Standard OBS performance?

[Buckeye BBQ]

First off I would like to thank everyone for their contributions to this forum.  I have had my OBS for several months and have had some great smokes thanks to all the tips I gathered right here.  So far I have smoked 3 butts, 2 brisket, wings ribs, and made some killer jerky. 

One question is on the performance of my OBS.  For my latest smoke 2 days ago, I smoked a 7lb pork butt and 6 lb brisket.  I started at 2200 Thurs night.  The OBS was preheated for a hour and I added a large tray of boiling water on the lowest shelf.  The brisket went on the 2nd shelf and pork on top.  After 4 hrs of smoke (0200) I added topped off the water (hot again) and dumped the burnt pucks.  The OBS temp was 190 with the slide full to the right.  I left the smoke generator element and main element on full for the remainder of the night.  Over night temps were aprox 60 deg and no wind. 

The next morning the OBS temp was still in the 190's so I left it full hot and the smoke heat element on as well.  The rest of the day outside air temp was in the 80's and no wind.  My OBS never got above 200 until the very end of the process with everything on full hot.  It ended up taking the butt 20 hours and the brisket 21 hours to reach 190 IT.  I didn't have time to FTC so we pulled em out and ate them up. 

Now for the question.....Should my OBS struggle to get up to temp like it does?  Everything has come out wonderful so far, but I dont like the idea of not getting it to a hotter temp.  The hottest I have seen the OBS temp is 225.  I open the door minimally, and keep the vent open around 1/2 .  I am considering a second element, but don't think it should be needed just to keep it up to temp. 

I did smoke some baby back ribs and was disappointed.  I think it is due to to the low temp that I had to cook at.  I did 3-2-1 and the OBS never got about 200.  ended up finishing on the grill just to bring up to temp.  I would appreciate any advice you all have.  Many thanks.....

[FLBentRider]

W E L C O M E  to the Forum Buckeye BBQ!

I'm sorry to hear of your troubles.

Have you ever run the Smoker empty to see what temp it will get to?

Are you using an extension cord to plug in the OBS?

Where and how are you measuring the OBS temp? If you have meat below the level of the door thermometer, you will get a false reading.

Those times don't seem that far off.. I start butts @2100 and they finish around 1600 the next day.

[Wildcat]

Not sure about your problem. Vent open enough? I generally smoke two large butts at a time and I try to smoke at 205 cabinet temp. It generally takes 20 to 30 hours for both to get done. I have never had a problem getting up to 250 degrees with two butts once the meat temp got to around 140. Even with a meat temp of 90 I can get a cabinet temp well over 210.

[Buckeye BBQ]

Thanks for the responses!   I have run it empty for a hour or so and can get it up to 225-250 with the vent mostly closed. 

I do not use an extension cord nor run anything else off the same circuit and use one of my mavrick probes for the OBS temp.  This last weekend I had to rely on the OBS door thermometer for OBS temp since both probes were in meat.  I did have the hot water tray on the bottom rack, brisket next up, pork above it and top shelf was empty. 

If those cook times seem on par then I will not worry about it too much.  I thought a 6LB brisket and 7 LB pork butt would not take 22 hrs, so I was concerned that the OBS wasnt putting out enough heat. I know every piece of meat is different, I wasnt expecting both to be stubborn.   My OBS was topping out at 205-210 when the meat temp was in the 180's, so it was slightly concerning. 

Thanks again everyone!

[Wildcat]

I have found that the door temp reading will be WAY off until the meat temp gets to around 150 or so. Then the door temp will be more reliable. Keep in mind that since the heat is in the back of the smoker the lower shelves and the back of the shelves are going to be hotter than say the top front shelf. Closing down the vent (especially if there is a lot of moisture in the cabinet) can actually lower the cabinet temp. I would recommend keeping the vent 2/3 to wide open at all times. If doing birds with skin on then wide open.

[Bradley (Head Office)]

Hello Buckeye

The OBS was preheated for a hour and I added a large tray of boiling water on the lowest shelf.The brisket went on the 2nd shelf and pork on top.  

If this large tray of water was on the lowest shelf above the heat element that would prevent the smoker from reaching a higher temperature
all the heat from the element would be trying to boil the water creating moisture which would keep your temperatures down.

Brian.

[Habanero Smoker]

Hello Buckeye

The OBS was preheated for a hour and I added a large tray of boiling water on the lowest shelf.The brisket went on the 2nd shelf and pork on top. 

If this large tray of water was on the lowest shelf above the heat element that would prevent the smoker from reaching a higher temperature
all the heat from the element would be trying to boil the water creating moisture which would keep your temperatures down.

Brian.

I fully agree, especially with you keeping the vent almost closed.

[JT-MO]

On my last smoke a few days ago, I decided to test the vent closed compared to open. I had the PID set to 220, and cabinet temp was 220. I closed the vent all the way, and the temp dropped all the way down to 190'ish with just one 10lb butt in it. It may of dropped even more but at that point I opened the vent back up, and temp went back up. So that goes to show, leave those vents open. As others have stated, I wouldn't add any second container of water, just the original bowl at the bottom.

[Habanero Smoker]

It seems the vent openings depend on several factors, and I'm sure elevation has to be factor in, for people using a large pan of water instead of the bowl; opening the vent all the way is probably a must. For my use, I rarely open the vent beyond half open, using 1/4 most of the time. If I have a full load or chicken with skin, I will open it wider.

JT-MO;
I hope you didn't leave the vent fully closed for too long. Smoke residue and moisture will back into the generator, possibly creating future problems. Did you try experimenting with other openings, such as 1/4, 1/2, or 3/4 to see it that was an improvement over fully opened?

[mow_delon]

Definately agree with what others are saying.  I do not think that the door thermometer is at all accurate unless nothing else is in the cabinet.    I usually will put a second meat thermometer in the vent opening and it will almost always read 20 degrees hotter than the door unless I have the Bradley packed with meat.  The pan of water on first shelf is big part of your temp problems, as it blocks/ absorbs all the heat from the element.  I have never used anything for water other than the bowl provided.  It lasts 6-8 hours usually before I refill (if I even do).  As already stated, never close the vent all the way.  I did that on my very first smoke and moisture backed up through my smoke generator and turned the pucks to mush, resulting in my puck pusher gears getting stripped out.  Ruined the thing the first time I used it (THANK YOU Bradley service department for getting me through that one).

Anyway, there really is only one thing to do to help resolve this problem, and that is to keep smoking!  The more you use it, the better you will understand how to use it! 

[Caneyscud]

If the pan of water is on the bottom of the smoker and the pucks are falling into it - then that is ok.  If the pan of water is above the element actually on the first actual rack, then that will be a problem until the water gets up to temp (simple physics), but you were using boiling water, so if the pan was on the first rack it was simply blocking the heat convection and radiation heat from the element.  You were in "extreme" low-n-slow mode.  ;D

13# is a fairly decent load for the Bradley.  I have had butts take from a little less than 1.5 hours per pound to over 2 hours per pound to get done, so the 20 hours seem extreme to me - but I can get 230 out of mine. 

I don't have an OBS but I did catch something you wrote "slider full to right".  I have read that sometimes if the slider is full right, it doesn't work quite right - so need to back off just a tad, smidgen, wee bit, dab, fraction, little bit, sliver, jo - take your pick.   ;D   

How many BBribs did you cook at one time!

[Habanero Smoker]

There is no longer a need to back off on the slider. Brian posted sometime back, that may have been a problem with the earlier models, but moving the slider all the way to the right is no longer an issue.