New here from Pinellas Park,FL

[jmy2469]

Since moving here from NJ, I have been bitten by the outdoor cooking bug! I have a Charbroil propane grill, that I use for steaks,burgers,hot dogs,then I went out and purchased a Charbroil SRG. This was good for me,until the rust started setting in. One thing that was a pain with the SRG is cleaning it. You have a basket,then all of the small racks,drip pan. I know the thing needs to be clean,but it just is a pain. Which is what brings me here. Looking for a dedicated smoker,something that will cook low and slow. I like to cook everything,ribs,pork butts,chickens,turkeys. This is all new to me, what do people prefer using,wood,electric,or propane? Thanks for the help. John

[beefmann]

welcome aboard,

electric are nice and can have a better temperature control, Propane wood and charcoal are nice and portable so both have advantages, since all of my smoking is done at  home I have the Electric 4 rack model, The 6 rack is also nice for doing sausages and larger gatherings .  any of these smokes  will cook what you  like to  cook and then  some... 

I would say for home use go with Electric and have  less to store  for  wood, gas and charcoal

[DaveT261]

Hi John

I have a Bradley 6 rack digital and a wood/charcoal offset smoker, both produce very good end results.  The big difference is most of the labor with the Bradley is in the preparation of whatever you are smoking, where as the labor doesn't end with a wood/charcoal smoker, it has to be watched and tended to throughout your smoke.  When using the Bradley it is pretty much load what your smoking and let it go. 

Using a wood/charcoal smoker is a lot more difficult to regulate smoke, it is very easy to overpower your meat with too much smoke especially doing poultry. On larger cuts of meat you have to mop throughout your smoke because most backyard offset smokers to not have a steam chamber, and most have to be modified to get your temps the same from one side to the other. (baffle plates) Another contributing factor is the cost, I can get around 6 hours out of a bag of charcoal, plus the cost of the wood so it can get expensive. 

The wood/charcoal smoker takes about an hour or so for the temps to even out, but after it evens out you can keep your temps a a constant temp with adding a round 8 or 10 pieces of charcoal an hour, and there is very little recovery time on the temp when you have to open it.

The wood/charcoal smoker makes a smoke ring where as the Bradley does not, although the smoke ring has no real taste, and the wood/charcoal smoker makes a better bark and burnt ends.

Clean up is not bad on either of them, Using a wood/charcoal smoker you can put aluminum foil in the bottom of them along with sand to catch the drippings, if you put cooking oil on them you can pretty much just wash the grates with soap and water, never cleaning anything else.  On the Bradley you can actually take the racks and drip pan and put them in the dishwasher after you clean off all the big stuff.

It takes years to actually learn how to run a wood/charcoal with constant results, with a Bradley it does most of the work for you so the learning curve is less and the cost is less. 

Both types are good, you just have to determine how much time you want to spend using them.

[Ketch22]

Welcome to the forum  :)

[Defiant]

Welcome to Forum, you will find some very helpfull, knowledgeable smokers here.  Electric is really nice, it is a lot less work while you are smoking and has excellent results.  You could get the Bradley OBS (Original Bradley Smoker) which is a 4 rack smoker or the digital Bradley smoker (DBS) which comes in a 4 or 6 rack.  In both types, you have the auto feed bisquettes that automatically advance them in the smoker, so you only have to add them once in the tube for as many as the time you want to smoke.  For more precise control, you can add an Auber PID to any of the above.  If you don't need the size of the 6 rack, you can get the OBS, 4 rack, and add the Auber PID.  The Auber PID really adds precise temperature control.

[mikecorn.1]

Welcome aboard, from south Texas.


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