Spraying PAM on drip tray

[Doc Waters]

Just received my new digital smoker. Can't wait to get smokin'!

Need a bit of advise:

I am used to a charcoal smoker where I always cover the drip pan in foil for easy cleanup - since this could present a problem with the Bradley, is it ok to spray the drip tray with PAM to assist with easy clean up?

Also, I assume there's no problem using a Texas Crutch on the food (wrapping food in foil) so long as I don't restrict the circulation. Right?

Thanks for the help.

Doc

[hillbillysmoker]

I would recommend the Pam for grilling if you use Pam.  I use a product called peel ease.  Works well and is much cheaper. Here is a link if you are interested. Incidentally this product dilutes by using one part of peel ease and 4 parts of water so it is quite inexpensive.



http://www.sausagemaker.com/index.asp?PageAction=PRODSEARCH&txtSearch=peel+ease

[Doc Waters]

Sounds great.

Thanks hillbillysmoker.

Doc

[Ontrack]

Although I'm as much a newbie as you, and only 1 Bradley smoke under my belt, I think Pam or some other non-stick spray would be a very good idea. I do know that with my old water smokers, a little spray made cleaning a lot easier in the water bowl, which is where all of the drippings end up. A word of caution, though--my Bradley drip tray has very sharp edges on the bottom of the "fins". I washed it after my first smoke and noticed blood dripping into the sink. I ended up with razor-fine cuts on the tips of 4 fingers. I remember reading a post about this, but now I know for sure. So, be careful fellow newbie, and enjoy and soak up the wisdom of the great people here!

[Gizmo]

Hi Doc and welcome.
I havent used the hi temp or peel ease but I have used regular PAM.  I haven't noticed that it provided any help in the clean up processes.  I believe in some cases, the PAM residue was more of a clean-up than the food goo.  The back side of the VTRAY is directly over the heating element and turns the goo into charcoal.  A good long soak with some detergent (WCK has suggested Dawn Power Disolve) should do the trick.  I haven't remembered to try the Power Disolve yet but some day I'll remember to look for it in the stores.

[Habanero Smoker]

After WCK's recommendation on the Dawn Power Dissolve, it bought some. It is one of the better cleaners out there. Just read the instructions on how to use it. I didn't read the instructions, but didn't use that much and ended up with a sink full of suds. :)

I use the Pam Grill spray, on my grill but never thought to use it on the "V" tray or drip tray. It wouldn't hurt to try. I'm out of the Grill spray, but the last time I went to the supermarket I couldn't find it. I ended up getting Pam Professional, which is developed for high heat. I haven't had a chance to try it yet.

The way you describe using the foil, that will not be a problem in the BS.

[MoSmoke]

Years ago when I was a Boy Scout we use to put a soap film on all of the pots and pans that we used prior to cooking over an open fire and the black soot would just wipe off with a cloth and water. I was wondering if the same thing would work in the smoker or it would give off something that would mess up the food. Any thoughts or experiences along this line?

Thanks

[Artmiester]

'Nother newbie here. I started out by taking an SOS pad to the V-tray in the kitchen sink and noticed the sharp edges right away so simply deburred them with the SOS. Now I spray Pam's Grilling spray and soak a good twelve hours and everything comes right off but the char on the bottom of the V-tray. Gonna get me some Peel Ease at Sausage Smoker though, and try that. Gotta go with whatevers easiest. After all that's what smokin' with the DBS is all about! ;D

[KyNola]

Welcome aboard Doc!
I spray the V-tray with regular Pam or Pam for Grilling, whichever I have available.  I think it helps and my wife ;D uses Dawn Power Dissolver for the clean up and she says it works great.  Enjoy your smoker.  The veterans on this forum are a huge wealth of information and are always eager to help newbies like us.

KyNola

[Kell]

I also use Pam but I still also have to soak 12+ hours in hot water and detergent to get the bigger pieces of dried drippings off.  I found something that worked really good on the brown smoke color on the V tray, drip bowl, and pan.  It was Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.  It worked better than the SOS and you only need a light scrubbing.  You can also use it on the racks but it says to rinse well on food surfaces.

[Gizmo]

Bar Keepers Friend will do a great job of removing the smoke film and bring back the shine if that is important to ya.

[NePaSmoKer]

I would recommend the Pam for grilling if you use Pam.  I use a product called peel ease.  Works well and is much cheaper. Here is a link if you are interested. Incidentally this product dilutes by using one part of peel ease and 4 parts of water so it is quite inexpensive.



http://www.sausagemaker.com/index.asp?PageAction=PRODSEARCH&txtSearch=peel+ease

I use this also hillbilly, works great huh.

Man do we have it together or what....eh buddy  ;D

nepas

[hillbillysmoker]

right on nepas!

[Doc Waters]

Thanks for the warm welcome and sound advise, everyone. I think I'm going to really enjoy it here!

I looked into purchasing the Peel Ease. Unfortunately, a $9 bottle is going to cost another $16 for shipping and brokerage fees to Canada. That's because they use UPS, who always charge a brokerage fee even when the item shipped isn't subject to duty. I will likely phone them and see if they will ship by Postal Service. Anything I ever order through the post (that doesn't require duty) comes without a brokerage fee.

Meanwhile I'll try some of the other suggestions for both coating and clean up. Thanks for the tips!

I am right in the middle of a big inaugural weekend smoke with my new DBS. Have about 5.5 lbs of rib tips smoking right now, and later tonight I have a couple of 8 lb. butts to go on overnight. This is fun!

I've been using my Maverick on the middle rack to see what the oven temp is, compared to the digital readout on the "Oven Meat Temp". I was surprised to see that there's quite a difference. Suspect it will take a few smokes to get the hang of it. I've seen a few posts on PIDs. Don't really know what they are, but will look into it a bit later.

Also plan to pick up a couple of bricks to hold the temp and also a couple of frost plugs for using as the last two bisquettes, as recommended elsewhere on this forum. Hey, I'm right into this!

Thanks for all the help!  ;)

Doc

[Artmiester]

Hi Doc,

Looks like your well on your way. Congrats! Fun is the operative word here, not to mention delicious, mouth watering, yummy...

Your temperature between the botom, middle, and top are always going to vary as much as 10F depending on the load, arrangement, and cut of meat (larger cuts take longer to come to temperature and tend to become "ballast" as they near finish and your temperature swings start to flatten out. I throw a brick or two in during preheat, leave them on the water tray during the entire process and they help quite a bit with averaging temperatures.

I built a couple of PIDs for my smokin' buddy and myself (a PID is nothing more than a commercial oven temperature control that will hold your selected temperature in the middle or bottom of the cabinet to within +- 1-2 degrees F). There's a good article on building one of these babies on the "Recipes from the Bradley Forums" site, and I'll post the link for ya as soon as I find it. Not difficult at all, even for someone electronically challenged as I am. By and large you can get along without one just fine but it shore makes judging total times easier in the long run. Good luck! and Smoke On! 8) 8) ;D