HELP!!!

[cowboy41]

Hi Gang!!

Been doing some reading and research on your website as my family bought me a 4 rack OBS for my b-day.

Years ago I had done a little smoking with an old fridge that I had made into a smoker (am sure some of you can relate) and the results were well received by all, however due to relocating it was sadly left behind with an appreciative new owner and that ended my smoking days.

I was thrilled when my new smoker arrived, it was unpacked with loving care and surprisingly enough I even read all the literature/instructions which were enclosed, (ya see I have learned something after 67 years, read, reread).

I was somewhat unhappy that Bradley had not at least enclosed a few Bisquettes for seasoning (like at their cost am sure would have been less than 5 bucks), after searching and calling one (1) business had the required Bisquettes for the seasoning process and was only 40 miles away, needless to say an e-mail was sent to Bradley about my unhappiness, they did answer after a couple of days, as I said it looked like they were a penny wise and a pound foolish not to have included them.

Unfortunately this was only the beginning of my bad experience.

The seasoning went fairly well with the exception of taking a long time to arrive at the desired temperature (150), this I attributed to my impatience and being electrical.
(wx conditions 88 deg, no wind, humidity 28 percent)

My first project was a beef brisket, once again it took forever to get to the desired 200 degrees, but did turn out okay by my taste, great taste by others less frustrated.
(wx 92 deg, no wind, 30 percent humidity)

The big day has arrived, am fixing ribs, salmon and shrimp for big family gathering,
The ribs, shrimp and salmon were all smoked at the same time and as usual the temperature was slow in rising (some of this I blame on the door being opened for the  shrimp and salmon and the removal of them, (they came out just fine)), the temperature was barely 200 degrees, and as anticipated the ribs would need to cook another 2 hours,  the temperature did make it to about 210 degrees, not surprising because of the door not being opened as much, at the end of 2 hours the ribs were checked and upon opening the
door, the bottom gasket was hanging loose, the upper right side of the door gasket was loose, the ribs were removed and finished in the house oven and turned out okay.

I have no earthly idea why this all happened, if the heat was so high and the thermometer was off the ribs should have been done or burnt to a crisp.

Needless to say the machine went back to the retailer (Sears) and now I am in a quandary as to what to do and what caused this.

I don't know how in thunder you could try to cook something for any period of time and not have a similar melt down of the gasket.

I need some pro input good or bad as to what if anything I did wrong.

Thanks everyone 

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi Cowboy41;

Welcome to the forum, sorry it is under these circumstances.

Could you clarify whether the gasket came loose or melted? It would take extremely very high temperatures to melt the silicone gasket, but it is not uncommon for the gasket to become slightly deformed. Mine bulges at the top and bottom, but the seal is good.

After your previous smoke did you wipe down the gasket, and door frame? If not the residue becomes like glue and can rip your gasket off. When you were opening the door, was the door sticking or hard to open?

If you followed the recommended procedures in the manual of cleaning the gasket after use, but it still came off, then it may just been a quality control issue. The screws may have been missing, or over tightened at the factory, or came loose during shipment.

As for the recovery times, it is hard to tell how your smoker was performing. The recovery times is not going to be as fast with a smoker using wood or charcoal. Remember you are cooking with a 500 watt bulb, and an additional 125 watts from the generator. The load (type of meat, and weight of meat), and the actual amount of time for it to recover would be important to know. Some basic tips are:

1) Try not to open the door frequently, which you know about.
2) Allow meat to sit at room temperature for 1 -2 hours prior to smoking.
3) Preheat the smoker 30 - 50°F higher then you plan to smoke/cook at. You will loose a lot of heat when loading.
4) Many of use place a brick or two inside the smoker. This helps the smoker recovery faster.
5) Vent setting is also important. The wider the opening the lower your cabinet temperature will be. Generally only open the vent wide enough so that no smoke back out through the generator. The only exceptions is when you are smoking very moist foods, such as chicken with skin; then you would want to start off the smoke with the vent 1/2 - 3/4 open.

[cowboy41]

Thanks Habenro for taking time to answer.

I did not wipe the seal down, it was only the third time in use and the second time for doing meat.
There was no sticking or anything unusual when door was opened prior to the problem.
My problem was the lack of heat (either actual or indicated) until all of a sudden the seal did this.
The meat was not done nor did it have any indication of a high heat situation.
The seal seemed to be much more stiffer/harder in some areas which would be an indication of high heat
but yet none was evident, the damper was almost fully closed the entire time.
As stated previously the heat took forever to get to 200 on both smokes and on this smoke never rose over 210.
The Smoke box element was never shut off even after the Bisquettes were all gone, which probably should have been
done, however the 2 Bisquettes remaining one was like new and the other did show some blackening on the bottom but
not any large amount.
My concern now is whether or not this is a problem with the OBS or just a fluke.

Thanks again for taking the time to answer.

[Tiny Tim]

On your bisquette problem, that's a normal situation unless you have something else to push them off the plate with.  A lot of us use Aluminum Pucks (often called "Bubba Pucks" after the original retailer) to get the last wood puck to the hot plate...some make their own, others buy them from a place like http://www.yardandpool.com.

I can't tell in a quick scan of your post whether you used another thermometer to monitor the cabinet temp or not, but some of the door thermometers leave a bit to be desired on accuracy.  Also, in your last post, you said the vent was almost fully closed...that could have a bit to do with your temp recovery, due to any excess humidity in the cabinet.  I always run my vent full open all the time, and I don't have a problem with heat loss or recovery.

Welcome to the board.

[cowboy41]

Thanks Tiny Tim,

Think my problem was about three things happening and they all ended up making a bad day.

I talked to the Bradley folks and it would appear that more than likely that would never happen
again.

I have decided to give the OBS another go and have taken the added precautions of ordering not
one but two Maverick dual probe thermometers, with the thinking that I will put one probe near the
top of the box and one down the side opposite of the Bisquette heater, this should give me an early
alarm if there's any high temp problem, that will still leave me with two probes for my meat and if I get
brave later it would give me three probes total for meat if needed or wanted.

I should be back up and running in about a week.

I sure do appreciate all you fellars giving me a hand.

cowboy41  :)

[westexasmoker]

Welcome to the forum cowboy!

I think everybody else has got ya good to go! Bradley customer service in excellent!  I killed mine the second time I used it, spiked to 375 and good folks at Bradley sent me everything to fix it!  I still don't have any bubba pucks and just waste that one that gets burnt a tad.  I fully agree with TT, I leave my vent full open for everything....but I use mesquite on everything (theres my plug)  And yep when you have a full load it takes forever to come back up to temp, I've gotten to where I just try to time my smokes and then finish in the oven!  Don't give up, you'll be turning out some of the most amazing food you've ever tasted!

C

[West Coast Kansan]

Glad things are getting sorted out for you.  The key new information since HabS post is the vent setting.  A poor air exchange (moisture build up) will keep your temps down.  As indicated above keep the vent open enough that there is no evidence of smoke at the gap between the smoke generator and the tower.  You have more than enough smoke, your not wasting it  ;) Moisture will also condense on the inside of the smoker and settle in on the bottom of the unit / front door gasket seal.  Nasty sticky stuff when it drys.  ;D

In addition to the advice about adding a brick to help with recovery times - add hot water to the bowl to help come up to temp quicker when starting up.  An oversized water bowl will hold more hot water mass to help reduce recover times as well.

Welcome aboard...  :D

Glad your giving it another try.

[KyNola]

WCK is dead on about making sure no smoke is leaking out of the crack between the smoke generator and the tower.  The last thing you want is smoke to back up into the smoke generator.  It can literally destroy your smoke generator so keep you vent open.  Otherwise, sounds like you're good to go!

KyNola