The Bradley 4 rack has produced lots of sausage over the years but it just ain't big enough for what I need. Been looking for a proofer/hot holding cabinet for the right price for quite sometime. Found one that is what I had been looking for but had to drive 2 hours each way to get it. First off the cabinet is not insulated but that is not going to be a problem. It will be easy to insulate. 2nd it has a fan in it to pull air to the bottom and route it up the inside back panel to circulate the air. It has a lexcon front door and that will most likely get insulated as I don't need to see a smoke stained window
. I am figuring I can get at least 70 pounds of sausage and perhaps up to 100 pounds hanging in it. It only has a 1400 watt heater and the specs say it will heat to 185 degrees and runs on 110 Volt......PERFECT!!!!!!!
I have the Auber 2 probe plug and play PID and I will rewire the proofer to be powered by a contactor so the PID out put will only be running the contactor and the PID will hardly be drawing any wattage and no worries about burning the PID up. Most likely I will build a control box and install a programmable PID in it. Will rewire the fan set up for a variable speed dial so I can control the fan speed. Not quite sure how I will vent it just yet or how I will vent the intake air. Will have to take it apart and do some thinking. In the future I may change out the heating element to a 2500 watt oven element so I can get the temps up to 250 and do butts and brisket but don't need that right now.
It has wheels and is very light to move around
Sides and rear will be pretty easy to insulate and put a skin on
Baffel panel that distributes air that is sucked from the front that goes under the cabinet into the heating chamber and blows back into the cabinet.
Showing the floor vent holes that suck cabinet air to return to the cabinet. There is a water holding area that was used for humidity. Not sure if this is an option to hold pellets to heat for smoke generation but it is a possibility. Got to get to the underside to see what type of heater is heating this area.
Will take lots of photos of the build and of the wiring just in case someone wants to do a similar build. Going to take my time with this so please be patient.
Jim
