I'm wanting to buy a Bradley this January and need to know what to buy. Any commits would be greatful. I make sausage and I BBQ. I do BBQ on a trailer BBQ pit but it's really too big and waste of fuel for a little meat. Sausage I will usually do 25-50 pounds of it, (summer, polish) I'll also use it to smoke hams that I've cured myself. any Ideas on which Bradley. Thank you.
RBD, if you're going to be doing sausages in a Bradley you want precise temp control. A lot of the guys here get the Bradley original and order an Auber PID. The PID is an add-on to the Bradley that maintains cooking temps +/- 1-2 degrees. The Auber PID can be ordered here www.auberins.com
Some of the expert sausage makers will be along and give you better advice than me.
KyNola
Hello razorbackdave and welcome to the forum. I am fairly new to smoking and have not had my Bradley for that long. I own a Bradley digital and I am quite happy with the results. If I had it to do again I would likely purchase the Bradley original and put the extra money saved into a PID. I think that pairing is your best bang for your buck. Either way I am sure you will be happy.
I agree 100 percent. Original with a PID.
I think the 6 rack would probably be more appropriate if you want to do larger loads of meat. I can fit only 10-12lbs of snack sticks in my house and 25lbs of summer sausage.
I have the original and purchased the Auber dual probe PID. Using the PID you can ramp the cabinet temps in stages for doing sausage. I knew the the majority of my smoking would be sausage so I opted to purchase the OBS over the 6 rack digital because I wanted the Auber PID. The only draw back that I see with the OBS vs the 6 rack is that the chub length has to be shorter to fit in the OBS and you can stuff a full 20 inch length to fit in the 6 rack. To hang sausage links you will be able to hang longer lengths in the 6.
With that said, you can still hang 8 chubs or 25 pounds of summer sausage in the OBS. For both units you can purchase extra rack slides and make the OBS a 8 rack and the 6 rack a 12 rank. You just can't increase the height of the cabinet.
Good luck in your purchase. You can't go wrong with either unit.
Go with the 6 rack, i have a hard time getting 45 lbs of tritip in my 4 rack, also consider adding a Pid for better temperature control and a larger heater because of the meat load.
http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=6918.0
take a look at this mod for the 900 watt heater mod
http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=17304.0
and for a timer and pid set up for cold smoking then cook
I would agree with Beefman. With the size of loads you are wanting to do the 6 rack with a PID would be right up your alley.