6 Racks on!!!

[cingnut]

I just loaded 6 racks of baby backs!  Rubbed with Famous Dave's rib rub, plus a little garlic powder and onion powder.  2 hours of Oak to be followed by 2 hours of Maple, with rack rotation and sprays of a 50/50 mix of apple juice and pure maple syrup for the next 6 hours at a temp of 210-220.

I have done 3 racks before, I am gearing up to a max load of 9 racks so I thought I would try 6 and see how the load affects cook time and tempuratures.

[smokin stu]

Sounds good.  I like the apple juice/maple syrop mop.

I have tried to run the OBS with all four racks with ribs, and have found it takes forever to get the temp up to where I want it.  I think its the bulk of cool meat and the high humidity.

Let the forum know how it turned out.

[cingnut]

These actually turned out excellent, my taste testers (aka family and friends) considered these possibly the best I have done, but here are some observations...

I had the Digital Bradley set to 320 (max) degrees, and the smoke generator was on the whole time, I preheated the box and let the meat sit at room temp for an hour before popping it in, and even after 4 hours the box temp never even hit 190 degrees.  After finishing the 4 hour smoke I finally abandoned the smoker and finished the racks in a 300 degree oven for another hour and a half, wrapped in foil with a splash of my apple juice/syrup mop for good measure.

The ribs were very tender, and I dare say moister than previous racks that finished cooking unwrapped in the smoker.  The appearance was a little less desirable than previous racks, but that was not an issue since I always finish my ribs with sauce on a medium heat gas grill.

Bottom line, once the smoker has finished its primary function of smoking, it is nothing more than an oven anyway so I say no harm no foul finishing them in a conventional oven.  But be advised, there is a huge difference in performance when you pack the smoker with a lot of meat...  I think Bradley may want to consider a more powerful heat source to deal with this issue, especially in the 6 rack units, but as long as you don't mind moving things into your conventional oven, it really is a non issue.

[Consiglieri]

I had a similar issue "low heat" issue with a 9 rack full load, except that I found, without too much surprise, that the heat was stronger nearer the heat source.  Had to rotate ribs quite often, which just complicated the low heat issue.  If I'm going to be be doing the full load very often, I may look into modifying the box with a circulation fan. 

Glad your ribs turned out good!

[CLAREGO]

agree with cingnut on this it would be great to get the temp to 300+ DEGREES after the intial smoke !

[CLAREGO]

infact that thats the only gripe i have! about all bs

[smokin stu]

On a different thread on this forum, someone suggested adding a brick into the BS to act a heat sink.  I think I will give it a try but will heat the daylights out of it in my conventional oven first to gas off whatever needs to gas off.  I agree that the BS would be that much better with more heating capabilities.

A brick, an extra heating unit, a circulation fan, a PID, an ET-73, and a smoker shack.......  when does it no longer BE a Bradley smoker?

I love my BS, and am in my happy place seeing it working away on a hot summers day in my backyard with me reaching for another cold one.

[CLAREGO]

i use bricks all the time they never leave the smoker. they hold he good but if you got a big ole piece of meat in there it seems to not hold its temp. but in another case you wont loose as much heat without the bricks!

[hillbillysmoker]

I use an old time flat iron to help maintain heat.  I just wrapped the iron in aluminum foil to keep it clean and put it in the bottom.  It does help.

[Gizmo]

cignut,
I just did 12 racks of ribs (on the 6 rack bradley) with almost the exact same scenario.  I always finish off the long cook food in the oven.  I have a dual convection oven so have never felt the need to modify the BS for what I already have in the house.  I agree that after 4 hours of smokin, the BS has done it job.