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[pmillen]

1.  Count me as a probable buyer.

2.  That burger looks crazy good!

[Bentley]

Jerky
Whole Chicken(gonna count the Turkey)/Thighs
Ribs
Pork Belly
Sausage
Trail Bologna
Wings
Biscuits
Cheese (if possible) Looks like this will be possible!

What is still left to perform?

[Bentley]

I never buy jerky in the store cuz it is just to much money.  I had no idea how much now days.  I see online that a 2.85oz bag of Jack Links cost $7.49, $2.63/oz.  So I have $107 worth of jerky vac sealed in my kitchen.  That is simply ridicules!

[LowSlowJoe]

What's the ambient temperature there Bentley?

I'm almost in shock by how low that thing can run...

I really don't want to haver to buy another pellet grill... but it sure seems it's gonna be hard to avoid after seeing all this.

[Bar-B-Lew]

I never buy jerky in the store cuz it is just to much money.  I had no idea how much now days.  I see online that a 2.85oz bag of Jack Links cost $7.49, $2.63/oz.  So I have $107 worth of jerky vac sealed in my kitchen.  That is simply ridicules!

That is why I started making my own with a buddy of mine.  I think we will be doing 30-50 lb batches.  I've had buddies over during some of the cooks and they all want some.  Plus, I think the homemade stuff tastes better than the store bought.

[Kristin Meredith]

Temp today was in mid-60's.

The bacon wasn't salty but I think it had the best flavor he has made to date.

[LowSlowJoe]

FYI, I did some jerky yesterday,  used flank steak I got for like  $3.50/lb...  the texture was crazy good. First time I ever used flank steak to make jerky.

I figure it cost about  $8/lb to make jerky after accounting for weight loss due to moisture reduction ,  that's just materials, no labor...

[Bar-B-Lew]

FYI, I did some jerky yesterday,  used flank steak I got for like  $3.50/lb...  the texture was crazy good. First time I ever used flank steak to make jerky.

I figure it cost about  $8/lb to make jerky after accounting for weight loss due to moisture reduction ,  that's just materials, no labor...

I usually run in the $8-$12/# range depending on the cut of beef.  Just bought about 10# of london broil for $2.98/# but I think it is going in snack sticks instead of jerky this time.

[yorkdude]

Temp today was in mid-60's.

The bacon wasn't salty but I think it had the best flavor he has made to date.

Did you make any changes to the bacon prep?
Curious to see if you attribute the flavor to the cooker.

[TechMOGogy]

Not to hijack this thread but I did a study of 16 brands of jerky (online and store bought)
Average cost per oz in US$ was $2.95 - this was back in 2016!

I sell jerky too - my average cost last year was $9.38/finished lb US$ = $0.59/oz for AAA beef (a Canadian rating consider to be in between USDA Prime and Choice)

Back to being partly on topic - that triple bacon burger looks incredible and its only 9am!

[LowSlowJoe]

I keep looking at these photos and my mind is twirling as I try to understand how this all relates to the back of this smoker having more extreme temperature swings than the front, etc...

It seems pretty clear based on the smoke/heat pattern right near the temperature probe that there is more heat flowing across that area.  Yet, I'm struggling to understand why it seems there's so much heat coming up there, or maybe just struggling to understand why Dansons would allow that much heat to come up right there.   I could speculate that they want the probe to see the heat change quickly so that the controller could react to it. However, I can't quite figure out why you'd need to allow as much heat flow as they apparently are allowing right there at that location where the darkest color is on the back of the grill.

 Me, being a guy who is rarely 100% satisfied with the way someone designs their product, I keep wondering if a person could modify that area, to restrict the heat flow , to prevent the back of the smoker from being so much hotter than the front.  Maybe something as simple as some wadded up tinfoil located strategically such that it still allows ample heat to hit the temperature sensor, but blocks much of the heat to either side of the sensor...
 
  Bentley, is there anyway you could take a photo of the heat shield back there? Is there really , like a nearly inch deep gap, that's seven or eight inches wide back there at the back of that? or what is there that makes that much heat flow up right there? 

   In addition to maybe getting a better photo, I'm curious what your ( Bentley ) opinion is about that area and/or why so much more heat seems to be flowing up along the back side of t his smoker...

   Don't get me wrong, I'm not like totally disrespecting this smoker's design...  I just can't help but wonder if there's some way a user/owner might be able to tweak it to get even better heat flow.

Water pan shots, with temperature sensor and heat diffuser.

[LowSlowJoe]

Never mind on the additional photos... I think I figured out what the back of the heat shield looks like...  I'm now assuming it looks much like the front does...

I still very curious about what some simple mods might do to curtail some of that extra heat that's pretty obviously flowing back there...

Is my new assumption correct, that the back looks more or less identical to the front on this heat shield?

[Bar-B-Lew]

I wonder if you partially blocked both of those openings in the back if it would force the heat elsewhere.  Maybe set a piece of 1/4 in metal over those holes.

[LowSlowJoe]

I wonder if you partially blocked both of those openings in the back if it would force the heat elsewhere.  Maybe set a piece of 1/4 in metal over those holes.

That's my guess... and I suspect with a bit of tinkering and ingenuity , a person could get the temperatures a bit more even.  I know if I ever own one, I'd be making some adjustments.

[pmillen]

A few years ago, on another site and before I bought my pit, I mentioned that several Bradley smokers had installed low-speed fans from convection ovens and that Memphis pits have similar fans, both to evenly distribute heat.  I proposed to share the costs if someone would install one in their pellet pit that wasn’t keeping even temperatures.

That suggestion was roundly pooh-poohed as inadvisable by several long-term pellet pit owners and no one accepted my cost-sharing offer.

Nevertheless, I can’t let go of the idea that it would solve this issue.