New Bradley purchase

[Roadkill]

I have been an avid fan,and participant of backyard smokefests for years now,and decided to move to the next "level",and get away from the charcoal-ulcer method I was used to before here.But,from what I have read here,seems many have redesigned the Bradley to improve on it's performance?Many posts to this are intriguing,to say the least,adding extra heating elements,adding gas thermocouplers for more heat,extra fans,for added smoke circulation,ect!This all leads me to believe,the Bradley,for it's cost,is not perfect,and has not been improved on much since it has been released?
  Being mechanically inclined,but lost in the electrical avenues of things,I'm at a crossroad to spend money for something new,that still may need a lot of "tweeking" for satisfactory results,or just convert my old upright freezer into a possible bigger "ulcer causing agent".
 I live in the Midwest,and when it's not super cold here,the wind is constantly blowing,or the humidity is unbearable.From the old charcoal-ulcer smoking days,I've learned many tricks of the trade,but by moving up,I am hoping to end a lot of the constant problems associated from the old days,which seems to still exist.
 I'm hoping for added imput,before I make the wrong decison.I like the Bradleys ability to cold smoke,such as cheese,and realize here from my geograghic location,this may only ne possible in the spring,or fall,due to ambient outside tempratures,but there seems to be concerns posted here,that also preclude to the fact,that the Bradley,does not increase the temperatures very fast,which reminds me of days gone by.Is it possible for the factory,to possibly abb anothert 500 watt heating element? Thoughts,imputs,suggestions?

"PINK"-the only way,to devour a steak!

[whitetailfan]

Roadkill,
The Bradley is a wonderful backyard smoker for doing up a meal at a time.  If you are looking at putting through some serious amounts of meat, you may want to convert a large fridge.  That said, Chezbubba puts through hundreds of pounds of pork butt each year for Indianapolis over a few days time with multiple smokers.

If you are inclined enough to do up a propane unit in a kitchen size fridge, perhaps you should look at the stainless smoke gen only.  It even comes with instruction on how to convert your fridge, plus a coupler to mount through the fridge and hang the smoke gen from.


<font color="green">whitetailfan</font id="green">
"Nice Rack"
Lethbridge, AB

[SMOKEHOUSE ROB]

Roadkill welcome to the forum[:)] , well what can i say here, if you are looking for that perfect smoker build it your self, don't take it the wrong way. but as we all know you can never buy that perfect just the way you want it item off the shelf unless you build it or have it custom made to your own specs, that is where mods/accessories come in play. you go out and buy a cay its never perfect somebody will add something to it to make it your own, know what i mean, far as the Bradley it is just that, a very good smoker to buy off the shelf better then most of them out there, for one is the smoke generator you can control the amount of smoke you want and for as long as you want it with out standing over it and a cleaner smoke. now for cold smoking it will do that giving your temp out side,  but if you want the perfect cold smoker to work any where you will have to make some mods to do that like a extra box to put the smoke gen in and pipe the smoke into the cabinet and some ice to cool down the cabinet. now as far as temp control some of us are adding a pid or temp control to our smoker, we are just lazy (sorry guys) we want that perfect temp with out messing with it , the Bradley will work fine with out it. now as far as adding extra heat, don't need it, key word here is low and slow , adding extra heat or a fan or a temp control its all up to you , if you have played with many smokers you will find that you will always want to add something to make it perfect, The Bradley is the best smoker to get the job done with out alot of baby sitting, If i had to do it over again i would  buy the Bradley over any other smoker out there, Now if i had the time and lots of it i would build my own smoker and the heart of it would be the Bradley smoke gen, but i don't have that much time on my hands, if you could buy the perfect smoker it would cost to much and wouldn't be called backyard smoking,sorry for rambling on  just my 3 cents worth, good luck with your search, you will be happy with the Bradley smoker, welcome to the forum and keep us posted even if you choose a another smoker.

[headgames]

welcome roadkill  the only thing that I can add is other then LAZY  lol  is the price to be lazy and consistant . the smoke consistancy
is unsurpassed but expensive (to me) when you consider the price of the pucks.
so check out the price of a 12 puck 4 hour smoke before you make up your mind and quit throwing chunks in a pan. now that I have a digital camera , when olds gets his site up I will post my homemade puck process. If I were not making my own pucks the price would make me smoke a lot less .....  sincerely . the cheap a$$ redneck from Wisconsin

If ya go home hungry.........You were at the WRONG HOUSE !

[Roadkill]

Well,from the excellent feedback I have gotten,it seems that getting the heat,is not such a problem.I would like to cold smoke some cheese sometime,but this could be done better,when the temps are cooler outside,as in the early spring,or fall,this I can adjust to easy enough.I do see the need for the digital-alarm thermometers I've read about so far,as when I will be smoking,I will also be consuming the "drink",what a great combination,beer and brats,eh? Seriously tho,I have always enjoyed my sucess-failures from the old days,it's just time for a major upgrade,less headaches,more convenience.
 I would also like to try smoking sausage,many diffrent variaties.Of course this involves spices,grinders,and stuffing equipment,but the committment is here.Seems I may be purchasing those "pucks" by the case.

"PINK"-the only way,to devour a steak!

[iceman]

Hi Roadkill and welcome. Smokehouse Rob is right about the right smoker for your needs. For the most part the original smoker works fine but is limited to volume. I took the generator and mounted it on a larger cabinet for bigger jobs. Her's a couple of pictures. The generator did great in the bigger enclosure.

[nodak]

WOW Iceman that's an impressive set-up outside your cabin(drool), Looks like your prepared to fix food for a small army. Is that SS sink/buffet cart sitting there(sweet).

ENJOY,
  Mike

"If you're not living on the edge, You're taking up way too much room, so get the he-- out of my way."

[iceman]

It's a SS sink with a cutting station and two steam holding trays.<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by nodak</i>
<br />WOW Iceman that's an impressive set-up outside your cabin(drool), Looks like your prepared to fix food for a small army. Is that SS sink/buffet cart sitting there(sweet).

ENJOY,
  Mike

"If you're not living on the edge, You're taking up way too much room, so get the he-- out of my way."
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

[JerkyAddict]

This talking about the perfect smoker and that the best could always be better, got me to thinking. I can live without all that stuff, but it sure would be nice to have a built in beer tap.

[icerat4]

Looks like you could feed the whole forum here with that set up.When are the invite going out ive never been to alaska ill bring my skates and play some hockey.A good skate then some good smoked food with a few beers now thats PRICELESS....