having Bad luck with my 4 rack dbs

cabledude7155 · May 09, 2009, 06:29:37 PM

just bought my smoker this week and was going to make wings on Saturday to try it out before i smoke a 7 lb pork butt for my wife and mother and mother in law for mothers day. Took it out of the box and followed all thee directions to the letter. i set it up for 150F set the smoke generator for 1 hr and the oven for 1 hr. it never reached 150F in that hr it got to 145F. i thought no big deal i will reset and get ready for the pre heat for the wings. I set the generator for 4 hrs and the temp for 240F and the oven for 4 hrs. The hottest it got in almost 2 hrs was 181F. I though maybe i would put the meat in and the temp would rise( WRONG ). It dropped like a rock and never got above 171 F. So i just smoked the wings for several hours and then was so frustrated that i transferred them to the grill. So i thought maybe it was user error and i put the meat in to early. So i reset everything and thought i would just let it heat to the correct temp. i set the smoke generator for 4 hrs and the oven temp for 310F two hrs later it never got above 181F. Should it take that long to heat up to the correct temp? i am not sure what to do about mothers day meal. I guess i could smoke it for several hours then transfer to the oven. I was so excited to get this machine and now i just want my money back. i need advice.

Brisket Lover · May 09, 2009, 07:14:23 PM

Sounds like the heat element isn't coming on only the puck warmer. Im not familiar with the DBS as I have an OBS but I would ensure that the element is coming on. Is it glowing orange? Does it feel hotter than 181? Are you sure the plug is in all the way.

When I had this issue I had to take off the back of my smoker and found one of the wires came off of the plug. Could be the same issue.

Don't worry, you will find what is wrong and then love your smoker.

cabledude7155 · May 09, 2009, 08:04:06 PM

No i tried to feel the element it only felt warm. when i shut off the smoke generator and leave the oven on the temp drops quick. correct me if i am wrong but when you pre-heat the smoker you do not need to turn on the smoke gen till you have the temp where you want it? if it is the heating element what should i do? what should i do with my mothers day pork butt? should i just smoke it at the highest temp i can get for several hours then finish in the oven? if so how long in the smoker and how long in the oven and at what temp?

Gizmo · May 09, 2009, 08:44:44 PM

I would unplug the cord between the smoke gen and the oven several times and make sure you push the plug in fairly hard to ensure a good connection. THis is often the issue with the heater not coming on.

To answer you question, yes that is what I would do. Run the smoke as long as you can (don't let it set below 140 deg for more than 1.5 hours). If the unit is over 150, you should be able to go 4 hours without an issue. Put the meat into a foil pan with a lid and finish it off in the oven. Considering you will be loosing some cooking time with a lower box temp, I would push the oven temperature to 250 or 260. Tomorrow morning, if you feel you are not going to make it, go to 350 until your Internal Temperature is reached. If the IT is reached early, you did good and can shut off the oven and leave it there for several hours as it will stay hot and ready to go.

cabledude7155 · May 10, 2009, 08:01:11 AM

Good news it was the plug, i didn't make a good connection yesterday. I woke up on sunday and decided to be optimistic and use your tips. I plugged and unplugged the cord several times till i heard a pop. I then just set and ran the oven did not turn the smoke generator. The temp started to climb quickly till I reached 270 ( i set it for 280 as i wanted 250 to cook the pork butt). I then turned the smoke gen on and put the pork butt in, temp drop but that was to be expected. But it did come back to temp that i set. thanks all for you help..

I plant to cook the 7 lb pork butt 4 hrs smoke 8 hrs cook at 250 with and extra hr of cook for basting does this sound right or should i throw in the oven later?

Gizmo · May 10, 2009, 12:20:22 PM

I cook to an internal temperature. 8 hours may be a bit on the shy side but not sure with a 250 deg oven temp. An IT of 180 should do well if you want to pull the pork.

Brisket Lover · May 11, 2009, 04:35:19 AM

Glad to hear that is all it was.

Caneyscud · May 11, 2009, 09:31:43 AM

cabledude

Welcome to the forum, and am also glad the plug was the prob. Very common problem though. How did the butt come out? If I had gotten on this weekend, and had read your post, I would have probably said that 13 hours on a 7# butt might be a little longer than I would take it. However, butt is pretty forgiving!

cabledude7155 · May 16, 2009, 07:19:44 AM

thanks all. the butt turned out great, family said was the best they ever had. that's was great being this was the first real smoke that i did with the Bradley working. only up from here. only down side was the clean up, did the best i could with the drip plate. any suggestions on easy ways to clean the smoker.

KyNola · May 16, 2009, 07:37:10 AM

7155,
Don't clean the inside of the smoker. Clean the racks, the V tray and the water bowl. Brush off the puck burner to get rid of ash and puck crumbs but leave the interior walls alone unless you have visible grease running down the sides. The blacker the inside, the better!

KyNola