inverting racks

hybridcx · February 13, 2012, 08:36:31 PM

had a quick question for anyone who has tried the inverting the racks for jerky/ smoked fish. I was wondering how well it does turning a 4 rack into an 8? any problems with it being too full, or too much to keep temps ect. I was over at yard and pool getting the frog mats, and then seen the extra 4 pack of racks. but wasn't sure if that was pushing it too much on the smoker, so I thought I would ask first, also since I would only be using them for fish and jerky, would I then need 8 mats? going to be trying first batch of jerky this next week but not sure how bad the sticking issues are.. thanks

Waltz · February 14, 2012, 12:27:21 AM

This is a reasonable option to increase the capacity although it can be a PIA keeping them in place. Some people have fitted additional side rails to take extra racks. It does slow the heating down a bit but is OK for thin items like jerky and fish that you mention provided you rotate the trays every hour or so.
It would be best to have mats for all the trays. You can help stop sticking by spraying the trays with PAM oil or similar but mats do a great job.

Salmonsmoker · February 14, 2012, 07:28:27 AM

I have the DBS 6 rack and have done the inverted rack deal to get 12 racks for smoking salmon, and found that I had to extend my low temp time @120F to get rid of the extra moisture load. The load went from 4 to 7 fish @ 7-8# average. Then I had to extend the run time at each temp. increase because of the added mass. With the extra moisture load, I had liquid dripping out of the bottom of the smoker cabinet(vent full open). With the jockeying of the racks and temp. loss because of it, it was an extremely long smoke day with inconsistent results. I'm sure it works fine for low moisture meats, but I've gone back to the 6 racks for salmon.

KyNola · February 14, 2012, 07:52:24 AM

I have a BDS 4 rack that I recently converted to an 8 rack by installing additional rails. Prior to the conversion, I used to invert racks often. Worked just fine but a bit cumbersome to load/unload/transport. Installing additional rails alleviates the load/unload/cumbersome issue and gives you more locations for rack placement of larger cuts of meat.

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smoker pete · February 14, 2012, 08:05:06 AM

Quote from: hybridcx on February 13, 2012, 08:36:31 PM
had a quick question for anyone who has tried the inverting the racks for jerky/ smoked fish. I was wondering how well it does turning a 4 rack into an 8? any problems with it being too full, or too much to keep temps ect. I was over at yard and pool getting the frog mats, and then seen the extra 4 pack of racks. but wasn't sure if that was pushing it too much on the smoker, so I thought I would ask first, also since I would only be using them for fish and jerky, would I then need 8 mats? going to be trying first batch of jerky this next week but not sure how bad the sticking issues are.. thanks

When doing jerky I turn my OBS into an 8 rack unit by inverting 4 racks. I use 4 frog mats and the other 4 racks are sprayed with PAM. I rotate them every hour top to bottom, front to back. Works great. I don't have issues with sticking.

viper125 · February 14, 2012, 10:38:23 AM

Well I have a 4 rack and was recently presented with a chance to buy 8 more in a deal. Now i have a 12 rack. Right off you should know its like any full load it will increase heat time and cooking time. Just like a load of ribs or butts would. But I use the top 8 for doing fish or jerky and such. Leaving the bottom 4 out gives the heat time and space to spread out and come up around. Instead of holding heat down and coming up the back. I also rarely use so many racks. But it gives a lot of choices in setting things in the smoker any where you like.

Salmonsmoker · February 14, 2012, 12:06:00 PM

There's another anti stick product by the name of Peel-Ease that works better than Pam. It's around $16 for a 16 oz. bottle, which makes it look expensive, but you cut it with a ratio of 1 cup P-E to 4 cups of water.

hybridcx · February 14, 2012, 05:54:41 PM

thanks for all the feed back. I will look into adding slots, that seems the best way to go. we will see how it does smoking fish, I have heard that before though that making it an 8 rack makes the fish inconsistent in final product. that was the main reason for getting the Bradley as i was tired of running two little chiefs from aug-oct. was looking for bigger batches, but its gotta be consistant outcome...