Bradley Digital Smoker Reviews Requested

Do any of you have a Bradley Digital Smoker? What do you think about it. My old gas smoker has bit the dust and I want to go electric this time. I am looking at the 108 liter model.
Thanks in advance.

Mike

I have the analog smoker. I think the digital one would be nicer to help with temp regulating. The downside to the bradleys are the wood smoking pucks .. very over priced IMHO.
My analog one does an awesome job smoking fish to brisket and everything in between.

Strike Zone has one and likes it (I believe).
Maybe he'll comment.

Personally, the pucks would keep me away and the 108's $600 price point is getting close to the next class of machines.

Thanks for the info guys. I know the pucks are pricey and so is the smoker itself. I was also looking at the Masterbuilt Elite Smoker; that is digital, but uses regular wood chips. However; I am not seeing a lot of love for that one from the reviews on line compared to the Bradley.

I have had the gas fired smoker for years. It did a good job, but required a lot of attention to keep the temp under control. With electric, I am looking for more temp control and less attention to the smoker during the smoking process. I don't mind spending probably more than I should if it does what I need. Didn't pay as much in Tax this year as I had saved for so got some money and clearance from the wife to upgrade the smoker.

Up sides and down sides to everything. Just hoping to hear more from users of the Bradley.

Mike

The Bradley is in that price point between the Easy Bake Ovens (Big Chief/Little Chief) and the entry-level pellet machines.
Masterbuilt is probably its main competitor.

In fact the lower end Traegers, Green Mountain Grills and MAK are not too much more money.
I would look at those before pulling the trigger on a Bradley.

The better smoked fish I've seen from pellet machines are those with a cold smoker box attached.
With these you have the horsepower to turn around and do the big stuff like brisket, Boston Butts, turkey, etc.

I have a digital 4 rack Bradley and love it. The taller unit with two more racks hold more but even heat on all racks can be a challenge to get down pat. The pucks are spendy but temp is controlled so your able to time the smoke separate from temp so just takes a bit to get what one wants out of the machine. Spoils the hell out of you!

My wives are not allowed to touch any outdoor cooking device.
I'm still rockin' the Man Card.

Zinggggg....

My wife does not touch my 6-rack Digital. I have made everything from smoked almonds to all kinds of fish, as well as brisket, pork butt, canadian bacon, turkey and ham. It is an awesome thing. I too was hesitant, because of the price of pucks, but I am so glad now that I went ahead.

I researched this a lot before I went with my current set up. I went with Original Bradley smoker with an Auber dual probe PID. the temp swing in Bradley can be big and the Auber is the best thing to regulate it. especially if going to be making sausage or peperoni without it your likely to get fat out. (i did not do any of this before the Bradley but now we do). only other thing i would want to do is add a fan to get rid of hot spots. I was close to buying the digital a few times before deciding on this. but the temp swing (up to 30 deg) was why i went the way i did. I also use a maverick hand held to check temps.

the best thing about the dual probe PID I can turn smoke on and off in different cycles as well as set it to end smoking at a certain Internal temp ( comes in handy for over night shoulders and brisket) and once it is set it is done. can program 8 different temps to end on time or internal temp.

Loading ours up here in a hour with 10 pounds of snack sticks...

besides the pucks cost I am happy with it been a few years now. there are a few that have converted there’s over to pellet.

try the Peterson Pucks, they are 10 bucks a bag, are the same amount as 4 bags of chips, or 96 Bradley pucks...

plus they work great..

Love my Bradley and I use the Peterson pucks. Good luck,


SZ

I have had one for 5 years and love it, pucks are a little pricy but work great!!

Bradley and Peterson Pucks, can't go wrong!

I thought the Peterson pucks were too big for the Bradley? where does one get these pucks around sequim? I will switch no problem now that Bradley discontinued the 120 packs...

Petersons do not fit in tube....I just put 4 on the burner double stacked and walk away for a few hours then add a couple more. The bradly pucks suck as they are spendy and
Don't burn all the way which is a waste of money, the petetsons taste better if ya ask me. Good luck,



SZ

At least say no to the shopping trips and purse holding.

Great info and thanks. I am going to go with the Bradley. Glad to hear the Petersons can be made to work in the Bradley. I checked out the Auber PID too. I will wait and see how the Bradley does and add that if necessary. I mostly smoke fish, ribs, and deer and elk jerky. Again, thanks for the help.

Mike

Just a side note:

I have the four rack digital Bradley. When the smoke is on, the temp is 180 min in my box with the vent wide open. I use a cooking thermometer in through the top vent holes and I can confirm that when the smoke is working the box willnot go below 170-180 without the door open. I was just putting up with it and smoking everything in 4 hours or so at the higher temp but it makes the meat a dryer than a traditional smoke.

170F-180F is way to hot to smoke fish.
Fish cooks at those temps.
Salmon comes out with that light orange color and is further insulted with that fugly whitish curd.
I know, I've done it with a Totem smoker (too many times)....that thing wants to run at 140 and it still cooks the fish at that temp.

Finally modded it with two Weber daisy wheel fresh air intakes and two 1-1/4" x 8" MC stacks.
I can now run at around 110F and produce professional-looking product.
My last smoke probably averaged 112F for about 14 hours.
Nice deep orange color with no fawking curd.

Another key is to air dry the fish after the brine and get good pellicle established before smoking.
Next I'm going to try a rub and no brine soak.

With a large smoker that runs too hot for fish you can also build a cold smoke box and pipe your exhaust through that.

110 tops!

170F-180F is way to hot to smoke fish.

Thats my point. The other posts were sayign how great the bradley is and although i can say i want the temp at 120 say, the actual box temp is way up because the element that cooks the puck is adding a ton of heat to the box. There no question that I am cooking it. Still works out for me but I am working on moving the electronic smoke device away from the box. isnt there something better than bradley? My little chief?

I can keep my Bradly around 120-130 with just smoke no oven on. I do this for a few hours then bump it up to 170 to finish it off. Good luck,


SZ

Did some more research and decided on the Bradley Original Smoker and the Auber Dual Probe to regulate temp. Thanks again for all the info. Mike

Once you go Big Green Egg, you'll never go back. Most diverse smoker/q'r I've ever used. Good luck with what ever you do.

Where does the Traeger Texan with digital temp controls fit into all of this?

I listened to the sales guy at COSTCO a couple of weeks ago and was diggin' his story. It is sold as a combination low temp smoker and griller.

Just curious. It is a $1,000 machine....

That's a lotta dough.
Yeah, the Costco guy is a good seller. He wanted me to take one "for a trial" so bad, I thought he was gonna cry when I walked away.

I would look at a MAK and Yoder as well, before plunking down that much.

Pelletheads forum has reviews on these.
When I was shopping I found the Yoder to be one of the best built pellet burners....stout.
According to reviews MAK has the best controller and is also very well made.

the white curd on the fish is fat out when the temp gets too high and basically melts the fat out the fish.
creating a good pedicle can help limit this too.
I can keep my Bradley down in the 100-120's finish off around 130-140 no problem. you will like the OBS and Auber pid its a good set up a little more initially but better control in the long run.

thanks for the info on the other pucks i will give them a try.