No mesquite smoked steak for Fathers Day

[wwbirds]

I did my part! marinade since Friday (had another batch of thick kassler ready for later with the rest of the hickory pucks)

Having problems with the Bradley. Kicks all the pucks in the water tray and beeps and flashes an "E" on the smoke side.

Manual doesn't cover it so called toll free number in my manual and not in service. Went on line and they suggest checking gray switch inside to ensure connected and armature is moving. Check and my son adjusted it and all was well for 1/2 hour and then beeping started again. Removed water tray and will manually feed pucks if this continues.

Great day for the switch to act up!! Looks like I will have to finish them on BBQ

[omega50]

Originally Posted by wwbirds

I did my part! marinade since Friday (had another batch of thick kassler ready for later with the rest of the hickory pucks)

Having problems with the Bradley. Kicks all the pucks in the water tray and beeps and flashes an "E" on the smoke side.

Manual doesn't cover it so called toll free number in my manual and not in service. Went on line and they suggest checking gray switch inside to ensure connected and armature is moving. Check and my son adjusted it and all was well for 1/2 hour and then beeping started again. Removed water tray and will manually feed pucks if this continues.

Great day for the switch to act up!! Looks like I will have to finish them on BBQ

Yes - same damn issue as mine-
Essentially you need to adjust the armature to make better switch contact.
I will try to find the fix document from the Bradley forum

Nothing like a water bowl floating new pucks.
POS Bradley

Found it-Hope it helps- need to scroll down the page a bit to puck advance section. There is also a link at the bottom of the bisquette feed section that answers what the E error code means.

http://www.susanminor.org/forums/sho...&p=988#post988

[unclebuck]

Use compressed air to blow the wood chips out the smoker unit from both the top and the bottom. Happened to me, and after blowing it out, where you could see the pieces flying, it worked like a dam. I do that as part of a regular maintenance thing.

[wwbirds]

We finished the steaks on the BBQ and they were terrible. I hate 1 inch steaks unless they are medium rare and I over did these to medium. Could detect a bit of mesquite from the one or so hour of messing with the smoker.
Looked on the Bradley site this afternoon and followed their instructions regarding the switch and armature. think we have had the unit apart at least 6 times today and while it seems to work when testing when we put it to the test it failed as soon as the next puck was cued up. Looking at the link from OMega we tore it down again and tried moving the motor or switch but with no slotting in the screw area it is really not prone to easily adjusting. When we physically move the armature it seemed to be making good contact but to be safe we put a little extra pressure on the motor mounts and although only 12 minutes into a cycle it may have worked. No beeping so far.

All was not lost as a dog client coming for their weekly family routine training session with their pup brought us an Edelweis traditional German baked cheese cake. Made the perfect end to frustrating day.

If no beeping tonight I guess the 1 inch thick kassler will have to wait until tomorrow. Thanks for all the tips, fingers crossed.

[AppleJax]

Is this a problem on the digital smokers? Or all of them?

[omega50]

Originally Posted by AppleJax

Is this a problem on the digital smokers? Or all of them?

I think when it happens on the non digital smokers it is more often linked to the switch sticking on the face plate.


In any event you never know when it will act up so I have alot less confidence in the machine. Because of my neighbors most of my smoking is done at night and fiddling with it in the dark is a pain.

[AppleJax]

Originally Posted by omega50

I think when it happens on the non digital smokers it is more often linked to the switch sticking on the face plate.


In any event you never know when it will act up so I have alot less confidence in the machine. Because of my neighbors most of my smoking is done at night and fiddling with it in the dark is a pain.

I hope I don't get this issue one day. I have to ask, is there a smoke bylaw where you live or do they just complain to you and you keep it on the low to be a good neighbor? My neighbors love when I have the smoker going! I also don't have much confidence in my bradley I have had several temperature issues with it. I wish I kept my old propane smoker. I am in the process of making an oil drum smoker/BBQ out of a 55 gallon drum...

[omega50]

Originally Posted by wwbirds

We finished the steaks on the BBQ and they were terrible. I hate 1 inch steaks unless they are medium rare and I over did these to medium. Could detect a bit of mesquite from the one or so hour of messing with the smoker.
Looked on the Bradley site this afternoon and followed their instructions regarding the switch and armature. think we have had the unit apart at least 6 times today and while it seems to work when testing when we put it to the test it failed as soon as the next puck was cued up. Looking at the link from OMega we tore it down again and tried moving the motor or switch but with no slotting in the screw area it is really not prone to easily adjusting. When we physically move the armature it seemed to be making good contact but to be safe we put a little extra pressure on the motor mounts and although only 12 minutes into a cycle it may have worked. No beeping so far.

All was not lost as a dog client coming for their weekly family routine training session with their pup brought us an Edelweis traditional German baked cheese cake. Made the perfect end to frustrating day.

If no beeping tonight I guess the 1 inch thick kassler will have to wait until tomorrow. Thanks for all the tips, fingers crossed.

I will have to take a look at mine again because I can't remember. If there is limited adjustment what about putting an adhesive contact patch moleskin on the armature to force better depression of the switch?

[omega50]

Originally Posted by AppleJax

I hope I don't get this issue one day. I have to ask, is there a smoke bylaw where you live or do they just complain to you and you keep it on the low to be a good neighbor? My neighbors love when I have the smoker going! I also don't have much confidence in my bradley I have had several temperature issues with it. I wish I kept my old propane smoker. I am in the process of making an oil drum smoker/BBQ out of a 55 gallon drum...

No smoke bylaw- but part of an association where some dickwad burned leaves for 3 days during the city burn ban and scorched his neighbors fence, now regardless of source- a wisp of smoke is a call to arms

Just trying not to become embroiled in the madness

[wwbirds]

Omega, I couldn't see any slotting or such that made it look like adjustment was planned. We pushed the motor mount as close to switch as we could holding it with pressure while my son tightened the mounting screws.

In over 4.5 years. Shut it down after 2 cycles and no beeping so Kassler is scheduled for tomorrow. My wifes family is from Berlin so apparently my first attempt at Kassler 3 weeks ago was too thin at 3/8 of an inch as it seemed quite dry. One inch slabs of seasoned loin tomorrow with hickory smoke.

My wife is starting to complain that I want to smoke everything.
Fell on deaf ears today as complained to a visiting neighbor who just said "my husband too"
Sounds like a "smoke off" is in the works for I had no idea he had or used a smoker.

[Au revoir, Gopher]

Originally Posted by wwbirds

My wife is starting to complain that I want to smoke everything.

Is that a complaint or a challenge?

ARG

[wwbirds]

My mother was French and put spices into everything while my wifes german father claimed to be allergic to pepper and spices so they ate very bland meals by comparison to what I like. hey my son and I buy the big double bottles of Franks hot sauce at Costco and still add some black and cayenne pepper to most meat dishes (spaghetti).

Sean has a small are of the greenhouse this year where he is growing his own hot peppers.
She just shakes her head when we get into the spices or smoked meats and believes I put pepper on ice cream.

[Au revoir, Gopher]

Originally Posted by wwbirds

She just shakes her head when we get into the spices or smoked meats and believes I put pepper on ice cream.

To derail farther... Costco has a "Roasted Pineapple & Habanero Sauce"... it is FRICKIN delicious on vanilla ice cream!

ARG

[Big Bull]

I used to buy whole Kassler porkloins from Valbella in Canmore and then cut into one inch thick chops, vacuum seal, and then freeze them. I would get 20 to 23 chops/loin. They were basically cooked from the brine and smoking, so all I had to do was thaw them and mark them on the bbq. Have you tried brining and smoking the whole loin?