Hi all, I did my first smoke tonight on my brand new Bradley digital. I did beef and elk ribs for about 4 hours at 220 deg. I noticed that my Bradley runs about 30 degrees hotter than the digital thermometer, but that's no big deal I can just monitor it with a probe thermometer dropped in the top.
One thing I didn't like though, the temperature on my probes (I used two to make sure I wasn't going crazy) kept fluctuating from 190 degrees to 240 degrees. Is this a common problem? It was pretty windy today in Denver, but my deck is somewhat sheltered. Could it have been just the wind? Have others noticed this problem with Bradleys?
And then a general question on doing ribs. Like I said I smoked for 4 hours, but I don't think it was long enough as they were a bit chewy. Please give me some recommendations for rib smoking, clearly I need to go longer but I'm unsure at what point to stop the smoke and just keep the oven on. I don't want too much smoke flavor. What do you think, smoke about 4 hours and then shut off the smoke for another 2-3 hours? How long can I cook before they start to dry out?
One thing I didn't like though, the temperature on my probes (I used two to make sure I wasn't going crazy) kept fluctuating from 190 degrees to 240 degrees. Is this a common problem? It was pretty windy today in Denver, but my deck is somewhat sheltered. Could it have been just the wind? Have others noticed this problem with Bradleys?
And then a general question on doing ribs. Like I said I smoked for 4 hours, but I don't think it was long enough as they were a bit chewy. Please give me some recommendations for rib smoking, clearly I need to go longer but I'm unsure at what point to stop the smoke and just keep the oven on. I don't want too much smoke flavor. What do you think, smoke about 4 hours and then shut off the smoke for another 2-3 hours? How long can I cook before they start to dry out?