First time failure

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First post, first time smoker, first time failure.... :( >:( >:(

Got up at 5:00 am.  Turned on the smoker, full blast, no advance of the pucks when I pushed the button.  Later learned, I think that the unit has to preheat first? Loaded the smoker full.  Added bowl of water.  20 minutes later I see smoke. 125 degrees, go back to bed.  Just checked it and it is 150 degrees.  The dial on the controller does not feel right, it goes all the way around.  I feel/hear one then two clicks, for whatever that means and now the dial stops at about 8:00 position.  Am I screwed?

[River Rat]

How much did you load your smoker with?  How long and to what temp did you pre heat?

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Loaded it full and the meat was out of the frig.  Will it come up to temp or should I take half the meat out?  It has been three hours.

[GusRobin]

what did you preheat it too? Is your heat element glowing red? Have you tried to unseat the plugs and reseat them tightly?

[River Rat]

If you are talking large cuts like pork butts and brisket you are in for a long haul. Is the temp rising at all?  And welcome from Maryland

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Thanks for the welcome.  Element is glowing.  St. Louis ribs and it's trimmed riblets and five thick country style ribs, but each rack is 100% full.  I think that the knob is messed up, it would not go to the full mark if you used the dot as a guide and if you turned it back it did not click where it should have.  The feeder is working but the advance button did not work all the time.

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Oh yeah, forgot to mention,  I guess my preheat time was about 10 minutes.  Do you think I should take out some of the meat?

What did I learn?

Preheat at least to the temp you want if not a bit higher
Use hot water
let your meat come to room temp, maybe even heat it up a bit in oven while the unit preheats???
Get some bricks and wrap in foil
Call customer service about feeder butter and temp dial

[River Rat]

How's the temp looking now?

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It got up to 185.  I took everything out after six hours.  Ribs were around 120-125.  Country style on bottom rack a little higher but black.  I sauced all of them and threw them in the oven at 220 to finish off.  What do you think?

Another thing I learned was to rotate after 1/2 through.

[TedEbear]

What did I learn?

Preheat at least to the temp you want if not a bit higher
Use hot water
let your meat come to room temp, maybe even heat it up a bit in oven while the unit preheats???
Get some bricks and wrap in foil
Call customer service about feeder butter and temp dial

That about covers it.  Even with the meat getting close to room temp, if you pack your Bradley full it is going to drop the chamber temp and it will struggle for several hours to get back up to the setpoint.  If it is windy and very cold out it may not get back up to the setpoint.

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Thanks everyone.  They actually turned out pretty good.  A little dry, but that was due to the extended time.  The black was tasty to me.  Is that what you call bark?  Temp knob is still screwed up.  It stops at the 8 o'clock position.

I had to load up two new racks with more meat that was prepped. It actually got up to 225.  Gonna try beef ribs next time if I can find a decent price. What are some fair prices for pork baby back, pork St. Louis, and beef short ribs and beef ribs??

[Habanero Smoker]

If you are using the door thermometer, once you added your food it is no longer accurate. Purchase a digital probe thermometer, and place the probe on the bottom of the lowest rack away from and food drippings. Most purchase a remote thermometer such as the Maverick 733 or 732. But if you just want to monitor the cabinet temperature a single probe thermometer will monitor your cabinet temperature just fine.