Bradley DBS Temperature max

[chiefbuz]

I smoked a spiral cut ham the other day and had the Bradley DBS temperature set for 320.  I cooked for about 4 hours and the temperature never got above 268 degrees.  The outside temp was around 99-100 degrees.  Is this normal?  320 is the max you can set the temp control , but why does it never get close to that temp?  Just want to make sure i don't have a problem.  Thanks for any feedback.

[Habanero Smoker]

First what was you vent setting? If he had it set too small of an opening that may keep your temperatures down. If you are on a circuit that is shared by other appliances that are running at the same time will prevent enough wattage to get to the smoker. Or sometimes the addition of a long extension cord will prevent enough power to run the Bradley at maximum power.

To answer your question about the maximum temperature, if your smoker is new your maximum temperature will around 280°F before the temperature sensor will trip. The sensor is set for 250°, but has a 20 - 50 degree tolerance so it could stay on for as high as 300°F of shut off as low as 270°F.

The older models could reach as high as 320°F, before the sensor would shut it down. I think that when Bradley redesigned the sensor, they did not reprogram the digital therefore it still shows it can be set to 320°F.

[ghost9mm]

What Hab said...

[chiefbuz]

Thanks Hab!  The vent was probably open half way.  I would have thought that opening vent all the way would keep temp down.  The smoker was the only thing plugged in at the receptacle, but i was using a 25 foot heavy duty extension cord.  I am going to try plugging straight into the receptacle next time.  Thanks again for the feedback!

[Habanero Smoker]

Many smoke/cook with the vent wide open. I adjust the vent according to what I am smoking/cooking. For ribs I generally keep it around half open, maybe a little less, opening further (when I had a single element) the temperature would drop. Chicken with skin, because of the high moisture content, I start off with the vent 3/4 to fully open. After a lot of the moisture has escaped the cabinet, I will close the vent some, if needed.