Help! Everything is burnt

rgokey · June 09, 2007, 04:24:23 PM

Just got the Bradley after looking at it for quite a while. Picked up some ribs, got them all prepped and threw them in and after just 3 hours they are scorched. Here is what I did:

- conditioned the unit for about an hour - hour and a half as per instructions (about 110 degrees) . Had 12 briquettes loaded, watr bowl was half full.

- warmed it up to about 225

- put in 3 racks of ribs, temperature leveled out after a bit to 220 as per front gauge

- checked them at 3 hours to spray with apple juice and all the water had evaporated, pucks piled up. Smoke had burnt smell, ribs were charred with the bone ends burnt looking. Juices were burnt on on drip tray.

They're still cooking at this point with an emptied bowk refilled with water, but they are looking ruined...not a good start.

Anything obvious I am doing wrong?

Thanks for any help.

Habanero Smoker · June 09, 2007, 04:35:36 PM

If you had a full bowl of water; the water evaporating in 3 hours does concern me. Hang in there. From what you have described it doesn't appear that they could be burnt. If this is your first time doing ribs, they may look burnt. Ribs will take on a very dark color. And depending on the rub and the type of smoke you use, it will almost look black.

Wildcat · June 09, 2007, 04:38:03 PM

Welcome to the forum.

Now this is kind of weird. The burnt smell could be caused by the spent pucks not being extinguished. Do not understand how the water could be gone unless your gauge is way off and you were actually smoking at a very high temp. My gauge (original BS) is about 15 to 20 degrees cooler than the actual box temp. Maverick ET-73 can resolve this issue. You should be rotating racks front to back and top to bottom for even smoking/cooking. The heating element is in the back at the bottom so temps will vary throughout the unit. Sometimes people will mistake the bark as burnt food.

Do you have the digital or original smoker? Did you dry rub and/or mop?

rgokey · June 09, 2007, 04:42:21 PM

Thanks for the quick responses...

I dry rubbed...haven't gotten to the mop yet as they have only been in for 4 hours now.

It's th eoriginal BS.

I'm used to doing ribs on the grill, with some smoke generated by some wood chips in a smoke box on the burner...not used to the ribs looking nearly this dark.

I guess we'll just hang on for a bit and see how they turn out...

Wildcat · June 09, 2007, 04:46:24 PM

They will probably be just fine. Takes some getting use to the bark look. I used to smoke with a side firebox unit. The bark really adds the flovor.

Arcs_n_Sparks · June 09, 2007, 06:44:10 PM

rgokey,

Welcome. I would not trust the front gauge unless you have used a second thermometer to check. Could be running pretty hot. I've never had the water go away on me like that...

Arcs_n_Sparks

owrstrich · June 09, 2007, 09:05:42 PM

rgo...

if you are smoking at high altitude... lets say 14,410 feet like at the top of ranier... it is possible for the water in the basin to evaporate very quickly...

also... if you are smoking at low altitude... lets say -232 feet like at the bottom of death valley... it is possible for the water in the basin to evaporate very quickly...

fyi... because... you gotta eat...

owrstrich

rgokey · June 10, 2007, 10:05:38 AM

So here is what ended up happening...

I replaced the water with a new full bowl and kept going...ribs ended up with a slight burnt flavour and a little dry but not as totally destroyed as I feared. I also threw in some chicken at about the half way mark of the rib cooking time -it turned out great. Ribs were in smoker for a total of 6 hours and in foil for the last half hour of that. (3 racks each a couple pounds). Recipe I was working from said 5-7 hours (Ron Sewchuck's BBQ Secrets...great book.) Took them out and let them stand in the foil and wrapped in a towel for half an hour.

I started out with a half full bowl of water (at the beginning of cooking time). Second bowl did not evaporate.

I'm at sea level...it was a cool day, rainy.

I'll have to pick up another thermometer...

Again, thanks for the help.

Wildcat · June 10, 2007, 12:40:05 PM

All things considered - a good ending.

West Coast Kansan · June 10, 2007, 12:54:51 PM

Thermo for the tower is the right step. The BS thermo is widely reported to be off. All machine temp readings are subject to a gob of variation ... so a probe about a 1/2 inch below the meat would be good indicator.

Habanero Smoker · June 10, 2007, 01:50:04 PM

Any smoked produce you can eat and enjoy is a success.

With a half bowl of water, the spent pucks act like wicks and will evaporate the water in a hurry. The burnt smell was probably one or more of the spent bisquettes leaning against the heating plate. A spent puck on top of the plate for a long period of time, will produce a burnt smell. As other's suggested, it would be a good idea to purchase a digital temperature probe. The ET-73 is a favorite.

West Coast Kansan · June 10, 2007, 02:46:21 PM

HabS what happened to the July 4th type avatar. I was looking forward to that one for a couple of weeks :D ;D

Habanero Smoker · June 11, 2007, 02:31:50 AM

Quote from: West Coast Kansan on June 10, 2007, 02:46:21 PM
HabS what happened to the July 4th type avatar. I was looking forward to that one for a couple of weeks :D ;D

It will be displayed in a couple of weeks. I only use that one for the 4th, and use the flag style avatar for most other holidays. This year I decided to display the flag avatar not only for Memorial Day but through June 6th which is D-Day.

West Coast Kansan · June 12, 2007, 06:27:58 PM

8) I have learned to use your smoker for marking the holidays and seasons. SoCal climate is pretty boring. At my time in life you can only get just so excited about watching the weather and hearing about wave height and intervals ....

A well dressed smoker is something to look forward too... :D :D :D

bunnydude · June 12, 2007, 08:15:02 PM

I have some thing that might help. When I got my OBS i took two thermos and placed them on different levels in the smoker and the turned it on and set my slide control at 1/3 to the right and left the smoke generator on and and the vent 1/2 open then waited 30 minutes and took a reading both inside and out and made a comparison. I marked down the temp on a note pad and then put a colored mark above the slide control.

I did this two more times and now all I have too do is set it and forget it almost, I like to check it about once an hour and so far it has been right on.

My front thermo is pertty much right on 2 to 5 degrees off at most.

I hope this bit of info helps.