I put in a batch of sticks in the Bradley and the homemade smoker and they have been in there going on 15.5 hours. I am trying really hard not to go over 170F.
I am wondering if i leave these in to long will i just be drying out the meat. What are your ideas. I am not against bumping up to 180 but i was really trying to do these with am minimum fat loss. Thanks
If you bump it up, do it slow and check often. I'm posting what happened to me last night...
How are you monitoring the cabinet temperature? What are you using to measure the meat temp? A lot of the quick read probes are not that quick and the actual location of the sensor in the tip is hard to determine (1/4 to 1/2 inch play). The Thermpen is most excellent for both quick read, accuracy, and knowing the actual sensor is in the very tip of the probe.
cabinet temp was done with a probe thermometer and a actual digital thermometer with a probe on the end. I use a dual probe thermometer set i purchased from the sausage maker for the internal temps of the sticks.
Sounds like you were covering the basics. I did 10 lbs this past weekend but didn't keep track of the total time.