Temperature Concern

[Cruzino]

Hi Again.

I was just wondering if others have the same heating problems I have with my original Bradley? 

Normally, when I hot smoke and I crank up the temperature, I can only get up to around 220 degrees F.  Today, when I filled the whole box with cold, fresh tuna filets, I couldn't get above around 140 degrees until about 3 hours into a 4 hour smoking.  At the 3rd hour, the temperature only got up to around 160. 

I assume that the temperature had a hard time climbing because there was a lot of cool meat inside which reduced the interior temperature.  But I am concerned that it took so long to get hot today and when I'm cooking just 1 or 2 pieces of beef or chicken, in order to get it to around the 200 degree mark I have to slide the temperature slider all the way to the right.  Is this normal? 

Also, should the heating element ever be cleaned and, if so, how? 

Thanks!

[Habanero Smoker]

It's also has to due with the amount or mass that you attempt to smoke at once. The more mass the longer it will take for the cabinet to get up to the set temperature. With the food load you had, it is normal to take a while to come up to temp (I'm not sure if 4 hours is normal) with the temperature adjusted all the way to the right.

When you are doing larger load, things that help are preheating the smoker prior to placing the food in it, I will preheat 25°F to 50°F higher then I will cook at. I find I loose 25% to 35% of my heat during loading and due to the mass. Leaving the food out at room temperature for an hour before placing it in the cabinet helps. Also many of us place a brick in the cabinet that help the BS retain heat and recover faster after it has been loaded or if the door has been opened to check on the progress. Do a search for "brick" to see what others have done.

What are you using to monitor the cabinet temperature. Do you have a temperature probe, or are you using the door thermometer. I find that the door thermometer is not accurate in displaying the correct cabinet temperature.

I only cleaned my heating element once, and that was because I forgot to place the V pan during a smoking session, but I haven't cleaned it since.

[TomG]

Cruz, It sounds as if all your heat is coming from the generator's heat plate and little if any from the heating element. Make sure it's working.  If it isn't, check outlet plugs, extension cord(groan),temp cutoff, etc, then run the problem past Bradley Tech.  Please get back to the Forum on what the problem was and how you corrected it.

Good luck :)