New to the Bradley Smoker Family

[bsheger]

Well, I finally broke down and bought a new 6 rack BDS.  I have been using an offset smoker for a number years and was finding it hard to have time to constantly watch the thing.  So what can I expect from this unit.  I have a party coming up and want to smoke up about 10 slabs of baby backs ribs.  Not sure if I want try that many out on a maiden voyage with the BDS.  Any suggestions would be helpful.  Does anyone know how many slabs you can fit into the 6 rack BDS?  If so what can I expect for cooking time.

Thanks for your help!

[Consiglieri]

First, welcome!

I asked the same question when I first got on board here.  The answer as far as the loads go is "it depends." The Bradley only uses a portion of the total cooking time for actual "smoking."   After the pucks have been exhausted, the Bradley essentially works as a low heat electric oven.  With a full load of meat in the box, you may find a great deal of temp fluctuations top to bottom, and you'll probably find that cooking time is increased dramatically both because of the lower temp meat and the need to rotate racks for even cooking (with attendant box heat loss).  If you're going to cook all of the meat in the box, I wouldn't go any higher than nine racks (3 half racks of ribs on each bradley rack), which may take as long as 10+ hours cooking at 210-220F.  If you're doing all the cooking in the box, you'll probably want to preheat to 250 or so cuz the temp will drop like an anvil when the meat is put in. 

A side note: you will probably want to get a Maverick ET 73 dual probe remote thermometer, which monitors box temp (DBS' digital setting is not as precise as you'd expect) and meat temp.  You'll find that the actual box temp varies more than you'd expect from "digital."

Some here (notably Gizmo) will shift the meat over to his oven after the smoke part is done.  I think he has loads up the box as full as he can get it for the smoke phase and then "boats" the ribs in covered foil pans with a splash of apple juice.  I think he has done as many as 12 racks of ribs at one time. 

Then there is the inverted rack trick, which I haven't tried.  You load up 3 half racks per shelf, then put an upside bradley rack on top of each, and load another 3 half racks on top. 

here's some links to large load discussions (and good luck!).  You're going to love this machine.

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=5171.0

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=5555.0

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=6342

Cheers!

[FLBentRider]

W E L C O M E to the forum bsheger!

I smoke then foil boat and into the house oven.

[westexasmoker]

Welcome aboard bsheger!

I agree your gonna love this smoker!  I too have used my offset for years, but your BS is an amazing tool!  I highly recomend the maverick and the use of a pid.  As far as ribs, whats already been said, I've done 8 racks in mine (I've got the OBS with four racks) hit them with smoke and then boat them in the oven or crock pot to finish!  Good luck!

C

[Gizmo]

Welcome bsheger,
Consig has me taken care of.   ;)
The only thing I would add is I you can't do the inverted rack method on Ribs in the 6 rack.  The rack spacing on the 6 rack is closer together than on the 4 rack model.  There is just slightly under 1 inch of clearance between the top of the inverted rack and the bottom of the next rack.  You would have to have one thin rack of ribs to fit between the two.  Jerky does great though. ;D
Even if you were to get the thinest set of ribs in the universe, there wouldn't be enough room between them (IMHO) for heat and smoke to be evenly distributed.  The 12 Racks of Ribs I did was taxing on the bradley and as you can see in Consig's 2nd link, there wasn't a "spare-rib" inch of room left.  The 9 racks is a much better setup.
I would suggest if you need to do more than 9 racks of ribs for one gathering, do them in sets of 9 racks at a time with 4 hours or less of smoke then pull and do the next set.  When you are ready for the party, boat them with a little Apple Juice or Jack Daniels, cover with foil and heat in an oven for several hours.  I have used up to 350 degrees in the oven when I am in a hurry.  This is my high speed method.  When the meat has pulled back 3/4 of an inch from the edge of the bone, they are done.  If you are carefull to not cook them any further where the meat will fall apart, you can them slather them with some BBQ sauce (my favorite is Iceman's Sopin' Sauce) and toss them on the grill for a quick med high temp glazing.  This is best done when the guests arrive so they can enjoy the visual before the taste.

[bsheger]

Thanks for all the info.  But can anyone explain the PID?  I am not familier with it.

[Gizmo]

I will give you the short version.  You can do a search on the board here for the more complex and detailed info.

Proportional Integral Derivative.  Or something close to that spelling.

For the Bradley: A control device that will regulate the temperature of the heating element to a very tight tolerance.  It is not a simple on/off switch type controller as is the device that the Bradley uses. 

[West Coast Kansan]

BSHEGER, welcome here and let us know how the ribs turn out.  I am a humble DBS 4R and have done 4 racks several times using the Bradley for the entire cook.  When doing more I have the rib rack that stand them up on the side. 

Good advice given on the preheat and time expectations.  Use hot water in the bowl and that will help. Good luck and looking forward to hearing the results.  :)