What am I doing wrong?

[gotSmoke?]

Im so frustrated with this smoker ( 4 rack digital). I have tried smoking a flat brisket, pork roast and SLC Ribs. All have turned out horrible! The brisket had such an awful taste and was so tough that I had to throw it out. I seasoned the brisket the night before with the rub and smoked it for 4 hours at a 190 until it had an IT of 160. The pork roast was ok. I only smoked it for 2 hours but it still had a little too much smoke flavor. We still ate it. The ribs was the biggest disaster. I tried using the recipe for 'Last supper ribs'. I seasoned the ribs with a store bought pork rub and smoked them for 80 Minutes. I then placed them in a broiler pan with apple juice and cooked them for another hour. I then basted the ribs with barbeque sauce and threw them on the grill for about 15 minutes. Again I ruined another good piece of meat. They just did not taste good. Maybe too much smoke...? I dont know! Tonight I am going to try a whole chicken. Wish me luck!!! 

[Tenpoint5]

Sounds like you keep repeating the answer to your own question GotSmoke. TOO MUCH smoke for your family's tastes. The Bradley delivers a much cleaner and purer smoke than a stick burner. So you will want to use less. Since your doing chicken tonight I would suggest only 40 min to 1 hour of smoke and use a lighter flavored smoke such as alder. Chicken really takes on the smoke flavor so less is more.

By the way Welcome Aboard. Seeing your frustrated with your smokes, I have this suggestion relax and ask a lot of questions. More than likely one of the forum members has done the exact same thing and can help you out of a bind. There's a lot of knowledge so just ask away everyone is more than willing to help out.

As for your Brisket get in touch with WTS (West Texas Smoker) he is so far the resident expert on that chunk o beef.

[Mr Walleye]

Hi GotSmoke and welcome to the forum.

One thing you don't mention is your vent. You don't want to run the unit with the vent in the closed position. You want the smoke to slowly drift by kissing the meat and then venting out the smoker. If you run you vent closed to mush your meat can develop a bitter taste. This is especially true with whole chicken. The chicken gives off a lot of moisture, certainly for the first few hour. If not vented properly the moisture will  build up in the smoker and condense on the meat causing it to taste bitter.

The other thing I noticed is you times and temps. Like 10.5 said, have a look around the forum for WTS's posts on brisket as he does lots of them.

It appears you tried to cook your ribs at a cabinet temp of 190 degrees, in addition it would appear your total cook time was about 2.5 hours. For low & slow cooking you really need a longer period of time for the collagen and connective tissues in the meat to breakdown. When I do ribs I remove the membrane and rub them down, preheat the Bradley to about 260 degrees. Once I load the ribs I adjust the temp to 220 and I begin applying about 3hours of smoke for my taste. I usually have the vent at least 1/2 open. Once the 3 hours of smoke is complete I let them continue for 1 more hour without smoke. Then I put them into a foil roaster, add a splash of AJ, cover with foil and throw them back into the smoker at 220 for another 3 hours. After this I will put them on the grill just long enough to sauce them. They turn out very tasty and tender every time.

Mike

[Wildcat]

These guys have you covered.  I would also recommend that you not leave a wood puck on the burner after your smoke period.  If you are using Bubba Pucks then this has not been a problem.  You should also consider changing the water in the bowl after the smoke period.  All of these things can be helpful in reducing unpleasant smoke taste.

[KyNola]

GotSmoke,
Welcome to the forum.  Don't get discouraged.  We're all here to help you through the learning curve.  My guess is you may have been using a charcoal fired smoker or some other type of smoker prior to buying your Bradley.  If I am correct, forget everything you know about the other smokers.

What I noticed most in your post was total cooking time on all of your dishes.  Way too short for good smoked food.  You can't rush it.

Mike has you hooked up on the ribs.

Hang with us.  You'll soon learn how to smoke foods that will make family and friends line up outside your door wanting to know what you're smoking !

KyNola

[bigcatdaddy]

Welcome to the forums.  I agree with KyNola it seems your cook times are pretty short.  Low and slow is the best method.  You might want to try a pork butt.  It takes along time to cook, but it's worth it and they are pretty forgiving.

[IKnowWood]

also, what wood you using.  Many times a small pack comes with the smoker, Special Blend.  That stuff is not very appealing.  I only used it for the initial seasoning.  But should not have and use something else. 

Its nasty. 

Find your woods you like.  I would reset your smokes with a milder wood and go from there.  Alder and Cherry and maybe Oak.  Then see how you like it from there.  Oak adds a bit more flavor then the other two so make that something once you remind yourself of the flavor.  However the Oak has a nice aroma when the smoking process is on-going, much like Maple.  But Maple does have a tendency to try to over-power mild items, at times this is good. 

Also, get a good book, like smoke and Spice (SS)  many of us have that it and it does help a lot with times and temps.  But as the others say, low and slow is the way to go. How low is slightly variable (slightly).

- Good luck.

[drano]

gotSmoke,
Sorry to hear about your frustration, but I'm sure you'll get it figured out.
No help on brisket, since I've only done that once.
Spare ribs - I smoke one ~3.5 rack at a time, use 6 pecan or maple pucks, w/ the smoker at 220 deg, and have them on for about 7 hours.  I like to get the meat up to 185 deg in the thick part to make them tender.  If you smoke more than one rack at a time, you'll most likely need them on longer.
Pork butt - this is what I smoke most.  2.75-3 lb boneless butts, w/ 6-10 pucks (normally pecan, apple, or maple), smoker at 230 deg, meat to 190 deg which is 9-10 hours, then FTC until dinner .  I can pull it apart w/ a fork.  I've learned (from others great posts) that pulled pork really gets tender when it gets to 190 deg.  Below that the meat is done, but higher temps break down the tissues to make it tender. 
Each meat is a learning experience.  I'd suggest doing pork butts until you get that perfected (it is generally the easiest), then try another meat, etc. 
And keep a log of your smokes to include smoker temp, outside air temp, wind, flavor and number of pucks used, how long it took, etc.  That way you can refer back to it and continue improving.  When I first started, every log entry ended w/ what to try next (more or less pucks, longer cook time, etc) so I knew what to do on the next smoke. 
good luck
drano

[gotSmoke?]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I think my problem was my cook time. I took Walleye's advice on the ribs and they turned out great. I'm going to try a 4.75 lb boston butt this weekend. I've got it in the fridge with some mustard and rub on it going to let it sit overnight. I plan on smoking it for about 2hours and 40 min. with a total cook time of about 10 hours. Does that sound about right? Also do I need to cover the butt with foil after I smoke it to finish cooking it or not?

[KyNola]

GotSmoke,
Glad your ribs turned out well.  Mike hooked you up on those.  Now to the pork butt.  Foil or no foil?  My answer would be don't wrap it but some of the other guys will advise wrapping it.  Your choice really.  In my head, leaving it unwrapped helps the bark of the butt.  Others say wrapping helps the moisture of the meat.  As for the cook time, it will depend on a couple of things, the temp you are going to be cooking it at and the butt itself.  As we all know both on pigs and humans(note resisting the urge to say women) all butts are not the same.  Some butts take longer to finish than others.(this is getting worse).  If you are going to take the IT of the meat to 190 for pulled pork, it may take longer than 10 hours.  The butt will hit a plateau and may stall for several hours at around 160 degrees.  Don't bump the heat up to get past the "stall".  That's exactly what you want it to be doing.  At about 160, the collagen and connective tissue in the butt begins to melt away and that is what creates the classic pulled pork type meat.  You may have to reset your tower timer as it only goes to 9 hours and 40 minutes and you would really be mad if you went out there 11 hours later and found your BDS had been off for a couple of hours.  Don't forget to check the water bowl.  Don't let it go dry as you need the water in there to catch the drippings in order to prevent a possible grease fire.

There you go buddy.  Others will be by I'm sure to further advise you.

KyNola

[Mr Walleye]

Glad to hear the ribs turned out for you. It just takes a little time to things dialed in to you own tastes.

I'm assuming you are going with a cabinet temp of 210 or so. You will want to monitor the internal temp of the pork butt with a temp probe as this will be the deciding factor of when it is done. If you plan on pulled pork you will want to take the internal temp to 190 or 195. I'm not sure on the 10 hours, it's kinda done when it hits the right internal temp. I would allow more time, maybe 12 or 14 hours and if it's done early just FTC it.

When I do pulled pork I don't foil it after the smoke portion is complete. I like the bark it creates, very tasty.

Mike

[sherlock]

Like they said, Time is not the factor, get the butt slowly to 190 deg, wrap in foil add a splash of apple juice, and wrap the whole thing in a towel, place in a warm cooler for several hours. When you take it out, it will fall off the bone and be nice and juicy.

MMMMMMMMmmmmm, I can almost taste it now.

[Caneyscud]

MMMMMMMMmmmmm, I can almost taste it now.

Hhhhmmmm me thinks Sherlock likes pulled pork!