Hitting temps above 270F?

Rider14 · November 12, 2014, 11:07:49 AM

So I have a new question. I was smoking a shoulder, and as usual, plans changed and I needed it done a couple hours early.

SO - I wrapped it when it hit 160 and was going to power cook it the rest of the way at 350F.

I set my Auberin PID to 350, but the Bradley never got there.

Is this because of the sensor on the back cutting power to the element when the temp rose above 270F?

For background on the smoker, I replaced the 500W element with the finned 900W element, and it works great, just couldn't figure out why I couldn't keep high temp. I ended up transferring the wrapped shoulder to the oven in the house, so no biggie, but was curious.

Assuming the sensor is what kept the temp down, does anyone know what temp the Bradley could really handle? Can I get a replacement sensor that allows it to hit 300? Last thing I want to do is cut the sensor from the circuit, but I do want to be able to powersmoke at high temps once in a while...

Thanks,

- Dan

GusRobin · November 12, 2014, 12:48:14 PM

The Bradley was designed for low and slow. They put a sensor in there, set to what they felt safe. Granted they were probably conservative. So anything above their set point, as the saying goes, you pay your money and you take your chances.

Toker · November 12, 2014, 01:10:41 PM

The new version of the owner manual says 250F MAX. The sensor is 125C and the fuse is 150C so be carefull.

Rider14 · November 12, 2014, 01:43:36 PM

According to google, 125C = 257F, and 150C is 302.

Where is the fuse? Didn't see one when I removed the back when installing the 900W element...

Love this smoker and the ease of adding wood, but I'm considering a pellet smoker that can hold enough pellets for 4-6 hours of smoke, and can hit higher temps. When I finished off the shoulder in the oven at 350F, results were really, really good..

Has anyone who read this ever taken the NBOS higher than 300?

Thanks,

- Dan

KyNola · November 12, 2014, 04:54:08 PM

Dan, the sensor on the back is indeed why your Bradley won't exceed 270. If you want to cook at 350F the Bradley is not what you're looking for. It was never designed to hit baking/roasting temperatures. A pellet grill has advantages over a Bradley and vice versa. I can speak from experience as I own both a Bradley Digital and a MAK 2 Star General pellet fueled smoker/grill.

tskeeter · November 12, 2014, 05:17:49 PM

Quote from: Rider14 on November 12, 2014, 01:43:36 PM
According to google, 125C = 257F, and 150C is 302.

Where is the fuse? Didn't see one when I removed the back when installing the 900W element...

Love this smoker and the ease of adding wood, but I'm considering a pellet smoker that can hold enough pellets for 4-6 hours of smoke, and can hit higher temps. When I finished off the shoulder in the oven at 350F, results were really, really good..

Has anyone who read this ever taken the NBOS higher than 300?

Thanks,

- Dan

Dan, the fuse is integrated into the red wire that feeds power to the heating element. It's not a fuse, but a fusible link. On my 6-rack, the fuse section is clipped to the back wall of the smoker, so if the temp sensor should fail, the fusible link will fail and cut the power when the temp gets a few degrees above the sensor limit.

pensrock · November 12, 2014, 07:23:49 PM

Since it was wrapped and done smoking, you can always put it into your home oven to finish at any temp you want. I have actually finished butts that way, smoked for 4 hours and kept in the bradley for a few more hours, then moved to my oven to finish. that way I did not have to go out back in the dark and cold to check on it. Comes out great.

Rider14 · November 13, 2014, 10:29:02 AM

[/quote]

Dan, the fuse is integrated into the red wire that feeds power to the heating element. It's not a fuse, but a fusible link. On my 6-rack, the fuse section is clipped to the back wall of the smoker, so if the temp sensor should fail, the fusible link will fail and cut the power when the temp gets a few degrees above the sensor limit.
[/quote]

Got it - fusable link is one that 'melts' if it hits a certain temp? Which, in this case, is a bit higher than the sensor? So if I wanted to abuse my Bradley, I'd have to pull both the sensor AND the link... Not sounding like a great idea, but quicker cook times is something I would like...

Curious if anyone has ever tried this, even if it is clearly not the best of ideas...

- Dan

Toker · November 13, 2014, 11:33:49 AM

The highest i took it to is 310F ONCE :P I had to changed my door right after. The plastic did not like the run i think :D And i don't even talk about the Inside insulation foam lol!

Rider14 · November 13, 2014, 12:16:58 PM

Got it. Real bad idea.

265 tops it is! For shoulder and brisket, I think I'm good with the higher temp smoking if I'll be wrapping it up for tenderness anyway with a quick finish in the kitchen oven...

I'm finding the taste/tenderness is not really impacted between 225F smoke and a 350F finish in the kitchen, at least with the big pieces of meat.

- Dan

KyNola · November 13, 2014, 02:26:35 PM

Many folks here do exactly what you just mentioned, smoke in the Bradley and move to the house oven for more heat consistency.

Rider14 · November 14, 2014, 02:26:26 PM

Consistency isn't the issue - I bought an auber dual probe PID - I've finished in the kitchen either for the higher temps and faster finish without any negative impact on results, or to make room in the smoker for more meat.

-Dan

KyNola · November 14, 2014, 08:52:26 PM

My apologies sir. I forgot you had a PID and the reason you were moving to a house oven is for your desired higher roasting temps.

Rider14 · November 17, 2014, 09:08:26 AM

May all be for naught. For some reason, the smoker wasn't getting hot yesterday (ribs) and to test, I plugged the power cord to the smoker directly to the wall (bypassing both the stock smoke box controller and the PID). Smoker proceeded to get hot.

Smoke was intermittent. Not sure what is going on, but while getting to temp without a controller, the circuit breaker blew, and now I cannot get the smoke box to power on, either through the PID or direct wall connect. Ugh. I have turkeys to smoke next week. Will figure out tonight, hopefully.

-Dan