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dsmitty

Newbie
Original poster
Nov 15, 2010
26
10
Bellaire Oh
I plan on purchasing a bradley's orginal 4 rack smoker this week. I want to use this thing for making ribs, loins, jerky and sausage (to start)

Are there any do's or dont's to know right away. How about what is the easiest to start with? Like a fast smoke, half a day thing to be ready for dinner?

I have been lurking around for a while now, and starting to get some ideas, but really having a hard time finding actual recipe's/cook times.. I guess this is a self learning process??

I have been cooking on the grill for years, just have not smoked anything yet.
 
Welcome to SMF dsmitty. One of the easiest and quickest meals would be chicken. They don't take a lot of prep work and you can cook these at a higher temp (300°) rather than the "low and slow" that is the norm for ribs butts and brisket.

If your looking to do a pork product, ribs will fill that bill as they are usually done within 6 hours time.

Pork Butt and Brisket will take you the longest time and requires an all day or all night cook.
 
 

Welcome to SMF, Glad to have you with us.
 


This is the place to learn, lots of good info and helpful friendly Members.
 


For those of you new to Smoking, be sure to check out Jeff's 5 Day Smoking Basics eCourse.

Click Here it's "FREE" ... 5 Day eCourseE

If it were me I would buy the MES 40" as it is Cheaper, Bigger and Better.

With the Bradley you have to use their proprietary Pucks.

You must cut a slab of ribs in half or bend it to get it to fit.

The Bradley costs more Money [sup]$[/sup]399.00 than the MES $298.99 @ Sam's Clubs.

Must have Bubba Pucks to use last 3 pucks in feeder.

Only has a 500 Watt heating element.

The MES 40"

1200 Watt heating element

Is wide enough to lay a slab flat on the rack.

Uses Chips, Chunks or Dust which can be purchased anywhere for less money than Bradley Pucks.

Sells for $298.99 at Sam's Club

Sells for $399.00 at Cabela's

Has built in temp probe for meat.

And by buying and using an A-Maze-N-Smoker for cold smoking you can cold smoke without using any heat at all...

I have owned both and Now Use the MES
 
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I second Dutch's vote on chicken. Welcome to the forum.

 
Welcome to SMF dsmitty. One of the easiest and quickest meals would be chicken. They don't take a lot of prep work and you can cook these at a higher temp (300°) rather than the "low and slow" that is the norm for ribs butts and brisket.

If your looking to do a pork product, ribs will fill that bill as they are usually done within 6 hours time.

Pork Butt and Brisket will take you the longest time and requires an all day or all night cook.
 
Welcome to SMF - Like Dutch said start with the easy stuff - also go to the smokers section and look up your smoker to see what others may have done to their smoker to improve it
 
Welcome to the SMF, glad you're with us to enjoy some outdoor pleasure. Be sure and season your new smoker before you actually put any food in it. It's all good my friend.
 
thanks for the warm welcome and advise. I am thinking about the 30in masterbuilt due to the fact that my reasons of wanting the bradley was to have continuous feeding... but thats no advantage when you have to be around for care all day.

as i live less than 10 minutes away from cabelas (in wheeling/tridelphia) they have the 30 in with no window on sale for 200 right now.
 
Welcome to the forum. Put a twist on Dutch's advice..... do ribs AND chicken! Put some spare ribs on for 3 hrs., then wrap them in foil and put them back in the smoker, and at the same time put some chicken leg quarters in  below the ribs. After 1.5 hrs. take the ribs out of the foil and put them back in the smoker for another hour.

After ribs have been unfoiled and been back in the smoker for an hour, pull them off, wrap them back in foil and put them in a dry towel lined cooler to rest for 30-60 minutes. Check the internal temps on each piece of chicken, pull them when they hit 170° internal temp. I usually just toss all the chicken into a pan and cover it with foil while I get plates ready.

Cut your ribs into single bones and make up a plate of pure BBQ goodnes, ribs & chix.
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Welcome to SMF. I would go with the 40" if you could. It will be nice to have the extra space.
 
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First off Welcome Smitty to SMF. I would go with the ribs and chicken as adviced. You'll like it here for there are alot of really good folks here that would just love to help you with just about anything to do with smoking. Now there are alot of proven recipes for some amazing things here too. So if you need sign up for the E-Course it's free and it will give you the basics of smoking and some good methods to use also. So the next big thing for you to do is go out and get you something to smoke and if you happen to have any questions just post it here and we will be happy to answer them for you.

Welcome To Your New Addiction    
 
Welcome aboard!  As you've seen, there are a lot of great folks on here who are always willing to help out so don't hesitate to post your questions.
 
Welcome to the SMF. Glad to have you here. Lots of good folks, great recipes and knowledge. Looking forward to your first qview.
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well, its official, i am a proud owner of a Masterbuilt 30" electric smoker. Got it home last night, put it all together, will be doing the three hour seasoning process tonight. So what is first? I was thinking to make a meal for my in-laws for football sunday. Something to do after church 1230ish and be done before 7. Im thinking a couple racks of ribs? and maybe try some ABTs.... thoughts on this?

Also, I got three different woods: Apple, Cherry and Hickory. Not sure what I want to start with, but we will see. I am sure after a few more hours on the site, I can pinpoint what I want to use. But your thoughts are welcom as well!

I think I am going to be hooked, especially if the ribs turn out the way I want them too. Is there anything I should be aware of starting off? (do not have time for the 5 day thing) Also, if I use the smoker under a Trex deck, will it hurt the boards at all? (discolor or anything like that?)

Thanks,

Dsmitty
 
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