Bradley Smoker
 

While shopping in the local Sam's Club the other day I found that they
are now carrying Bradley Smokers at a pretty good price of around
$350. And that is about 15% better than any other price I've seem for
them.

I was wondering if anyone here as used one and in general what you
think of them.

One clear downside is that you have to use their little proprietary
compressed wood disks for smoke generation. This could be expensive in
the long run.

On the plus side, it seems the smoke generation is a separate function
from the heat source which is electric. Besides promising a steady
thermostatically controlled temperature, it should allow me to do
cold smoking. I would like to try my hand at making my own bacon and
smoking fish. We catch a lot of mackerel up here in the summer and it
seems like a good way to use them.

As I've said , I live in Maine, and for a large part of the year it is
just too damn cold to use most smokers. Does anyone have experience
with a Bradley in the cold?

Thanks in advance,
Jim

In article >,
says...
> While shopping in the local Sam's Club the other day I found that they
> are now carrying Bradley Smokers at a pretty good price of around
> $350. And that is about 15% better than any other price I've seem for
> them.
>
> I was wondering if anyone here as used one and in general what you
> think of them.
>
> One clear downside is that you have to use their little proprietary
> compressed wood disks for smoke generation. This could be expensive in
> the long run.
>
> On the plus side, it seems the smoke generation is a separate function
> from the heat source which is electric. Besides promising a steady
> thermostatically controlled temperature, it should allow me to do
> cold smoking. I would like to try my hand at making my own bacon and
> smoking fish. We catch a lot of mackerel up here in the summer and it
> seems like a good way to use them.
>
> As I've said , I live in Maine, and for a large part of the year it is
> just too damn cold to use most smokers. Does anyone have experience
> with a Bradley in the cold?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Jim
>
A buddy of mine has a Bradley and loves it. He uses it year round in
all kinds of weather, from hot, humid Summer temps in the 90s, to the
Winter extremes (around here) in the teens, sometimes into single digits
for a few days at a time.

My friend cares not at all about the cost of the Bradley chips. He buys
them in bulk and has a major stash of them in his shed. (This guy is
not hurting for money, so life-cycle costs that might deter some folks
are not a consideration.)

Over about a year and a half I've sampled a lot of what he's done in the
Bradley, literally from soup to nuts, and it's all been good. No
complaints there.

You might want to look into one of the ceramic cookers as an alternative
to the Bradley. Although the ceramics are not as flexible in some ways
(like cold smoking) their cold weather performance is supposed to be
good, and they have some grilling and smoking options that the Bradley
doesn't. Good luck,
--
Bob
(remove ZZ to email)

In article >,
says...
> While shopping in the local Sam's Club the other day I found that they
> are now carrying Bradley Smokers at a pretty good price of around
> $350. And that is about 15% better than any other price I've seem for
> them.
>
> I was wondering if anyone here as used one and in general what you
> think of them.
>
> One clear downside is that you have to use their little proprietary
> compressed wood disks for smoke generation. This could be expensive in
> the long run.
>
> On the plus side, it seems the smoke generation is a separate function
> from the heat source which is electric. Besides promising a steady
> thermostatically controlled temperature, it should allow me to do
> cold smoking. I would like to try my hand at making my own bacon and
> smoking fish. We catch a lot of mackerel up here in the summer and it
> seems like a good way to use them.
>
> As I've said , I live in Maine, and for a large part of the year it is
> just too damn cold to use most smokers. Does anyone have experience
> with a Bradley in the cold?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Jim
>
A buddy of mine has a Bradley and loves it. He uses it year round in
all kinds of weather, from hot, humid Summer temps in the 90s, to the
Winter extremes (around here) in the teens, sometimes into single digits
for a few days at a time.

My friend cares not at all about the cost of the Bradley chips. He buys
them in bulk and has a major stash of them in his shed. (This guy is
not hurting for money, so life-cycle costs that might deter some folks
are not a consideration.)

Over about a year and a half I've sampled a lot of what he's done in the
Bradley, literally from soup to nuts, and it's all been good. No
complaints there.

You might want to look into one of the ceramic cookers as an alternative
to the Bradley. Although the ceramics are not as flexible in some ways
(like cold smoking) their cold weather performance is supposed to be
good, and they have some grilling and smoking options that the Bradley
doesn't. Good luck,
--
Bob
(remove ZZ to email)

Not Telling wrote:

> One clear downside is that you have to use their little proprietary
> compressed wood disks for smoke generation. This could be expensive in
> the long run.

You bet. At a cost in supplies of one dollar an hour it gets
expensive very quickly. Using it 20 hours a week will end up
costing you over $1000 per year in supplies alone. That's almost
3 times the cost of the unit itself.

> On the plus side, it seems the smoke generation is a separate function
> from the heat source which is electric. Besides promising a steady
> thermostatically controlled temperature, it should allow me to do
> cold smoking. I would like to try my hand at making my own bacon and
> smoking fish. We catch a lot of mackerel up here in the summer and it
> seems like a good way to use them.

Cold smoking is it's strong point. It's very stable and doesn't
require much adjustment. I run mine in cold smoke mode for 10 hours
at a time without having to touch it even once.

> As I've said , I live in Maine, and for a large part of the year it is
> just too damn cold to use most smokers. Does anyone have experience
> with a Bradley in the cold?

It's insulation is not as good as some of the other smoker/oven
type units such as Cookshack. Cold weather usage is definitely
an issue.

Bradley also has a pretty good forum. You might want to read
some user's comments... keeping in mind that they're somewhat
biased in favor of the unit.

http://www.bradleysmoker.com/forum/

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com

Not Telling wrote:

> One clear downside is that you have to use their little proprietary
> compressed wood disks for smoke generation. This could be expensive in
> the long run.

You bet. At a cost in supplies of one dollar an hour it gets
expensive very quickly. Using it 20 hours a week will end up
costing you over $1000 per year in supplies alone. That's almost
3 times the cost of the unit itself.

> On the plus side, it seems the smoke generation is a separate function
> from the heat source which is electric. Besides promising a steady
> thermostatically controlled temperature, it should allow me to do
> cold smoking. I would like to try my hand at making my own bacon and
> smoking fish. We catch a lot of mackerel up here in the summer and it
> seems like a good way to use them.

Cold smoking is it's strong point. It's very stable and doesn't
require much adjustment. I run mine in cold smoke mode for 10 hours
at a time without having to touch it even once.

> As I've said , I live in Maine, and for a large part of the year it is
> just too damn cold to use most smokers. Does anyone have experience
> with a Bradley in the cold?

It's insulation is not as good as some of the other smoker/oven
type units such as Cookshack. Cold weather usage is definitely
an issue.

Bradley also has a pretty good forum. You might want to read
some user's comments... keeping in mind that they're somewhat
biased in favor of the unit.

http://www.bradleysmoker.com/forum/

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com