New DBS and new to smoking, is this normal?

[Gilley7997]

Received a new DBS for Christmas and was running it through the seasoning process today as the instructions indicated.  For the fun of it I hung a digital thermometer down through the air vent to read the temperature readings.  It was left hanging in the middle of the cabinet.  Set the Oven Temp for 150 as directed in the manual and watched.  The Digital Thermometer at it's highest temperature reading read 198 before the heating element turned off.  The heating element appeared to kick back on at or near 150 according to my thermometer as the temperature dropped.  Then rose to near 200 before turning off again.

Just want to check others experience to determine if I am having some type of issue.  I know this is with no meat in the cabinet just the water bowl.  Just wanted to check with the Pros before I go any further.

[devo]

Think once you get a load in the smoker the temp will even out. It still will have temp swings but not as bad as what your saying.

[Gilley7997]

Well I'm throwing in a couple racks of Jerky...just to see what happens, but I'm still a little unsure about this.  The digital Readout for Oven Temp on the display says 201 F while I was preheating it, with the oven temp set at 200F.  But my Remote Meat Thermometer that is just sitting on a rack in the second rack from the bottom is ready 262 F. 

Should the Display really be 60 degrees off? Is my thought process that the meat thermometer should be reading accurately in this way correct?  I know it can read the ambient air temperature correctly to within 1 degree of my other outdoor thermometers.

Sorry for asking basic questions, but before I do to much with this new toy want to make sure it's working correctly.

[Scotty Dog]

I find my temp to be about 15 deg off.  If your meat thermometer is resting on a metal rack it will read the temp of the rack.  An empty rack located above the heat element will conduct heat more rapid than the rest of the box.  I will get different readings on my digital meat thermometer depending on where it is located.  You will get higher reading on the back wall above the heating element verses closer to the door.  I get higher readings just below the vent than I do mid cabinet.  I will adjust my digital controls on the Bradley to compensate for the readings I get from my portable temp. probe.

[devo]

Put your temp probe just under the rack your meat is on and it will give you the most accurate temp of the cabinet

[Caneyscud]

In addition to the above about measuring the temperature of the rack, in an empty cabinet, it could also be measuring radiant heat from the element. 

[KyNola]

Pay ZERO attention to the temp readings on the digital readout of the generator when you first put something in the tower.  Rely on your remote thermometer.  As the meat in the BDS comes up to temp, the temp swings will lessen.    I've had 50-60 degree temp swings before.  It is unnerving at first but don't panic.  It will even out.  Placement of your probe is important too.  Don't place your temp probe toward the back wall as the heat from the element comes up the back wall first and you will get false readings.

[ghost9mm]

Hello and welcome to the forum, the information you already received is good information, any help you may need in the future...just ask..

[Gilley7997]

Well I just wanted to give you all some feedback and say thanks for the help.  It's been a good past week for me and the smoker.  First experiment was with the Jerky like I said, and it turned out just fine. I did take the racks out of the smoker after the smoke was finished and drop them in the oven at 200 degrees to dry them out just a little bit more.  Not so much because the smoker wouldn't finish the job but because I was impatient and wanted to get my ribs on by Noon so they would be ready at or near 6:00  :)

So on to the Spare Ribs.  First time every triming up a rack of ribs, so that was fun to learn.  Just used a rub that was bought at the store for pork and applied it the night before, wrapped in plastic wrap and dropped them back in the fridge.  Tried to follow the 3-2-1 method of getting things done.  I think I just got a little impatient with this and took them out at the 3 hour mark to wrap them stuck a thermometer in them, just to see what the situation was and found that the were near 176 degrees already, this had me a little nervous, (was my first time cooking them) so I shortened the last three hours by almost an hour and a half.  I know I read on here that temperature is a really crappy way to test the doneness of ribs, but I just didn't want to overcook them.  Either way they still tasted great.  I will be more patient with this next time.

We then got the smoker out one more time this week and cooked a pork butt last night.  Made a mistake taking the bone out prior to cooking.  Live and learn.  Same Pork Rub we used on the ribs. Liberally applied.  Wrapped in plastic and let sit overnight.  Put it on at 7 a.m. and 10.5 hours later (6 hours of hickory smoke and 4.5 hours more all at 220) temps reached 190 and we pulled it out.  Let it rest for another hour and began to pull it.  Tasted great.  Couldn't eat any more by the time I actualy got it all shredded. (Chef gets to taste test right?) So I should be set for lunches this week and dinners since it's just curently just me and the wife.  I did snag an oven thermometer (the dial kind) and was happy to find out that while cooking the pork butt on the rack directly above the DBS temp sensor, the oven thermometer and the DBS were within about 5 degrees of each other.  I can handle that. 

So after this first week of playing I learned a few things, and came up with a few more questions:

1) Monitor the waterbowl.  Forgot to keep checking it during the 10 hours.  At some point it went dry.
2) Learned from the Ribs.  Flip the meat over occasionally to cook both sides evenly.  (Did this on the Butt.)
3) Leave the bone in. Doneness was different where I deboned the butt to the end that had no bone.
4) Rotate the Racks front to Back.  The heat element is in the rear so not a bad idea.  (Will also apply this if I get to doing mutliple racks as far as top to bottom AND front to back.
5) Set the smoke generator for 20 more minutes than what I want to smoke for and only preload 1 puck.  Noticed that without letting the smoke generator plate heat up a bit, the first puck was not fully utilized.  So the first load doesn't actually load a puck but after the first 20 minutes the smoke starts. (ie 3 hours and 20 minutes if I want three hours of smoke.)
6) Patience is a virtue!

So anything I missed or suggestions?  I noticed that the Pork Butt did get quite dark by the end of the 10 hours, it tasted fine, I don't see a need to change anything but just a curiosity question.  I don't think you can wrap it if you really want all the fat to melt off, so just a curiosity.  I will gladly take any suggestions or criticisms and learn from them.  This is going to be a great fun new toy!

[TedEbear]

1) Monitor the waterbowl.  Forgot to keep checking it during the 10 hours.  At some point it went dry.
2) Learned from the Ribs.  Flip the meat over occasionally to cook both sides evenly.  (Did this on the Butt.)

Many of us have replaced that small water bowl with a 9x13" (I think that's the right size) disposable aluminum pan filled with water. The water won't evaporate and it holds a lot more pucks.  You should still empty the spent pucks if you're doing a really long smoke.

I've never flipped the rib slabs over, just rotated the racks about halfway through the initial 3 hour cooking stage.

What internal temp did you get the pork butt to before removing it from the smoker?

[Gilley7997]

Took the IT temp to 190 then removed it.