This was originally posted on January 1, 2014. It has been reposted due to a catastrophic back up failure by my web host.
I knew I wanted to start smoking when I retired. I did a lot of research on smokers and settled on the Bradley Digital Smoker. The major factors were cost and ease of use. I have been using it for over a year now and I will give you my impressions.
The Bradley Digital Smoker is controlled by a box on the side. It controls the temperature in the box and puts smoke into the smoker for a period selected by the user. To use the smoker, you turn on the temperature controller and set the temperature you want and how long you want it to run for. You can leave this off if you want to cold smoke. You should give 1/2 hour for it to warm up. Then, you turn on the smoke generator and let it heat up for at least 20 minutes. You put wood biscuits into a tube on top of the controller and push a button to advance a biscuit over the smoke generator which is located inside the smoker. Each biscuit burns for 20 minutes and
you set how long you want the unit to smoke for.
It was this set it and leave it system that attracted me to the Bradley. Also, it was relatively inexpensive for an automated system. I paid $399 Canadian.
The Good Points
• The Bradley Digital Smoker is easy to use. Set the times, temperature and load the biscuit tube.
• You don’t have to mess around with wood chips or sawdust.
• There are many types of biscuit available.
• It has been durable with no problems to date.
The Bad Points
• The biscuits are a little expensive.
• The temperatures in the smoker vary widely around the set temperature, up to 25 degrees above and below.
• The racks tend to tip forward and dump the food when you take them out.
• The smoke produced by the biscuits is quite strong.
The Verdict
The Bradley Digital Smoker has done everything I’ve wanted for a reasonable price. However, it took me quite a while to get the smoke right. I found that there would be an overly strong smoke flavour for my tastes if I smoked for extended periods with the biscuits. I solved this by shortening my period of smoke exposure.
Eventually, I purchased an A-MAZE-N Pellet Smoker which is an after market smoke generator that gives me a nice even light smoke for longer smokes.
Since then, I have been able to smoke anything I want to try in the smoker with good success. If you want to do large smokes regularly, purchase a larger more capable smoker. If you want to smoke once a week or so for your family, the Bradley Digital Smoker is a good choice.
The Old Fat Guy
