Hello From Zorro

[Zorro]

How many racks of ribs can I smoke in the Bradley 6 shelf ? I understand that you can expand the capacity with special racks.

[ExpatCanadian]

I only ever really do 2 full racks of ribs per Bradley rack, laid flat...  but with an upright rib rack you could probably do 4-6.

[Mr Walleye]

Hi Zorro and welcome to the forum.

I do 6 racks of back ribs on a fairly regular basis in my 4 rack DBS. I cut each rack in half and have 1 & 1/2 per Bradley rack. It is definitely a full load and does require a little more time and a few rack rotations to ensure even cooking. I have modified my Bradley with a second element, a circulation fan and a PID controller which helps immensely with this.

Mike

[Zorro]

would you have any ideas for a larger capacity that wont break the bank.

[TestRocket]

Welcome Zorro,

Good luck!   

[Zorro]

Thanks Mike....I may have to expand with more Bradleys or go with a more commercial size to keep up with demand.

[Mr Walleye]

Zorro

Here is a link to a site that sells additional rack kits, circulation fan kits, and aluminium pucks for the Bradley. He's also a member here on the forum.

http://smokeandstuff.com/index.php/categories/smoker-acessories

Mike

[TTNuge]

Not to rain on your parade but I think you need to consider the right tool for the job.  I don't know if the Bradley will be able to keep up with demand both in volume and in heat output.  In a restaurant setting where you will be working with the ribs a lot more I don't know if the Bradley can keep up.  You will be opening the door a lot, taking ribs out, putting new racks in, constantly working with your meat and those aren't the types of conditions the Bradley excels at.  I really think you would be much better off looking at something like a pellet grill for your first smoker.

You can get some pretty nice concession trailer setups with a pellet grill in them or other type of smoker.  I love my Bradley but I also know it's limitations and it's best not to try and make it do something it wasn't set up to do.  And not to sound harsh but based on the amount of experience it sounds like you have I don't think you will have a lot of success trying to force it to work.

[KyNola]

And that be the truth TTN.  My thoughts exactly.

[classicrockgriller]

You could used the Bradley for the smoke period and finished the cooking time in the oven.

And then have a lower temp Bradley as a Holding oven.

[Mr Walleye]

Yup.... I have to agree as well.

Here's a link to the FEC100. Not that I have one but I know they are well liked by many. There is also larger ones if required.

http://store.cookshack.com/p-126-fast-eddys-by-cookshack-fec100.aspx

Mike

[Caneyscud]

With restaurant demand, I seriously doubt it if you can work a Bradley or doubt if a normal pellet pooper would work - unless you only sell a few racks a day.  Multiple of Bradley or PP's maybe, but then why not go commercial.  There are a number of commercial BBQ ovens out there. Major brands include Southern Pride, Ole Hickory, J&R Manufacturing's Oyler, Stumps and others. Some use wood only, but those are difficult to run in cities due to codes -- and the requirement for lots of wood.  But most restaurants use a combo of wood with either gas or electric. The wood, in small amounts (a couple of logs per load of several hundred pounds), adds smoke flavor, but the gas or electric supply the heat. Low and slow then they either chill and reheat for service, or some will hold in a steam pan or foiled up in an Alto Sham. There are different techniques. If you smoke em properly, and hold em properly, they will be good. Maybe not as good as pure wood-smoked ribs cooked just in time to eat fresh off the smoker, but many are quite good.

As noted above there are commercial ovens that are rather recent inventions that allow a restaurant to prepare 'bbq' that is acceptable to many people without having a pit or a knowledgeable pitmaster. These devices can automatically produce competent bbq without any more labor than loading them and turning them on. They don't produce great ribs though, imho, but they are probably, what most chain bbq restaurants use. Because of smoke pollution restrictions they are probably absolutely essential in big cities.  Those restrictions are the reason most great bbq places are located in small towns.

[Zorro]

Great ideas thanks. Actually we are planning on concession trailers from Southern Yankee. No fixed restaraunt.

[Gizmo]

I have only stuffed 12 racks of ribs in at one time for a large party (going away party for a reservist service man that was recalled for duty in Iraq).




  You can invert racks or add extra shelf brackets but as you can see in the picture below, there isn't really enough room when doing ribs.  Jerky can use extra racks as the meat does not take up vertical height like ribs do.



I also finished them in the oven.  These are out of the smoker and getting ready to go into the oven with a final finish on a charcoal grill.



If you were going to use the Bradley for Smoke, you could do the 12 racks and then finish in the oven as CRG mentioned.  The main thing is you can only do smoke on 12 racks every 4 hours (or less depending on how much smoke you apply)  You would need to smoke prep a lot of racks ahead of time.  The other problem is you need to cut these up to fit that quantity in the Bradley.

[Zorro]

Looks Good Gizmo... I think as I get more in put I will go with a professional version from Fast Eddy. I have researched many of the systems and visited our local rib joint and the best smoker in my opinion for Germany will be the FEC-750. It has the capacity I need and burns pellets which produce a more even temp and produces less air pollution (improtant in Germany).