Newbie smoker

[jenny_haddow]

My Bradley arrived today, any advice gratefully received.
Looking forward to adding this new dimension to home production.

Cheers

Jen

[Big Guy]

No stopping you now. I know you'll enjoy this new chapter in sausage making,bacon,hams, smoked fish it just gets better and better.
Keep us posted. We enjoy your pictures!

[stu]

Hi Jen

I was good enough running upto Christmas so that Santa brought me a Bradley. I have only fired it up twice but have been impressed with the results. The best thing produced has been Oak Smoked Salmon, Smoked Bacon is not far behind. Where did you purchase the Bradly from?

So far I have cold smoked, what do you intend doing, with a medium sized cardboard box between the smoke generator and the smoking chamber. The smoke generator is fitted to one side and diagonally opposite the smoke chamber sits, the top of the box has a sheet of foil covering it. The theory here is the hotish smoke rises looses heat through the foil, aluminium is a good heat conductor, and descend to enter the smoking chamber. I have managed to keep the smoke temperature to about 5 C above ambient and no pipes involved. I hope you get the picture.

I should be smoking this weekend, just put some more Salmon into cure, I will try to take a couple of pictures.

You should enjoy the smoker it introduced a new dimension to what you can produce.

Cheers
Stu

[saucisson]

Can't quite work out what you are doing, not your fault A picture would help.

Dave

[Wilf]

Stu, it is fairly easy to keep the smoking temp down this time of year (especially as its only 2-3� outside) with a box or long tube, I used a rolled up printing plate to create distance between smoke generator and the main compartment, but I tend only to do hot smoking in the Summer

[stu]

Hi Saucisson

I wasn't sure how well I had described things, my guess is not too well , so here is a picture to give the general idea. Hopefully more pictures after this weekend.



The smoke generator fits back left and smoke enter the chamber via a hole front right. Just after the picture was taken I thought about the foil so I taped the flaps into an upright position and covered the top with the foil. A bit of smoke escaped from around the foil so I have made a frame to help hold the foil in place, to be tried this weekend.

Wilf

I am hoping to cold smoke in the summer as long as the weather does not get too hot.

Cheers
Stu

[saucisson]

Thanks Stu, a picture is worth a thousand words! I get it fine now!

Dave

[eddy current]

A tried and tested method of cold smoking with a Bradley is given here.

http://www.johnwatkins.co.uk/personalpa ... moking.htm

I can recommend hot smoked topside of beef.

[eddy current]

A browse through the following forum will give a lot of help.

http://forum.bradleysmoker.co.uk/

[jenny_haddow]

Thanks for the input everyone. We set up the 'smoke house' this weekend in a small shed dedicated solely to smoking. I plan to use the cardboard box and ducting method to cold smoke, and hope to get some good smoked fish out of it to start with.

I'll post some picture as and when.

Cheers

Jen

[welsh wizard]

Hi Stu

Nice photograph. I use a similar method but my box sits c3 - 4 feet away from the smoker and the smoker is raised highr than the box (hot air rises). This is connected via a piece of ducting pipe which fits almost exactly to the appature of hole in the Bradley. I dont know if this delivers a colder smoke, but it very much works for me.

Cheers WW

[clivmar]

Where am I going wrong? I decided at last to give cold smoking a go and purchased a Porky Pa�s CSG. I�ve connected it up to my gas grill and carried out two trials. (Without meat). I used the supplied wood chips for the first test and some from a local BBQ centre for the second. Both times a lot of resin was produced and leaked from the CSG, made quite a mess on the patio. Looking at Porky Pa�s web site he doesn�t have this problem. If I make a mess each time I cold smoke I can see a comment from my other half.

I read that if resin is produced when smoking this can have a disagreeable effect on the cured pork or fish. I have a Ham curing and was hoping to smoke it this weekend.

I started the CSG off with a gas blowtorch. I�ll try using a crushed charcoal briquette this afternoon if it ever stops raining.

Any ideas please.

[saucisson]

I get a lot of resin/liquid tar leaking from the top of my homemade version, I expect it depends on the wood, it seems to be smoke tight but not liquid tight.

Just ensure you have a drip catcher in place

[welsh wizard]

With regard to the Bradley a good way of keeping the temprature down in the warmer weather, wherever that is, is to put a tray of frozen prawns (shell on) on the bottom rack. NOt only do you get a fantastic tray of prawns but you can keep the internal temprature down too.

The prawns need to be on the bottom rack so they dont drip onto the rest of the food thats in the Bradley - not wishing to teach anybody to suck prawns as it were...............

OR just chuck a couple of ice packs in whilst smoking.

Cheers WW

[saucisson]

What an excellent idea I'll try that one...