internal tower temperature at a certain level and pretty much keep it there with a small variation (ET - 73 or any other can not do that). This is a blessing I hear if you should buy the OBS as I hear it takes some time to master the temp slide. In addition and most importantly, you can ramp the smoking / cooking temperature. In other words, you can control the PID to smoke your food for one hour at 120 and then raise it to 140 for two and so on. This can only be done with the PID automatically. It can only be done on the OBS and the BDS if you stick around and do it manually.

As with regard to OBS vs. BDS, I believe the jury is still out. Many of our fellow forum members have the OBS with a PID and others have the digital without. Some even have the BDS with the PID. I have the BDS 6 rack and last week I put the question of whether to by a PID or not to a vote. The verdict was to buy it and I have already ordered it.

I hope that would shed some light on the subject.

HR

FLBentRider · August 29, 2009, 04:49:45 AM

If you are electrically talented, you can build your own PID for less than the plug and play.

I smoked a whole lot of great food without a PID.

If you are going to be making/cooking your own sausage, it is important that the temp does not get too high, this will cause the fat in the sausage to render out and ruin the sausage.

Smoked salmon recipes will often "ramp" up the temp, which is easier to do with a PID.