Greetings from California!

[Sapo915]

I recently decided to join the Bradley family and I have a feeling it's going to be a great decision.

I will be needing A LOT of help. I have absolutely no experience in smoking food. If you have any advice for me, I will gladly accept it!

From where to position certain meats on the racks, temperatures, smoking & cooking times and of course recipes.

I receive my smoker tomorrow and plan on smoking a few things for a few friends for the UFC fight.

I believe I will TRY to smoke brisket and some ribs. Any tips or advice? Remember I have absolutely no experience in smoking so feel free to dumb everything down for me!

Thanks!

[TMB]

Welcome to the forum!   As for a brisket, you might want to get a little more smoking done before you try it because it is a $$$$ hunk of meat.  But then again if you read up and follow good info you will pull it off.

Go here for some good rib advice!
http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=10182.msg109618#msg109618

[TedEbear]

Welcome aboard from St. Louis.  You can get some ideas on briskets at the user recipe site below.  If you still have questions after that, just ask.

Our Time Tested and Proven Recipes

Remember to never smoke with the top vent closed.  Always have it at least halfway to fully open. 

Try to keep the smoker out of the wind as wind tends to suck the heat right out of the cooking chamber.

Smoking in the Bradley is a low and slow process, unlike what most people are used to when cooking things in their oven. Do not rush it.

Be sure and season your smoker before using it for the first time.

Do not use an extension cord or it will struggle with getting up to temp.

You can fill the water bowl with hot water if it's a cold day out and your smoker needs a boost to help it reach operating temp.

Cook things like briskets by internal temp, not time.  A remote thermometer will greatly help with this.  The Maverick ET-733 is a popular one around here.

Frogmats on the racks will help to keep things from sticking to them.

Get a set of 3 puck savers so the last bisquette isn't left to smolder on the hot plate.  Bisquette Saver for Bradley Smoker

Those are just a few things I thought of.  I'm sure I missed a few.  However, just post a question if you need help.   :)

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi Sapo915;

Welcome to the forum.

Brisket and ribs can be done, and will be great to serve,  but it could be too ambitious of a cook for your first time; especially when you are planning to serve guests. There is not much time remaining, but if you can get in at least one practice cook, that would be helpful. If you have a vacuum sealer, probably most of that practice cook (if it comes out alright) can be sealed and reheated for the event.

A couple of other ideas would be pulled pork, which can be made in advance and reheats well. There are a lot of smoked appetizers, that may require a little more prep time, but take a relatively short time in the smoker, and can be reliably cooked and finished on the day of the event.

[beefmann]

welcome aboard from orange county ca.

[Sapo915]

Thanks everyone for the great advice!

I'm currently seasoning it (mesquite) and I have it on the lowest temp setting on the knob and vent wide open. It's around 170-180ish. Is that normal or do I have to lower it even more to cook ribs? Doing a practice cook tonight in a bit

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[Habanero Smoker]

For ribs you want to use barbeque temperatures, which are higher then traditional hot smoking temperatures. For the Bradley, when cooking ribs, most use a temperature of 225°F; applying the smoke at the beginning of the cook. You may want to use pecan or hickory for pork. The mesquite may be too strong. Apple and maple also work well on ribs.

You didn't mention what type of ribs you are cooking. Baby backs cook sooner than spareribs.

[Shasta bob]

Welcome from Oregon

[Sapo915]

I'm cooking spare ribs....

I preheated the smoker to 250....put the ribs in and started the smoke.

Now I can't get the temp over 150 and it's been almost 30 mins since they went in. Normal?


I have the smoker filled. All four racks have pork spare ribs on them?

What's the temp goes up should I add more smoke or the three hours of smoke at a low temp good enough?

Thanks!
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[Habanero Smoker]

It's been awhile since I cooked ribs in the Bradley. When your Bradley doesn't recover in a timely manner, you are looking at increased cooking times. If you didn't have the ribs sit at room temperature for an hour or two prior to placing them in the Bradley, and having a full load will increase the time it take for the smoker to recover. For myself, three hours is more than enough smoke, I usually only apply two hours during that first 3 hour period, and that is all. If the vent is wide open, you may want to test closing it to 3/4 to see if you get any improvement in heat. If you don't see a rise, or the temperature begins to drop within 10 minutes, then set it back to full open. 

Other factors can effect the cabinet temperature, such as wind, and/or cold temperature. If tit is windy try to protect the top vent so wind does not flow down it, but don't block the vent. The side vent on the generator also need to be protected from the wind, but again do not block off the air flow. Each time you open the door to check on the food, will drop your cabinet temperature, and increase your cooking time.