heating

[outbackmac]

The internal temp will not rise above 250  any ideas as to why

[tskeeter]

outbackmac, at 250 degrees you're pretty close to the max for a Bradley.  The max temp rating is 280 degrees.  Throw in a little wind, and I think you'd be hard pressed to get the cabinet temp above about 250 degrees unless you have done some modifications to the heating system.  Even with heating mods that allow the cabinet temp to be maintained at 280, such a small temperature differential wouldn't heat up the product in the smoker very quickly.

What is it that you are trying to cook?  An internal temperature of 250 degrees is pretty high for most products people smoke and cook.  The highest that I can think of off the top of my head would be pulled pork, which many folks cook to an IT of about 190 - 200 degrees for maximum tenderness.

[outbackmac]

Thanks for the info.  ive had trouble with the element had to replace 3 times in 16 months.  Just couldnt remember what temps i had before.   Thanks for the info

[tskeeter]

Mac, a clarification.  The convention on this board when talking about internal temperature is to be referring to the internal temperature of a product that is being smoked/cooked as a measure of "doneness".  You appear to be referring to how warm you can get the smoking cabinet.  So, I imagine that my comment about temperature differentials must have seems a bit strange.

However, my comments on the impact of wind on cabinet temperatures stand.  It can be hard to get the temperature in a stock Bradley up when it's windy or really cold.  Remember that the stock single heating element is 500 watts (the Bradley was designed for cold smoking, so the engineers didn't think you needed a lot of heat).  A 500 watt heating element is functionally similar to cooking over a couple of 3-way light bulbs.

There are some things that folks do to compensate for the capacity of the heating element.  Some folks continue to run the puck burner after they are done applying smoke.  The puck burner has a 125 watt heating element, so running the puck burner adds 25% to the heating capacity of the stock smoker.  In order to improve heat recovery when you put food into the smoker or when you open the door to check on what you are smoking, a foil wrapped brick is sometimes put in the bottom of the smoker to act as a heat sink.  The brick warms up as you preheat the smoker, and then releases the heat back to the smoker after you have cooled the smoker down by opening the door, etc.  A third option is to do a heating element modification to increase the heating capacity of the smoker.  Since I smoke outdoors and live in a cold and very windy location, I did a heating element modification to my Bradley.  If you dig around in the forums, you will find links to two or three different heating element modifications that are within the realm of a competent DIYer.   

[outbackmac]

tskeeter,

Then my question stands should i be able to the temp inside the smoker hotter than 250

[GusRobin]

tskeeter,

Then my question stands should i be able to the temp inside the smoker hotter than 250

Many variables:depends on what you are cooking, how much you are cooking, how cold the meat is when you put it in, how many times you open the door, and how your vent is positioned. But I would venture to say based upon my experience the answer is without an added element not often. Of course it is designed for "low and slow" so not sure how many times you would want to.

[tskeeter]

In theory, yes.  A little bit hotter.  Temp sensors shut off the heating element at about 280 degrees, give or take a few degrees, to prevent over heating.  So, under ideal conditions, you should be able to get pretty close to 280.  But the real answer is maybe.

First of all, on a Bradley, the temperature setting isn't an absolute (this is true with your home oven, too).  Depending where the smoker is in the heating cycle, the temperature can vary as much as 20 degrees above and below the temperature setting.  So, if the smoker is set for 200 degrees, at different points in time the temperature may be as low as 180 or as high as 220.  Is your 250 degree reading from one observation, or is it basically the average of several observations?

Second, the operating conditions have a great deal of impact on how hot your smoker will get.  What's the temperature of where ever you have your smoker?  Is it windy?  Is the smoker stock, or have you made modifications to it? If you've made modifications, what are they?  How far open do you have the vent?  What are you smoking?  Are you using a cold smoke adapter?  I know this seems picky, but you appear to be looking for a yes or no answer to a question where the most appropriate answer depends on a variety of operating conditions.  For example, when smoking you must allow moisture to escape from the smoker.  Trapped moisture prevents the smoker from reaching its theoretical maximum temperature.  Poultry is an example of a fairly high moisture product.  So if you are smoking chickens, and you have the vent mostly closed, the trapped moisture will prevent the smoker from getting to the top end of it's temperature range.  Now, if you are testing the smoker by running it in a closed garage, where the smoker isn't affected by wind, on an 80 degree day, with nothing in the smoker, I'd think you should be able to heat the smoker up to somewhere in the 270 - 290 range.

Overall, you report that the smoker will get up to 250 degrees.  In my opinion, that's plenty hot for any smoking a person would want to do.  If it were my smoker, I'd consider it to be operating in a satisfactory fashion and not worry about it.     

[outbackmac]

thanks guys