Ebo,
Greetings,
My 2-cents: I'm 54 and I started smoking foods with my polish grandfather when I was a young boy. The Bradley Smoker for the average home user is a dream come true! Yes you will have to check on it from time to time, just like any item you are cooking on a store or over a gas grill.
However, once you have your temp correct and it has been maintaining that temp for 30 minutes or better it is then pretty much on auto-pilot. The smoke is uniformed, un-tarring, and never green from combustion. One of the first things my Grandfather taught me was the "taste" of the smoke. It had to be light gray in color. Once breathed in through your nose it should never burn and always smell / taste sweet. With the Bradley it just does not get any better than this.
As far as the amount of pucks used in smoking, as other have stated here, that will depend upon your taste. Just as surly as to what type of wood you use.
I have worked out my cost of smoking at $1.11 per hour! Man that is on the cheap! Especially if you are using one of the other smoker methods and you end up tarring your food--Yuck. I just don't see how anyone could tar up any food using a Bradley. I don't think it is even possible no matter what you did.
After years of purchasing wood--then spliting it, plus sitting there for hours watching to make sure I don't ruin my sauage I look back and wish I had found this smoker years earlier.
Or worse, using wet wood chips on a hot plate that dry out and then flare up causing tarring, while at the same time the temp looks good so I didn't even know it had happened. Now that is ruining some food.
If you are going to order online then order it from these folks. [
]
Chezbubba's House of Smoke [
] You will not go wrong. These folks ship timely and what they say they are going to do, they do it when they said they would do it.
Ok you asked and I hope our answers have helped~~~! A lot good folks here. Hope to see you join this group as a new Bradley Smoker. (BTW I don't sell Brandley Smokers. I work with fuzzy stuff and dirt! LOL!!!)
Have a good day!
Olds
