Inserting brick as heat sink to assist in temp recovery a good idea?

[Ernie_in_NC]

I read somewhere on this forum that one suggestion to help with temp recovery when one must open the door during cooking is to insert a brick or two in the smoker to act as a heat sink? Anyone tried this? Is there any particular kind of brick to use for this purpose or do I just go to Home Depot and take whatever they have?

Thanks for the help.

[FLBentRider]

I use a regular red building brick double wrapped in foil.

It seems to help bring the temp back up when you open the door.

The downside is that it will take a little longer to pre-heat, unless you put the brick in your house oven to pre-heat the brick as well - I don't.

[squirtthecat]

Firebrick works really good as well.  It's denser. (but costs more $$)

I have a small cast iron skillet in my Bradley.

[FLBentRider]

I harvested some firebricks when we took out my Moms fireplace.

They seemed less dense, lighter, to me. Almost like they were made from mortar.

[squirtthecat]

I harvested some firebricks when we took out my Moms fireplace.

They seemed less dense, lighter, to me. Almost like they were made from mortar.

Really?   They ones I have in my Traeger weigh about 3X the the regular clay bricks..

Maybe there are different types of them.

[classicrockgriller]

Ernie, when you get a pid, do the element add-on and your heat recovery is a thing of the past.

[ArnieM]

I use two foil-covered bricks.

[KevinG]

I use two grey bricks wrapped in foil.

[mow_delon]

I use two red clay bricks double wrapped in foil, also.  I preheated my smoker to 250 F yesterday and it took about 40 minutes to get that hot.  before I used bricks I would always preheat for an hour anyway.

[ananomoly]

Giving the Bradley a little class...I use pavers !!!

[RickWL63]

I have 4 paving bricks in mine (foil covered).  2 at the top shelf/2 on the bottom shelf. (6-rack DBS).  Seems to work pretty good.

[Ernie_in_NC]

Rocker, I don't know what you mean about the "element" and why that would make heat recovery a thing of the past.

Can you say more? Thanks.

Also, may seem obvious, but where would I put two bricks? Along the bottom? On an unused rack? Somewhere else?

[Quarlow]

I put one beside my water bowl and the other on the bottom rack if it is empty or on the v-tray unless I am smoking something that is really greasy.
The element CRG is talking about is you buy another heating element like the one that is in there now and install it so you have 2. Then you will have a 1000 watts of heating in there and no problem getting the heat up quickly, plus your recovery is a lot shorter.

[KevinG]

I put one under the smoke generator and one on the v-tray.

[OU812]

I put 2 bricks under the V pan, had to bust out a small piece to get every thing to fit. No foil eather, havent had to clean these sense I put them in.



Doin it this way leaves me all the trays to work with.