My first electric smoke

[Earls BBQ]

I have been reading a lot about temp swings on this forum, so my first smoke on the digital 6 rack Bradley wasn't a huge surprise. I started warming up the smoker at 5:15 pm, setting it at 280 degrees. The outside temp was 35 degrees with little to no wind. The smoker had been stored inside my house and was at 65 degrees inside the tower when I placed it outside to start the process. I loaded it up with 4 hours of Bradley special blend bisquettes and preheated the puck burner also. It took two hours for the smoker to reach a temp of 214 degrees.  Meanwhile, I had rubbed a 7 lb brisket and a 4.6 lb bottom round roast and let them sit at room temp for a little over an hour. They were at 50 degrees when I placed them in the smoker at 7:15 pm. I dropped the oven temp control down to 220 degrees at this time. I placed the brisket on the next to the top rack (might should have reversed the position of the meats, but consider the brisket the better of the two and didn't want the bottom round dripping on it!) and the bottom round just below and advanced a puck on the burner. I left the vent wide open throughout the entire process. At 8:15 pm, the temp had dropped to 191 degrees and was down to 183 degrees a little after midnight. Outside temp was now at 25 degrees. Throughout the next several hours the temp hung around 181 to 183 degrees. Around 4:00 am, the bottom round had reached an internal temp of 155 degrees, so I pulled it out, wrapped it up in some heavy duty foil and placed it in a crock pot on warm. After removing the bottom round, the temps slowly moved up to 214 degrees and hung around this range dropping occasionally to 207. At 11:30 am, the brisket had reached an internal temp of 190 degrees. I pulled it and FTC'd until 4:30 PM. I have to to tell you, both the bottom round and the brisket were delicious! Tender and moist! It was a success! Our dinner guests were very impressed. I have pictures and will share them as soon as I figure out how. Uploading pictures may be the most difficult part of smoking meat!

Based on my info above, is this normal temps, times and swings? Took 16 hours for the brisket to reach an internal temp of 190 and 9 hours for the bottom round to reach 155. I used boiling water in my pan. I tried moving the oven temp up to 280, but could never get more then 214 degrees. In spite of this, I like my Bradley and look forward to many years of smoking. Anxious to try it in warm weather, but not going to stop smoking in the meantime! Any advice on loading pics welcome.
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[Orion]

Sounds like it is working as designed. You might want to consider a PID for better temperature control. Check my signature for directions to post pictures.

[Earls BBQ]

Thanks Orion! I thought the smoke time seemed reasonable based on info from this site. I will use your info and try to post some pics.