Need some expert help!

chips · April 18, 2009, 09:50:38 PM

Howdy everyone,

I'm new to this forum, and I have an old 6'x6'x6' stainless steel box that I want to use for smoking about 500 lbs of salmon at a time, and I'm not sure what I need for a heating element, circulation fan, and if I need more than one Bradley smoker. I really need some expert advise, can anybody help me?

Thanks,

chips

pensrock · April 19, 2009, 04:51:23 AM

Welcome to the forum. I'm not going to try to answer this because there are several people who have built great smokers and they may be able to help you much more than I can. I'm sure they will be stopping by and give you some advice.

Wildcat · April 19, 2009, 05:03:58 AM

Welcome to the forum. What he said.

KyNola · April 19, 2009, 08:18:21 AM

Chips,
Wait for Gizmo to respond. He knows all the answers to your questions.

KyNola

Mr Walleye · April 19, 2009, 10:15:14 AM

Hi Chips and welcome to the forum.

Wow! That's going to be a bad boy for sure! There's a member on the forum (Iceman) that has built a few large smokers and he may be able to offer you some ideas. He also has some pictures abound the forum here somewhere of them. I built one about half that size. Here's a link to how I did it. If you go to page 4 you'll see the finished product. http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=7616.0

Is the cabinet insulated and with what and how much? This will help determine the amount of heat you are going to require. Obviously you will be running 240 volts and I would think you are going to want at least 2 oven style elements in there. They are roughly 2500 watts each which is a total draw of about 21 amps not including blowers, etc. I'm assuming you will be controlling it with a PID?

Here is a link to high temp blowers at Grainger. http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/wwg/productIndex.shtml?L2=High-Temperature&operator=prodIndexRefinementSearch&originalValue=high+temp+blower&L1=Blowers%2C

They are rated for 450 degrees intake temp so they will easily handle it. They are designed to be mounted externally. I used 130 cfm one. http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/items/1TDV2

Mike

PS
You will probably need 2 smoke generators for a cabinet that size.

Mr Walleye · April 19, 2009, 10:46:00 AM

Here's some of the pictures of Iceman's setup...

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=4808.msg42747;topicseen#msg42747

Mike

chips · April 19, 2009, 11:43:13 AM

I want to thank everyone for the "warm" welcome!

I really appreciate all the help. The box is not insulated as of yet, and I'm still trying to figure out the best way to go about it. I will be using a PID controller. I was thinking of using this type of heating element, http://www.sausagemaker.com/browseproducts/-49100-Electric-Heating-Element-for-100-Lb-Smoker.HTML
But I'm not sure if it will do the job, or if I might need to use more than one?

Thank you one and all!

Chips

sodak · April 19, 2009, 01:05:28 PM

I'm using a 3500 Watt broiler element (PID controlled) in my home made 2' x 2' x 4' steel rig, well insulated (haven't posted the photos of that stage yet) and it takes about 45 minutes to settle in at 225. There's a lot of mass in that steel to heat, too. I used old 2x4 ceiling tiles...the kind with the yellow fiberglas insulation on the back...peeled off the plastic facing, and covered the sides bottom and top with four layers (overkill)...I'm now fitting a fiber cement board over that layer. That will be the finished surface on the outside. These boards are about 1/4" thick and come in 3x5 sheets at Menards. Made by Certainteed. My smoker sits permanently indoors, however.

I know others have used rock wool which you can buy online, too. Here's a photo of the partially done insulation job. It's much prettier than the photo indicates.

Also, be sure to run heat resistant wiring to your elements inside the box.

Mr Walleye · April 19, 2009, 01:58:53 PM

Quote from: chips on April 19, 2009, 11:43:13 AM
I want to thank everyone for the "warm" welcome!

I really appreciate all the help. The box is not insulated as of yet, and I'm still trying to figure out the best way to go about it. I will be using a PID controller. I was thinking of using this type of heating element, http://www.sausagemaker.com/browseproducts/-49100-Electric-Heating-Element-for-100-Lb-Smoker.HTML
But I'm not sure if it will do the job, or if I might need to use more than one?

Thank you one and all!

Chips

That's an interesting element. I looked at it when I was doing mine as well. 5000 watts should provide a fair amount of heat with proper air circulation. Having the unit properly insulated will help lots as well but I'm not sure if you will need 2 elements of not. You will also want to design your heating system so any dripping grease can't drip onto the elements.

Mike

Mr Walleye · April 19, 2009, 02:09:35 PM

I came across this BTU calculator. I'm not sure how accurate it is but according to it, with your dimensions and allowing for an target of 150 degrees above ambient temps, it shows 3955 watts for "good insulation/tight leakage and 7910 watts for average insulation/average leakage.

http://www.heatershop.com/btu_calculator.htm

Mike

chips · April 20, 2009, 06:44:04 AM

I just want to say "thanks again to everyone!"

chips

Gizmo · April 20, 2009, 10:42:57 PM

Quote from: KyNola on April 19, 2009, 08:18:21 AM
Chips,
Wait for Gizmo to respond. He knows all the answers to your questions.

KyNola

Well, I haven't built one myself but as you have seen from the other posts, many here have. The 6 rack is doing it fine for me so far. ;)

KyNola · April 21, 2009, 09:37:45 AM

My apologies to Giz and Walleye. I confused the two. I have got to stop posting so soon after inhaling all of that airplane glue! :D