Newbie: Just ordered my first smoker

[hangmanli]

Hey folks,

I just ordered my first smoker which is a Bradley four shelf unit. I also ordered the cover, Remote control meat probe/thermometer, and a couple boxes of the bisquettes.

The reason I chose this is because it supposed to be fairly idiot proof for a newbie like me.

I live in an area that has a chronic deer problem. During bowhunting season (4 months) they allow us to take as many Does as we want to. I have two freezers full of venison.

I plan on smoking a lot of summer sausage, Bologna, brats, kielbasa, pepperoni, etc.

I’ll try to stay more active here. Any advice or tips for a newbie smoker?

 

[troutman]

You can send some of that extra venison my way !!! Try looking at specific recipes in posts on the Forums page. If you have questions, just post and someone will give you their opinion/advice. Lots of deer hunters here !!

 

[phatbac]

One tip that took me a while to pick up when i first started smoking is cook to Inter temperature (IT) not time. Decide the IT of what you want that meat to be before you start and cook till then. If it takes longer than expected so be it. if is done faster so be it. you will get used to times and temps once you get smoke rolling!

Happy Smoking,
phatbac (Aaron)

 

[SmokinAl]

Welcome to SMF!
Congrats on the new smoker!
Looking forward to seeing it in action!
Al

 

[Rings Я Us]

Nice set up..

 

[hangmanli]

The Bradley digital smoker arrived today. Right now I have it on the seasoning process described in the owners manual

The first thing I wanna do is a lot of summer sausage (pork & venison)

However the recipe booklet does not deal with either venison or sausage

Is there a good book which might be a must have for people who smoke food?

Also is there a general guideline for what temperature and for how long I might need to set this thing up to smoke summer sausage?

I also ordered a digital wireless meat thermometer which had 5 star ratings on Amazon.

 

[David Halcomb]

The Bradley digital smoker arrived today. Right now I have it on the seasoning process described in the owners manual

The first thing I wanna do is a lot of summer sausage (pork & venison)

However the recipe booklet does not deal with either venison or sausage

Is there a good book which might be a must have for people who smoke food?

Also is there a general guideline for what temperature and for how long I might need to set this thing up to smoke summer sausage?

I also ordered a digital wireless meat thermometer which had 5 star ratings on Amazon.

Pics or it never happened. :)

 

[hangmanli]

 

[hangmanli]

I bought 24” fibrous casings for Bologna & Summer Sausage a while ago.

I just realized that the trays will only accommodate @ 12-14” lengths

If I use sausage hooks I can only Hang lengths that are @ 12-14”

Can I cut these 24” fibrous casings in half and tie them again? Thanks for any helpful advice.

 

[angry santa]

Smoke the summer sausage at 150 for four hours, then bump to 170 until I.T. is 155..... then ice bath it to get the I.T. down to 100......bloom 1 day before cutting.....and yes, you can cut the casings in half and re-tie them.....the sausage won't know the difference....

 

[hangmanli]

Smoke the summer sausage at 150 for four hours, then bump to 170 until I.T. is 155..... then ice bath it to get the I.T. down to 100......bloom 1 day before cutting.....and yes, you can cut the casings in half and re-tie by .....the sausage won't know the difference....

Thank you for the helpful advice

I just ordered one of the books that was recommended in this forum by Ruytek kutas

What does blooming mean?

 

[hangmanli]

I got @ 25 pounds of summer sausage in 2 1/2” fibrous casings done earlier.

I found a thread which said to dry them out in the smoker oven (with no smoke) at 100 degrees for @ 1 hour to dry the casings before smoking.

I have a two probe meat thermometer with a wireless remote. I started at 140° smoking for about two hours. I’ve been raised to 150°. And then I raised it to about 170° After 4 hours.

It is very cold outside on the porch in about 28°F. The oven is reaching the temperature that it is set for

However the inside temperature of the summer sausage is only around 100° right now.

Is this normal for this amount of time?

I’ve got about 20 pounds in the smoker right now hanging from hooks.

Typically is there a general idea of how long this process should take with the Bradley Smoker?

 

[hangmanli]

Smoke the summer sausage at 150 for four hours, then bump to 170 until I.T. is 155..... then ice bath it to get the I.T. down to 100......bloom 1 day before cutting.....and yes, you can cut the casings in half and re-tie them.....the sausage won't know the difference....

Right now I’ve had 20 pounds of venison summer sausage hanging since about 9 PM last night

I started at 140° for two hours. Then I’ve been bumping up the temperature in the oven 10° every couple of hours

It’s nearly 5 PM on the East Coast and this thing has been going since 9 PM last night

The oven is working correctly according to the digital display.

Is this a normal time frame to smoke venison sausage in 2 1/2 inch thick fibrous casings?

I have a dual probe remote control meat thermometer. Right now it’s finally reading 149° on one probe and 153° on the other probe

It seems to me that this is taking a tremendous amount of time for the meat to finally heat up

I now have the oven temperature set at 200° for the past four or five hours

Is this normal for it to take this long?

 

[angry santa]

That sounds like an excessive amount of time. I do 25 lbs. at a shot and it only takes 7-9 hrs total, depending on outside temp.(I built an old school smokehouse, no insulation). My first thought goes right to your thermometers. Let's face it, they were built by human hands, and we all know that humans are good at screwing things up, especially if they were built on a Monday morning or Friday afternoon. I've read on other threads here that you can check the accuracy of your thermometers by checking them with boiling water, and made that a practice of mine every time I fire up the house. I have two thermometers in the door (top and bottom), and two different probes to check I.T.( within a degree or two of each other, so I trust them ). The gauges in the door have stayed fairly accurate over the past year or so, but the probes for checking I.T. have proved to be a little challenging. I've had brand new probes that were off by 20* , both high and low. Might be worth checking into.....

 

[hangmanli]

It’s a 4 shelf Bradley digital smoker. I had 20 lbs inside. I think I overloaded it.

I bought a two probe remote control meat thermometer that has a couple thousand 5 star reviews. So I’m pretty sure that the meat thermometer is accurate.

I did a second batch with 5 pounds of summer sausage. I think that took about 10 hours.

I wanted to ask you another question.
With the Bradley smoker you can adjust the oven temperature separate from the smoker timer.

If I’m cooking the sausage for let’s say 8 hours how much of that time should I actually be using smoke? All the time?
Half the time? Less?

Thanks for any helpful advice

 

[angry santa]

I run my smoke for around 4 hours, and let it run out when I bump the temp to 170*. That seems to be about the right amount of smoke for my taste. You can taste the smoke, but it doesn't overpower the overall mix.....

 

[angry santa]

I'm planning on doing a Q-view of what I'm doing with it between Christmas and New Year's. Planning on showing from the grind to the bath, recipe included. Judging by the amount of deer I smoke for friends, the entire process seems to work very well (27 deer went through the smokehouse so far this season)Hopefully this could answer some questions and give some new ideas to use with your Bradley...

 

[Rings Я Us]

:rolleyes:'Sounds great so far!

 

[idahopz]

I've a Bradley 4-rack and found it to be a bit under powered when it comes to delivering enough heat for some cooks. I don't expect to do much but cold smoking in the winter because it does not like to come up to a reasonable temperature. One addition I made to the smoker that made it excellent for smoked salmon and jerky is the addition of an Auber dual probe PID which controls both the puck advancer and the main heating element for precise heat control - salmon is too expensive to take a chance with, and still, rotating the racks (both top/bottom and front/back) is a must due to hot spots. :D However, I think you're good to go doing the sausages you're planning.

Another modification you can easily make is to get another set of 4 racks and then place the second set upside down on the first set to double the capacity - I do this when smoking cheese and making jerky.

If you feel comfortable making electrical modifications, then there are numerous heating element modifications that work quite well, giving you the ability to do things like pork butt, ribs, brisket and other cuts that I find the stock Bracley does not do well, especially in the north during winter.

 

[hangmanli]

Can you post any specific part numbers or links to these more powerful heating elements?

I just tried my Bradley Smoker for the first time. I had 20 lbs in the oven the first time. I had 5 pounds in there for the second time. I went faster the second time around.

By the way what is the correct internal temperature of smoked sausage which is acceptable? This is using package mixes with instacure. I’ve read on this forum 152 degrees. I’ve read elsewhere 155 degrees and 160 degrees.

Which is correct and why?