# Trying to choose...Masterbuilt?Bradley?SmokinTex?



## kelhw21 (Sep 3, 2008)

Hi and thanks for the help in advance.
I have been smoking for a couple years using a homemade ref smoker with a pan on top of a hotplate which works ok but hard to control the temp and needs a lot of sitting all night long. I'm trying to choose a smoker with good temp control and possibly will smoke for hours unattended. Also want it to be durable and not prone to breaking down. Is there such a beast that doesn't cost an arm roast and a leg of lamb? I'm wondering if anyone could tell me if they like or dislike the smokers above.
LW


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## ronp (Sep 3, 2008)

Hands down MES. It's easy, accurate and you can set it and forget it after you get the smoke you want. Cheap to operate, about 10 dollars a month for 6 hours a day smoke. Excellent customer service, what more do you need? 4 racks, water pan, digital controls, Stainless Steel. And no modifications needed.

And the best and most important thing for last, great results, I have smoked everything with great results. Just do a search for ronp100343 and see my pics.

Good luck in what you choose. If you have any questions you can PM me.
Oh, I have the MES 40" from Sam's Club.









http://auctions.samsclub.com/scripts...LotNo=79529081

You can get a deal there. Buddy just bought one last week for 180 + SHIPPING. 

Ron


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## pops6927 (Sep 3, 2008)

I have the "Cabela's Premium Electric Smoker" which is a Masterbuilt and it was on sale at Cabela's for $99, reg. $129 during hunting season last year.  Haven't had a problem with it, set the thermo and it's on.  It's a 3 grate smoker and for me and the missus it's just right to do what we can afford to put into it to eat.  You're not gonna do what Ronp can do with the 40", but it smokes good and easy to clean up.


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## curious aardvark (Sep 4, 2008)

I'm going to put my tuppence worth in for the bradley. 

The bisquettes make for totally controllable and consistent smoke and come in pretty much all the types of wood you'd want. I've had no problems with holding temperature either. It's nice and compact and in the states seriously low prices. 
Plus the new digital one has set and forget controls so you don't even have to fiddle occasionally with the heating element slider.


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## erain (Sep 4, 2008)

i also have a mes which i use ocaisionally for times when i dont want to tend a smoker as much. i have gotten good results from it as well except for lack of smoke ring which has nothing to do with taste. mine seems to work well and have had no trouble(knock on wood) with it but have seen others who have. but thats the price you pay for technology.


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## evandostert (Sep 4, 2008)

MES has to be the best for price.   I have an mes and love it.   You get what you pay for 189 for a mes at bass pro.   The mes is a great machine but it has that silly door seal which does not last all that long and some people have had issues with the control box.   The smoke will not last for very long you have to reload it a couple of times.   How much smoke to you want???   Unless you are using a very light wood like apple to much smoke just tastes bad.   The smokin tex is way over built looks weighs alot more and does not use the fancy box just a nice rotary dial which I prefer.   I have seen a bradley and was not all that impressed .   They have a special wood disk you need to use.    Looks like a joke.  Funny litttle box on the side made to cost more money for a simple wood chip.


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## evandostert (Sep 4, 2008)

http://www.uniquesmokers.com/The_Smoker.html   This just looks funny like an ecb perfected.


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## smokin nutz (Sep 4, 2008)

My thoughts on the Bradley,My bro has one.loves it.I hAVE ONE.i LOVE IT.BUT...........it has a smalll heat ele,I thinkl 500 watts,needs to be 750.........also,here in Iowa..it gets cold/windy,it wont hold its heat......I ended up,getting a cabinet at Walmart,putting a shelf in it and put the Bradley in it,close the doors and works pretty good.
also the lil smoke pucks,there expensive [email protected]!!  wish there was ways of makng some,maybe try some homemade ones.
BUT it does a great job on brisket..when in controlled atomosphere,it will run steady at 225 for hours.But I still use the ET 73 probe on it as a guarantee.
Im wondering on the other electric opr gas cabinets,how thick are they/insulated........what size heat ele?
A friend has the gas smoker & does  excellant with it.turned out some of the best Salmon I ever tasted the other day.
hope this gives another view..I like the Bradley and i dont...I also use a GrillDome {BGE type}


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## curious aardvark (Sep 4, 2008)

lol that's actually one of the selling points in my opinion. 
It means that you always get the same smoke without any hassle. The discs burn very evenly and work out pretty cheap. 
Plus you know exactly how much smoke you'll get as each disc lasts 20 mins. 
On a long smoke you might have to empty the used bisquit tray but that's pretty much it. 

I've never used anything else. I've seen some of the weber bullet smokers and they just looked way too complicated compared to the bradley.


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## zapper (Sep 4, 2008)

Tweek that old fridge smoker and you might have them all beat!

 A thermostat and or a rheostat to help control the temps if you don't already have it set up that way. 

 I would say that a 10 to 20 degree temp swing when smoking large cuts is not really a problem if you are shooting for the 220-240 range. Lower temp smoking for like some types of sausage fermenting and such is typically more temp critical though


Other than the waffer/bisquit eating Bradley (there are others too I am sure), watching the smoke and adding wood is all part of the process for electric smokers


I have been kicking the idea of a new electric around for years. It is a tough call for sure. My advice would be to buy one and use it long enough to decide if you want to move on up to the next machine. There is no shame in owning multiple rigs.


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## fishawn (Sep 4, 2008)

MES for me, "set it and forget it", it is that easy. My good friend has a Bradley that cost about twice as much (or more) than my MES. It works
well, but the "pucks" can be a pain to find (at least around here) and they are EXPENSIVE as well.


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## evandostert (Sep 4, 2008)

Special wood disks are a pain and expensive!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## mrh (Sep 4, 2008)

I mostly use a Bradley original, and have had great luck with it.  I did build a PID to control the heat which does a excellent job (It holds within 2 degrees +/- of where it is set once up to temp)  The bisquettes do cost a little bit, but give consistant smoke.  I can get things et up and smoking then walk away and do something else without worrying about it until it gets close to done.  Like Smokin Nutz said the cold and wind will effect it, but I am sure it will do that too most smokers unless they have plenty of heat to offset it.
I like it is what i am saying.


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## kelhw21 (Sep 5, 2008)

Hey thanks for the replies folks, I liked the looks of the bradley for a while, but the biscuit price could break me up.  Need to figure out how to make my own sometime. Can't be that hard. I have a bunch of Frantz sawdust I could use. 
I like the size of the MES 40 inch compared with the Bradley, might get one, but the control panel looks kind of fragile.
I made some amazing smoked salmon in my old fridge. Kind of attached to it, if I could just find a good thermostat cheap to run the hot plate I would keep it. I'm also running some ideas through my head about making a external smoke generator. That would be cool. Anybody have a good design? I saw the one Marvin made out of 2" tubing for the MES.
L.


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## jisgren (Sep 5, 2008)

I am new to all this and just bought a MES, but you can just buy the bradley smoke box and attach to your old set-up

http://www.bradleysmoker.com/smoke-g...th-adaptor.asp


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## kelhw21 (Sep 5, 2008)

I thought about that but had read some about bradleys jamming up or only partially burning buscuits and wasting them. It would be ok, if it was reliable.


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## mossymo (Sep 5, 2008)

kelhw21
I have built a couple fridge smokers using propane for larger sausage smokes, have a few charcoal smokers and have a 30" and a 40" MES; I have also smoked with a digital Bradley next to my 30" MES.

In brand comparison between the Bradley and the MES I can tell you in the middle of a windy North Dakota winter the MES kept its heat setting much better than the Bradley.

For the product cost I would choose a MES; but if a Smokin Tex is in your budget I do think they have better materials used to construct them and are better smoker. But I have no hands on experience with them. My question on the Smokin Tex is, where does it exhaust the smoke at? 

MES is a bargain at todays prices.....


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## kelhw21 (Sep 5, 2008)

The Smokintex and the Cookshack are just alike for the most part. From what I read on their web sites, they don't exhaust at all. They try to hold in all smoke and moisture and suggest you keep the door closed for the entire run of 12 hours or whatever. They say this makes the meat more moist and uses less wood. They say it only takes a couple oz of wood to do the job, and once the wood is gone the smoke just sits in there and penetrates. But they sure look well built.
I kind of like the idea of pouring smoke on the meat for hours on end myself.
Which brings up a question I have. Could someone explain the "Thin Blue Smoke" idea. I also saw someone say a lot of white smoke is not ideal.
L.


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## kookie (Sep 5, 2008)

For the price I would say the MES is the best out there..... I am in the process of getting one.....Trying to get one off of Sam's Auction site.........Hopefully soon......


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## smoke freak (Sep 5, 2008)

Cookshack is very well built in the good ol USA! The smokin tex is a poorly built Chineese knockoff for the same price. About $500 if I remember. I dont use either. MES is probably the way to go. 

Dont take my word on it, Im a stick burner.


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## deltadude (Sep 5, 2008)

I'm a Sams Club 40" SS MES owner, have not used the Bradley.  So I honestly can not compare them.  But if price performance was the main issue, and lots of great customer feed back, you have to go with the MES, it has better price, comes with better controls, the 40" has more than enough capacity.  Based on so many positive comments on this forum and many others there are a lot of very happy MES owners.

If you want a true set n forget smoker, the MES still requires you to keep adding wood every hour or 1.5 hours.
However you can easily modify the MES to achieve a wood/smoke feeder that would make the MES a true set n forget smoker:
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...t=22037&page=3

purchase here..

or try Illini's contraption
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...11&postcount=1


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## kelhw21 (Sep 19, 2008)

Thanks for the tip on the sam's club auction. My 40" MES arrived yesterday. Trying my first batch of country style ribs tomorrow. Any tips?
Kel.
Ps. I don't understand why thin blue smoke is better than mucho white smoke.


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## ronp (Sep 19, 2008)

Congrats you will love it. I have done country ribs several times with great sucsess.

http://smokingmeatforums.com/forums/...try+style+ribs

You can just skip the dry cure and rub with your favorite.

Much white smoke creates creasote, nasty.

Hope this helps.

Ron


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## deltadude (Sep 20, 2008)

Congrats on your new MES, and welcome to the MES owners club here at SMF.

Personally I haven't done country ribs in the MES yet, so have no pointers there.

Thin blue smoke, vs mucho white smoke?  If you are getting heavy white smoke you risk creosote and it's distinctive bitter burned taste being added to your food.  A thin smoke stream is best, smoke is a flavor seasoning, too much and you over season your food.  After you get your smoker going and achieve the desired exhaust of thin blue/white smoke, open the hatch, you will see the chamber is full of smoke.

Again enjoy your new MES!


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## kelhw21 (Sep 21, 2008)

The country style were good but a little dry. I think I will  try the water pan tomorrow and try it again. Did 2 lbs of sausage today. The 10 kielbasa came out wonderfully. The summersausage will be a little longer to get to temp.

I like the smoker but wish the temp control ran a little closer to set point. It is about +- 10 deg. Not  a big deal for ribs, etc. but I don't want my sausage to get too hot.

I had a great time with it today though.

Kel.


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## ronp (Sep 21, 2008)

That's because you didn't use the water pan. Also with the ribs take out at 155' and rest in foil a bit.

Hopes this helps.


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