Bradley Temperature Range

Puckeater · June 29, 2008, 04:14:20 AM

I'm doing my first pulled pork, everything seems fine so far, except the BDS lets the box temp get down to 190 before it starts to heat back up again? I'm set at 210, and it heats to about 222 before it shuts off. Is this how this should be? I have a maverick, which is confirming the BDS readings on it's display, so I know the range is accurate. Need a little wisdom here, am I foolish to think the smoker maintains within 10 degrees, or do I have a questionable thermostat? Thanks

car54 · June 29, 2008, 04:35:47 AM

I do not have the BDS but from what I understand that is the normal temperature range.Your setting averages 200 degrees. I usually cook my at 210 degrees.

Brad

Wildcat · June 29, 2008, 04:52:50 AM

I have an OBS. Before going with the PID, mine would have a similiar temp spread in the begining. As the meat temp climbs it will become less of a spread. With pulled pork you will be fine.

Kane · June 29, 2008, 05:34:17 AM

yup, those temp swings are normal but as Wildcat stated, you will be fine with pulled pork.

If you want tight temp control your gonna have to go with a PID or a DigiQ setup

pensrock · June 29, 2008, 07:09:24 AM

Thats as good as you can get with the BDS. I was quite suprised when I first got mine also. Most of the time it does not matter but for sausage smoking and other items you need much tighter control so thats where the PID control comes in. I still do not understand why Bradley will not change the design to include a better temperature controller in the BDS. The cost would be small for them and they would have much happier customers. I was not happy to have to spend that much for a smoker only to find out I need to put more into it to gain temp control and to really cold smoke. But now with the modifications I made I'm much happier although a little lighter in the wallet than I expected.

Puckeater · June 29, 2008, 07:38:49 AM

Thanks everyone. This forum is the best! Probably Bradley's best salesmen!

Gizmo · June 29, 2008, 12:30:43 PM

You will also find that the temp swings are less as the meat load temperature rises and acts less as a heat sink. I was surprised to find that my Dacor convection oven has a temperature swing as well. The siwng is not as great as the Bradley (at least when the Bradley is freshly loaded with 20lbs of meat) and the Dacor was a lot more expensive than the Bradley. ???

West Coast Kansan · June 29, 2008, 11:01:30 PM

I have a prepared rant that elevates the virtue of the temperature fluctuations as being highly engineered to corespond to the fluctuations in a chunk wood smoker. Needless to say it is not a big deal except in a few cases already called out above.

WestCoastSmoke · June 30, 2008, 11:39:37 PM

How difficult is it to add a PID to a BDS? ???

Gizmo · June 30, 2008, 11:44:34 PM

Not that difficult. You can build your own if you have some time and are up to doing a little assembly and soldering, or you can purchase some already built units but those are a bit more of an investment.

westexasmoker · July 01, 2008, 05:12:43 AM

While I don't have the BDS I've got the OBS, building the pid was pretty straight forward (even for a DA like me), the instructions on the recipe site are excellent and if you run into any problems these guys have the answer! Like Giz mentioned I believe Auber is now making a plug and play unit for a few dollars more than what it cost to build one! Good luck! Welcome to the forum!

C