Help!! Just bought a new 4 tray digital smoker

[cardsfan626]

I just purchased new digital Bradley smoker today and not quite sure how I go about smoking for the first time.  Can someone walk me through the process for smoking a 3# pork loin?  Any tips would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks

[Saber 4]

Welcome from Texas, first make sure you follow the directions to season your smoker before you try to cook in it. Remember to keep your vent open so you don't trap moisture in the cabinet. For the pork loin the easiest way to do a first smoke with it would be to put your favorite rub on it, be careful with added salt if the loin has been injected with a "solution" at the processor's, pre heat the Bradley to 220 and put some very hot to boiling water in the water bowl while the loin comes up to close to room temp so your not putting an ice cold out of the fridge piece of meat in the smoker. It helps if you have a probe thermometer that you can drop thru the vent and insert it into the center of the loin so you can get to an IT(internal temp) of 140-145, yes it will be cooked at that temp and should still be very moist. Use 2-3 hours of a mild wood like apple or pecan for your first smoke to see how much smoke you like. When it get's to IT pull it and let it rest for a few minutes before you slice and serve. Other's with much more experience will come along to give their take on your question so take the advice that makes the most sense to you and go for it. Have fun and happy smoking

[Gafala]

Welcome from Texas, first make sure you follow the directions to season your smoker before you try to cook in it. Remember to keep your vent open so you don't trap moisture in the cabinet. For the pork loin the easiest way to do a first smoke with it would be to put your favorite rub on it, be careful with added salt if the loin has been injected with a "solution" at the processor's, pre heat the Bradley to 220 and put some very hot to boiling water in the water bowl while the loin comes up to close to room temp so your not putting an ice cold out of the fridge piece of meat in the smoker. It helps if you have a probe thermometer that you can drop thru the vent and insert it into the center of the loin so you can get to an IT(internal temp) of 140-145, yes it will be cooked at that temp and should still be very moist. Use 2-3 hours of a mild wood like apple or pecan for your first smoke to see how much smoke you like. When it get's to IT pull it and let it rest for a few minutes before you slice and serve. Other's with much more experience will come along to give their take on your question so take the advice that makes the most sense to you and go for it. Have fun and happy smoking

I agree with you 100%, I follow that when I do a Pork Loin.

[squish]

Did two tenderloins in my digital 4 rack...

Round 1

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=33335.msg390252#msg390252

Round 2 is roughly half way though the post.....enjoy and have fun. The worst thing that can happen is you end up having take out pizza instead.

[cardsfan626]

Thanks for the suggestions. I do appreciate them.  I guess it is kind of a trial by error situation

[cardsfan626]

This may be a dumb question but I do assume that the oven needs to be on unless I am cold smoking, is that correct?

[GusRobin]

Yes - the oven would be on except for cold smoke.

[Saber 4]

You can also use bubba pucks and keep your smoke generator going after the smoke is done to add extra heat to your cook

[KyNola]

This may be a dumb question but I do assume that the oven needs to be on unless I am cold smoking, is that correct?

If your oven is not on, you can't set a smoking/cooking temperature with the digital model.

If you have never smoked anything before on any type of smoker, let me urge you to ask lots of questions.  It can be very confusing otherwise and you can ruin a lot of food by either undercooking or overcooking it.

We're here for you.

[cardsfan626]

Thanks again for the posts.  Does anyone recommend to wrap the pork loin in tin foil when put in the smoker or should I just lay it on the racks and brush it BBQ every so often?  How long should it take to smoke a 3# pork loin?

[KyNola]

If you wrap the loin in foil the smoke will not penetrate the foil and you might as well have roasted it your house oven.  As for opening the door to brush it with BBQ sauce every so often, let me urge you not to do that either.  Every time you open the door the heat in the tower will drop dramatically and take a while to recover.

Here is my suggestion to you to smoke a pork loin.  Take the loin out of the frig.  Season it like you like it.  Use your favorite Rub.  Let it sit on the counter.  Turn on the smoke generator, no pucks in the feeder tube.  Set your smoking time for way longer than you need it. Turn on the smoker oven, set it at a much higher temp than you really need, say 250.  Fill the water bowl with really hot water.  When the Bradley hits 250 or whatever pre set high temp you set for it,  place the loin on the Bradley rack, open the oven door quickly and place the rack in the tower and close the door.  Now, place the number of pucks you want to smoke the loin(pucks burn for 20 minutes so 2 hours of smoke would be 6, 3 hours would be 9) plus 2 extra pucks in the feeder tube. Stay with me here.  Turn the smoke side off and then turn it right back on. Reset the smoking time for longer than you need it again.  You should hear the generator advance the first puck.  Wait for it to complete the cycle.  Press the wood advance button and let it cycle. You should hear it cycle a second puck.  Watch the tube feeder. The pucks should be dropping down.  Press the wood advance button the third time to advance the third puck.  The first puck should now be on the puck burner.  Stay with me again here.  The temp over in the oven has probably dropped considerably so leave the oven set at 250 until you see the temp inside the tower start creeping up to around 225.  When it does, reset the oven temp to 225.  Relax, have a beer and you're smoking!  Smoke/cook your loin to an internal temp of 140.  Take it out of the oven, glaze it with your favorite BBQ sauce now rather than opening the door to the oven ever so often.

Granted, there are other ways to handle this but since you are new at this I made it as simple as I could.  Hope this helps you.

[cardsfan626]

Again, Thanks for all the help!!  A few more questions:

1. I do not have a wood advance button? On the 4 tray digital smoker
2. How long should the process take from start to finish when following your directions?
3. When I take the loin out once it reaches an internal temp of 140, should I wrap it in foil to keep all of the juice in, if i'm not going to slice it for an hour or so?

[devo]

Unless something has changed my digital 4 rack has a wood advance button. I would think they all do

[KyNola]

1.  On the left side of the generator should be 3 buttons.  Upper is Smoker On Off.  That turns on the heating plate for the pucks to burn.  The one directly below it is Smoke Time, the amount of time you want the smoke generator to run.  The lowest says WOOD and >>>. That is the wood advance button.  On the right side of the smoke generator are the buttons that controls the tower, the temperature you want it to be cooking and for how long.

2. I'm going to guess 3-4 hours but I don't smoke/cook by time.  Cook by the internal temp of the meat.

3.Yes, wrap in foil and then wrap the package in a towel.  Place the package in a dry cooler or an empty microwave making sure no one turns the microwave oven on.  It will hold just fine.