Guys/Gals I really messed up.

[mikemontauk]

Ok: I am going to go through what happened during my rib smoke today. It ended with a grease fire. All is well, but I am truly bummed that I lost some beautiful ribs, and my Bradley. I'll lay it out as I see it. I would truly like some feedback as I am quite disheartened and pissed at myself.
Ribs went in smoker at 7:45am.
4 racks: Note the racks were large and went on diagonally. (Ribs were touching back of chamber.
Chamber temp dropped to 145 degrees. Bumped up temp to 240 from 220. (learned from a earlier post that adding temp doesn't bring temp up any quicker)
I did foil the vented pan below racks. I put one hole in middle thinking that grease would run down into a foil pan. I did not put any water into pan at bottom. I used the foil and foil pan thinking that it would ease in clean up.
Smoke was great. About 3 hours in I moved top rack to bottom and bottom to top, to make sure all is going well. It was
Chamber temp never really got above 210 for entire cook/smoke
At Noon I was going to check internal temp and if right and bones were exposed, foil.
That's when I opened up to grease flame.
Unplugged, Got everything out and everything under control.
I would absolutely welcome your feedback as to the things I did wrong.
Regards,
Mike

[pensrock]

I see a number of things you did incorrectly.
First you need water in the bowl to catch the burned pucks and dripping grease.
Second, you covered the V-tray with foil and only poked the center drip hole. Yes this will allow the grease to drip into the bowl but also causes all the heat and smoke to go up the sides of the heat chamber vs flowing in a more even flow upwards through the slots in the tray.
Third, If the racks of ribs are too long to fit without touching the sides of the chamber I cut them in half, where they were touching the sides can cause the grease to run down the sides or back of the chamber to the heating element.
You did not say if your top vent was open or not, but it should always be open at least 1/2 way, I never close mine at all.
At this point it is difficult to say for sure if the fire started in the empty bowl with the smouldering pucks and grease dripping onto them or if grease ran down the back side of the tower onto the heating element.

[mikemontauk]

Thanks Pensrock. I appreciate it. I do think it was the grease running down the back of chamber. Number of things to correct. I'll be online today looking for my new Bradley.
Regards,
Mike

[KyNola]

When you foiled the V tray you trapped heat under it.  When the fat ran down the back of the chamber because the ribs were touching it, it ran directly on to a hot element and with the additional heat trapped under the V tray you had the perfect environment for a grease fire.  You have already learned this the hard way but make sure meat doesn't touch any of the interior walls of the tower.  Also, as my friend Pens said, you need water in the bowl regardless.

The good part is no one was hurt and you apparently caught it before it could do major damage to your smoker but more importantly, your house and family.

[trevorandlori]

Just a note on temperature recovery..... It certainly makes a difference to turn the temp higher prior to putting food in. I have a 5# steel grate on the bottom rack that absorbs the heat, and if I set it for 250, I can put in a full 3 racks and only lose 20 degrees. It also helps to not turn it down the moment you put food in, wait 15 minutes or so. As stated, something with a lot of thermal mass near the bottom makes a huge difference as well.

[KyNola]

Just a note on temperature recovery..... It certainly makes a difference to turn the temp higher prior to putting food in. I have a 5# steel grate on the bottom rack that absorbs the heat, and if I set it for 250, I can put in a full 3 racks and only lose 20 degrees. It also helps to not turn it down the moment you put food in, wait 15 minutes or so. As stated, something with a lot of thermal mass near the bottom makes a huge difference as well.

Read his post again.  Setting the temp at 250 does not make the Bradley heat to 220 any faster than setting the temp at 220.  I agree with you that preheating to a higher temp with some sort of mass will aid in holding/recovering the temp but it doesn't initially heat the Bradley any faster.  The heating element is either full on or full off regardless of the temp setting.