First time use Details

[Pistol Pete]

Friday I picked up 2 racks of Smithfield Extra Meaty Pork Loin Back Ribs.  The weigh a little more than 3 pounds each and contain no "enhancers".  I applied a basic rub (sugar, salt, paprika, chili, onion and garlic powders, pepper) and kept them in the fridge overnight.  About 10 am Saturday I took them out of the fridge and started preparing the smoker.   Although the wind was slight, it was raining and about 62°F.  Luckily I have a 10x10 shelter and some tarps.  I preheated the 6 rack BDS at 11, thinking it would take an hour to heat to 225°F..  It actually took 35 minutes.....and there is no 225°F that I could find. Only numbers evenly divisible by 10 (that's 10 Canadian) The temp on the heater generator ran about the same as he Maverick temp when the smoker was empty. At 11:25 I turned on the smoke generator before loading the bisquettes into the hopper.  (I followed Bradley instructions during seasoning....they don't tell you that a bisquette loads when the generator is turned on...they tell you to press "wood" and then press it twice more.  Result: Unburned bisquette dumped in the water.  Ribs went on at 11:45
(counting from the top, shelf # 3 and 4
I used alternating Apple and Hickory bisquettes for 3 hours.  Maverick probe, which was at the same level as the ribs, ran 10-15°F cooler than the displayed oven temp. (I set the temp at 240°F but 217° was the highest the display ever read.   After 3 hours I spritzed the ribs with some apple juice, wrapped them in foil, and left them in the smoker for 2 more hours.  After those two hours I unwrapped one rack and mopped it with sauce for an additional hour, leaving it open.  So after a total of 6 hours I FTCd them for a couple hours waiting for Mrs Lucky to get home.

The ribs were flavorful and, while they came cleanly off the bone, they were not as moist and tender as I---correction--as Mrs Lucky would have liked.

I put a brisket on at Midnight and it is FTCing now...More after the unveiling

[ChicagoScott]

Thanks for the post. As I'm still new to this myself, the high level of detail helps. Question: When you alternated the apple and hickory, did the apple taste come through or did the hickory over power it?

[Pistol Pete]

The first thing I notice about my DBS is, it doesn't smell like it smells when my son or son-in-law are smoking.  My son-in-law uses a Weber and my son uses some fancy-dancy offset. Both use charcoal and wood logs.  When they are smoking I can tell you what kind of wood it is.

I have used my BDS a total of 3 times....I seasoned it with Hickory, I alternated apple and hickory for my pork ribs, and I used Pecan for my beef brisket.  Perhaps I have not yet learned to discern my palate to detect the nuances of the different flavored bisquettes.  To me, they all smell like smoke.  Keep in mind---I'm 70.  Lots of my parts ain't wore out, but with my lifestyle of at least the last 50 years, they are pretty much wore down.  I will eat ANYTHING.  There is no such thing as a 3 second rule.  My food groups are fat, sugar, salt.

Bottom line..my Son-in-law told me the smoke flavor was there, but not strong or overpowering.

I will keep your question in mind as I gain experience.  (See related post on brisket)

And finally, my doctor put me on the easiest diet in the world.  He said I could eat anything I want.  If it tastes good, spit it out

[Pistol Pete]

Are they lying to me?

It was my daughter, son-in-law, and son who decided to give me a 6 Rack DBS for my 5th Milestone birthday  (18, 21, 30, 50,....70)  Ms Lucky loves ribs, so they were the maiden voyage.  We know how that ended.  My daughter loves brisket so it only stood to reason beef would be my second prep.

I went to Sams, where I get my steaks, and asked the butcher for a good cut (there were none in the cases).  He came out with a trayful ranging from 6 to 8 lbs (that's 2.7 to 3.6 kg)  I told him I wanted the best one and asked him if he ever considered fathering any children  or if he ever saw a movie on how the war affected some people? . He gave me a beautiful, red, well-trimmed Angus flat.  Gave is not really the right word..$41US (22 twonnies, a loonie and a ha'pence Canadian).  I was concerned it was small (aren't we all?) but I was set.

I have a simple rub--sugar, paprika, salt, cayenne, chili powder, pepper, onion and garlic powder.  It hit the fridge around noon on Saturday.

For some reason, calculated by Oldtimers disease or alcohol (EtOH Canadian) I decided Midnight would be a good start time and Pecan would be the great flavor.  I'm an old pro now with getting the smoker ready...Hey, 3rd time.  I also decided that 5 hours would be the perfect amount of time to smoke. Having the benefit of 17 years of college  (? Canadian) I loaded 15 Pecan Bisquettes topped off by 3 Bubba Pucks, woefully aware that as sorry as the Bradley instructions are  (sorry is a word I hope will get by the censors) but in their defense (defence Canadian) they do say.....don't leave your baby alone, but if you do, make sure its not more than 3 hours.  This would come to haunt me.

I am feeling real cocky..I just smoked some ribs, now I am doing a brisket, the only thing I have to worry about is temperature.  At midnight here in Virginia there is no wind.  And my Maverick 732 has an alarm if it gets too hot or cool.  I can sleep till 5, and I do.  That's when I find out that bisquettte #9 doesn't load. Its stuck!!   What I thought was going to be a 5 hr smoke turned out to be 3 hrs and 20 minutes and a burning nasty puck at the end that never gets shoved into its watery death.  I am crushed.(I read that allowing a puck to fully burn would bring destruction to the would as we know it...20 minutes or....kaboom))   I have spent my life serving mankind!  And Joe Bradley does this to me?  I rip the brisket (which is 160°F internal  ..hmmm 71°C (Canadian?), wrap it in enough aluminum foil to change the price of Alcoa stock, and put it in my American made oven.  Actually that would be North American. With parts from China.  Assembled in Mexico.

My daughter's brisket is now safe.  It stays in the oven until 9 AM and an internal of 195°F.
 
FTC

Four (4 Canadian) hours later. She said she loves it.  Tender, juicy, flavorful.  She would say so even if it wasn't.  My son-in-law said it was great.  He's in fear of his life.  I think it was decent. I'll add some apple juice next time I wrap it.  I'll take the internal to 200°F .  I'll do better next time.  Bisquette  #9 (Nine Canadian) will not defeat me!

[KyNola]

Congratulations on what sounds like a successful brisket with just a hiccup or two along the way.  Just two observations and one question.  1. You might check to see that your bisquette feeder tube is properly seated and 2. with a brisket at a 200 degree internal temperature you are approaching pulled brisket.  Pulled brisket is quite tasty but if you are looking for slices I would be inclined to go no higher than 195 internal temperature but that is only my opinion.  Others more knowledgeable will come along with better information so listen to them.

What temp were you cooking at, both in your Bradley and your house oven?

[Pistol Pete]

Thanks for the advise.  I was cooking at 225°F in my oven and shooting for 225°F in the Bradley.  I was consistently low in the Bradley.  My son-in-law smokes at 250°F.  Whichever, I need to pay more attention to the temp during the smoke as I know I was consistently low

I am fairly certain the feeding tube was correctly positioned and it did work properly during seasoning (5 Hickory bisquettes), and ribs (5 Apple, 4 Hickory, and 3 Bubbas).  It also worked during the first 8 Pecan bisquettes..  My assessment is:  In all the boxes of Bradley bisquettes there is, IMHO, a significant amount of chips that have fallen off the bisquettes during processing or shipping.  I think some of that matter was between B-8 and B-9 and when the pushrod went to load B-9, the right side of it was raised enough so it jammed. When I was done smoking I pulled out the feeder tube and blew out the pathway.  Presently it is properly installed.

I am more concerned about the lack of smoke flavor.  While the brisket was "cheated" out of 1 hour and 40 minutes, the ribs got 3 hours of smoke.  During those 3 hours there was a lot of smoke.  The damper was open a little more than halfway (I'd say 5/8).

[Habanero Smoker]

Your assessment of how the bisquettes got jammed is most likely what happened. That same situation has happened to me in the past, in which I quickly loaded the bisquettes, and one was not laying flat. That is the one that would not feed through, and jammed.

As for the difference in smoke flavor and smell between a charcoal burner and the Bradley; charcoal provides it's own distinct smell and flavor in addition to the smoke, plus the wood smoking in the charcoal burner is exposed to much higher temperatures; which will also have an effect on smell and taste of the smoke that is produced. I'm sure over time you will be able to differentiate and detect the smoke flavor of the Bradley much more easily, and appreciate the difference in taste. I use both the Bradley and charcoal burners. For barbequed meats I will generally go to one of my charcoal burners, but when it comes to pulled pork I will only used the Bradley. I prefer the smoke flavor the Bradley produces over my charcoal burners.

[Pistol Pete]

Thanks for the advise Habs. My DBS produced a lot of white smoke, you would think I was Electing a new Pope.  I do know it produced a brisket my daughter said she loved  (She also went to Va Tech, graduated in 4 years, and never once went to a beer party..I know, I asked her if she did and she said no).  To me, it was tasty, but I can do better next time.

I did notice that  a considerable amount of detritus accumulated on the right side of the heating element and heat reflector.  I don't know if the V-drip pan needs some adjustment  (WD-40, Duct Tape, or a Hammer)  My guess would be hammer.   Speaking of V-drip pan, my guess is also it was originally designed to be some sort of Medieval Torture Devise.  When the instructions say don't get within 50 feet of it ( 3 days Canadian)  Believe it!

Signed in Blood,
Pete

[KyNola]

What sort of detritus(debris) Pete?  If it is something such as cooked or solidified grease then I would suspect that either your ribs or brisket was touching the back wall and ran liquid fat down the wall on to the element and shield.  That is a dangerous situation and can produce a grease fire within the tower.

[Pistol Pete]

If I was smart enough I would be able to insert an image of the walls.  But I am not so..there are no drips on the walls from the level of the meat in either smoke. If you said the rib racks could have touched the walls, I would believe you.  They were big.  But I have drips on the walls don't start till where the drip tray sits.  I suspect this to be condensation from the water pan

The substance appeared to be grease, which I wiped up.  Now its just dirty, but its all part of a lesson learned.  Smithfield says their backribs are 1 1/2 lbs  (0.7kg)...these bad boys were 3 plus pounds (bigarse ribs Canadian). I believe size was also the reason they didn't turn out better. I have a couple more big racks.  Next time I will lop off a few bones on the big end to  keep them away from the wall.  I'll grill up the lopped parts like I do country ribs.

The grease was the thickest in the heat reflector about  2 inches from the wall.  As you know, the reflector is on a downward angle toward the wall therefore the grease could not have dripped from the wall out and had to drip from the chamber toward the wall.  After reviewing the scene I have one heat/smoke vent that I suspect.  I could recreate the scene and risk a fire, or beat it with a hammer. In the name of safety....its Hammertime   (Can't touch this?)

I've read a lot of your posts and they have been very helpful.  Thanks for taking the time to share what you have learned.

Pete

[manfromplaid]

got the tray upside down   the v should go down

[tailfeathers]

got the tray upside down   the v should go down

that would be my thought as well. The tray should rest on the front and rear pins in the sides of the cabinet and be below the higher pins in the center. For the life of me I don't know why the higher center set of pins are even there, other than to get in the way when installing the "v" tray.


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[Pistol Pete]

It was installed properly. If they wanted you to install it pointy side up, they would call it a Caret ^ Tray.  Pointy side down is a V.

The greatest accumulation occurred directly below the punch out on the right side of the V drain, closest to the wall.  It would seem to me that only smoke and water should rise from the vent and dripping grease would fall only through the hole in the bottom center.  At least that's how is should work, in theory.  In reality I had to clean off burnt on grease from many of the vents. I'll benevolently call it a "design flaw".   Lots of cuts on my fingers is the price I paid. 

As far as determining the functionality of those middle pins?   I would be real interested in learning why also.  Meanwhile we should make something up.

[KyNola]

The substance appeared to be grease and you have drips on the back wall that begin where the drip tray sits.  Is your Bradley sitting level?  Sounds like perhaps it is leaning backward and grease that is dripping on the V tray is running backward and down the wall.  If it appeared to be grease you need to figure out what the problem is before you have a grease fire.

Thank you for your kind words.

[Habanero Smoker]

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