New 6 rack digital owner. Lovin it!!

[AbAngler]

Hi all.  Am I glad I found this place!!

I thought I'd introduce myself.  My wife and I live just north of Calgary in a small town.  We fish and hunt alot, so our freezer is usually pretty full with wild game and fish (trout, walleye and pike).  My wife has never really been a big fan of the traditional ways to cook deer and fowl, so I've been looking at different ways to prepare it for her.  She loves the deer and goose jerky that I've had made at the butcher, so I figured a smoker would be a good purchase so I can do it myself (at considerably less cost).  I've had my eye on the Bradley digital smoker since they came out, but I'm a cheap bugger so I was going to build my own.  Imagine my surprise when my wife bought me the 6 rack digital Bradley for Christmas!  What a woman!! 

So last weekend I borrowed a slicer and sliced up about 12lbs of deer to make 4 different batches.  I did 3 batches of brine, Mexican, Hunters and modified Hunters.  For the last batch I used a rub my wife found in Texas (she's from just outside of Houston).  They sat over night in sealed glass bowls in the fridge.  I smoked using Hickory and Mesquite pucks for 3 hours per batch while keeping the temp at around 160 for 8 hours, give or take.  They turned out great!!  The only issue I had was the slicer I used didn't do the most even cuts.  They would start out at a nice 1/4 inch, but get bigger as I sliced.  I think I'll get the butcher to slice my next batches until I can find a better slicer.  As a result, I had to take out the thinner slices as they finished, leaving the thicker ones in a while longer. 

My first attempt was a success, but I noticed the smoker leaked some "juice" out the bottom.  I assume this is condensation and/or vapor from the puck bowl.  Should I be smoking jerky without water in the bowl? 

That there is the first of many questions I will be asking.  Thanks in advance!

AbAngler 

[HCT]

Hey AB, welcome to the forum. One thing about the Bradley, everything comes out good.
As for the moisture, was your vent opened?

[canadiansmoker]

Welcome AbAngler! It is nice to see another Canuck here on the forum. I'm from Calgary myself and just started using the Bradley after Christmas. Great machine.

I haven't tried doing jerky in my smoker yet so i'm sure a few more knowledgable people will pipe in, but from what I can understand doing jerky I think you would still need the bowl filled in the smoker to snuff out the pucks once they are done. I was going to ask the same question that HCT asked, was your vent wide open? If not then that can cause condensation to form inside the smoker.

[pensrock]

Vent needs to be open. There is a lot of moisture due to the fact the meat was in a marinade.
Also did you pre-heat the smoker before loading it? Pre-heating will help in getting any condensation out before putting the meat in.
Try semi-freezing the chunks of meat before slicing. it makes it a lot easier.

Welcome to the site.
pens

[AbAngler]

Thanks for the welcomes!  Didn't think I'd find an Albertan here, cheers Canadiansmoker!  Nice looking hounds there HCT.  

Yes the vent was wide open.  The screw for the vent was cross threaded out of the box, so it's actually open a bit more then it should be.  There wasn't alot leaked juice, but enough to notice.  

[AbAngler]

Vent needs to be open. There is a lot of moisture due to the fact the meat was in a marinade.
Also did you pre-heat the smoker before loading it? Pre-heating will help in getting any condensation out before putting the meat in.
Try semi-freezing the chunks of meat before slicing. it makes it a lot easier.

Welcome to the site.
pens

Thank pens.  The meat was semi frozen, but the slicer board wobbles and blade adjustment doesn't hold very well in that slicer.  It's a cheap Canadian Tire unit.

[Mr Walleye]

Hi AbAngler and welcome to the forum from another Canuck! Saskatchewan for me.

When doing jerky you do want to have the vent wide open because you want the moisture escape. Another thing that a number of people do is once the smoke portion is complete, empty the water bowl and spent pucks but just put it back in empty. This will also help keeping the moisture down.

Mike

[AbAngler]

Hey there Mr Walleye.  What part of the Pilsner province are you from?  We spend 10 days at Tobin every spring.  Good times!

Good idea with the bowl.  I'll try that next time. 

Got any smokin ideas for walleye and pike? 

[Mr Walleye]

I've fished Tobin a number of times as well. I live in Moose Jaw so we spend a lot of time on Diefenbaker and Last Mountain Lakes. We fish a few tournaments every year as well, would like to fish more but time is always a factor. We also take a trip into Northern Manitoba each year for a week in the spring... It's all good!  ;)

I really haven't done much in the way of smoking pike and walleye but I will say if you haven't tried making Kummok's salmon you absolutely have to. It's spectacular! You can find the recipe at the top of the Fish page.

Glad to have ya on board! If you haven't seen the recipe site just click on the smoker in the bottom of my post. Tons of great stuff there from all the fine folks on the forum.

Mike

[josbocc]

AbAngler,

Welcome to the forum.  Tons of great advice here.  I have to agree with the folks that have already posted, keep the vent open, and when doing jerky, it may be beneficial to get rid of the water bowl AFTER the smoke is complete.

I've put some jerky in my BDS6, but only left it there for the smoke phase.  After that I pulled it out and finished in my dehydrator.  I've read a lot about people doing jerky in the Bradley, but I've got to believe that without a fan to circulate the warm air, you're going to have to be extra cautious and rotate the racks to ensure even drying.

Remember, you're drying the meat and not cooking it.  I never let my temp exceed 160 F.  Good Luck, and let us know how it turns out.

Jeff