Digital smoker temps

[eldub]

SO, I'm getting the six rack ready to smoke a brisket tonight (and ribs in the morning.) I fired up the unit and hung a digital thermometer in the box to get an idea of the discrepancy between the smoker reading and reality. After an hour and a half, the Bradley says it has an ambient temp of 228* and the probe I hung about half way down in the front of the box says 250*.

I was expecting it to be the other way around.

[eldub]

A half hour into the smoke, with the brisket on the middle rack and the independent probe dangling below the meat, the unit is reading 220* and the probe says 240*. So I turned the unit down to 200*.

Is this making sense to anyone? I reported during my last smoke that the unit said the box got up to temps (220*) after only an hour or so preheated to 240* and nobody seemed to believe that reading was accurate.

[Tenpoint5]

Is the meat  close to the back and on one of the 2 lower racks? That could be allowing the heat to escape up the front side of the smoker. The moisture coming from the meat would also affect the sensor on the back wall of the smoker.

[Tenpoint5]

Go with the probe temp

[eldub]

Probe temp is at 205*. The smoker temp reads 204*. The Bradley is set at 200* for the overnight.

TheSt. Louis style ribs are rubbed with jan's recipe and will come out of the fridge at 6:00 am. Hope to have in the smoker at 7:00 am. After a few hours of smoke I plan on wrapping the ribs for a couple of hours before uncovering and saucing down the home stretch

The brisket will get an internal probe at that time and prolly get wrapped in tinfoil but not covered. I'm planning on giving everything a few hours of apple smoke in the morning before wrapping the ribs for a couple of hours and covering with the tinfoil when the internal temp reaches 170* and then hopefully FTC-ing when it reaches 185* or so.

The beans have been soaked and simmered and are now in the fridge mixed with the rest of the recipe. They will start heating up in the crock pot at 6am.

That leaves the cheese and mild chili pepper cornbread and the tater-tots to be prepared closer to lunch time.

Thanks for all the assistance.

scott
Des Moines, IA   

[eldub]

THe brisket's internal temp is at 169*.

The ribs went into the smoker at 6am as planned.

Whistle berries taste great and are looking good. (I had to open the crock pot lid for a few hours this morning to let excess moisture evaporate but they are at the right consistency now.

Only snafu of this adventure has been the fact that I used hot paprika (by accident) instead of the mild. The wife might not be eating ribs today, but the rest of us prolly won't mind.

[eldub]

Ribs and brisket are in foil, still in the smoker.

Brisket temp says 183*. It will get FTC-ed at 185*. The brisket internal temp has went from 160* at 6am to close to 185* at 10am. So there was a raise of temps of 25* in the last four hours, or roughly 4* per hour with box temp at 220* or so. 

[tskeeter]

eldub, I find that a sweet sauce, such as KC Masterpiece, will tone down the heat of a slab of ribs.  Might be worth a try.

[eldub]

The ribs turned out great. Not too spicy at all.

The brisket turned out to be corned beef. hehe Not what I expected, but I learned a lesson on brining with Morton's Quick Tender or whatever it's called.

Thanks again for all the assistance.

scott

[Tenpoint5]

Sounds like Scott is going to be eating Reuben Sammies for the rest of the week! ;D ;D

[eldub]

LOL The wife wants Reuben's but I'm making corned beef and cabbage soup tonight.