My Amerique takes an hour and 15 minutes to reach my 250 degree cook temperature. Is this normal?
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I have never bothered to check. I get smoke in a minute or two and walk away for an hour or so. Keep in mind that you have meat, probably somewhat cold in the smoker. While heat rises, cold descends. And the box prob is likely below the meat. A little conflict. But all is well. You can do a quick check of the element. Remove the wood box and fire it up when it is dark outside. You should have a nice bright and even glow, no dark or dead spots. Also, this might be of some help:
My answer: No. It is not normal. Initial heating times can vary depending on outside temp, wind, humidity, etc., but I've never had my AQ take more than about 45 minutes to come up to temp even with a good load of meat inside, Unless you are doing a very big load, maybe 5 racks of ribs or two briskets or three butts, it shouldn't take well over an hour. My best guess is your meat is touching/too close to your box temp probe, reflecting the surface meat temp instead of the box temp.
On further thought... Does your smoker take that long if there is no product in it? If so, you may have a controller or heat element or probe problem. Also possible is a coating of grease or other crud on your box probe. I just thought of the simplest thing first.