Holy S#!T - MAJOR Calamity.

[jeninifer]

I obviously didn't knock on the proverbial wood yesterday after making my first post about my success with my OBS.

I mean, heck, I only used it twice.  I thought I was on a pretty good click.

So, as you recall - I was pulling an overnighter.  Note my use of the past tense.

About 7:00 or 7:30 - I loaded up my smoker and moved to Beverly.  (Hills, that is.  Swimmin' Pools and Movie Stars.)

Philip and I watched Hostel II (Scary!) and I checked in on things after that.  Everything looked okay, but I did notice a little smoke coming out between the smoke generator and the bisquette tower.  I didn't think anything of it because it was far cooler outside tonight than it had been during my previous smokes.  I thought maybe I was just seeing a little breathe.

I went back out at 11:00 or so,  gave my butts a fine misting of apple-y goodness and dealt with burnt pucks.  I was smoking at about 225. 

I decided to get a couple of hours of sleep before my next shift, so I curled up on the living room floor.  Woke up at 1:15 to check things out and as I approached the door I could tell something was odd.  No smoke.

I opened the door to find a cold smoker.  Barely 100 Degrees.  No power either and the concrete was wet at the back of the smoker.  It didn't seem to be ashy wet, but rather like my drip tray took a dump down the back of the smoker.  There was lots of red streaks from the paprika in my butt rub.

It never EVER left any sort of marks on the concrete. 

The only thing that I did different was that previously I used the smoker on the back patio w/ a short GFI extension cord plugged into my back porch.  This time, due to rain - I moved it to the front porch where it plugged directly into an outdoor outlet.  It did have to share the outlet with a small desk fan.  That was my husband's idea - he plugged the fan in to blow any potential smoke away from the house.  (He's a little nuts and uber sensitive to smells.)  The fan was small and not blowing on the smoker.

Back to the weirdness.  The fan was shut off, too, and I couldn't find where I'd tripped a breaker!

Granted, by this time it was nearly 2:00 a.m. and I'd tried everything I could think of to get it to work.  I was outside in the cold, in my jammies and pissed off.

It's going to have to be in Philip's hands now, but I need to know what may have happened!  At this point, I know more about the smoker than he does because he was out of town the previous times I used it.

Sucks. Sucks. Sucks. Sucks.

My butts are now in the oven - drying out and no doubt turning into shoe leather.

Help me...

[Duster]

Well Jen I'm not there and you said you checked the breakers but this sounds to  me like you have tripped the GFI outlet. There should be an outlet on the same circuit that you were plugged into with a test and reset bottom on it try pressing the reset bottom and then plug something into the outlet to see if you have power there.
Also you mentioned a little smoke coming out around the smoke generator. This is not normal or good! Make sure your top vent is open at least 1/2 way. You want the smoke to rise, slightly kiss the meat with flavor and then exit the tower. If smoke sets in the tower without flowing out it can form creosote on the meat witch can ruin the smoke flavor along forming creosote inside your generator witch can ruin that.
Hope this helps.

[jeninifer]

There was no breaker tripped.

I think I fried the wall outlet.

Eek.

[Mr Walleye]

Did you try plugging something else into the outlet?

I don't know about your area but here in Canada our GFI plugs have the reset button right on the plug. I would try to confirm the smoker is funtioning correctly by plugging it into another outlet if in fact the outlet you were using isn't working.

Mike

[KyNola]

Jennifer,
You can probably salvage the butts.  Sounds like you got 4 hours or so of smoke on them so that's good.  Set your oven at 225 degrees and continue cooking them as though they were still in the Bradley.  If you're concerned about them drying out, put them in a dish with about a half inch of apple juice in it.  They should be fine.

As for your mishap, I'm mystified as to why the concrete was wet behind the smoker.  Any chance someone coud have knocked over your smoker and set it back up?  If you figure out what went awry, please let us all know.  In the meantime, relax, you've got butts in the oven! ;)

KyNola

[jeninifer]

Yea, I put them in the oven right away.

Two of them are finished.  I'm just waiting for 4 more degrees on #3. 

It appears that I had a major puck advance malfunction.  Talk about a mess.  I don't know what I'm going to be up against here when I plug this puppy back in.

I can't say that someone didn't mess with it, but I doubt it.  I do live in a really nice neighborhood, but that said - I know there are some unsavory characters just a few blocks away.  Let alone some of the meth-riddled teenager down the street.  I seriously doubt anyone bothered it though, but maybe that's just because I wouldn't go bother anyone's things.

Who knows.

We'll see.  If it's FUBAR'd I'll readily buy another one.  That said, if I only get to use the second one twice I might have to hang up my apron. 

[owrstrich]

jenin...

i low and slow arses at 200 deg... i know some folks go 225... but i cant recommend smoking anything (except for hot and fast prime ribb) at or above the boiling point... this is in attempt to keep the natural moisture within the beast... so 210 is top heat for me...

you saw smoke coming out between the smokegen and the puck chute... smoke takes the path of least resistance... closing the top vent can cause this... i always have it cracked 1/4 to 1/3 open... except for birds... then its all the way open...

the vent also allows moisture to escape... moisture can cause electrical shorts because its like its raining in there for the duration of the cook and that moisture has to go somewhere... usually on the circuit board...

im thinking you blew the breaker for that outlet because the fan was off... the fan may have caused this... a household fan in a humid environment may have caused the breaker to trip...

arses are the most forgiving piece of beast you can smoke... they will take about anything except under cooking... got to wait out the plateau and wait for your desired internal temperature...

im thinking you are gonna have a big smile on you face when them arses fall apart when you take them out of the oven...

thats whats fun about smoking... trial and error... overcoming adversity... its happened to all of us...

figure out why the power was off and let us know...

crazy aint it...


owrstrich


note... its good to someone from indiana here... those canadians and iowans gotts us outnumbered...

[dick621]

Jeninifer,  welcome to the forum.  If you have no power to the porch outlet , I would check for a tripped gfci receptacle.  I have found gfci receptacles in bathrooms, garages and many other places that feed power to outside outlets.  check all over the house as some people use a lot of creative wiring.  Let us know what you find.

[Wildcat]

Jeninifer,  welcome to the forum.  If you have no power to the porch outlet , I would check for a tripped gfci receptacle.  I have found gfci receptacles in bathrooms, garages and many other places that feed power to outside outlets.  check all over the house as some people use a lot of creative wiring.  Let us know what you find.

Took the words right out of my mouth.  My outside plugs are on GFI circuits.  The front porch GFI is fed by a GFI plug in the garage.  The back porch GFI plug is fed by a GFI clug in the Masterbedroom (behind the heaviest piece of furnature of course).

[Duster]

note... its good to someone from indiana here... those canadians and iowans gotts us outnumbered...

Ain't that the truth...Where you from Orwstrich?

ya Know I cant think of better guys to be surrounded by though can you?

[LilSmoker]

Hi and welcome jeninifer, sorry to hear of your mishap, very strange indeed.

Just wanted to ask, when you opened the door of the smoker, was the water bowl empty?, and did the meat look disturbed as if the cabinet had actually been tipped over?

Or maybe an animal of some sort banged into the BS, spilling the water bowl, and in turn caused a short which tripped the power?  ???

Just thinking out loud here, i get quite a few foxes, badgers etc in my garden at night, these animals are more than capable of disturbing a couple of innocent butts!  :o

Just a thought anyway.

Hope you get sorted with the BS asap  ;)

LilSmoker

[Ontrack]

Hey, I built my house 2 years ago, and I can barely find the right light switches now. But the GFCI outlets may take a few more years. Sorry about your problem Jen, hopefully you'll resolve it soon with help from the experts.

[La Quinta]

Usually, if you live in the US...you're main GFI will be in the garage...that's the one that should run most everything except the master bath. I should qualify that...if your home is fairly new. If not, (thankfully) they are all over the home. But, most often, in the garage. Always behind a whole bunch of stuff!!! In our case...a very large fridge!!!

[jeninifer]

This is all great info!  I'll have to check them out - I know we have a few of those GFI receptacles around here.  Our home was built in 2002.  We moved here in 2004 and, to this day, EVERY TIME I try to turn on the garbage disposal - I turn on the bar lights.

The butts were enjoyed tonight at our yearly Soup Day cook out.  They were WONDERFUL and everyone was amazing that I turned out some pulled pork that was better than restaurant quality.

You guys are the best...

... and Go Hoosiers!

[West Coast Kansan]

J, I think O has a good suggestion on making sure the vent is open good.  I think it was closed and the moisture build up was pretty high (especially if you have rub running out of the smoker). It will be interesting to hear what the loss of power turns out to be.  Smoke coming out by the generator is a key indicator to open the vent. The smoke / moisture etc in the generator is a bad thing. 

The OBS is pretty sensitive to liquid build up inside the tower. Especially if it can escape out the door.  The circuit board for the device is prone to being wetted down by this liquid and will stop working. 

Hopefully your smoker will work in another outlet.

Discussion on possible breaker or GFCI is good pointers.

Let us know how this turns out... ???