Engineering!...Gets confusing sometimes doesn't it?...
I get lost in it sometimes too!...And more often than I care to admit, at that!!...lol...
The 'Drop Box' you're making the smoker from has quite a bit of metal to heat up, or in other words, it has a lot of thermal mass...
A possible solution could be to 'Double Wall' the inside of the smoker, or to provide some form of insulation between the smoke chamber and the interior walls of the box, thereby insulating the thermal mass of the box from the heat source...
For the most part, electric stove elements ARE designed to be operated on 240 V, and if operated at 120 V would have a greatly reduced heat output, however...they would be drawing only half as much current...
Just a thought...Do you have natural gas available? If so, that might be an alternative to propane. Cheaper too!...
There are modulating gas valves available which could be used with the Auber (or similar) controllers Cheech spoke of...
These valves would utilize the PID mode of the controller in the manner spoken of by Smokebuzz, thereby offering proportional heat (fuel) control to the burner....
I'm sure that both Cheech and Smokebuzz will have more information available on this application than I do at the present time...
Perhaps they can offer more help on this...
No need to give up!...Have a cup of coffee and relax a bit!...Think it all through...Perhaps there's something you might've missed the first time !...
Incidentally...There are some Bradley users here at the SMF, and perhaps they can offer advice on them to help you out...
In your 'Heart of Hearts' you already KNOW the answer to this question!...
You already know that NO other BBQ in the world can even begin compare to your OWN BBQ made by you in your own smoker!...
Don't believe me?...Just ask other smokers here at the SMF!...I think they'll agree with that statement!...
Glad to be of help in whatever small way I can!...
Hang in there Yellowtin!...Don't give up just yet!...We're all here to help!...
Until Later...