Cabinet for permanent outdoors use

Hiwayman · January 02, 2009, 10:19:17 PM

This is my 1st post. I've been thinking for the past year now of buying a Bradley. Just haven't decided on which one. I do know that it will be made out of SS. I've read in a number of posts that sometimes these units catch fire for various reasons. And a lot of fella's place these in their garages. Not to sure I want to do this. Wouldn't want to have to explain to the local PD here why I'm standing bare a$$ed naked in the front yard with a cell phone in my ear, calling the fire dept. at my age. LOL
So I figured maybe a permanent cabinet outside. Big enough to place the unit with a cold smoke adapter box in and weather proof enough to stop the 120-140 inches of rain we get every year.
So my question is just how hot does these smokers get when they run. I see they are insulated. So it only makes sense that the outside doesn't get as hot as the inside. I need to know this as to figure out what materials to use.

Thanks in advance
Hiwayman

Gizmo · January 02, 2009, 11:18:21 PM

Welcome Hiwayman.

If you are going to get a Stainless Steel Model, there is only one version, a 4 rack with the original non-digital controler.

The outside temperature of the Bradley is NOT affected by the the temperature inside. That being said, they are pretty well insulated. The surface temperature will be what ever the air temperature is outside. I place my maverick probe on top of mine and the surface is not even warm so I would never worry about the plastic melting.

As far as I know from what I have read (or remember) here, the only fires were caused by the fat in the meat that was rendered out, collecting in the bottom of the unit, bowl, or dripping directly on the heating element. In short you could say operator error for allowing the situation to be created. I don't believe there has ever been an incident where the Bradley wiring or construction caused the problem. This is a device that does have a heating element and has smoldering wood. Just like a house oven, if you put a bunch of hot grease on the heating element or drop a burning chunk of wood into hot grease on the bottom of the oven, it could catch on fire.
With good practices, you should enjoy years of good Q without problems.

keep us posted.
Gizmo

You need to make sure the V tray is installed properly, if cooking for longer than 4 hours, you need to change the water in the water bowl, don't allow the meat to press up against the walls of the unit which would allow the rendered fat run down the wall and build up in the bottom of the unit.

Habanero Smoker · January 03, 2009, 01:22:10 AM

Hi Hiwayman;
Welcome to the forum.

Search the forum and you will find different designs, and shelters that are made of different materials. I believe there is even one made with a wooden frame covered in sheet plastic.

As for the numerous threads on fire I only recall two, and as Gizmo stated the seem to be caused by operator error.

Click on this link:
Is there a fire haszard...

You might want to check these out also:

Recipe Site
Bradley Smoker FAQ's

car54 · January 03, 2009, 04:58:11 AM

Welcome Hiwayman,

I had a small fire in mine. I was making about 40 Atomic Buffalo Turds which is a jalapeño pepper with bacon wrapped around it. The bacon was thin and very fatty. I took the ABT's right out the the refrigerator without letting them come up to room temperature. Because of this the heating element was on at 100% for a long time and a huge amount of bacon fat was pouring off the ABT's. I saw a huge amount of smoke coming from the Bradley, I opened up the door and a fire started due to the increase of oxygen. I immediately closed the door and turned the heater off . There was no damage to the Bradley. I would attribute this problem to operator error.

Here is my permanent shelter. It heps much in the winter and rain.

Brad

Smoking Duck · January 03, 2009, 06:47:39 AM

If building outside, I would definitely go the way that Brad (Car54) has gone. If building in the garage, Mr. Walleye has an incredible set up as well. If you can build in a seperate building altogether, check out Iceman's place.

Mr Walleye's Garage Setup

Hiwayman · January 03, 2009, 08:46:01 AM

Thanks a lot for your input fella's. I did search the forums for this cabinet idea but unless you know what to put into the search bar you end up with all kinds of stuff. And no where it seemed I could find out just how hot the outside of these units got. So I do appreciate your efforts guys. Thanks. I was thinking on something like Car54 has there. Maybe some fireproof pressed board around the unit. Something like that. Glad to hear that the outside is pretty well protected from the heat inside. That will make things a lot easyer. I really enjoy reading these forums. A whole lot of great info here. And it seems like everyone gets along. I live out here on the Washington coast. And I fish a lot. I started trying to smoke salmon about 5 years ago. Mainly cause I couldn't find a way to cook the stuff so it would taste good.LOL So I'm looking forward this year to some smoked salmon from this new Bradley I'll buy. I'll look again thru therposts and try and find all those set ups you guys are talking about. Thanks again...........Hiwayman

Mr Walleye · January 03, 2009, 09:48:46 AM

Hi Hiwayman and welcome to the forum.

Here is a link to my current setup in my heated garage.

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=7616.msg82164#msg82164

This is a link to my permanent cold smoke setup.

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

I did it for a couple of reasons. The first was to cold smoke. The second was to eliminate the possibility of fire because it is in my garage. Most (there's not many) fires are cause by the water bowl not being maintained properly. Usually you fill the water bowl when you start, once the smoking process is over you need to empty the bowl and refill with water. Where people run into problems is when they allow the water to completely evaporate, the spent pucks pile up and continue to smolder, then the fat starts to render out of what ever your smoking and drips into the bowl. This is not a problem if the water bowl is maintained properly. What I did in my setup is remove the possibility of it ever happening by having the spent pucks in a completely separate cabinet. Of course now with the cold smoker attachment available from Bradley this is even easier now.

Mike

Hiwayman · January 03, 2009, 12:13:35 PM

Nice setup there Mr Walleye. Great job. I have an unattached garage but I sure don't have the kind of room you have to work in. LOL No room left. I like that cold smoke box of yours. Looks real good. But I'll probably go with the one that Bradley makes. You did a 1st class job on your setup . Thanks.

irishteabear · January 03, 2009, 05:58:13 PM

I don't have a stainless, I have a digital 4 rack. I can put my hands all over the outside while it's been fully cranked for quite a while with no fear of getting burned. The only "hot spot" on the outside is where the vent hole in the top is. ;D

I'm planning on having my hubby build me a permant shelter for mine outside like car54 did, except I need to be able to move mine so it will have locking casters on it.

Hiwayman · January 04, 2009, 07:56:56 AM

Sounds like I have nothing to worry about then Irish thanks for your input. Hiwayman

irishteabear · January 04, 2009, 11:59:12 AM

You may want to give yours the touch test, just in case. I'm doing 4 butts in my Bradley and am having trouble getting the temp up. It's 40 outside so I've got a blanket wrapped around the whole thing with the top open for the vent. It's raised the internal temp 6 degrees in 15 minutes. Go figure.

Smoking Duck · January 04, 2009, 01:13:42 PM

Interesting concept Irishtea. However, I'm not sure the insulation would help that much (it certainly doesn't hurt though). The Bradley is pretty well insulated and just not sure the blanket does that much. With 4 butts in the smoker, your temps are for sure going to be hard to bring up as the meat is absorbing a lot of heat. That's a pretty good load to have in there and when I do that much, it takes a long time to bring up even in 70F temps.

If you were using a stickburner, I'd concur with you on the insulation blankets as there is a lot of heat loss through those and I've known many who will use the insulation blankets with stickburners with some degree of success.

I'd say your biggest issue with the temp is the size of the load versus the ambient temp. Just my thoughts.

SD

irishteabear · January 04, 2009, 02:15:16 PM

I figured putting the blanket around it wouldn't hurt. It does seem to have helped or it was just lucky timing on my part. The smoker has gone up about 40 degrees after putting the blanket around it. I will do this again the next time I smoke and see if I get the same results when I smoke some almonds. I've done this size load before in colder temps and had trouble getting the temp up then as well so I wanted to try this and see what happened.

Smoking Duck · January 04, 2009, 02:58:03 PM

I'd be really interested in hearing how your trial comes out.....plus there are a bunch of folks in the frozen tundra who would probably like to know as well.

Do you keep some sort of heatsink in the smoker when smoking in colder weather?

SD

irishteabear · January 04, 2009, 04:12:16 PM

I had to pull the butts and throw them in the oven. :( It started raining out and I don't have a way to run it in the rain, yet. The next day it won't rain (should be Tuesday) I will be firing it up again and doing the almonds. It should be in the low 30s. The almonds are a quick roughly 3 hr smoke that should either prove or disprove my theory.

I have broken bits of a brick in the bottom of the smoker hoping that would help, it didn't that much. I've gone the hot water in the water pan route, that helped in the beginning, then didn't matter. ???

I'll be sure to keep you all posted. ;D