Hey all.
I know this has been mentioned before...
I have been making candied salmon for the last few days with my 'new' BDS.
I have to admit that I am disappointed that the start temp for the heater is 120F. I would like to start at a lower temp to prevent 'white boogers'. It seems to me it wouldn't have been too hard for Bradley to allow lower start point.
Despite that, I am still very happy with the smoker and the results to date have been far superior and easier to make than with my 'Little Chief'.
Next: Bacon!
BTW, thanks for all the great ideas on this site!
When I do salmon I only use the smoke generator for the first couple hours. It has a small heater to make the smoke and will normally get the box heated slightly while only smoking. Then I turn on the main heater.
pens has you hooked up.. would try using the smoke generator only on your next go round
Pens has you hooked up. Additionally, one could also leave the door open a crack. I did it the first time I did salmon and it turned out just fine. It would keep the temp down and the smoke would still roll over your fish just fine.
I have lined a tray with foil and filled with Ice. Then just using the SG the temp stayed at 64-66*. When cold smoking cheese.
I'm agree with 10.5, down here in my neck of the woods we have very mild winters and its hard to keep those lower temps, so the water bowl is full of ice and if the botton rack is empty a couple of blue ince packs. Door just slightly ajar and SG only, but even then gotta keep an eye on it! Good luck!
C
Thanks for the tips.
I have tried the ice pack thing for cheese - and it worked, but it would be nice if I didn't have to go through the 'extra' effort.
I'm not sure about leaving the door open - don't you loose a lot of smoke? I will give it a shot, because I have to trust the experience here.
I have done as Pens suggested - just the SG to start, but the recipe (from this site) says that after smoking (which seems to be steady at about 80 with SG) raise the temp gradually to 160. It just seems to me that going from 80 to 120 is a bit of an extreme jump; I would rather start at 100 or so.
Not to worry too much, the results have all tasted great! I guess I just assumed that a digital smoker would be more controllable. But, like I said, much better than my old smoker.
Can I ask if I save up for a PID controller, will it allow a lower starting temp?
Thanks again for all the tips!