BS Heating / Cooking

[Cotton]

A week ago I tried the smoker out for the first time.  I went with 6 slabs of baby backs, 6lbs of sausage that a friend makes and around 8 lbs of pork loin.  First off it turned out great.  BUT, I have a question.  I fired up the smoker turned it on high and it got to around 225 degrees. I backed it down to 210 put the meat in.  It never again got above 195.  The good news is 6 hours later the meat was perfect and tasted outstanding.  The question is the outside temp was around 72 with little to no wind.  I had the top vent shut down to keep in heat and it never did get to cooking temperature.  Any ideas?????  I know the front thermometer is accurate because I put two other thermometers I had in the vent on the top and they read the exact same heat.  I have the Bradley smoker cookbook and I want to try some recipes but being new I don't want to have to guess the heat and the time, especially when the heat doesn't get to the specified temp.

[iceman]

Welcome Cotton;
Congrats on your purchase. A lot of things could contribute to the temp situation you have there. The amount of food you have in the smoker certainly can make a difference on times. Was the food cold or at room temp when it went in? Did you slide the temp control back over after you put the food in? Was the water in the catch pan hot or cold when you filled it? On the vent issue be sure to keep it open enough so you don't back flow the smoke into the generator. It won't last to long if you do that. The electronics in there like a "no smoking zone". You are probably one of the few that have a door thermometer that's accurate. As a precaution I'd continue to use a remote to double check temps. I don't know enough to nail it down for you, that's why all the questions. Hope this gets you closer to some answers. Have a good one and I'm glad the food turned out for you. ;D

[icerat4]

HI cotton.Are you sure those are the right weights.Your saying you did roughly 16-18 pounds of food in six hours at temps of 195.That is impossible on one of these machines.8 pounds of pork loin is close to 8 0r so hours.Please share your secret here.Or do you eat raw food all the time :o.Please guys anyone else think there is something wrong with these times.Dont get me wrong i am not trying to be funny here i just am amazed at these weights and times.Please clue me in i would love to do 16-18 pounds of food that fast.Please someone here enlighten me here.Rat out. ;D

[Habanero Smoker]

Welcome Cotton;
I agree with Iceman in his reply on what factors come into play that will keep your cabinet temperatures down. In addition if there are a lot of appliances that share the same electrical outlet that you have the smoker plugged into, will effect the BS's ability to get up to ideal smoking temperatures. The first thing that came to my mind was, "Did he turn the temperature control back up?"

[iceman]

Good call on the outlet Habanero. I spaced that very important question out.

Welcome Cotton;
In addition if there are a lot of appliances that share the same electrical outlet that you have the smoker plugged into, will effect the BS's ability to get up to ideal smoking temperatures.

[ND Smoker]

I would be curious on the heat loss also.  I have had the same issue with the slow recovery on cabinet temp after putting the meat in.  I ramp it up and the controller holds it there.  I don't think the unit has enough potential to heat it up that quick but after a while it does come back.  I have only done a few things on mine to date but each time it took awhile to get back up to temp.  That amount of meat = a lot of mass.  It takes a lot of BTU's to warm up that much mass. 

What does the extra stuff on the outlets have to do with the ability of the bradley to heat properly?  I was always under the impression that the outlets are sized to the wire are sized to the breakers.  If your not blowing a breaker, your not going over the capacity of the system (assume standard breaker not arc fault or gfi).  Don't really notice because I wired all my outlets to multiple 20 amp gfi breakers in the garage.

[Habanero Smoker]

I keep getting kicked off the internet. I hope the three try to answer this goes through.

I'll let the electricians on this forum answer this one. I do know that if there is too much load on a circuit, or the wire cannot carry the load that is required for the appliance or all appliances on that line, a voltage drop can occur.

I use to have a problem when my furnace would start. The lights would dim, but the circuit breaker would not trip. So there can be a reduction in voltage, leaving less for other appliances, but the circuit remains connected.

[jaeger]

• 6 slabs of ribs = 12#
• 8#loin + 6# sausage = 14#
• 26# total meat

I would guess that your BS didn't get any higher temp is because of the large amount of meat in the smoker, like Ice and Habanero mentioned.
If you are worried about the temp on the BS, start out with your break in instructions and see if you hit those target temps.

[icerat4]

6 hours too cook all that meat at those temps.That suff had to be raw no way it came out cooked Anyone else think the same .Now i am not knocking anyone down here just doing the math and what i have done and the times.Maybe lost count of time due to the beer factor ;D.

[Cotton]

Sorry not to be totally clear there.  First, the water was not hot, thanks for the tip. (Also thanks for the smoke tip in the generator)  The sausage was done after 5 hours.  The recipe was one that won a K.C. BBQ contest a few years ago but it called for it to be in the oven first so it was already hot and mostly cooked. (Sorry I don't have the recipe it was prepared when my buddy brought it over)  The loin and the baby back ribs were room tempature when I put them in.  (Believe me that smoker was stuffed)  I did turn the temp guage wide open when I put the meat back in.  After 6, maybe 6.5 hours of smoking but no more I brought them inside, sauced them up and put them in the oven for about 45 minutes because the bride didn't have her part of the meal done yet.  Yes everything was done before I put it in the oven. (Checked all of it with the meat thermometer / knife / mouth and it was perfect)  (Put it in the oven on 225)  By the way, I used a rub my ol' man uses when he does his cooking. (he hasn't given me the recipe to his marinade it is still locked in a saftey security box in the bank) Have you ever tried Rudy's from TX, dern it is good.  The sauce is also my favorite.

[iceman]

 ??? ??? ???
I'm no electrician but I did a little test last night to prove Habaneros theory. I plugged in one of my heating elements in to a dedicated circuit and let it heat up. 670F constant for 30 minutes. Then I hooked up my load generator and cranked it up to a 15 amp draw (half the rating on this circuit). I waited ten minutes and shot the temp on the element. 380F. Came back 30 minutes later and still 380F. I shut the load generator off and checked the temp 10 minutes later. 670F. Interesting. I think I'm going to keep each of my smokers on dedicated circuits from now on. Just thought you guys would like this info.
:o :o :o ??? ??? ;D ;D ;D

[Habanero Smoker]

I would like to take credit for that theory :-[, but there have been many post on this forum talking about issues of electrical power; such as too many appliances on the same circuit, or using the wrong gauge wire  on an extension cord.

[TomG]

Habinaro Smoker said:

I use to have a problem when my furnace would start. The lights would dim, but the circuit breaker would not trip. So there can be a reduction in voltage, leaving less for other appliances, but the circuit remains connected

HS,  I think the theory only holds if your furnace and lights are on the same circuit.  It sounds as if you have a main line problem.  Where are Arcs and BubbaG when we need them??

[manxman]

   

I'm no electrician but I did a little test last night to prove Habaneros theory. I plugged in one of my heating elements in to a dedicated circuit and let it heat up. 670F constant for 30 minutes. Then I hooked up my load generator and cranked it up to a 15 amp draw (half the rating on this circuit). I waited ten minutes and shot the temp on the element. 380F. Came back 30 minutes later and still 380F. I shut the load generator off and checked the temp 10 minutes later. 670F

Very interesting, thanks Iceman. Several people have mentioned this before but never seen any facts and figures posted. ;)

[Habanero Smoker]

Habinaro Smoker said:

I use to have a problem when my furnace would start. The lights would dim, but the circuit breaker would not trip. So there can be a reduction in voltage, leaving less for other appliances, but the circuit remains connected

HS,  I think the theory only holds if your furnace and lights are on the same circuit.  It sounds as if you have a main line problem.  Where are Arcs and BubbaG when we need them??

The furnace (hot air) and the lights that dimmed were on the same circuit at that time. The main line coming into the house is fine, at least that what the electrician said at the time he checked out the problem. It was the electrician that told me about voltage drop, but at the time I wasn't paying much attention to the foreign language he was using to explain the problem; volts, amps; ohms  ???; I just wanted the problem fixed.