Hello new to forum

[Big chief]

Hi I would just like to start with saying hello.I just signed up for forum but have been reading it as a guest for months.I have owned my original bradley smoker (older style) for a year know I make about 20 to 30 pounds of jerky a month using ground beef and the back woods jerky mix.This always turns out good and has been become very popular with the guys I work with and friends.My next thing I want to try is a brisket and want to Candy some salmon.I am suffering from lack of temp and wild swings like everyone else.My question sorry if question has all ready asked but what PID would you recommend for this smoker I have a $300 budget and with this will I still need to install a second element.I have bought a second element,extra racks,sausage hooks but is there anything else that would make things easier for me to enjoy this great hobby.

[TNRockyraccoon]

Hey there B C.

The second element will only help your preheat and recovery times when you open the door. With that said, the second element will reduce your cook times since your cabinet will spend more time at your cooking temps and less time trying to get there.

I use a single probe Auber PID and it works great for me. I'm sure some of the forum veterans can offer up a better answer about PID's and what will work best for you.

Welcome to the pit!

[tailfeathers]

I also use a single probe Auber pid in conjunction with a 900 watt element. It's made a whole 'nother smoker out of my 6 rack digital. Preheating and recovery are so much faster it is unreal, and the Auber holds your temp within a couple degrees of what you set if at. The ramp up function is also nice, you just program how long you want to cook at a given temp before increasing to the next one. I'm just getting equipped for sausage making but I see a lot of recipes that call for increasing temps in 10 degree increments each hour and this is where the Pid will really shine. I'm no expert but I really like my Auber single probe. The other thing I would highly recommend would be a maverick thermometer setup if you don't have one. They use two probes, one monitors the smoker temp while the other monitors the internal temp (IT) of your meat.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Tenpoint5]

I have a 6rack that runs on a single 500 watt  element and a single probe Auber just fine. I do have a circulation fan in it but other than that it runs pretty much stock.

[ragweed]

Welcome to the forum from Nebraska.  I have an original, original black Bradley stock with a single probe Auber PID.  In cold weather, I preheat higher than the desired cook temp for at least an hour, use near boiling water in the drip pan, and add a brick as a heat sink.  So far, no worries even in single digit weather.  You just have to be patient.  Even if the box temp doesn't bounce right back to your set point, the meat's still cookin'!   ;) ;)

Enjoy the forum, ask anything and keep your top vent wide open!!

[Caneyscud]

Welcome to the forum.  I have a BDS - totally stock and I am "cursed" with temp swings and such also.  But have done many successful butts and briskets with no problem with the "curse" .  I also have 5 other smokers and also cook on some big trailer rigs.  Remarkably, the times in the BDS and in one of my other smokers (with the same desired cabinet temp)  isn't all that different.  The thermometer is reading the temperature of the air.  But that element and that burner is still making heat, just that most of that heat is going into the meat where it belongs and not just having heated air in the cabinet.  In a big trailer rig that weighs 100's if not 1,000's of pounds, you don't just start a fire and then immediately put in the meat.  Most of the heat is going into heating up all that solid steel - your meat will just sit there.  In a Bradley you don't have that heat mass to heat up, and all the heat goes into the meat.  Having a PID for most smokes is more of what you are comfortable of seeing.  If you are more comfortable seeing temp delts of less than 5 deg - by all means get a PID.  It won't make a difference to the meat or more importantly to the "taste".  I've forgotten to set my alarm on an overnight in a big smoker and the fire actually go out and the cab temp get down to 120 for a couple of hours and just lit the fire up again and continued - great outcome.  Early last year I had 12 briskets on the big Carousel Smoker.  At about 2:00 am the axle key fell out and it got all jammed up for an hour or two.  First thing I had to do was reach in and around all that stuff to extricate the briskets that were closest to the firebox and by now looking pretty black and burnt.  After an hour or two, I got things straightened out and fabricated a new axle key out of a couple of rusty nails I found in the back of the truck.  Cut off the charred parts of the surface of the "ruined" briskets and stuck them back on.  They didn't take long before they got up to the IT I wanted.  Turned out fine and tasty.  Point is, these are examples of extreme temp delts and everything came out fine.

[dave97402]

I have the 900 watt element and the single probe Auber as well. Made a huge difference....especially now that outside temps are above freezing!

The PID installed into the smoke generator total cost was about $95...the element for me was about $40

Dave