When to use smoke pucks? Begining of cook or end? Or both?

TedEbear · April 22, 2012, 02:01:09 PM

I didn't notice at first that you had the vent completely closed. Never do that. It increases the cooking time as well as undesired moisture buildup in the cooking chamber. For pork butts leave the vent open at least halfway. Many people leave theirs all the way open or they remove the vent cover entirely.

viper125 · April 22, 2012, 03:30:15 PM

I have yet to find a reason to close my vent even a little. Always wide open and works great!

mikecorn.1 · April 23, 2012, 08:25:49 AM

So what happened? Did you order pizza ? ;) :D :).
Yeah, don't ever close the vent thinking your gonna hold more heat in. Smoke will back up into the SG and can ruin it.

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viper125 · April 23, 2012, 01:43:07 PM

Not only that! I first got my Bradley and decided to do a full load of ribs. Boy did I make a lot of mistakes that day! First I forgot to get the ribs out early and gave them no warm up time. Straight in to the cold smoker they went. Yep forgot to warm it. Then the smoker would not hardly warm up at all. Turns out my vent I closed so it would heat up quicker. Well traps all the cold and moisture and will never warm up. Especially when your trying to heat a whole load. That day those ribs took probably 11-12 hours to cook. But learned and now remember not to do that again. LOL

TonyL222 · April 24, 2012, 04:11:46 AM

Quote from: viper125 on April 22, 2012, 08:52:53 AM
I prefer to heat meat at 120 for an hour then apply smoke at 130 degrees. Seems to stick better. Then I ramp up for finish. Works for me.

Interesting approach. Is that just for long smokes like butts? How long do you smoke at 130 - and is that a safe temp for 2-3 hours?

TedEbear · April 24, 2012, 05:01:50 AM

Quote from: Jdawg50 on April 22, 2012, 01:17:56 PM
Just put the 2 butts in the oven at 350. Going to leave in there for 1.5 hours. Then back to the Bradley. 2:17PM right now.

So, how did everything turn out? Was the meat done by the time you were hoping for or did you end up ordering pizza that night? ;D

viper125 · April 24, 2012, 02:03:58 PM

Never had a problem. I always dry and meat i smoke first. one hr 120 then 1 hour of 130 and smoke then to 145-150 and keep ramping up till done. Unless its huge then I dry at 145 for however long it takes to get sticky then smoke. Then increase the temp. Works good for me. Smoke to soon or to late and it don't take as well it seems.

BigJoe · April 24, 2012, 03:09:10 PM

Serve loss of liquor to the guests and slip it all into the microwave. Only kidding, not about the liquor though.