Newbie and cold weather

[bigredsmoker]

Hello everyone! First time poster and smoker owner. I have a BDS on the way as well as an ET-73, bubba pucks, and plenty of pucks. I have been reading posts here for a few weeks and I am very excited to get started when my goodies arrive. However, I live in Nebraska and it is only 28 out today. Can you smoke outside in cold weather? I have a pork butt that I want to do, but I think I will start with a couple of chickens.

I am also interested in seeing pictures of anyone's either garage set ups, or any special stands, shelves, etc you have made for your smoker. I am interested in building something for my new smoker.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[begolf25]

Hey Big Red,

Welcome to the board. Temps around 28 degrees really shouldn't cause you any problems. The one factor that can cause problems is wind. As long as there isn't a lot of wind cold temps shouldn't cause a problem.

Best of luck, you are gonna enjoy the Bradley.

Bryan

[Tiny Tim]

Hey.  As Bryan said, that temp shouldn't be an issue...I live across the Mighty Mo from ya and have done several smokes with my Bradley Original in the winter.  The only criteria I use for whether to smoke or not is if I feel like bundling up to go start the smoker, then load it, then check on it a few times, then finally to remove the food....or ice and snow in front of the shed I have it in.

Welcome...stick around and show off your products.

[Smoking Duck]

Welcome to the forum, Big Red!  Here are a couple of ideas on how some folks set up their smoker (I'm partial to the way Mr. Walleye has his garage set up):

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=4142.0

And how he sets his BS up for a cold smoke:

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=6075.0

If you do a search, you can find out other ways people set up theirs.  What you'll soon find out is that the fine folks on this board have some incredible talents both with recipes and how they set up their smokers.  This much I can guarantee you:  you'll never be disappointed with the knowledge the people on this forum will give you.  If you ask a question, they'll tell you what they know.

[Habanero Smoker]

bigredsmoker;
Welcome to the forum.

I have an 8 pound butt, and 7.5 pound brisket (flat) in the smoker right now. I started with the temperature at 20°F, it is now 24°F; with a brief high of 30°F. As Bryan stated wind is a major problem and that is what I was dealing with earlier. But it is now smoking/cooking at 210°F is the temperature I want it at. Though the light snow is doing it's best to cool the cabinet down.

In cold weather it will take much longer for the cabinet to recover once you loaded your meat. So preheat much higher then you plan to smoke/cook at, because you will loose a lot of heat while loading. It is also a good idea to try to keep you loads smaller. Protection from the wind is helpful. Many of us place a brick under the drip pan ("V" tray), to help the cabinet recovery faster. Also filling the water pan with hot water helps quicken the preheating of the unit.

[bigredsmoker]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I like the brick and hot water ideas Habanero, thanks! I like Walleye's set up as well. If I decide to go that way I will have to get more info from him. I was thinking of building a windbreak out of acouple sheets of plywood in a v shape on the windy side of the smoker if it is really windy. I have some evergreen type trees next to my patio on the North side that may provide enough wind break without doing anything else.

Smoking Duck, I read in an earlier post that you have a lab (at least I think it was you). I have a 10 year old black female that I hunt pheasants with. Thinking of making an addition to the family in the spring. Not sure if I want another black or maybe a yellow.

Time for the Friday afternoon adult beverage. Looking forward to being a member of a great community and learning from all of the talented smokers on this board.

Cheers all!!!

[Smoking Duck]

Hey Big Red,

Yep I have a black female (3 years old now) who goes duck hunting with me every chance I get. I'm partial to the black labs and even more partial to female labs, but yellow would be my second choice. I'm actually going pheasant hunting on Sunday and will be taking her with me for the first time.  We'll have a really good Springer with us, so I'm hoping that will help with her.  She's real obedient, so keeping her close to us shouldn't be a problem.  Not sure how she'll do, but I'm looking forward to it.  I know she'll retrieve just fine, but not sure how she'll do hunting them up.  Just hoping she'll take some cues from the Springer.  Should be fun......I'll be doing a brisket while I'm out hunting, so hopefully, the wife will understand doing the apple spritz every hour or so.  She's not real technical and doesn't take to the shock collar like my lab, but I think I've got her trained well enough for the spritz  ;D.

Good luck with the DBS....this is only my second smoke, but feel like I can conquer the smoking world thanks to the fine folks on this board!

[KyNola]

Big Red,
Welcome aboard, these guys are great.  When you smoke the chickens, make sure you have plenty of vent open.  Those birds really hold a lot of moisture.  You're gonna love the DBS.  My wife thought I was an idiot when I ordered mine.  Now she thinks I'm a genius.

Enjoy yourself and have fun letting the smoke roll.

KyNola

[Mr Walleye]

Welcome Big Red!

Don't be scared to throw that butt in. They're very forgiving and their rewards are great!  ;)

Mike

[Ontrack]

Welcome, Big Red. Enjoy yourself and watch that waistline grow!

[Arcs_n_Sparks]

Time for the Friday afternoon adult beverage.

Most cogent part of the thread I have seen.....   :D

Welcome bigred.

Arcs_n_Sparks

[West Coast Kansan]

I had thought Osborne would finish the season as coach but other than that welcome.  ;)

As stated above wind is the hardest thing to deal with.  The only thread I have read about too cold was from Outlander where his Smoke Generator had to warm up a bit to work.  That was about New Years last year and he had a temperture 58 degrees less than your 28. I think the best solution is to take your generator inside and then mount it for the preheat prior to smoking.

Many here - hot or cold - start out with a preheat of at least an hour to get the tower well above cooking temp before placing the meat which has been allow to set a room temp for about an hour.  Filling your water bowl with hot water will also help.  Using a larger disposable tin foil type water bowl with hot water will help more in the coldest of weather.  :)

For me I enjoy getting the smoke rolling and then driving down to the beach for a quick walk between reading these cold weather threads.  ;D

Welcome to the form...look forward to sharing Bradley experiences.  :)

[Mr Walleye]

WCK.... I "resemble" that Comment!  :D

We get lots of -35 to -40 stuff up here and with wind chill you can see -40 to -50. Of course thats Celsius..... oh, wait a minute.... Celcius and Fahrenheit are the same at -40!  :o

All I know is..... Ya don't need ice in your drinks at -40 and it's real easy to keep beer cold!  :D
I even have to start wearing a jacket in that weather!  ;)

Mike

[iceman]

WCK.... I "resemble" that Comment!  :D

We get lots of -35 to -40 stuff up here and with wind chill you can see -40 to -50. Of course thats Celsius..... oh, wait a minute.... Celcius and Fahrenheit are the same at -40!  :o

All I know is..... Ya don't need ice in your drinks at -40 and it's real easy to keep beer cold!  :D
I even have to start wearing a jacket in that weather!  ;)

Mike

Heck Walleye, I even learned years ago to take the single burner coleman stove with me ice fishing to keep my rum and coke from freezing up! :D ;D What's with this sand and water thing in the winter anyhow??? ::) :D ;)
I remember delivering beer to the Ididarod checkers on snow machine wrapped in a heating blanket run by a small generator just to keep it from exploding from the cold. :D Makes ya really like summer time though!!! ;D

[West Coast Kansan]

  :D  :D  :D