Digital or Original?

Suds · May 22, 2006, 11:41:06 AM

I am brand new to smoking and I just purchased a new 4 rack digital (hasn't shipped yet), so I hope it's a good system.

I bought a cheap $99 dollar smoker from Canadian Tire last year and loved the food (smoke salmon) but I had to replenish the wood every 50 minutes which was a real pain in the toot and there was no temperature control. I am really looking forward to trying the new BSD4 (Bradley Smoker Digital 4 Rack) and learning all the secrets to making great smoked salmon, and for the first time making Texas style Brisket (which I have never had but have seen on TV programs) and smoked turkey.

Cheers,

Suds

Oldman · May 22, 2006, 03:05:15 PM

Welcome Suds,

I cannot say about the 4 rack digital myself, but there was a posting about it that said good things. I take it you are going just with salt and pepper on the Brisket?
Olds

Suds · May 22, 2006, 03:19:27 PM

I thought I would follow the receipe I found on the Bradley site. Does anyone have experience and advice on how to cook the brisket?

Cheers,

Suds

Arcs_n_Sparks · May 22, 2006, 07:13:45 PM

Suds,

Welcome to the forum. Lots of good advice here and pointers to receipe sites.

Give us feedback on your digital unit; there is little data out there and we look forward to hearing people's experience with the new hardware.

Arcs_n_Sparks

BigSmoker · May 22, 2006, 07:43:06 PM

Quote from: Suds on May 22, 2006, 03:19:27 PM
I thought I would follow the receipe I found on the Bradley site. Does anyone have experience and advice on how to cook the brisket?

Cheers,

Suds

Search on brisket inside the forum and you should get plenty of info. If you still have any questions post them and I'll give you any details you need ;).

Suds · May 22, 2006, 08:25:14 PM

Thanks folks. This sure seems like it's a friendly forum. I will let you know how my smoker works, but don't expect anything for probably two weeks as I just order it on Saturday.

Cheers,

Suds

jaeger · May 22, 2006, 09:24:49 PM

Welcome to the forum Suds!

Habanero Smoker · May 23, 2006, 04:26:27 AM

Quote from: Suds on May 22, 2006, 03:19:27 PM
I thought I would follow the receipe I found on the Bradley site. Does anyone have experience and advice on how to cook the brisket?

Cheers,

Suds

Welcome the forum.

Here is an alternate sight that is good for those who are trying brisket for the first time. It gives step by step instructions on preparation, and use the site Big Smoker mentions on how to smoke brisket using the BS.

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/brisketselect.html

TomG · May 23, 2006, 08:09:00 AM

HS, Great link :) In light of the recent threads on grass v. grain fed beef, I thought the following excerpt particularly interesting.

"White, Hard Fat
The conventional wisdom in barbecue circles is to choose a brisket covered in white, hard fat. This indicates that the animal was fattened on grain at the feedlot during the final weeks before slaughter. Fat that is not ultra-white, trending toward yellow, is an indication of grass feeding and is thought to be less desirable for barbecued brisket"

Habanero Smoker · May 23, 2006, 02:13:38 PM

Quote from: TomG on May 23, 2006, 08:09:00 AM
HS, Great link :) In light of the recent threads on grass v. grain fed beef, I thought the following excerpt particularly interesting.

"White, Hard Fat
The conventional wisdom in barbecue circles is to choose a brisket covered in white, hard fat. This indicates that the animal was fattened on grain at the feedlot during the final weeks before slaughter. Fat that is not ultra-white, trending toward yellow, is an indication of grass feeding and is thought to be less desirable for barbecued brisket"

I'm hoping to get hold of some brisket from grass raised cattle either late spring or early summer. That is something I would like to test. Everything I've read so far would indicate that it is a much leaner meat.

fleabag · May 23, 2006, 02:21:19 PM

I went with the digital and I'm happy with it. Might not be worth the extra $$$

Remember this isn't an oven - the vent is open and air is constantly flowing. The internal temp will be based on a number of things including external air temp and how open the vents are. I noticed that when I closed the vent, the internal temp was the same as the setting.

The digital setting on the smoke control is not too usefull. You can do the same by just limiting the number of disks you load.

Habanero Smoker · May 24, 2006, 03:27:04 AM

Quote from: fleabag on May 23, 2006, 02:21:19 PM
I went with the digital and I'm happy with it. Might not be worth the extra $$$

Remember this isn't an oven - the vent is open and air is constantly flowing. The internal temp will be based on a number of things including external air temp and how open the vents are. I noticed that when I closed the vent, the internal temp was the same as the setting.

The digital setting on the smoke control is not too usefull. You can do the same by just limiting the number of disks you load.

Fleabag welcome to the forum.

Anything that makes smoking easier, makes me happy. :) Thanks for the review. Please post more about the digital, as you gain more experience with it. As a comparison do a search on PID, Raptor or Guru and see how these devices perform in maintaining cabinet temperatures.

iceman · May 24, 2006, 09:35:12 AM

Welcome Fleabag. Interesting report on the new smoker. Keep us posted on your findings. What kind of temps were you operating at?

J C · May 24, 2006, 10:19:42 AM

HI : to all you smokers out there , First I want thank you all for some great Information ,Now that being said i know this ? has been asked but please one more time ! I now am ready to buy a 2nd. smoker I have a SmokeShack smoker now and and I am very Intersead In the DBS or maybe the Org. the cost part is not THAT Imoport. So whigh to go and why ? this my ? to all of you... I have come to Idea they are open for improvement .. Looking forward to you comments . J C

Arcs_n_Sparks · May 24, 2006, 12:50:29 PM

J C,

Welcome to the forum. As you note, lots of good advice and receipe pointers here.

The vast majority of wisdom here is from pounding on the original BS (or competitors), so there is a lot of accumulated data and information. The DBS is very new, so there is little feedback out there. The DBS was intended to make temperature control easier and add some timing features. Many members find controlling the temperature in the original BS reasonable, or have bolted on temperature controllers. All depends on how much convenience you want......

Let us know what you do...

Arcs_n_Sparks