What part of the smoker box is hotter?

[takem01]

Only doing a single spatchcocked chicken today. I'm thinking, right now, that I'm going to put the rack at about the same level as the thermal sensor for the majority of the smoke.  But my wife loves the crispy skin. Question is how to get it to crisp?  Skin side up with the rack at the top of the box?  Or skin side down on the lowest level, right above the heat diffuser?  As a last resort, I know I can finish it under the broiler. Then it's white sauce a la Big Bob Gibson's and beans made with the juice from the 3 Boston Butts that I smoked for pulled pork yesterday. I smoked the Butts for 5 hours, then put them into a 225 degree oven, covered with foil until I got an IT of 90. Pulled the pork and saved the juice for the beans.

[Wildcat]

The only way to get crispy skin is to cook or finish cooking in something other than the Bradley. The Bradley is for slow smoking/cooking only. Does not get hot enough for crisping skin.

[takem01]

Thanks, wildcat. Kind of what I figured. 3 hours of smoke and then the broiler. Appreciate the advice.

[tskeeter]

Taken, the answer to your question may be helpful for you and others to know, so I'm going to address it.

Bradley's do have definite heat patterns.  Basically hotter at the bottom than the top, and hotter at the back than the front.  That makes the back half of the bottom rack the hottest location in the smoker and the front half of the top rack the coolest location.  As you think about this, it makes sense.  The smoker is hottest directly over the heating element (bottom back) and coolest the furthest away from the heating element (top front).

I use this information in a variety of ways.  If I'm smoking several racks of ribs, I'll put the thickest ribs on the bottom rack, where the smoker is hottest, and the thinner ribs on higher racks. This way, all the racks of ribs get done at the same time.  If I'm smoking cheese on a warmish day, I'll put the cheese in top rack positions near the door, where the smoker is the coolest, to avoid melting the cheese.

[Old Dog]

Taken, the answer to your question may be helpful for you and others to know, so I'm going to address it.

Bradley's do have definite heat patterns.  Basically hotter at the bottom than the top, and hotter at the back than the front.  That makes the back half of the bottom rack the hottest location in the smoker and the front half of the top rack the coolest location.  As you think about this, it makes sense.  The smoker is hottest directly over the heating element (bottom back) and coolest the furthest away from the heating element (top front).

I use this information in a variety of ways.  If I'm smoking several racks of ribs, I'll put the thickest ribs on the bottom rack, where the smoker is hottest, and the thinner ribs on higher racks. This way, all the racks of ribs get done at the same time.  If I'm smoking cheese on a warmish day, I'll put the cheese in top rack positions near the door, where the smoker is the coolest, to avoid melting the cheese.

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