Sorry about the absence, but we learned of a former friend from the days
of grade school whose daughter was found dead. We packed up the stuff
last weekend and headed out to the funeral- very, very sad. On the
return drive, I let my mind wander a bit and had an idea I think I'll
pursue. If any of you have thoughts or suggestions, it'll be appreciated.

Our Bradley turned out some might fine tri tip a few weeks back, but
after smoking and slow cooking the tri tip, I gave it a little really
hot action on the grill to get a gradient in the meat from well on the
outside to rare in the middle, like I prefer in a "roast," which is
really what it is.

On the way back, I was thinking that I might be able to do it all at
once if I could get a really good, hot, heat source to back up the
resistance heating element in the Bradley. What I'm considering is a
good heat gun placed outside the Bradley, blowing hot air into the
chamber. After smoking at a low temp, the heat gun would be fired up
and the extremely hot CIRCULATING air would then do the outside of the
meat almost like a sear.

Any thoughts?

--
Nonnymus-

We have reached a time in our nations history
where the grasshopper is slowly consuming
the ant. Whatever happened that made thrift, hard
work and family the target of liberal rage?

On Nov 9, 7:26*pm, Nonnymus > wrote:

> Any thoughts?
>

It's a very dude thing to try. Do it! (easy for me to say, isn;t it?
<bg> )

Could be an interesting science project. I use a heat gun to roast
green coffee, and they can run a long time at high temps with no ill
effects. A normal coffee roast takes about 17 - 20 minutes, and the
gun will get hot enough to easily start my wood spoon on fire if I am
not careful.

I don't know if it would actually crank out enough BTUs to raise the
temp of whole smoker, though.

They have sturdy heat guns on sale at your local Harbor Freight this
month for $10, the same exact one I have been using to roast coffee
for the last 2 1/2 years.

Robert

"Nonnymus" > wrote in message
> What I'm considering is a good heat gun placed outside the Bradley,
> blowing hot air into the chamber. After smoking at a low temp, the heat
> gun would be fired up and the extremely hot CIRCULATING air would then do
> the outside of the meat almost like a sear.
>
> Any thoughts?


How hot will it get? Searing is done at 400 to 500 degrees or so.

On Nov 10, 4:46*am, "Ed Pawlowski" > wrote:

> How hot will it get? *Searing is done at 400 to 500 degrees or so.

Check this out:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=96289

The gun will get hot enough; but will it raise the temp inside of the
whole unit to the point it works?

Robert

On 10-Nov-2008, " > wrote:

> On Nov 10, 4:46*am, "Ed Pawlowski" > wrote:
>
> > How hot will it get? *Searing is done at 400 to 500 degrees or so.
>
> Check this out:
>
> http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=96289
>
> The gun will get hot enough; but will it raise the temp inside of the
> whole unit to the point it works?
>
> Robert

It will certainly get hot enough to seer meat in close proximity to the
outlet
of the gun. However, it is limited to the power available from a 110VAC
outlet which is about 6500 btu

20 amps X 80% load factor = 16 amps.
16 amps X 117 volts = 1872 watts
1872 X 3.4121 (Conversion factor) = 6387 btu

--
Brick(Youth is wasted on young people)

Brick wrote:
> On 10-Nov-2008, " > wrote:
>
>> On Nov 10, 4:46 am, "Ed Pawlowski" > wrote:
>>
>>> How hot will it get? Searing is done at 400 to 500 degrees or so.
>> Check this out:
>>
>> http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=96289
>>
>> The gun will get hot enough; but will it raise the temp inside of the
>> whole unit to the point it works?
>>
>> Robert
>
> It will certainly get hot enough to seer meat in close proximity to the
> outlet
> of the gun. However, it is limited to the power available from a 110VAC
> outlet which is about 6500 btu
>
> 20 amps X 80% load factor = 16 amps.
> 16 amps X 117 volts = 1872 watts
> 1872 X 3.4121 (Conversion factor) = 6387 btu
>

To all of you who've commented, thanks:

The Bradley uses a 500 watt element plus another 125 watts in the hot
plate to smoke the wood pucks. The gun I have right now is in the 1500
watt range and remember, it'd be instead of the Bradley's resistance
unit, the way I'm currently mentally leaning. For those of you who
might be interested, the digital Bradley uses a 3-bladed (flat ground)
cable to connect the control unit to the heating element. It can be
unplugged and the control/puck feed unit easily removed to let you blow
out wood chips that have gotten inside the housing. The wood feed and
smoke generating element are separate from the resistance heat unit.
That's connected by just the "computer power cord"-type extension cord.
In my case, I have rewired it all to insert a Pit Boss digital
differential thermostat in the system.

The thermostat has a probe to measure temperature at the rack and a
probe inside the meat to see what the cooking temperature is. By
flipping a switch, I can cook my meat using the Pit Boss OR use the
'dumb' oven temperature controls of the Bradley. What I am thinking
about doing is putting a heat gun aimed into the Bradley through a hole
and plugging it into the 'dumb' Bradley heating element control so I can
set a high temperature on the oven controls and let the heat gun
generate it. The Bradley's 500 watt element only gets things up to the
300f range or so. I'm not sure how high the Bradley controller can be
set, but if it can't be set high enough, I'll just have to go pure
manual with the heat gun. In fact, that's the way I plan to start
anyway. My current goal would be to be able to cook tri tip to about
125f internal, using smoke and about 220f, then fire up the heat gun,
take the cooker to about 500f and do the outside up to fairly well done
quickly, so I don't overcook the tri tip.



--
Nonnymus-

We have reached a time in our nations history
where the grasshopper is slowly consuming
the ant. Whatever happened that made thrift, hard
work and family the target of liberal rage?

"Nonnymus" > wrote in message
> anyway. My current goal would be to be able to cook tri tip to about 125f
> internal, using smoke and about 220f, then fire up the heat gun, take the
> cooker to about 500f and do the outside up to fairly well done quickly, so
> I don't overcook the tri tip.
>
>

I don't see that happening. Consider that it takes a 30,000 Btu gas grill to
reach that temperature, I doubt the 5000 Btu heat gun will get it there.
Smoke the tip and then toss them on the grill for a few minutes.

"Nonnymus" > wrote in message
...
> Brick wrote:
>> On 10-Nov-2008, " > wrote:
>>
>>> On Nov 10, 4:46 am, "Ed Pawlowski" > wrote:
>>>
>>>> How hot will it get? Searing is done at 400 to 500 degrees or so.
>>> Check this out:
>>>
>>> http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=96289
>>>
>>> The gun will get hot enough; but will it raise the temp inside of the
>>> whole unit to the point it works?
>>>
>>> Robert
>>
>> It will certainly get hot enough to seer meat in close proximity to the
>> outlet
>> of the gun. However, it is limited to the power available from a 110VAC
>> outlet which is about 6500 btu
>>
>> 20 amps X 80% load factor = 16 amps.
>> 16 amps X 117 volts = 1872 watts
>> 1872 X 3.4121 (Conversion factor) = 6387 btu
>>
>
> To all of you who've commented, thanks:
>
> The Bradley uses a 500 watt element plus another 125 watts in the hot
> plate to smoke the wood pucks. The gun I have right now is in the 1500
> watt range and remember, it'd be instead of the Bradley's resistance unit,
> the way I'm currently mentally leaning. For those of you who might be
> interested, the digital Bradley uses a 3-bladed (flat ground) cable to
> connect the control unit to the heating element. It can be unplugged and
> the control/puck feed unit easily removed to let you blow out wood chips
> that have gotten inside the housing. The wood feed and smoke generating
> element are separate from the resistance heat unit. That's connected by
> just the "computer power cord"-type extension cord. In my case, I have
> rewired it all to insert a Pit Boss digital differential thermostat in the
> system.
>
> The thermostat has a probe to measure temperature at the rack and a probe
> inside the meat to see what the cooking temperature is. By flipping a
> switch, I can cook my meat using the Pit Boss OR use the 'dumb' oven
> temperature controls of the Bradley. What I am thinking about doing is
> putting a heat gun aimed into the Bradley through a hole and plugging it
> into the 'dumb' Bradley heating element control so I can set a high
> temperature on the oven controls and let the heat gun generate it. The
> Bradley's 500 watt element only gets things up to the 300f range or so.
> I'm not sure how high the Bradley controller can be set, but if it can't
> be set high enough, I'll just have to go pure manual with the heat gun.
> In fact, that's the way I plan to start anyway. My current goal would be
> to be able to cook tri tip to about 125f internal, using smoke and about
> 220f, then fire up the heat gun, take the cooker to about 500f and do the
> outside up to fairly well done quickly, so I don't overcook the tri tip.


All that surely sounds easier than burning wood, I must admit.

Stunned,
TFM®