Hello from the Interior of BC.

[lukedoxtator]

Glad I found a forum for the Bradley smoker.  It's all new to me and after seasoning the smoker I put it right to work.  Love it and we will be using it a ton.  Just want to say hi and i'm looking forward to a bunch of tips and trying the new recipes people are willing to share.
cheers.

[waycoolcat]

Welcome to the forum from PA. Ask lots of questions and post lots of pictures!

[tskeeter]

Luke, welcome to the forums! 

Check out Our Time Tested and Proven Recipes by following the link below.  These are recipes from the forum's most experienced members.  In my experience there ain't a dud among 'em.

www.susanminor.org

[seb bot]

Welcome from a fellow BCer!

Hope you enjoy your new smoker, I can give you a couple of tips, I am sure others will follow... ;)

1.Keep your vent open.
2.Let your smoker pre-heat to higher than you are cooking at, especially before putting large loads. (For example, if I want to do chicken at 250, I will try to pre-heat to 280 or as close as it will get!)
3.Use hot/boiling water in the puck bowl. Change it every so often; I don't really know what the norm is, every 3-5 hours? ???
3.Try to open the door only when necessary to keep the heat in.
4.Keep your vent open.
5.Get a decent meat thermometer, preferably dual probe, the Maverick ET732 is recommended by many. This will let you know when the meat is done, and help keep the door shut.

I'm sure there's more, that's all I got for now... ;D

Do make sure to check out the recipe site, lots of good ideas. If you are new to smoking, I would recommend using 10.5's pictorial guide to ribs, or try some pulled pork. The "Jan's Rub" is definitely worth making and would go well with either, you will see it referred to here often.
The first time I used my smoker I did the smoked almond recipe from stickbowcrafter and it was really easy and not too time consuming. (Not too mention delicious!  :) I have made it quite a few times now.)

[Quarlow]

Welcome to the forum. Any questions just ask. We love to help where we can and sometimes where we can't. LOL

[lukedoxtator]

Thanks everyone for the welcome.

Like I mentioned I bought it on the Friday and was smoking on Saturday and Sunday hehehehhe.  Saturday I did a dry rub for my pork ribs, turned out very tasty but not as moist as I would have thought after seeing a few video's.  I used mustard to spread and then the dry rub.  I smoked it as per recipe for temp and time, and also had the bowl with apple juice.  The last hour and a half I wrapped in tinfoil and put a little apple juice in there as well.  Like I said the taste was amazing, but not fall off the bone.  A couple thoughts, I didn't have enough ribs to fill all 4 racks, and I had the vent fairly closed.  After reading above comments, I will certainly open the vent from now on. 

the next day I smoked up some wild salmon.  Brined it for 12 hours, washed in ice cold water, dried with paper towel just patting it, and air dried with a fan for 2.5 hours, then in the smoker it went.  Again followed a recipe on the Bradley site slowly raising the temp as per direction.  Once again, the vent was closed (lesson learned) and I only had 2 racks full. 
The Salmon taste great again, but wasn't as moist as I would have liked.

Does the smoker work better if full with food, would that make a difference?
How much should I have the vent open?

Thanks in advance, I'm very excited to start playing with this some more and master some smoked salmon since we have an abundance here in BC.  Smoked beans and pork chops coming up this weekend.

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi lukedoxtator;

Welcome to the forum.

The recipe site is down, at least for the end of the month. I'm getting a "Bandwidth Limit Exceeded".

For ribs it is often a matter of cooking temps and amount of time; and the cooking times in a recipe are general guidelines. Not all ribs are equal. Not only do they vary in thickness, but also the amount of tough connective tissue. The amount of meat that is in the cabinet will also slow down your recovery times, which will increase your cooking times. After following the cooking time guidelines for ribs; there are a couple of ways to check for doness.  My preference is using the bamboo skewer, which is the toothpick test. I use a skewer instead of a toothpick, because it give me a better idea of how done they are. When the skewer can be moved in and out with little resistance, they are bite off the bone done, if you want them fall off the bone continue cooking until the skewer can easily slide in and out of the meat. There is also the bend test, that doesn't seem to work for me. The bend test is using a pair of tongs, picking up the slab at the thick end. If the meat cracks at the bend point, they are done. One other test is the twist test, which simply is the grab a rib by the bone and twist and pull. If it separates easily it is done.

A lot of members keep the vent wide open, but I will use the opening to maximize the temperature. I generally cook with the vent half to three quarters opened. As long as their is no condensation inside, you are good. If you have a full load, that will produce more moisture, you will need to set the vent opening wider. If you replace the water bowl with a large pan, then cook with the vent wide open, that large pan of water will put out a large amount of moisture. The larger load will also increase your cooking times, since it will take the smoker much longer to get up to your set cabinet temperature. Also you should rotate the racks front to back, and top to bottom for more even cooking. For example for ribs, you should rotate the racks after you foil, and again after removing the foil.

[NorthShoreMN]

Wkdlcome from N E Minnesota

[tailfeathers]

Hi and welcome aboard from South Dakota!