List Price: $549.00
Sale Price: $355.96
Today's Bonus: 35% Off
I love my BDS, I was not to keen on getting the Jim Beam model, cause I am not a Bouban man but at $75 less than the standerd BDS I will peel off the Decal! I have a great deal of experience with electric, charcoal and real wood trailer type smokers. They all have their advantages and disadvantages. I have read quite a few "horror stories" about not holding temp. taking forever to smoke/cook meat, bad manufacturing, etc. I personally have not experienced any of these problems. Mine holds the temp. in an "average" desired area. You can apply as little or as much smoke to your food as you want (awesome)and you can actually go about your business throughout your day or even do larger cuts overnight if you want too without having to start/add more charcoal or split/throw wood in the fire box. Does it take 8-10 hours to smoke a brisket or whole pork shoulder? Yeah it does, its not a micro-wave welcome to the world of Low and Slow BBQ cooking. Is it the perfect "smoking unit"? No absolutely not, does it produce hands off, worry free smoked food in a timely/convinient/efficient manner? I think it does and I would recommend it to anyone.
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This is an awesome smoker! I've done several briskets, turkey breats, chickens, pork butts and they have all turned out great! My only suggestion would be to also buy a good digital meat thermometer so you can keep track of the internal temp of the meat you're smoking.Best Deals for Jim Beam BTDS76JB Bradley Smoker 4-Rack Digital Outdoor Smoker
USED THIS SMOKER FOR 2 YRS NOW HAVE SMOKED 100'S OF TIMES GONE THRU 50 PLUS PACKS OF CHIPS MAN THIS THING ROCKS RIBS CHICKEN PORK BEEF IT DOES IT ALL i LIVE IN HAWAII ON THE BEACH NO RUST OR CORRSION AND I USE A GARBAGE BAG AS A COVER.... IF YOUR A PRO A NOVICE THIS ONE WILL KNOCK YOUR SOCKS OFF......Honest reviews on Jim Beam BTDS76JB Bradley Smoker 4-Rack Digital Outdoor Smoker
Like the others I was wondering would I get a fully working unit, or some issue that preventing me from using my new toy right out of the box. The first clue I was in trouble was after unpacking the very well packed box I heard a small screw rattling in the smoke generator. I turned the generator from side to side and out fell a small screw.... uh oh.. never a good sign.So on to assembly it all went well, cables... check, loader...check... insert shelves and bowl...check. Ok power up the unit and it starts spitting out Biscuits like it pamphlets on the strip in Vegas. Uh oh.. I am guessing the lose screw on the ground holds a clue. So I look up Error code E now flashing on the display as it dumps the entire stack of 20 Biscuits in less than 2 minutes. The Bradley website support section says check the micro switch. Ok great, now I get to disassemble a new unit to troubleshoot what should have been thoroughly tested before it left the factory. Oh well, when given lemons make lemonade. Upon inspection I found that the motor actuator arm (arm the pushes the Biscuits out) was not making contact with the micro switch when it passed by it. Granted it was within 1/32 of an inch but was not pressing it. The micro switch is screwed in pre drilled and tapped screw holes so its clearly not adjustable. I was then thinking maybe the switch was missing a part so I flipped the unit over to get a better look and thats when I discovered the real source of the problem. The motor itself is mounted to a bracket and one side of the motor (the left side when looking down on the motor) was fine, the right side was missing a screw. Humm I picked up the one that fell out onto the floor and what do you know ;) Yep, a perfect fit, mystery solved. So I alighed up the holes and a few turns of the screwdriver later and one inserted screw now holds the motor in alignment. I carefully power up the unit and it rotates, engages the micro switch and cuts off the motor as designed. Perfect! Now just for fun I added some thread locker to these screws just in case some vibration caused them to work lose in shipping, etc.
Now I put the unit back together and fire it all up and perfect. Now on to the actual break in period.
The manual says to set the temp to 150 and adjust as necessary to keep the oven temp apx 150degrees. Here is where the complaints come in from 99% of the users on this unit (the unit swings wildly +/20-30 degrees). Sure enough setting the unit to 150 had the actual oven temp up to 170 in less than 10 minutes. What was more bizzare was if I then set the oven down to 140 degrees (and you could hear a click as the main heating element turned off) was the temp as displayed on the digital readout never got below 160 even with the door completely open). Next I took out a digital thermometer we use at the office (calibrated by the national bureau of standards) and put the probe in the center of the oven. The temp reading on it after 5 minutes was within 3 degrees of the readout on the smoker display. So apparently the smoke generators 135 watt heating element (needed to cause the Biscuits to smoke) generators so much heat that the oven will not go below 150 as required by the initial "seasoning" break in period.
I was concerned that the unit will not get hot enough (based on some reviews) or cool to quickly when I open the door. My thoughts now are that will not be an issue.
Overall the unit looks great, its a bit pricey but given the fact you can save $75 to get the branded Jim Beam unit (and easily peel off the sticker if you so desire) you can't complain. This unit will take all the guess work off temp settings that are a nightmare on charcoal units, offers consistent smoke quantity and quality. The only design change I would recommend (as others have stated) is they need to move the digital controls to the top of the unit or make a wireless remote controller as unless you want to practically lay on the ground to set it the controller is all but useless at the given location. I think with feedback they will move this on future designs and install multiple temperature sensors (maybe one upper, one lower and one you can put in the meat you are smoking).
I have hear some users are working on a wireless integration that will allow you to fully program an add on unit that will give you unlimited programming options using a laptop or desktop computer. Man you have to love technology!
The unit does offer some basic programming (like how long to cook and what temperature) but lacks additional functionality like a pre-programmed warm up period (like most ovens designed in the last 10 years have), there is no way to automate a warm up period for the smoker either. You have to either warm it up and then insert the Biscuits, or lose a Biscuit or two as they get ejected on a 20 minute automated cycle timer (sort of a sorry you are going to be ejected into the bowl depleted of all your smoke capacity or not).
With all these short comings and design flaws (or should I say design oversights) few would give up their units for anything else on the market today.
In short, BUY ONE. I can't imagine a better purchase for the money. At less than $350 its hard to get a decent manual charcoal smoker, much less a set it and forget it automated smoker. Folks this is about as good as it gets for perfection in this market segment/price.
I will smoke some ribs this weekend and update this review, until then "Keep on Smoking".
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Jim Beam BTDS76JB Bradley Smoker 4-Rack Digital Outdoor Smoker
Best smoker for the money, but don't expect to cold smoke unless it's cold out (30F or lower) or you build / buy an attachment that gets the smoke generator out of the smoking cabinet. The attachment is available from the company for a $100 up-charge. A bit disappointing considering the advertising claims. The wood is a bit expensive, but not too bad.
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