how to improve?

[mics]

so for new years,got the smoker filled with pork ribs,not baby backs.after 3 hrs of smoke and 3 more hrs of heat.heres what i got.the first two racks were rubbery.the last two were pretty good,soft off the bone good taste. cookin temp was 210 -220 cookin time was about six hours.sfter the smoke,i wrapped them in foil and back in the smoker.i didnt ftc.thought i would try this  way first.so heres what i think i did wrong.when smoke was on i turned the vent way to the close side.now that i think about it,all the heat stayed at the top? also didnt rotate the shelfs..tried to get a meat temp and could not get to 170-180 0n the probe,but on the bottom two shelf the meat fell off the bones,was it done? any thoughts?

[West Coast Kansan]

Welcome mics, I am not sure I followed your post real well so the following are some rambling thoughts. 

With the smoke on the vent should be open. Need the air to move through the tower to cook the food...your not wasting smoke letting it flow out.  Set the vent so there is no smoke visible at the joint between the tower and the smoke generator. If the vent is not open, you are trapping moisture and making it hard for the unit to build heat and distribute it evenly.  Temp will be higher at the bottom.

The smoker was "filled" with pork ribs. I agree with you a rack rotation top to bottom and front to back would help, perhaps right at the 3 hour point when the smoke finished. 

Sounds like the bottom near the heat source was real done and done less at the top?

Keep track of this and make your adjustments from this point and you will soon zero in on the perfect ribs just the way YOU like them.

I might have targeted a lower temp 200-210 during the smoke period and then bump up the temp -210-220ish closer to 210 for the finish.  You are certainly on track with open the vent more during the smoke period.

Are you OBS or DBS?

Sure others will jump in with thoughts as well.

[Gizmo]

As with WCK, it would be helpful to know what temp guage you were using?  Original Bradley on the door, Digital Bradley on the display sensor on the bottom near the heat element, some where else?  I made some similar miscalculations when making my first posts as I was using the temp guage on the Digital Display, which is off considerably compared to the air temp in the middle of the box just above the meat.

[mics]

hey wck and gizmo,thanks for takin the time to answer.im using a bradley dig smoker,so far i can see from your guys ans some thing i need to do differant.when i had smoke on i had the pretty well shut.so i need to open it up some.would say half way be a good starting point.now that im reading this,i remember having water under the door and im lookin to get the duel temp sensor that was mentioned here on the forum ,because i am only looking at what the dig sensor reads. once again guys thanks for the replys.  hopin everybody has a great year in 2007,  mic

[Habanero Smoker]

hey wck and gizmo,thanks for takin the time to answer.im using a bradley dig smoker,so far i can see from your guys ans some thing i need to do differant.when i had smoke on i had the pretty well shut.so i need to open it up some.would say half way be a good starting point.now that im reading this,i remember having water under the door and im lookin to get the duel temp sensor that was mentioned here on the forum ,because i am only looking at what the dig sensor reads. once again guys thanks for the replys.  hopin everybody has a great year in 2007,  mic

Before you buy the dual temp sensor, take a look at the customer reviews on Amazon.com. It's been more then a year since I looked at those reviews, and the problem with the sensor may have been corrected by now. But it wouldn't hurt to take a look at them.

[Gizmo]

I suspect the problem is the same as with the other posts here on getting moisture in the probe area.  Since reading the posts here on that problem with the maverick and others, I have been a lot more careful on the usage and escpecially the cleaning of all my probes.  I did like the suggestion of a silicon cord probe.  Wonder how well it holds up to the moisture?  I have wondered if there was a product that could be gooped onto the top of the probe that would be food safe, heat save, and water tight.  Thanks for the suggestion on reading the reviews H.S.  The probe end on the dual seems more enclosed than the other metal L shaped probes I have seen and even though I have been more careful, I wasn't sure if it was still a problem with this particular probe.

[Habanero Smoker]

Gizmo;

The Raptor Guru has a silicone cover cord, but it has a thin coating that is almost as stiff as thinly coated plastic wire. I don't see any improvement in the seal around the crimped end. Maybe if the silicone covering was thicker and more pliable, that would give a good seal. Or if the crimped area was sealed with a food grade silicone, that would be great.

I feel with the silicone wire, you need to be more careful, because they are less forgiving then the metal covered wire. I have ruined one thermocouple already. I was in a hurry, forgot the cabinet probe was still connected to the tray when I pulled the tray out. Well the probe stayed connected to the tray, but the wire gave way. I was able to reinsert the wire and it work for a while, but it finally would not register the temperature correctly any more.

[Gizmo]

I am beginning to wonder if the poor quality probe sealing is not on purpose?  Future sales. :-\

[Wildcat]

I am beginning to wonder if the poor quality probe sealing is not on purpose?  Future sales. :-\

Very possible.  Most other products are that way.  The ones that are not are keeping costs down.  Either way, the consumer winds up being the victim. :'(