Thinking about a Bradley

teach · December 09, 2009, 11:57:12 AM

Hi All

New to the forum. I live in Cornwall, England and have been both hot and cold smoking a variety of things from venison, game and fish for the past 5 years in a home built smoker. The weather here has been awful and I am sick of gatting wet so I am looking at buying a bradley smoker for indoors. I have an outhouse that I can site the unit in but it contains shooting and diving equipment in that I do not want to contaminate with smoke. I am quite happy to put a vent in and drill a hole to the outside but what type of vent do I need eg powered (a cooker hood) or passive a tube that connects the top of the unit to the outside.

Has anyone got any tips or experience?

Thanks

Simon

FLBentRider · December 09, 2009, 12:01:33 PM

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

I use mine on my covered patio, but there are other members here that have done as you described. I'm sure they'll be along shortly to help.

manxman · December 09, 2009, 01:30:22 PM

Welcome to the forum Simon, nice to see people on this side of the pond posting.

I have my BS in a small shed and just use a passive method of smoke extraction in the form of these mushroom vents:

http://www.force4.co.uk/1446/Force-4-White-Plastic-Mushroom-Vent.html

However in your case when you have stuff like diving equipment in the same space I would go for the powered extraction option in the form of a cooker hood type set-up.

Several people have done this and hopefully one of them will answer this post, you could also try doing a search as I am sure there are previous posts that may assist. Unfortunately the search facility here isn't the best though!

Not sure if there is anything on the recipe site regarding this either, try link at the bottom of this post? :)

And yes, the weather has been atrocious! >:(

classicrockgriller · December 09, 2009, 01:53:53 PM

teach, welcome to the forum and as Manxman and FBR has said there are several who have done what you want to do and will be glad to assist you.

Good Luck and Good Smokes.

HawkeyeSmokes · December 09, 2009, 07:20:41 PM

Welcome to the forum teach. Here a link to an exhaust vent OU812 made. Might be just what you need.

Exhaust Hood

teach · December 10, 2009, 12:00:28 AM

Quote from: HawkeyeSmokes on December 09, 2009, 07:20:41 PM
Welcome to the forum teach. Here a link to an exhaust vent OU812 made. Might be just what you need.

Exhaust Hood

WOW thats impressive but a little out of my league, I think the best option for me might be to buy a cheapish cooker hood and modify it. But the pictures have given me a few ideas.

Thanks

Hopefull Romantic · December 10, 2009, 12:22:50 AM

Welcome to the forum Teach and looking forward for your results

HR

teach · December 10, 2009, 02:22:10 AM

Quote from: manxman on December 09, 2009, 01:30:22 PM

And yes, the weather has been atrocious! >:(

Yes the last month has been shocking! I was thinking if trading my car for a canoe. I was thinking of rigging a powered bathroom extractor up to a pipe that would attach to the vent on the bradley.

manxman · December 10, 2009, 03:59:56 AM

QuoteI was thinking of rigging a powered bathroom extractor up to a pipe that would attach to the vent on the bradley.

That was something I was thinking about when I first put my BS in the shed and even went up B+Q to plan it all out but in the end decided it was overkill for what I needed.

However in your situation that would be one option although I would imagine cooker extractors are more powerful and with the hood may do a better job of clearing the smoke away once it has excited the BS through the vent. If a bathroom extractor was linked directly to the vent via a hose it may suck all the smoke out of your smoker and affect it's smoking ability!? ::)

OU's set up is perhaps the ultimate but I certainly wouldn't have the skill to make one myself like that from scratch, maybe a B+Q cheapie cooker hood and extractor would be the best option IMHO.

It is not something I have any practical experience of so maybe someone can correct me if that thought is false. ;) :D

OU812 · December 10, 2009, 01:38:49 PM

Welcome to the fun teach

The bigest thing to keep in mind is that you dont want to attach the extractor directly to your smoker as you will suck all the heat out with the smoke.

My outher thought for an exhaust was an 6" to 4" duct reducer with the reducer raised about 2" above the top of the smoker and a 4" 90 deg bend then a pusher fan in the horizontal pipe going out the wall (I didnt want to go through the roof) with a ceiling fan speed switch so you can regulate the speed of the fan. Also keep in mind that the more vertical run you have the more likely you will have con dencation dripping back down into the smoker.

Keep us posted on your progress, good luck.

HawkeyeSmokes · December 10, 2009, 06:35:39 PM

Quote from: OU812 on December 10, 2009, 01:38:49 PM
Welcome to the fun teach

The bigest thing to keep in mind is that you dont want to attach the extractor directly to your smoker as you will suck all the heat out with the smoke.

My outher thought for an exhaust was an 6" to 4" duct reducer with the reducer raised about 2" above the top of the smoker and a 4" 90 deg bend then a pusher fan in the horizontal pipe going out the wall (I didnt want to go through the roof) with a ceiling fan speed switch so you can regulate the speed of the fan. Also keep in mind that the more vertical run you have the more likely you will have con dencation dripping back down into the smoker.

Keep us posted on your progress, good luck.

OU812, I did just a little variation on that idea. Used the 6 to 4 reducer with a 4" tee on top, installed a 4" duct fan on the right side and left the other side open. I had to run the vent pipe down and out as my garage has no windows and cutting a hole to run the vent is not an option because I rent. Can't tell any difference if I leave it tight on top of the vent or raise it and leave a gap. So far, I have no condensation any where. Here's a pic and I think the same thing would work vented up and out also.

teach · December 11, 2009, 02:58:43 AM

Good effort OU812, thats the sort of think I was thinking of. If I set up the same sort of arrangement on top but with a 45 degree duct out of the building with an open vent to the outside.

Do you think if it is not obstructed that I can get away without putting a powered fan? Is the one in the photo passive or is there a powered fan in the system?

HawkeyeSmokes · December 11, 2009, 03:25:39 AM

I have a 4" inline duct fan on the right side of the tee. Duct Fan

The left side of the tee I leave open. I have heard of people trying with out a fan and I think most have had moisture problems. The fan seems to have solved that for me.

KevinG · December 11, 2009, 05:59:45 AM

Quote from: teach on December 09, 2009, 11:57:12 AM

I have an outhouse that I can site the unit in but it contains shooting and diving equipment in that I do not want to contaminate with smoke.

I think I'd be more worried about the contamination going the other way (outhouse into meat) ;D

Welcome to the forum Simon

OU812 · December 11, 2009, 08:08:05 AM

Quote from: teach on December 11, 2009, 02:58:43 AM
Do you think if it is not obstructed that I can get away without putting a powered fan? Is the one in the photo passive or is there a powered fan in the system?

You could try it with out a fan but my thoughts are that with out a fan you will have a condensation problem dripping back down into the smoker.

Keep us posted on your progress.