Some dry temps in the 4-rack digital

[heinz]

After yesterdays smoke and the temp probe differences I thought I'd try to get myself a baseline.

Empty of meat smoker, vent 1/2 open, water 1/2 full.
Desired temp set to 230 degrees.

Under rack 1 (bottom) a Bradley digital, under rack 2 a Maverick 'smoker' probe. The Maverick "food" proble was put on rack 4 (top), with prope tip not touching any metal.

After 30 minutes:
Bradley Smoker temp gauge: 230
Bradley Probe: 225
Maverick Smoker probe: 225
Maverick Food probe: 232

Next smoke I'm going to have the 'under rack' probes in place so hopefully I'll have better information to guess with :-)
It's comforting to find out that the Bradley's own temp probe is actually right on. I suspected it to be low based on my original Brisket session, which is why I upped by rib session to 230 from 210. Looks like it'll have to be set a bit higher yet.

[owrstrich]

its a good idea for everyone to check their temperature measuring devices for accuracy...

im happy to see yours are so close...

you gotta eat...

owrstrich

[West Coast Kansan]

heinz, did you have the drip pan installed and how long did you wait for things to stablize?

[heinz]

Yes, everything was installed, ready for meat. The puck bowl was 1/2 full of water and the readings were taken at 30 minutes, when temps were not moving. I don't know how long the temps were at those readings as I was off doing stuff. Had originally planned for an hour but didin't think it waas needed as all the temps appeared close to same.

Do you think the 30 minutes was too short?

[West Coast Kansan]

Happy holiday,  I think the 30 minutes was likely to be just fine.  I was just wondering.  The drip pan adds a lot of delay to the oven temp at start up on my machine.  The heater cycle over and undershoot may not have been fully captured. My 4 rack experience with temps has been just like yours. Everything seems to be accurate enough to cook some pretty good food.

When the digitals first came out there was a LOT of conversation about temperatue accuracy. I didnt think too much about it until I had done a few smokes. With the old chunk wood smoker temp didnt mean to much to me.  I just smoked, but as I have gotten into the bradley it has become more important because there is not enough power to finish the way i used to if necessary at the end. In fact my issue then was keeping the temp down. Used to smoke for much longer periods then.  Poking food and counting to hot on your fingers is gone.  I dont smoke large amounts of food any more now that we are in CA and kids are still in Kansas City.

I like the bradley and am having to learn all over again. Getting used to no power and timing out when things will be ready is new. We used to eat something right out of the smoker and still do but I am doing more of ready for the next day etc. now. Forum is good info. Especially these guys with a billion stars. They must live for this stuff. Pretty fun! Kind of like learning to drive a car.

[owrstrich]

how many stars do you think this guy has...



you gotta eat...

owrstrich

[West Coast Kansan]

Not sure about the stars but had a dad, and have a brother and son with arthur as a middle name?

[West Coast Kansan]

Temp and recovery time seem to be related to the mass of what is in the smoker.  One of the things I like about the bradley is the opportunity to cold smoke.  Forum says add ice to the bowl and tray of the smoker.  Makes sense to trade out heat.  I did this with ice plus some of thepickle jars about 4 inches tall of frozen water.   All this gave me the folowing bad idea.

Tried using the bottom rack with a  layer of river rocks.  Warm up time was not really slowed down (if you give it an hour anyway) and the oven temp was pretty stable on a time wieghted average (still had some cycle swings) but not as meaningful over the period of the smoke.  The bradley does not seem to be a pid controller but more of a temp cycled machine with the probe above the heat element.  Anyway if your only doing 8 to 10 pounds at a time like we are it is something to try. Part of the play time I guess.