On 18-Sep-2007, Nonnymus > wrote:

> Dave Bugg wrote:
>
> >
> > How does the meat your Bradley produces compare in taste to your
> > combustion
> > smoker? I think Harry D. has a Bradley now, and since he has a long
> > history
> > using Kamados, I'd be interested to hear his comparison as well.
> >
> Sadly, all I can go on is memory, Dave. My comparison by recollection
> is that the Bradley does a darn good job, but obviously no aesthetic
> smoke ring. After moving here to a small lot, I started out with a gas
> grill from Sam's Club and did offset using one burner for wood chips in
> foil and the balance of the grate for ribs or butt. I DID get a small
> smoke ring from the chips in foil, which would make me think that it's a
> factor of the heat of the wood chips. Unlike the Bradley pucks, I also
> got gray ash from the wood chips in foil.
>
> My grill also has a little tray where you can actually burn or heat the
> chips over a gas "log lighter"-type of burner. I don't like that and
> seldom used it because the wood would always ignite, since there was no
> regulation of combustion air to the wood as you'd have with chips in foil.
>
> The problem with using a grill and even chips in foil is exactly what
> you were talking about. The hood of a grill provides literally no
> regulation of air flow and when doing low and slow in it, the meat dries
> out. IMHO, if we were to list (maybe a good idea) the things that make
> low and slow so successful, I'd put 1) controlled airflow in the smoking
> chamber to balance off humidity and drying. . . right up there toward
> the top.
>
> Heck, when I get a chance I might even start a thread listing possible
> "important" things for low and slow and maybe some of the pros can kick
> in and make it something usable for all.
>
> Nonny

Now you've gone an got me curious about what difference there is between
my gas bullet smoker and my offset. The gas bullet is built almost exactly
like a WSM except that it has a round stovelike burner under a grate covered
with lava rock. It has a water pan and a center section with two grates just
like the WSM. It differs however, in that it has NO adjustable vents.
There's
not much room to put in wood chunks/chips, but I might use a little CI
skillet for that purpose in place of some of the lava rock.

I think I'll buy a butt and experiment. I'm mainly curious about that smoke
ring thing and my perceived difference in taste between meat with a
pronounced smoke ring and meat without. What I'm saying is, "I don't
know if my gasser with wood chunks produces anything like the same
taste I get from the offset.

The gasser does have one positive attribute. The burner runs 'Real' low
and I haven't changed the tank in a couple of years. I just got a 3 burner
grill this summer and have changed that tank already.

--
Brick(Save a tree, eat a Beaver)