Best smoker's

Originally built my own smoker smoker out of cedar and fridge racks (old fridges can be adapted as well.) Fire box about 6' away connected by 6" aluminum dryer vent. and it worked well.
When Little Chief came along I bought one and used it for years. Works ok but hard to control the heat.
Bradley for me is best for both hot smoke and cold smoke with the proper attachments.
Accurate heat control is easy to monitor and adjust.
Initial investment and cost of pucks is higher than Little Chief but well worth it
Lots of options on the market today but Bradley is tried and proven in my opinion.
 
scott craven said:
After decades of using big/little chief smoker's, I went with a Masterbuilt insulated unit with digital time and temp controls.
What an improvement.
What are others using ?
Click to expand...

Did you look into a Bradley? My big chief is slowing down..
 
I’m using a Masterbuilt and have been pretty happy. Just recently picked up a cold smoker attachment because I found smoke generation could be iffy at low temps. I believe the cold smoker is currently on sale at Cabelas.
 
Bradley, digital four rack in my case. But I've done up to eight racks in it by flipping the second set over and placing them above the first set of racks.

BC company, easy to use, consistent. Lots of accessories, pucks, recipes, etc. available as well.
 
ziggy said:
I’m using a Masterbuilt and have been pretty happy. Just recently picked up a cold smoker attachment because I found smoke generation could be iffy at low temps. I believe the cold smoker is currently on sale at Cabelas.
Click to expand...
How did the attachment perform for smoking salmon?
 
CBsqrd said:
Bradley, digital four rack in my case. But I've done up to eight racks in it by flipping the second set over and placing them above the first set of racks.

BC company, easy to use, consistent. Lots of accessories, pucks, recipes, etc. available as well.
Click to expand...
Not sure if the Vancouver Bradley family still own the business, however I had a question re extending my heat sensor to allow the smoker box to be extended about 5' from the smoker and they got back to me in hours
support@bradleysmoker.helpscoutapp.com
 
Ringo said:
How did the attachment perform for smoking salmon?
Click to expand...
Haven’t yet tried it, it should work well, really nothing to it. It hooks onto the tube where the chip refill unit normally goes. It has its own element and a chip feeder so you could operate it without the main smoker being turned on at all. I found my Masterbuilt needed to be at 225 or higher to keep the chips smouldering, so hoping this allows for lower temp Smoking.
 
I am using my Traeger for Salmon and Tuna bellies.
I have the big one so I can do a decent sized batch. Stays at about 150 as long as you pick a cooler day.
Great for Brisket, ribs, pork shoulders as well.
 
I like my Bradley digital smoker. I have the larger one. Huge difference from the big chief. I have the cold smoke attachments just haven't used it yet.
 
The cold smoker attachment for the master built works awesome. You can roll a heavy smoke at low temp. It will put some heat in the box, so can’t “cold” smoke.
 
I upgraded from the big chief smoker I’d been using for decades.

I have the 4 rack non digital Bradley. I wish I had the digital for better temp control. I assumed the non digital would perform better at managing the temp than what it does. Next time, I’ll go digital.
 
Kildonan said:
I upgraded from the big chief smoker I’d been using for decades.

I have the 4 rack non digital Bradley. I wish I had the digital for better temp control. I assumed the non digital would perform better at managing the temp than what it does. Next time, I’ll go digital.
Click to expand...
Same here, I would buy the digital if I were to buy again.
 
Im on my second Bradley, first one lasted 15 years before finally crapping out after hundreds of pounds of salmon, piggy butts, almonds, cheese put through it. I bought a 6 rack non digital Bradley 3 years ago, inverting racks to double the capacity as previously mentioned. I didn’t bother buying the cold smoker attachment as it’s much cheaper and easier to use the Amazn pellet tray for $40 odd dollars when I am cold smoking. I bet you could find a cheap 2nd hand Bradley that the smoke generator had crapped out on (they do that) but the heat element still worked. Then you could use the Amazn pellet tray and voila, you’ll have a great smoker for very few dollars.
 
scott craven said:
After decades of using big/little chief smoker's, I went with a Masterbuilt insulated unit with digital time and temp controls.
What an improvement.
What are others using ?
Click to expand...
@scott craven
Did you use the cold smoke attachment for that recent batch of smoked chinook that you posted on the dinner thread? That looked incredibly well done.
 
Kildonan said:
I upgraded from the big chief smoker I’d been using for decades.

I have the 4 rack non digital Bradley. I wish I had the digital for better temp control. I assumed the non digital would perform better at managing the temp than what it does. Next time, I’ll go digital.
Click to expand...
I have both the non digital and digital Bradley's. I run a separate temperature monitor when doing hot smoking as I have found it not particularly accurate. The device has graphing and it shows large swings when it cycles on and off.
At least on my machine.
 
Bradley Digital - love it but the door hinges and frame built of plastic is my only complaint. I've replaced the hinges and reinforced the door with aluminum L-brackets and now it's better than new.
 
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