Smoking two racks of ribs in my 4 rack digital and can't get cabinet temp above 210.
I have bricks in bottom and on top rack.
Doing 3-2-1, should I increase coking time do to mowed heat?
Any suggestions for getting heat up? Shooting for 225.
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What is the outside temp and is it windy where you are that will give us info to help figuring out the problem and is your vent wide open
Outside temp is 40, it is not windy it hit up to 218 at the three hour mark. Just wrapped ribs and back in smoker.
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The smoke generator can help with the heat if don't already have it on. Also make sure your vent is open.
Generator is on and vent is open
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how and where are you taking the cabinet temp? you using the bradley probe or some other thermometer?
You can use heated foil wrapped bricks or boiling water in the water bowl/cake pan to help with heat recovery. Are you using the digital display/temp sensor on the Bradley or a separate probe thermometer to get your readings? The Bradley digital reading is notoriously off due to it's placement on the back wall above the element and meat position and evaporation can give false readings compared to what the meat is actually receiving in heat.
Eventually it got to 225 throughout the cook, but never higher had the oven temp set to 320 for the whole cook. Ended up cooking them a extra hour and they turned out fantastic.
I am using my Maverick for the temp reading.
I have bricks wrapped in foil on the bottom by the water bowl and on the top shelf.
I put boiling water in the water bowl.
I have similar problems around 5 degrees. I would think with boiling water, and temps in the 40's you shouldn't have a problem. I've noticed that the Bradley is just not ideal for cold weather smoking unless your actually cold smoking.
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Glad things worked out for your ribs, the hardest thing for me to get used to was cooking to temp or doneness rather than time, it has improved my patience some though. Another thought is to protect your smoker from wind when it's that cold, wind can suck the heat right out of the unit.
I thought the problem might be my extension cord that the unit is plugged into, so I replaced it with a 12 gauge cord. Ran the unit with puck burner on for 4 hours and it never got over 215. I don't remember having this problem in the past, wondering why i can't get it to 225.
Quote from: zueth on January 21, 2014, 09:43:16 AM
I thought the problem might be my extension cord that the unit is plugged into, so I replaced it with a 12 gauge cord. Ran the unit with puck burner on for 4 hours and it never got over 215. I don't remember having this problem in the past, wondering why i can't get it to 225.
Zueth, a couple of thoughts and a few more questions.
Am I safe to assume that you're running the stock heating element configuration? If so, the problem reaching the temps you would like may simply be a function of your low ambient temperatures. Even with the puck burner running, a stock Bradley is heating with 625 watts. When you consider that most hand held hair dryers draw between 1,250 and 1,500 watts, and many toasters are in the low end of that range, you don't have a ton of heating capacity available to compensate for low temps.
Are you using a 15 amp circuit to power your smoker? Is it possible that since the weather turned colder, something has been plugged into the circuit that your smoker is plugged into that wasn't there before?
Even though I've done the dual element mod to my smoker, when I'm doing large amounts of meat (like 30 pounds of pork shoulder), I smoke it in the smoker, and then move the meat to the oven to finish cooking it. Being able to take advantage of the heating capacity of the oven transfers more heat to the meat in a shorter period of time. This shaves an hour or two off my cooking time. Lets me monitor what's going on through the glass in the oven door. And shortens the distance from the Lazy Boy when I go to check on things.
Original 500 watt element, it is a 15 amp circuit with nothing else plugged into it.
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I did a test today, the ambient temp was 45. Let the Bradley run for 4 hours with a empty cabinet, just the bricks and water bowl. I had the vent full open and the highest it got up to was 235. I was using my maverick for temp, the Bradley said 215. I was thinking that I would at least be able to get up to 250.
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Quote from: zueth on January 22, 2014, 06:04:58 PM
I did a test today, the ambient temp was 45. Let the Bradley run for 4 hours with a empty cabinet, just the bricks and water bowl. I had the vent full open and the highest it got up to was 235. I was using my maverick for temp, the Bradley said 215. I was thinking that I would at least be able to get up to 250.
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I always smoke at 220-230 so for me that looks good, but I'm not looking for high temp cooking with my Bradley, I use my SRG or BCS for that.
How long have you had the smoker
Couple of years now, just never really paid that close to the temps in the past.
I like the higher temps for poultry.
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How often do you happen to use the smoker the element could be wearing out turn it on high and see how it is glowing it could be time to replace it or give bradley a call and see what they may think is happening
Probably on average 1-2 times a month. I had to replace the element once when it stopped working. I have had it almost three years.
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zueth... it's not a great cold weather smoker. I just purchased a brand new one and it is the same. Using a cabinet might help but be happy you got it to 225.
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When it's cold out I smoke in my garage then I never seem to have a problem getting to temp
Fireguy06... that's a controlled climate. You have the right plan. It is a bit of work to make it happen but it is the best possible solution. Temps are 50% of his problems but a slight breeze can be 50% of his problem as well.
I'm confused why the stock element would be so small. 500 watt on a 15 amp circuit is more than sufficient. Even if you have the smoker burner on and it is 625 wats it would still be sufficient. In my area the only thing we run are 20 amp circuits. My element is bright red the entire time. It is a crappy cold weather smoking unit, if someone knows different please let me know.
I'm from Fargo, North Dakota. The only person I could default to would be the central Canadians for answers.
Canadian friends, please help me and this guy.
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