Electrics off to a slow start?

[bigjelly]

So I got this Bradley electric last week. I love it, but it takes about 40-60 minutes to get up above 200. Anybody else having this problem? I don't mind getting up earlier to preheat, but I don't want to waste brickettes.

I think that how my wing flats ended up a bit rubbery.

 

[s2k9k]

I smoke my wings up around 300*, don't know if that Bradley will go that high but another option (I sometimes do) is when they are almost done throw them on a gas grill to finish them off, it gets the skin crispy! Sorry i can't help with the electric, I use propane.

 

[s2k9k]

Hi BigJelly! i just wanted to let you know I moved this thread to "Electric Smokers" so you will get more exposure to the topic at hand. It should help you get more responses to your question.

 

[smokinhusker]

I have MES 40 but it doesn't use the briquettes, I use pellets or chips. I pre heat without adding any to mine. I'm sure there are some here that use the Bradley and will offer more help.

 

[deltadude]

Big Jelly, from what I can tell all the Bradley models have only a 500 watt cooking element.  In this electric forum most would consider that way under powered.  However if you do a heat calc that wattage is enough to raise the temp to 300 deg in an hour, but that doesn't take into account any meat.  My MES 40 is one of the older (6 years old) with only a 800 watt element the newer models use a 1200 watt.  I found that preheating was necessary to prevent long set temp recovery when the door was opened, and made for a more stable cooking platform during the initial stages of smoking because all the metal is thoroughly heated, so I preheat.

You are right someone has to get up to turn on the smoker to preheat.  For long smokes you might try preheating your smoker then before you go to bed adding meat and set it then go to bed.

 

[bigjelly]

Thanks for the advice! I think I'll have to preheat without meat until it hits 225 then let it rock.

 

[scarbelly]

My SmokinTex takes a good hour to come to temp and stabilize before I put the meat in. Not sure how long the Bradley will take but you really need to get to temp and let it even out with no meat in it