Leaving bradley.

Yep, set it and forget it. There is a wood tray above the heating element. You load it up with the desired amount of wood chunks.

I've slept overnight on many occasions, gone shoppping, had lunch with friends, and played golf all while the smoker did its thing unattended. True set and forget.

Wood consumption...a couple chunks vs the Bradley's pucks. Your wood costs will come down dramatically.

Thanks guys now I need to order a maverick therm. and I should be good to go.
phaz

I have had my AmeriQues for only a few weeks but so far, barring my own error in wood quantity, it performs well. I weighed the wood chunks that came with the smoker and found them to be roughly 4 ounces each. I had assumed they weighed 2 oz and on one occasion, over smokes the ribs. I have since split the chunks with a hatchet to roughly 2 oz each and now one or two produces the best ribs and butt I have ever tasted. Nice subtle smoke. I did a but Friday night with just 2 oz of hickory and at just under 16 hours (at 225 deg) the butt reached 190 internal. Terrific.

Bradley has to use wood for hit, that's why it goes through a lot.

The CS uses electric heating elements for the heat and wood chunks for smoke flavor. Typically you only load wood once, but some people will add more because they like a LOT of smoke or because of really long cooks. It's just something you can do to suit your smoke taste buds.

I too recently switched from Bradley to CS. Bradley certainly has their design issues but I really do like the Bradley smoke generator. I have not been successful at getting consistent smoke with my 025. Sometimes the wood pieces will barely burn and other times they will burn completely away. At first I thought it was because I didn't have the heating element touching the wood box, but that theory didn't hold on subsequent smokes. I am using CS wood chunks. The Bradley smoke generator is definitely consistent. Of course, the CS cabinet is far superior to the Bradley. Today I am smoking a butt and I put three chunks in because the last two smokes didnt burn well and I wanted more smoke. Wouldn't you know all three of them burned and I suspect I will have plenty of smoke this time (hopefully not too much).

I think part of my problem is knowing how much wood to use. I smoked some pork ribs and they were ok but dry. I used to much smoke I think and the bs just can't keep the temp. steady.
phaz

Wood smoke flavor is something of a personal preference, in which can be obtained with a CS and some good notes.

Smoking is something of an ART and if you think that you can just set the smoker and it will compensate for the variables in differences in brands/producers of meat...well that is something that will have to be discussed in greater lengths. It won't ever be like baking a cake. You will have to learn how to tell doneness and we can help with that issue.

quote:

Originally posted by DeanOK:
... Sometimes the wood pieces will barely burn and other times they will burn completely away. ...

It usually comes down to two things.

1. Physical placement of the wood. Where you put it in the box. Sometimes it's not close enough to the element or others it's too close

2. Wood. The wood itself. The size, shape, makeup of the wood (bark, no bark). Old? Humidity (less humid will smoke faster. There CAN be something of an art to this Q. If you're not getting the smoke/flavor you want, then spend time really working with the wood, different types, etc. Hey, it's all good and half the fun in BBQ to me is figuring out the simpliest of things when seem to take a lot (like smoke )

quote:

Originally posted by phaz: the bs just can't keep the temp. steady.
phaz

That's why Auber Instruments developed a PID controller specifically for the Bradley. A constant steady temperature is essential to good BBQ, or so I have heard.

quote:

Originally posted by SmokinOkie:
Bradley has to use wood for hit, that's why it goes through a lot.

I think the Bradley uses a heated plate for the smoke generator for the wood biscuits, and a 500watt coil for the cabinet?

quote:

Originally posted by DeanOK:
Sometimes the wood pieces will barely burn and other times they will burn completely away.

Sometimes the wood will turn to charcoal, and some times it will turn to ash. I think it has to do with the length of the cook, sometimes the temperature set, and sometimes the atmospheric conditions during the cook.

The wood has to turn to charcoal before it can turn to ash. All the flavor from the wood chunks has been imparted to the meat by the time the wood chunks have turned to charcoal.

In my experience, I don't notice any difference in the "smokiness" of foods regardless of whether the wood has been reduced to charcoal or reduced to ash during the cook.

I always weigh the wood with a digital scale and use the exact same amount of wood each time per my notes.

I have learned not to get caught up in the technical side of smoking. I do pay attention to satisfactory results.

All I know is the butt I smoked yesterday is the worst one I have ever done. I put three pieces of hickory in the box (all three burned). There was very little smoke flavor and the butt was dry. Based on what I have read here I expected the smoke to be strong if all three pieces burned.

quote:

Originally posted by DeanOK:
All I know is the butt I smoked yesterday is the worst one I have ever done. I put three pieces of hickory in the box (all three burned). There was very little smoke flavor and the butt was dry. Based on what I have read here I expected the smoke to be strong if all three pieces burned.

How big were the pieces?

quote:

Originally posted by DeanOK:
the butt was dry.

how did you determine the butt was done??

haven't yet had a dry butt even when the controller went whacko and allowed a 500+ F temp

(the outside was charred but the deep interior was still moist. surprisingly, we still served it at the party w/ a minimal amount of bark and people were very happy)

People are sorta asking questions to get a direction to form answers.

A large hunk of beef,pork,etc is only going to take up smoke so deep.

As suggested,if you run the cooker around 225º +, don't open the door until a therm reads 195º+ in 2,or 3 deep places ,on an eight lb +/- bonein butt,foil and let it rest a couple hrs,the meat will be pretty close to done,moist and pullable.

The butt I smoked thai past Friday/Saturday had a basic rub of Kosher salt, black pepper, garlic powder, brown sugar. The rub sat on the butt for about 3 hours. I put it in the 066, middle shelf, fat side up at 225 with the probe in and set for 190 degrees, 2 oz of hickory. 16 hours later, a very nice crunchy crust or bark, very smokey. The meat below the crust was moist, pulled/shredded easily, and had a nice mild smokiness to it. It could have been a tad stronger but overall, very nice. The out of town family was impressed. And the wood was a small lump of fluffy ash.