as newbie as they get to smokin & this forum

[RupKin2]

Hey all

Well had our company bbq yesterday, smoked salmon. Yep started talking to co-worker about smoking and he says Bradley is the smoker to get.

Well after some searching and what not last night, also found this forum last night too, my wife and I bought the Bradley, OBS I guess it is.

Never smoked any kind of food what so ever and by 10:30am bought a smoker and had it home.
Had to krazy glue a small fracture by the middle screw on the bottom cover plate. No big deal, called Bradley, left message,

Went to IGA bought some ribs, marinated them some and started seasoning smoker by 1pm.
2pm the ribs had been rubbed, spiced (lemon & herbs not that good........save this for the fish maybe.)

The only bad thing was my expectations, I figured the meat was just going to melt off the bones, well that didn't happen ;D. The lemon spice stuff was crap but other then that for my first time they were pretty good, tender, smoky tasting.

I didn't pre cook them, I never do when I BBQ so why now, that might change tho.
They went from package to sink(wash) straight into the smoker by 2pm. Unfortunatly I had to put them on the BBQ around 7:30pm for half an hour. Seems the smoker will can not get past 200F, about 215F on the Bradley temp gauge.
8:45 my wife and I were nibbling on them, not bad for first time. Might be a little room for improvement ;D

I  was wondering tho, like I mentioned earlier I think there might be a heating problem. At the time the outside/ambient temperature was 32 celcius and when I started seasoning it took almost an hour to get the temp 200F. Whe I had the ribs in the smoker I had the TS on full, damper open about 25% and the temp hovered for the most part 150F.

Cheers  all

John

[LilSmoker]

Hi and welcome RupKin2, there are many of us on here that are searching for the perfect rib  ;D i personaly think i have come close a few times, but always room for improvement ;)

Here's how i do mine:

First of all remove the membrane from the ribs, always do this otherwise the ribs will be chewy :o if you're using a rub you can now apply it, once rubbed leave the ribs to get up to room temp.

Place hot water in the BS water bowl, preheat to about 225-250f depending on ammount of ribs, i aim for a cooking temp of 200f, so the temp will drop when the ribs are added.

Ok, put the ribs into the BS, close the door and load your bisquettes, i use 3-4 hours of smoke depending on wood type. At this stage if you have "Bubba pucks" add 3, or 2 + 1 wood puck.

Make a note of the time, and try and get the cook temp at a steady 200f, it will probably take a while to climb, but no problem you can always have a beer or two! ;)

At the 3 hour mark i usually spray the ribs with a mixture of apple juice and honey, and rotate the racks top to bottom, back to front etc, try and do this quickly as the cabinet temp will drop considerably.

At the 4 hour mark, refresh the water bowl with hot water, rotate racks, and spray the ribs again with more juice. I now leave the ribs for about another 2 hours without disturbing them, mine are usually done or almost done after 6 hours, you could add some bbq sauce for the last hour.

Anyway after 6 hours in the BS, if the ribs are not tender enough for you, you can put them into a foil pan, juice them, cover with foil and put them in the oven at 190f for whatever time it takes to get right for your taste, 1-4 hours, they should then be very very tender. Usually after 6 hours in the BS the ribs are more or less done anyway.

At my place some like the ribs dry, and some like them sticky with sauce, so i do them all dry, and add sauce to half of them after they come out of the BS. ;)

Here's some of my efforts with ribs from a while back:

Membrane removed:



Rubbed:



Ready to go:



All done, sauced (nice and sticky)



Job done!:




Stick with it, you'll soon be churning out great ribs ;)

Also spend some time at this place, there is a wealth of knowledge, and lots of fantastic recipes there, a real must for a Bradley owner:

http://www.susanminor.org/forums/

Lots of help here also, so if you get stuck, just shout  ;D

LilSmoker

[Habanero Smoker]

RupKin2;
Welcome to the forum. LilSmoker gave you some good advice. I wouldn't precook. If time is an issue, I would follow LilSmoker's suggestion and finish them in the oven, or as you did on the grill.

As far as the cabinet temperatures, the door temperature gauge can be unreliable; especially after you load the cabinet with food. The more food you place in the cabinet, the longer it will take for the BS to get up to the set temperature. The range of 200°F - 225° is what many of us use as a smoking/cooking range; though you want it to get to that temperature as quickly as possible.

Most of us use a digital probe, or remote thermometer to monitor the cabinet temperatures. Many of us have the Maverick ET-73, it's a remote thermometer which allows you to monitor the cabinet and meat temperatures from 10 feet to 50 feet away depending on what obstacles that may interfere with the signal.

[Wildcat]

Welcome to the forum.  LS and Habs are right on and there is nothing more I can add.  IMHO ribs are probably the most difficult hot smoked item to do.

[hillbillysmoker]

Welcome to the forum.  As you can see there are many friendly folks here always willing to help. The advice given is excellent.  Give it a try.

[RupKin2]

Nice looking ribs LilSmoker, very nice.
Mine weren't quite like that ;D
What does the grocery store call those type of ribs. The ribs we get have two small racks looking like that then the garbage rib is hidden below in the package

I did the hot(boiling)water in the bowl, got it up to 240F/250F depending on which thermostat your looking at. Ordered the ET 73 today, seen an ET 72c in a store up here (Edmonton, Canada)today. Similar but not quite.

Doing various fish today.

Thanks for the help you guys, must go tend to the food now, thanks again.

John

[LilSmoker]

Hi again RupKin2, thanks, they are baby back ribs, the ones in the pic were bought from a farmers market, and imo were trimmed a little too much, usually they carry a bit more meat, but they were still good all the same  ;)

I have bought really good baby backs from Costco, great quality and very cheap

BS ribs just take a bit of practice and tweaking, they seem to get better each time

LilSmoker

[NePaSmoKer]

Welcome Rubkin2

See you met the others  ;D

Enjoy your smokin

nepas

[Skipystu]

I put rub on then 24 or so hours before hand and then put them in the fridge. Type of rub is up to you, I tend to do two or three types and don't separate them after cooking. Adds to the adventure and fun when you get a spicy one  ;D



I smoke them for 3 hours with Apple & Special Blend at about 190-200 and spray them every 30-45 minutes or so with 2 parts Apple juice and 1 part Jack Daniels. After 3-4 hours I wrap each rack of rib with foil and put in some of my Apple/Jack juice. Then I smoke them for another 3-4 hours.





FTC for about 4 hours.

Then I put them, still wrapped in the fridge over night. In the morning I take them out and put some more rub on and then grill them, some with sauce some without for about 10-15 mins. Or just until they are falling apart on me.

Everyone loves them!  and I am now getting requests from friends to make them a few times a month!

[La Quinta]

Geez...those look amazing! Nicely done!!

[RupKin2]

Once again good lookin ribs Skipystu

I see that there is more to this then jsut buying a smoker and tossing something in and presto done............ ;D ;D

Doing jerky now, brined for 24 hours, I'll smoke 4 or 5 hours I guess, then cook in smoker till I get up for work...........thats the plan so far.

Had to krazy glue a small fracture by the middle screw on the bottom cover plate. No big deal, called Bradley, left message,

They, Darcy called me today and they "Bradley" are sending me a new piece, temp control and all, wow thats good haven't even sent my warranty card in yet, plus I keep the old, gotta like all that.

Kudos to Bradley

Cheers
John

[Oldman]

Welcome to the forum. LilSmoker gave you some good advice.

Amen.

Now for this Oldman's advice. Ribs are the hardest thing to do in the Bradley. Check out our recipe site. Give yourself a break and do things in the beginning that are simple but effective. Try this recipe: Smoked Bacon Wrapped Chicken Breast. Or do a pulled pork.

Good luck with your jerky, and one thing you said is so true. Smokin' foods is not a Shake n' Bake event. It takes time to learn, but when you do arrive everyone will know it.

Welcome to the family.
Olds

[RupKin2]

Thanks Oldman,going camping thisweekend and was then was not going to take Bradley but after seeing your recipe my I will take it again..... ;D

My jerky came out very good as in texture and tender, I soaked it too long, 11 hours, oops, too long, very salty. 8 would have been better, less soya, more sugar.

Right now I not all that concerned about easy or not, just that I need some basis, something to relate to other than printed material.

oh ya, recieved my Maverick ET 73, this will be good for everthing, BBQ, wife's Xmas turkey............. ::)

cheers
John

[MallardWacker]

That there is some great RIB PORN....

[Stickbowcrafter]

I've done absolutely perfect ribs on my charcoal smoker for years so I've never tried them in the Bradley. Always seem to hear how difficult they are on this forum. SOunds like you have some great advice above though, keep it up and good luck.

-Brian