Bradley BTIS1 Review
Bradley BTIS1
- 4-rack fully automatic food smoker with 2288-cubic-inch stainless-steel interior
- 500-watt cooking element; 125-watt smoking element; heats up to 320 degrees F
- Door-mounted thermometer; uses wood-flavored bisquettes that burn for 20 minutes each
- Runs for up to 8 hours before needing to be refueled; tray and drip bowl included
- Measures 14-1/2 by 17 by 31 inches
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Today I did a real test: two Boston Butts, and three racks of baby-back ribs, 26 lbs. of pork total. I'm not new to smoking. I started about three years ago, decided I enjoy the doing, and love the eating; but I'm a little lazy, in that regard the electric Bradley is a great replacement for my charcoal fired, wood chip fed first smoker.
Before I purchased the Bradley I read the customers' reviews carefully--5 star to 1 star--the negatives that bothered me--there were only two--were, first, "It never got up to temperature", and secondly a few comments concerning reliability. The following concerns itself with what I did to address the first issue. Regarding reliability, it's too early to tell.
I like to put a dry rub on ribs and pork butt. Usually, I apply it the day before I smoke, and leave the meat in the refrigerator overnight. I didn't want to spend the time heating the meat from 40°F, so I put on the rub, covered the meat, and left it at room temperature for six hours. An hour before starting, I preheated the Bradley, set on high. It had reached 300°F, when I loaded the meat, The interior air temperature plummeted to 150°F. I actually was surprised it didn't drop lower. Within the first hour it reached 200°F, and shortly after (approximately 20 minutes) it reached 225°F, the maximum temperature I use to BBQ pork butt and ribs. The remainder of the smoke I spent calibrating the heating control--It's only markings are "Low" and "High"--to pinpoint the 225°F sweet spot. It wasn't difficult. I removed the ribs after 2-1/2 hour, and replaced them with a second batch; more about why in a moment. The butts were at 160°F when I removed them to finish in the house oven. Clearly, they would have reached the target 190°F final temperature in a reasonable amount of time.
This I considered a critical test. I am delighted with the results.
A few other things to consider: I purposely placed the smoker in a sunlit area. I don't know how much the sun's energy contributed to reaching the desired temperature, but it's worth remembering the ambient air temperature, and location (in or out of the sun) will contribute to the heating speed. Subjectively, I'm in a "wait and see" mode relating to its reliability. The smoker arrived with a crack in a piece of non-critical plastic trim. I didn't submit a complaint. Again, subjectively, it feels a bit flimsy, but only time will tell. Clean-up, compared to my charcoal smoker, is easy: all but one piece of the removable pieces--racks, water pan and tray--fit in the dishwasher. Only the grease shield/drip director (my words, not Bradley's) requires hand cleaning. It will fit in the dishwasher, but the drippings are voluminous, and bake hard onto the shield since it's located near the biscuit-burning tray. The interior coats with smoke and cooking meat vapor condensation, but that's a plus for a smoker, therefore, no cleaning required.
Also, I could only use three racks for this smoke: two held the Boston Butts; because of their height they had to be separated by one empty rack space. I tried to put the ribs in that space, but one butt was too high to allow it. It did just fit above the second butt. I'd anticipate this when I bought the smoker, so I was neither surprised, nor disappointed. I only smoke rib's for about two hour, and butts for about five, consequently I was able to smoke three racks of ribs (all I had) concurrently.
This was a really good buy.