First of all, you have to keep in mind that the Bradley was designed to be a
"Low and Slow" cooker, hence the unit shuts down when temps reach in excess
of 320F. So while I agree that it doesn't get too hot, it was never
designed to be a high temp cooker. I checked out lots of smokers before
settling on the Bradley, and for the money, its the best smoker available
imho. It is much better insulated than most smokers, and the heating
element seems sufficient to me, and I routinely BBQ in sub freezing temps,
with little to no problems.

If you can't maintain temps in your Bradley, I would argue that you are
either opening the door too much or simply need to insert a mass to hold
heat such as a brick, which will fit nicely next to the water bowl. Simply
place the brick in your oven, set the temp to 250 or 300 for a little while,
then move the brick to your Bradley. Also, filling the water bowl with HOT
water seems to help the Bradley reach/maintain temps. On long smokes, I
will also replace the water bowl with one of those aluminum foil roasting
pans. One of those pans will hold more (hot) water than the bowl will.
Lets you smoke for longer periods without worrying about the water drying
up, or the bowl overflowing with spent pucks.

A Maverick smoker thermometer is an invaluable tool in combination with a
Bradley imho. Really helps to keep the door closed when you know exactly
what your cabinet and internal meat temps are.

Also, the aluminum dummy pucks when used in a set of three, can eliminate
the need to open the door when the smoking process is down, plus it saves
you from wasting 2 wood bisquettes each time you use your Bradley. Check
out ebay for the aluminum pucks.


"Reg" > wrote in message
et...
>
> If you're in the market for an electric smoker and you're
> in a cold/windy area, you'd want a unit with a lot of heating
> power and, more importantly, maximum insulation. Bradley is not
> that high on the scale for either of those. It's somewhere
> in the middle.
>
> A common complaint about the Bradley is that it doesn't
> get hot enough. That's obviously compounded when operating
> in very cold environments.

> Reg
>