A Crisis Weekend

[BigRed]

Fellow Smokers!

As I wrote last week I planned on smoking both a 15lb brisket and a 7 lb Pork Butt together( great price at Costco $1.38 a pound)Did the over night rub etc. Started the BS up to preheat and then the temp. control system went out all together, red light would not go on!. This is the second board I put in this BS. What to do? I put the old control system back in and the light went on but temp. never got above 180 degrees. Wife suggested four hours of smoke plus what ever 180 degrees will offer then the oven. After 4 hours of hickory smoke, pulled the meat and put in oven at 220 degress for 12 more hours. Took meat our wrapped in plastic wrap, then foil, then towels and into the cooler. 6 hours later at the party the meat was still too hot to handle,cut or pull! It worked and the party was saved. BRADLEY WILL GET A PIECE OF MY MIND THIS MORNING. This will be the 5th issue with Bradley since I got the smoker. What a way to get new bisquettes!!

BigRED

[SmokeRules]

Hi Red,

Have you been repairing the same unit that you had problems with originally or is this a new one?

Do you use an extension cord or plug-in directly? Any chance you are plugging it into an overloaded circuit? Is that outlet on a GFI? Are you tripping it? Try using a plug on a different circuit.  

I got my BS at "The Firehouse" in Allen on the West side of McDermott (972-727-0818). They are very knowledgeable there. You might want to give them a call.

[Oldman]

Bummber on the smoker. I know that you must be fustrated. I sure know if I had a number of problems right out the gate with a new smoker I would be fustrated.

If there is a bright side to this it is at least Bradley will step up to the pump and make it right by you.

Again real sorry to hear about this. Please keep us updated.

Thanks~~!
Olds

[Chez Bubba]

BigRed,

First of all, the Bradley does not have the heating capacity like an oven & it's not designed to. It's supposed to be low & slow. The heating element will take a long time to bring the chamber temp up when you toss in 22 lbs. of cold meat.

You said it took another 12 hours in the oven, my opinion is you should have given the Bradley a chance to catch up if you were willing to allot that amount of time.

Secondly, are you determining your temps by the in-door thermometer, or do you have a dual probe? IMO, the achille's heel on the BS is the in-door thermometer & that may be your real problem. You said you installed the original temp control board & it worked. Why did you replace it in the first place?

Re-reading this, it kinda sounds like a lecture & it is certainly not meant as such. Just a couple of questions & tips that hopefully will make you fall in love with the BS like most of us have.[]

Kirk

http://www.chezbubba.com
Ya think next time I check into a hotel & they ask "Smoking or Non?" they would mind?

[BigRed]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Chez Bubba</i>
<br />BigRed,

First of all, the Bradley does not have the heating capacity like an oven & it's not designed to. It's supposed to be low & slow. The heating element will take a long time to bring the chamber temp up when you toss in 22 lbs. of cold meat.

You said it took another 12 hours in the oven, my opinion is you should have given the Bradley a chance to catch up if you were willing to allot that amount of time.

Secondly, are you determining your temps by the in-door thermometer, or do you have a dual probe? IMO, the achille's heel on the BS is the in-door thermometer & that may be your real problem. You said you installed the original temp control board & it worked. Why did you replace it in the first place?

Re-reading this, it kinda sounds like a lecture & it is certainly not meant as such. Just a couple of questions & tips that hopefully will make you fall in love with the BS like most of us have.[]

Kirk

http://www.chezbubba.com
Ya think next time I check into a hotel & they ask "Smoking or Non?" they would mind?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Kirk!

First, thanks for your concern. I do love the BS but it seems this one has the curse of death on it. When the first control board stopped working altogether I was just trying to pre-heat the BS. When I replaced it wtih the old board and tried to pre-heat again it got to only 180 degrees after 2 hrs. Only put the meat in after that for the smoking effect. I use a dual probe Maverick thermometer to measure temp.both in the chamber and in what ever meat I am cooking. It works great.  Talked to Bradley yesterday and they are sending me out a new temp. control board. Again, thanks for your suggestions and helping the Bradley universe.

BigRED