2 Questions....

[Mike Belt]

I have a Bradley Smoker. I set the oven temperature but can't get the oven to heat but 1/2 that temperature. It's out of the wind and I even half close the damper to try to hold heat in. Anyone have any ideas why?

Pertaining to meat grinders....I have the Cabelas 1 1/2 hp grinder and it'll do up a bunch of meat in a hurry. I love it but when you get to the end of a sausage stuffing segment with all the meat in the grinder is there a secret to get the remaining meat between the end of the auger and the stuffing tubes to come out? This could be as much as 1/2-3/4 pound of meat. On the big casings I can hand stuff the rest of this meat but on the smaller stuff (17-19 mm casings) it's hard to get the meat stuffed into them. Any suggestions?

 

[Trapper John]

Bradley smokers are hard to heat sometimes. The element sometimes can't keep up with with wind, outside temperature, and cold food that's put into the smoker.

About a year ago I wrapped up two bricks in heavy duty foil and heated them in the oven and then put them on the lower rack of the Bradley below the food. They helped raise and stabilize the temperature. I've never taken mine above 225 degrees.

 

[Mike Belt]

I try the initial smoking for 2-3 hours at 140 degrees. Even with the oven temperature set to 300 degrees I can't get the inside oven temperature above 72 degrees. This is with the unit inside the garage out of the wind, etc. Inbetween batches I turned the unit off and pulled the fuse to check it and it was ok. I put it back in and now with the oven temperature set to 160 degrees I'm smoking at 140 degrees. I can see that difference but not the 100+ degree difference like before. Maybe it wasn't getting a good connection, ????...and maybe it'll work like it's supposed to now. I'm tired of transferring smoked meat from the Bradley to the kitchen oven to finish cooking. We'll see....

 

[rabbit hunter]

You solved your own problem, read the first sentence...... :grin:
Big Green Egg........