heres some pics of my blankie
(http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee461/rigstar666/smoker%20blanket/IMG124.jpg)
(http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee461/rigstar666/smoker%20blanket/IMG126.jpg)
(http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee461/rigstar666/smoker%20blanket/IMG127.jpg)
(http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee461/rigstar666/smoker%20blanket/IMG128.jpg)
all snuggy, with some red green tape to finish it off
Niiice! But that is called Kentucky Chrome. ;D
One question - did you cover the door?
funny ;D
no i didn't cover door, can't remember whose post i read that did this before, but he said he
didn't cover door, and still had good results
1 burner - no mods yet- -8*C, 15 mins to heat up to 280*F
so seems to work good so far without door covered,
we'll see when it drops down to - 35*C how it works,
have some left over just in case
Where did you get that and how much was it?
sorry watchdog,
i am not sure, i got the stuff from work,
it looks like bubble wrap with heavy tinfoil on the outside
i try to take a pic of the middle for you
here's a couple of pics , hope this helps
(http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee461/rigstar666/smoker%20blanket/IMG150.jpg)
(http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee461/rigstar666/smoker%20blanket/IMG151.jpg)
well almost finished another smoke - canadian back this time
and as with another smoke i did the other night of ribs,
could not get smoker over 205*F, which is not bad just takes
a little longer to get food done.
i am not sure covering the door would make much difference.
i have all the stuff i need to do a second 500 watt element, so i think
that's where i am headed
thought the covering might make more of a difference, it has made a difference,
just not enough for myself
only -10*C outside right now, can't get it over 205*F, that was with a full load of
back bacon in, 24 lbs. worth
just some info for whoever wants it
an update
finished back bacon smoke
about 2 1/2hr longer than what Habs said it would,
due to size, temp, not sure, but i think temp had alot to due with it
i think it would have taken alot longer without the blankie, so i am
glad i did
i own a chargriller with sfb the only way i could keep the temp in it was to get a welding blanket temps were not an issue but this is cool idea ;)
Did you preheat the smoker?
I did the same thing with my smoker and posted some results of times and temps. I think the key is to make sure the smoker is preheated to 250* before adding the food.
With the Snuggie / Blankie, the whole smoker seems to act as a thermal mass. I noticed that the recovery time was very short after adding food or opening the door. But I have not yet done a smoke where I added a big load of cold food to the smoker - to date I have only added a whole chicken or 4 racks of nuts or 2 butts. The outside temps were around -5*C but I was impressed with the quick heat recovery after loading and checking progress.
Damn. I had a good 50 feet by 8 feet of this stuff I got out of a container. I didn't have any use for it so it went into the dumpster.
The ambient temperature definitely had an effect on the cooking time, if you could only get the smoker up to 205?F, but that is good since it was 14?F. If the cabinet could only get to 205?F, that is 20 degrees lower of what temperature I use. So that will definitely add more time, and probably your recovery time was very slow. As mentioned above if you didn't preheat, or let the loins set at room temperature for a while that would increase the overall cooking time. One other thing that would increase the time, if you took them beyond 140?F.
Quote from: rigstar on December 30, 2011, 12:25:00 PM
no i didn't cover door, can't remember whose post i read that did this before, but he said he
didn't cover door, and still had good results
1 burner - no mods yet- -8*C, 15 mins to heat up to 280*F
If he was heating the coking chamber up to 280*F I'm surprised it didn't trip out the high temp limit. I think it is set at around 275*F, These things are smokers, not ovens. :)
yes i preheated, 265 on the bradley temp, sorry the 280 was on the
maverick
yes it was you JZ who i got the idea from, now i remember your handle,
sorry about that but i couldn't find your thread, thank-you for the idea
i did let the loins sit on the counter for roughly an hour or so, so warmed up
a bit, but not throughly i am sure, so they were on the coolish side i think
yes the recovery times were certainly better than without and so was warm up
time. i noted preheat time was about 15 min's whereas it was about 45-1 hr in same
outside temps before. now thinking back on what i did, i probably should have let cabinet
warm up for another 15 mins or so to make sure entire cabinet was warmed up, not just
the temp probes. but was excited that it got hot so quickly i just grabbed food and put it in;lol
didn't take note of recovery time, all i noticed is that it was alot
quicker with the blanket on
overall i think blanket was worth doing as JZ pointed out better preheat and recovery times,
concerned abit about overall cabinet temp being low due to outside temps, but 200-205*F
still gets food out of danger zone when cooking, just had to plan ahead when smoking
something i want for supper.
i will be doing upgrade(mod) to dual element as i think as temps continue to drop
up here in the great white north, i will be attempting to smoke in sub -25*C weather,
and might not be able maintain 205*F cabinet temps.
so like a good boy scout, i am going to be prepared;lol
At -25C I doubt the Snuggie would be enough to get temps up for a big load. Might need to add an electric blanket under the Snuggie lol. Probably best to do the dual mod. One thing to consider is that with all that heat under the bottom tray you might get stuff burned easier. I even have burned (well overcooked) nuts on mine, even though I rotated the racks several times and switched them from front to back.
I read someone else added a fan to their dual mod and that evened out the temps enough that he did not even have to rotate racks. Worth considering while your in there doing the changes anyways. Good luck.
thanks JZ,
i have read about the fan mod for the 900W finned heater,
i think that is a good idea as well for the dual element,
thanks for reminding me about the fan
adding a fan or blower to move the air in the box is a huge help ... by keeping the temps even through out the box
They have this stuff @ Lowes...used some to wrap exposed ducting im my garage instead of fiberglass. I might try making a removable sleeve for my smoker using that stuff...
I am trying my first ribs today and the outside temps are -27*C.
I figured I would give my snuggie a shot at it (but didn't expect it to be good enough in these temps).
I was pleasantly surprised. I preheated the smoker to 220* with a bowl of hot water in it and when I loaded the meat I added a brick that was heated on top of the wood stove. The temps dropped to 200* and held there for quite a while and then surprisingly the temps started increasing and after about an hour they got up to 220*. At 2 hours I opened the door and rotated the racks. Closed the door and the temp only dropped to 208* then started climbing back up. I did not expect it to work this well with the outside temps being as low as they are.
That's the good news ---- the bad news is that the SG did not advance the pucks every time and I had to check it every 20 mins. Sometimes I would have to push the puck advance button twice to get the puck moved. Called Bradley and they suggested cleaning the SG, which I will do once I am finished with the ribs. Gotta go and get them out now to put in foil and then back into the DBS.
After cleaning it, don't use any oil on the moving parts. I use powdered graphite. In cold weather it doesn't thinken like oil, or will it collect wood particals that can gum up your system.
Thanks for the pointer Hab's. I cleaned it out and tried it again this morning. Same thing.
I noticed that when I hit the advance button the slider / pusher seems to be binding on the return movement and sometimes will not retract all the way and as such the puck cannot fall down and get pushed forward.
I will take it apart one more time and see if I can find what is causing the binding. If I can't see the problem and determine a fix I will call Bradley.
Is there a way to run the SG without having it connected to the tower? It is -25C outside and I really don't want to be working on this outside. If not I will have to carry the whole works into my shop.
You may also want to check the linkage, to see if that may be loose and causing the binding.
The only other way I know how to test the advance mechanism in the digital; other than to have it connected to the cabinet, is to us a bypass plug. If you ordered the cold smoke adapter, a bypass plug comes with that.
Or you can make one:
Bypass Plug (http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=9164.msg97088#msg97088)