New Bradley - how long to heat up?

JFlores · July 30, 2009, 04:46:42 PM

I've got my new smoker (4 rack), and have used it twice. It works great (no surprise) Couple of newbie questions -

1. How long should I expect it to heat up to 220 degrees? I place the temp on "high" and it still takes about 40 minutes to get to the temp.

2. How do you handle opening the smoker to do -whatever- and let the heat out and then it takes another 15 minutes to get back to 220 degrees.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

mikecorn.1 · July 30, 2009, 04:53:06 PM

I usually pre-heat for 45 minutes. Try to put a brick or two at the bottom next to the water bowl while pre-heating. will help recover heat.

HawkeyeSmokes · July 30, 2009, 05:04:14 PM

I like to preheat for at least a 1/2 hour with the puck burner on, no pucks and to a higher temp (250 to 260 for a 220 smoke) than I plan to smoke at. Add the pucks and advance them when ready to load the meat in. Seems to help the recovery time after putting the meat. Once the smoker comes back up to my planned smoking temp, then I adjust it down. Adding the bricks should help to but have not done it yet.

By the way, welcome to the forum.

Ka Honu · July 30, 2009, 05:41:53 PM

You might consider manually loading 2 bisquettes on the smoke generator tray (one in the space next to the tube and one in the "on deck" space) while preheating. That seems to preheat (without burning) the first bisquette up and allows it to smoke more completely. Then when you put the meat in, hit the "Bisquette Advance" button one time to advance the warmed bisquette to the heating plate.

Up In Smoke · July 30, 2009, 05:53:47 PM

the others here have you pretty well covered, when i preheat i usually fill the water bowl with hot water to kinda help.
keeping the vent wide open then adjust while cooking.

FLBentRider · July 30, 2009, 07:05:21 PM

W E L C O M E to the Forum JFlores!

Sounds like normal warm up times to me.

smokeitall · July 30, 2009, 07:07:56 PM

Welcome Aboard Jflores

beefmann · July 30, 2009, 07:57:50 PM

welcome to the forum j, as for the heat up 1/2 hr to 45 mins

banditto1969 · July 31, 2009, 04:34:55 AM

My new original takes 2 hours on nearly as high as it can go. I thought it may have been the outlet it was plugged into at first (at my friends house) but it acts the same way at my house. It does eventually get to 220F-250F but that is prolly as hot as it can go.

FLBentRider · July 31, 2009, 05:55:35 AM

W E L C O M E to the Forum banditto1969!

That is really all the heat you need for low and slow.

Habanero Smoker · July 31, 2009, 02:07:43 PM

Quote from: banditto1969 on July 31, 2009, 04:34:55 AM
My new original takes 2 hours on nearly as high as it can go. I thought it may have been the outlet it was plugged into at first (at my friends house) but it acts the same way at my house. It does eventually get to 220F-250F but that is prolly as hot as it can go.

Hi banditto1969;

Welcome to the forum.

Two hours is a long time. What is your vent setting during preheating. You should close it to around 1/4 then readjust it after you put food in the cabinet.

New Bradley - how long to heat up?

beefmann