Pre-heating my Bradley Smoker

[sresendes]

All of the recipes I have read so far say to pre-heat the smoker first which takes about 30 minutes to get to 220F. When I open the door to put the meat inside, naturally the temperature drops quite quickly. Then it takes another 20 minutes or so to get back up to temperature. Am I misreading the instructions? I was thinking that next time, I would put the meat in and then turn the smoker on so I don't have to open the door when it reaches temperature. I presume I would advance the first bisquette when it gets near temp. 

Anyone's comments are, once again, most appreciated.

Sandy

[NePaSmoKer]

Sandy

Welcome to the forum.

It is a good idea to pre heat both the cabinet and smoke generator before loading your smoker. Keep the top vent about 1/2 way open.
Allot of members use a brick wrapped in foil to maintain the heat which makes for faster recovery when you have to open the door.

With the smoke gen pre heated too this makes the slider hot so the pucks starts to smoke faster.

nepas

[HawkeyeSmokes]

Hi Sandy,

Welcome aboard. Like Nepas said, preheating is a good idea. It helps with the temperature drop when you put the meat in. And preheating the smoke generator before putting a puck on will burn the first one better along with a faster preheat. Seems like most suggest preheating to a higher temp than what you plan to smoke at also. My last smoke, I preheated to 250 even though I was going to smoke at 220. Just comes back up to temp a little quicker. Haven't added the bricks yet but am sure I will.

Have fun.

[pensrock]

Sandy, welcome to the forum. Nepas has you steered in the right direction.

[Gizmo]

Sandy,
NePa and Hawkeye have you dialed in on the preheat with gen and set point at MAX.  I usually go to 260 deg.  I keep the set temp to MAX after putting in the meat, until the box recovers which will take quite a while depending on the load.  I then reduce the set temp over time to keep the box at 200 or 210 degrees.

[Caribou]

Welcome to the Forum Sandy,
These guys are steering you in the right direction, they know their stuff!
I just wanted to chime in on what Nepas said about having a brick in the smoker because it really helped stabilize the temps in my smoker when I added the brick.
Happy smoking!
Carolyn

[mikecorn.1]

Also when you put in the water bowl, I have been told by senior members to fill it with hot water.

[mikeradio]

Hello Sandy  Welcome, I see you are in BC, I am in Prince George

Mike