New 6 rack

[blaked]

Howdy, boys.
Picked up my new Bradley digital six rack yesterday, along with a lifetime (or at least long summer) supply of pucks and extra racks. I'm a pretty experienced smoker, but this is my first step into the land of electric, "lazy" Q. I've been operating on standard smokers all these years, most lately with a WSM (which I love, by the way). I'm intrigued by the ease, low smoke temps, and needed to add capacity anyway. So Bradley it is.
A few thoughts/questions:
1) I seasoned it last night for a couple of hours and was surprised that the temp increase seemed slow. I preheated, then set it at 150, per the instructions, and after an hour it was still just about 130. Upped the temp setting to 250 and it still topped out about 180 an hour later when I shut it down. Any thoughts on this?
2) I HATE (hate, hate, hate) drip pans. Getting rid of drippings is probably my least favorite part of the smoking process. I solved this problem in my WSM by using sand in the drip pan (still messy, but much easier disposal). I understand that the drip pan in the Bradley is necessary for the burnt pucks. But once we are done smoking in the Bradley, and we move on to just heating, does anyone know any reason I couldn't use sand in the drip tray?
3) I'm cheap, so I don't want to risk wrecking good food on my first few smokes. Luckily, baby backs were on sale, so I got a single rack of those, plus some bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers and Rainier cherries - that will be the first smoke tonight. Hard to screw up, right? We'll see. Any newbie advice would be appreciated.
4) My understanding is that 140 is the lowest digital setting - true? I would really like to be able to cold smoke cheeses, nuts, and fish. (I MIGHT have SORT OF implied - or just outright TOLD - to my wife that the Bradley would be good for this...) And so. Having confessed to the Forum, I'm hoping that someone will be able to tell me that they have a Bradley cold smoking method that is simple, easy and flawless. Like, leave the door an inch open. Or just run the smoker, but not the oven. Or whatever.
5) I'm under the belief that I will continue to do pork butts and brisket in the WSM because Bradleys don't produce the same kind of bark or smoke ring. True?

Thanks, fellas. One of the main reasons that I went with Bradley was because of the obvious community support of both the company and users. (Which is why all of my other products are Weber, BTW.) I'm really looking forward to digging in here and leaning on all your wisdom. And then taking the ideas as my own.
Thanks!

[beefmann]

welcome to the forum.

most bradleys should reach 200 to 225 F  with in an  hour, it sounds  like you  have a  low  voltage to the  smoker , if you  are running the bradley on an extinction cord  or on a circuit with other  loads it will cause  the heating  element  not  producing enough heat to get it where it needs to be, Check the voltage at the receptacle where you   plug in,, it  should be 115 to 120 volts.

as for using  sand in the  drip pan, never gave it  much thought,,, though I think it is a good idea as long as you  have a supply of sand.

as for  smoking  ribs, brisket or any other  meat keep  the top vent  wide  open and use your choice of wood

as for the bark between WSM and the bradley i cant tell you,,, i do not  own a  WSM   i have had a good  looking bark on pork, briskets etc if i take it to 185 - 190 IT The Bark is more Predomination at higher IT  Temps

can not  help you  with the digital controls, I own the  original

hope this  helps

[tskeeter]

Blaked, was it windy when you seasoned your smoker?  I think my Bradley 6 rack is more challenged by wind than my previous smoker.  When the wind has come up during my smokes, the wind just seems to suck the heat right out of the smoker.

Remember that the Bradley is designed primarily as a cold/low temperature smoker.  So it doesn't have the heat generating capacity of an oven or some other smokers.  Your standard heating element is 500 watts.  The puck burner adds another 125 watts.  By comparison, my 30" Masterbuilt had an 800 watt heating element, or nearly 30% more heating capacity.

To compensate for the limited capacity of the stock heating system, some forum members have modified their Bradley to increase the heating capacity.  On this forum you will find references to the two most common heater mods.  The dual element mod and the 900 watt mod.  These mods are documented and discussed in the forums at www.susanminor.org.  Go to the Our Time Tested and Proven Recipes forum.  Then scroll down to the Bradley Accessories - User Modifications forum.  If you should decide to do one of these mods, you will also need to upgrade the cabinet heater controls.  Members who do heater mods usually add a PID to handle the increased electrical load that results from the mods.

I'm not aware that the lowest digital temp setting is 140F.  However, for cold smoking, one option is to use only the puck burner to heat the cabinet.  Other forum members have reported that using only the puck burner increases the cabinet temperature by about 10 degrees above whatever the ambient temperature is.  I have found that where I live I can do a quick cold smoke early in the morning or late in the evening.  Even during the summer time.  Putting your smoker in the sun will also increase the cabinet temperature, while keeping the smoker in the shade will help keep the cabinet temperature down.  If your temps are simply too high for cold smoking, you can use ice or frozen foil wrapped bricks to help cool your smoker cabinet.  Cracking the door to allow cooler outside air into the cabinet works, too. Of course, you can add a cold smoke adapter to your smoker.  The adapter removes the smoke generator and the heat it generates from the smoker cabinet.  Bradley sells a cold smoke adapter.  Or, several members have made their own.  (Check out the Cold Smoking Mod thread in the Black Bradley Smoker forum for an example.)