How To Make Ribs in a Bradley Pictorial

[Quarlow]

The temp swing you are seeing is normal for anything with a heating element. If you pay attention to your oven next time you use it and stick a probe thermo in it you will see a very wide temp swing. This is why some of us have PID's which tighten up the temp swings to 1 or 2 degrees. This is important for sausage and smoked salmon and is very helpful for overnight smokes.

[Caneyscud]

    * Leave lots of time between each step for prep.  Dealing with this much meat takes a lot of time and definitely put us well behind schedule.  We'd probably add an extra hour for the foiling and saucing.
   Then why use the foil.  Great ribs can be done without fooling with that stuff.

   * During the "Texas Crunch" phase, use 10.5's advice and do this for 2 hours and not the 1 that we did. The ribs could have been just slightly more tender.
    Warning about getting too zealous about keeping in foil.  You have a closed steam cooking system when in the foil.  The steaming cooks faster than the regular Bradley dry heat.  More than one rack has been overcooked.  

   * Apparently a splash of Apple Juice is more than a tablespoon or so.  Who knew?  Anyway, we'll increase this to a 1/2 cup next time, but we really need to work on keeping the BDS temp above 200*F.
    Unless you are enamored with the taste of apple juice on your ribs, don't forget there are plenty of other juices if you choose that method.  What about beer, bourbon, worcestershire, Dale's, Moore's, etc.....


   * Use water in the bowl and open the vent full.  We're still learning. Embarrassed
     Common experience - it is counterintuitive.

...................

   * We'd probably throw the ribs in a hot oven for a few minutes and try and get them hotter when they finally come out of the smoker at the end.  The BDS was running about 210*F at the time and the ribs were warm but not hot. We like our meat a little hotter in temp.
     It is said that once the outer surface of the meat gets to a certain temp. it gets "cooked" and once cooked, does not accept as much smoke flavor.  I'm not so sure of that.  I believe the smoke lays on.  But just be aware of the possiblilty of less smoke flavor, especially if foiling.

......... I'd really like to know why the BDS has such a hard time controlling its temperature. That's the one thing we've been quite frustrated with so far.
Why? - it doesn't need to.  If it cooks great ribs with it's supposed hard time controlling temp. then why does one want to control it better?  As Quarlow said, anything with a heating element has "variances"   In variances, are you referring to the initial drop or a temperature swing?  Even with a big smoker, when you put in the meat or open the door, you get a temp drop.  A Bradley will take longer to recover, as there is not as much thermal mass to store and release residual heat - not because of a temperature controller - and you did not spend $3000+ on a big rig.  If referring to temp. swings - again don't worry, unless you are smoking fresh sausage and a few other things.  The vast majority of items you will smoke in a Bradley could care less.  The swings get less as the meat and the cabinet temperatures get closer to one another.  It's the physics and the nature of the beast ---unless you want to pay possibly several hundred dollars more for your smoker.  Even with a PID, you will get the initial drop.  However, the the swings are not usually as big because the PID has different ways of monitoring and controlling.  You said you had problems getting the temperature up.  You had a load of meat there and that was probably keeping it low for awhile.  But perhaps more so is the technique of taking temps.  You did not mention where you were taking the temps from.  If you are taking the temp at say between the top and next to top rack, it will very likely be lots lower than below the bottom rack.  The full bottom rack is blocking heat from circulating very well.  And the Thermodynamic Laws of Physics are at play.  Every smoker/oven etc... has hot spots - and at times, especially with full loads - meats need to be rotated.  Generally the hottest place in a Bradley is on the lowest rack along the back (closest to the element).  Many Bradley users will rotate racks from top to bottom to even out the times in the temperature ranges.  If you have one or two racks, probably not necessary, but with all four racks full - advisable.  

You also mentioned setting the temp to 320 to get the temperature hotter.  That is of no use.  The element is either full on or full off.  By setting the temp to 320, all you have done is to tell it to go off at 320 and maintain the 320.  The element is not hotter at 320.  

[WetCoast]

Thanks for the feedback Caneyscud.

   * Leave lots of time between each step for prep.  Dealing with this much meat takes a lot of time and definitely put us well behind schedule.  We'd probably add an extra hour for the foiling and saucing.
   Then why use the foil.  Great ribs can be done without fooling with that stuff.

Just about every post we read referred to doing this, so we thought we'd try it. We were going on the advice that this is what makes the ribs tenderer.

   * During the "Texas Crunch" phase, use 10.5's advice and do this for 2 hours and not the 1 that we did. The ribs could have been just slightly more tender.
    Warning about getting too zealous about keeping in foil.  You have a closed steam cooking system when in the foil.  The steaming cooks faster than the regular Bradley dry heat.  More than one rack has been overcooked.  

Again, just going on the advice that we read here, specifically 10.5's 3-2-1 method which seems to be referred to very often here.

   * Apparently a splash of Apple Juice is more than a tablespoon or so.  Who knew?  Anyway, we'll increase this to a 1/2 cup next time, but we really need to work on keeping the BDS temp above 200*F.
    Unless you are enamored with the taste of apple juice on your ribs, don't forget there are plenty of other juices if you choose that method.  What about beer, bourbon, worcestershire, Dale's, Moore's, etc.....

Our first time doing this and the advice pointed to apple juice.  We may try other liquids in the future. Can't do beer as it is one thing that I'm allergic to. I'd love to try bourbon, but maybe if we're cooking a lot less meat.  If we were using a 1/2cup in each foiled package, that would have been 6+ cups of bourbon.

   * Use water in the bowl and open the vent full.  We're still learning. Embarrassed
     Common experience - it is counterintuitive.

Yep, we're learning.

   * We'd probably throw the ribs in a hot oven for a few minutes and try and get them hotter when they finally come out of the smoker at the end.  The BDS was running about 210*F at the time and the ribs were warm but not hot. We like our meat a little hotter in temp.
     It is said that once the outer surface of the meat gets to a certain temp. it gets "cooked" and once cooked, does not accept as much smoke flavor.  I'm not so sure of that.  I believe the smoke lays on.  But just be aware of the possiblilty of less smoke flavor, especially if foiling.

We had a great smoke flavor with the 3 hours of smoke time after 40 minutes in the oven initially.  Not sure if it would have been more if we hadn't foiled. What I was referring to though was the temperature of the ribs being a little cool when they finally made it onto the plate. The next day we had some leftovers that we warmed up in the oven and the hotter temperature when they got onto the plate was better. Maybe not an issue in the summer, when cooler food is sometimes better.

I'd really like to know why the BDS has such a hard time controlling its temperature. That's the one thing we've been quite frustrated with so far.
Why? - it doesn't need to.  If it cooks great ribs with it's supposed hard time controlling temp. then why does one want to control it better?  As Quarlow said, anything with a heating element has "variances"   In variances, are you referring to the initial drop or a temperature swing?  Even with a big smoker, when you put in the meat or open the door, you get a temp drop.  A Bradley will take longer to recover, as there is not as much thermal mass to store and release residual heat - not because of a temperature controller - and you did not spend $3000+ on a big rig.  If referring to temp. swings - again don't worry, unless you are smoking fresh sausage and a few other things.  The vast majority of items you will smoke in a Bradley could care less.  The swings get less as the meat and the cabinet temperatures get closer to one another.  It's the physics and the nature of the beast ---unless you want to pay possibly several hundred dollars more for your smoker.  Even with a PID, you will get the initial drop.  However, the the swings are not usually as big because the PID has different ways of monitoring and controlling.  You said you had problems getting the temperature up.  You had a load of meat there and that was probably keeping it low for awhile.  But perhaps more so is the technique of taking temps.  You did not mention where you were taking the temps from.  If you are taking the temp at say between the top and next to top rack, it will very likely be lots lower than below the bottom rack.  The full bottom rack is blocking heat from circulating very well.  And the Thermodynamic Laws of Physics are at play.  Every smoker/oven etc... has hot spots - and at times, especially with full loads - meats need to be rotated.  Generally the hottest place in a Bradley is on the lowest rack along the back (closest to the element).  Many Bradley users will rotate racks from top to bottom to even out the times in the temperature ranges.  If you have one or two racks, probably not necessary, but with all four racks full - advisable.  

I wasn't expecting a 50* drop in temperature initially, given that we'd already put the ribs in a conventional oven at 350* for 40 minutes before moving them to the smoker.  We did that after reading this recipe on the Bradley site and thinking that this would really help minimize the initial temperature drop.  Apparently not.  When the recipe says to smoke at 220* for 3 hours and we've got the meat in there for 2 hours already and the temp has only slowly crawled up to 195* after an initial drop from 220* down to 150*, we're a little concerned that something isn't going right, especially given that the initial load was already hot.  It wasn't that the temp came up to 220* and then swung +/- 20*.  It never made it up to 220* even at the 3 hour point. Nor during the tenting or saucing phases, but I'd expect that with opening and removing the contents every hour.

We were basing our temp readings off what the BDS was reporting on it's screen for the internal temp.  I understand that that's a whole different thread of debate and advice elsewhere on these forums.

You also mentioned setting the temp to 320 to get the temperature hotter.  That is of no use.  The element is either full on or full off.  By setting the temp to 320, all you have done is to tell it to go off at 320 and maintain the 320.  The element is not hotter at 320.  

Again, a learning experience I guess.  We thought that the heating element might be shutting off pre-maturely (maybe it cycled) and setting the temp higher might lessen this from happening.  It didn't, so we won't try that again.

[Caneyscud]

Learning experiences can be trying - but happily with the Bradley, they are also tasty.  My whole life seems like a learning experience lately - even after 32 years as a General Contractor, the Gov't is frequently showing me something new they have thought of and I don't know about and comes off the bottom line!   ;D ;D ;D

I'm not trying to convince you not to use foil or apple juice.  The 3-2-1 method has turned out tons of great ribs - just look at 10.5's and other's posts - I've got drool marks on my keyboard.  Just want to point out another way.  I suggest you try them both.  Each turns out a slightly different product.  You might find you like one over the other.   Some want to think that foiling is a "miracle" set and forget process that guarantees, tender, fall off the bone, succulent ribs every time.  They somehow want it to counteract bad technique and allow them to go play for several hours rather than devoting that time into making killer ribs. 

I subscribe to the Keep it Simple philosophy.  Unless, there is a very specific reason (such as cheater brisket due to time restraints), I will not use more than one piece of smoking apparatus.  For instance.  The trouble, cleaning, time, danger of dropping a tray of meat when transferring, etc... of using the oven to heat up or pre-cook ribs is to me not worth the few less minutes in the Bradley you might garner.  I have the same philosophy with not using foil.  If the Bradley was incapable of turning out great ribs, then I might consider, but that is just not so.  The Bradley does a great job by itself.  The 50 deg temp drop was drastic, but probably explainable in one of two ways.  The bottom tray was blocking the heat from reaching the temp sensor or the proximity of the meat to the sensor was influencing the sensor.  About a year ago, I could not understand why I could nlot get one of my stickburners up to cooking temp.  Found out I had placed a butt too close to the thermometer probe on the door and the coolness of the meat was influencing the temperature it was indicating.  I believe it is Squirtthecat (STC) who has posted his way of putting still frozen turkey breasts and I believe still frozen butts in his Bradley and cooks them very successfully.  I imagine his initial temp drop is quite large, but he still produces great product.  This just points out that the initial drop is nothing to be overly concerned about usually.  If it does not come up eventually, then check for heat blockage or meat touching the probe. 

[Quarlow]

OK COME ON these posts are just getting to detailed.  :D :D :D I love this place.

[Tenpoint5]

I'm not trying to convince you not to use foil or apple juice.  The 3-2-1 method has turned out tons of great ribs - just look at 10.5's and other's posts - I've got drool marks on my keyboard.  Just want to point out another way.  I suggest you try them both.  Each turns out a slightly different product.  You might find you like one over the other.   Some want to think that foiling is a "miracle" set and forget process that guarantees, tender, fall off the bone, succulent ribs every time.  They somehow want it to counteract bad technique and allow them to go play for several hours rather than devoting that time into making killer ribs. 

I subscribe to the Keep it Simple philosophy. 

Even I use the KISS principle. I also do ribs nekkid without foil. As Caney was saying nothing is 100% certain there is always room for improvement. When I made this pictorial. It was designed as a guideline for the new person that has never smoked anything before, bought a Bradley and was itching to do ribs. This method works very well for that person. As we grow in our knowledge and experience of smoking then we can graduate of into different methods and styles. This method has worked wonders for a whole bunch of people but it is not for everyone.

[smoke em if you got em]

I also have trouble getting my OBS back up to temp once I put the meat in or open the door for any reason. I'm running mine on an extension cord and I've heard that can can cause problems but I don't have a choice.  Have you considered installing a second heating element? I think I'm going to install one this spring. I sure hope it helps because I think if a recipe calls for 3 hours at 220 then I want to be able to get my smoker up to 220 ASAP.
Good luck

[bears fan]

You do have a choice of going and buying a heavier guage cord though, don't you?  That will solve your problem.  I think adding a second element will only cause you more problems if you don't get a heavier cord.

[century]

10.5.....Would suggest any temp adjustment seeing as I will be smoking some ribs this weekend in +1 temps (winter wont go away apparently) ?

Thanks

Emil

[Tenpoint5]

I would stay with the 225 (Which in a DBS would be 230) but you can try running it anywhere up to 250

[century]

I would stay with the 225 (Which in a DBS would be 230) but you can try running it anywhere up to 250

Thanks !  :)

[radamo]

I am hoping to get my OBS this week.  In the past I have only smoked my ribs on my Weber grill.  Dry rub, indirect low heat for about 3 - 4 hours (the first two with smoke) and then the last hour or so apply sauce and keep flipping. The foil method sounds good with 3 / 2 / 1 timing.   If I were to NOT use foil what would be the timing for two racks of ribs?  Would it still be 3 / 2 / 1 or without foil would that dry them out?
Thanks,
RA

[Tenpoint5]

Depends on the ribs. just look for the meat to strat pulling back from the bone tips. 1/4 to 1/2 inch and they be done. could be 3/1/1 it all depends on the ribs

[drdale]

I too have always had trouble getting my digital 6 rack smoker up to temperature.  It can sit there for hours and never get to 200 degrees.  My smaller old Bradley does fine with temperature and I often have to turn it down.  The new big ones use the same old heater and it just seems it should have a bigger heater. 

I am often cooking wild boar and I have to get to internal temperatures of over 160 degrees.  I often have to take the meat out and finish it in my oven. 

[radamo]

Depends on the ribs. just look for the meat to strat pulling back from the bone tips. 1/4 to 1/2 inch and they be done. could be 3/1/1 it all depends on the ribs

Just wanted to thank you formally for your tutorial.  The ribs I made a few weeks ago were spectacular... Hoping to try a chicken tomorrow.

RA