So I had my first grease fire and ruined my beef tenderloin on super bowl. At least the hawks won! I burned up the inside of my smoker and melted the seal on the door. Any suggestions on how to clean the smell out and replace the rubber seal?
Sorry to hear about your grease fire, but it appears it was maintained inside the cabinet and there was no major damage. You can purchase a new door seal from Yard & Pool (http://www.yardandpool.com/grilling-smoking/grill-smoker-parts/bradley-smoker-parts?p=1).
As for the cabinet any dish detergent and a scouring pad will work to clean the inside. If you want a stronger cleaner Grease Lightning GL works well for this type of cleaning. You can usually find it in Ace Hardware stores and auto parts stores; or any other cleaner for cleaning grills will work. After cleaning rinse well, dry, and do a "burn off" (run the smoker empty at 250°F for a few hours, then re-season it.
Since a beef tenderloin is so lean, can you give more information on how the grease fire occurred?
Sorry to hear about your fire, Habs has you lined out on the fix and like him, I will ask you for the details so others can prevent it from happening to them.
I personally have never had a grease fire and the only time I have heard of it happening is when people do not empty there pucks from the bowl and typically when smoking meats with more fat like a pork shoulder or brisket.
Interested to hear how this happened with a tenderloin.
Vent 1/2 open
Meat placed in center rack
Temp 225 degrees, but ramped it up to 280 degrees to try and get the meat finished by halftime.
Smoker was not on
What condition was your V tray in before the fire? Was there a build up of grease? What condition was your smoker in before the fire?
Just asking to see if persistent and thorough cleaning after every smoke could prevent grease fires. I wonder what the flash point is for grease? Maybe smoking and cooking below that temperature could help prevent fires.
It spooks me thinking about a fire.
How much meat did you have in there. Was the meat touching the back of the cabinet?
There really is only a couple ways to start a grease fire in the Bradley. 1. grease is somehow making it to the element which will pretty much instantly ignite it (hence why a properly positioned and clean v tray is critical. 2. Forgot to put water in puck tray and you have a smoldering pile of bisquettes that may ignite the grease as it trickles down.
Number 2 is an easy fix. Number 1 could have other variables like the guy above said. If your meat was touching the back wall it can trickle down to the element and actually build up there and ignite.
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That's my biggest fear (grease fire). Especially since he said he wasn't running the SG. I'm hoping there was meat touching the back wall or some issue with the v tray. Scary stuff. More details would be appreciated. I run mine in the detach garage so I'm pretty anal about avoiding any potential issues already identified.
Maybe the V-tray was not installed at all or installed incorrectly, would be my guess.
A plugged drain hole in the drip tray can be another cause. Grease builds up in the tray and will ignite. That is why many of us keep a 1" - 2" metal putty knife handy to scrape the build up off during long cooks where you may have more then on butts, or a particularly fatty butt. Another possibility which I caught in time is grease dripping on the bisquette burner. This happened when my smoker was not level, and instead of all the grease and drippings dropping directly into the water bowl, some of the grease would flow along the bottom of the drip tray and fall on the burner. So also make sure your smoker is level.
The meat was placed in the middle rack, directly in the center of the rack. The meat type was a whole beef tenderloin from Costco. Not a lot of fat on a beef tenderloin. My smoker is brand new. This was only the third time using it. Previously I smoked 1 brisket and 2 batches of elk jerky. My bowl was full of water. I am guessing some juices hit the heating element, which caused the fire.
Now I would like to talk about how impressed I am with Bradley customer service. The Product Manager from Bradley read this topic and sent me a an email. They are sending me a new smoker free of charge. This was their idea. They could have easily read this and not done a thing about it. The fact that they took the time to contact me and proceed to send me a new smoker is impressive. I have not received it yet, but I imagine it will show up by mid next week. Great customer service!!!!
Thank you Bradley....
I WILL BE TYPING a letter of appreciation and sending it to the CEO when I get some time. Thanks Mark Pyle
Bradley customer service CANNOT be beat, that's for sure! I for one would never hesitate their products to anyone.
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Quote from: tailfeathers on February 22, 2014, 01:50:24 AM
Bradley customer service CANNOT be beat, that's for sure! I for one would never hesitate their products to anyone.
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X2 they are the best at customer service anywhere.
Quote from: Maximus1959 on February 22, 2014, 12:17:40 AM
The meat was placed in the middle rack, directly in the center of the rack. The meat type was a whole beef tenderloin from Costco. Not a lot of fat on a beef tenderloin. My smoker is brand new. This was only the third time using it. Previously I smoked 1 brisket and 2 batches of elk jerky. My bowl was full of water. I am guessing some juices hit the heating element, which caused the fire.
Now I would like to talk about how impressed I am with Bradley customer service. The Product Manager from Bradley read this topic and sent me a an email. They are sending me a new smoker free of charge. This was their idea. They could have easily read this and not done a thing about it. The fact that they took the time to contact me and proceed to send me a new smoker is impressive. I have not received it yet, but I imagine it will show up by mid next week. Great customer service!!!!
Thank you Bradley....
I WILL BE TYPING a letter of appreciation and sending it to the CEO when I get some time. Thanks Mark Pyle
Awesome... Just plain awesome.
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Quote from: Smokesmore on February 24, 2014, 12:03:51 PM
Awesome... Just plain awesome.
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No kidding. You don't find service like that very often these days.
Hmm... it looks like this just happened to me. Fairly new smoker, thats free from grease before cooking.
I was cooking a pork shoulder for several hours before coming home to charred inside. Interesting points from everyone - will need to investigate the cause.
Like I've said many times before. Bradley is #1 on customer service. Sorry about the fire but glad it was contained. Wish you the best with the new smoker.
Maximus, back in the days when I was working in restaurant kitchens, we used to get cryopacked beef tenderloin that had a thick fat cap on it. Since Costco sells the cryopack, I'm wondering if you trimmed the fat and silverskin from your tenderloin to prepare it for cooking?
Well, after many years of smoking, I bought a new Bradley smoker. Same issue, grease fire. It seems I did not clean the v tray after last weeks use. Burned up my tappecue probes, but the important part, I saved the brisket. Just a little singed. The door seal is unaffected. If it wasn't for the tappecue, something else might have caught fire. I guess tomorrow its elbow gfrease to clean up the smoker and burner, after it cools a bit.
:) :D
I think the cause of my grease fire was dirty tray and not removing the brisquettes from the pan.
There was no evidence of fire on the burning element, but plenty on the v tray and ion the water pan.
I stripped it, cleaned and washed the entire unit. Guess im going to have to re-season my smoker. Thanks
Hi DWYER1;
Sorry to welcome you to the forum is such a manner.
A lesson learned the hard way, but fortunately no one was hurt and there was minimal damage. It is very important to change the water bowl, and keep the V tray clean, especially making sure the drain hole is clear. Often when smoking fatty cuts such as briskets, and shoulders, during the cook I find a need to scrape the V tray with a metal putty knife, to make sure the vents and drain hole remains clear.