I've been extolling the virtues of the great temp control on my 22.5" WSM since I've had it and have never ran into any issues. That is until I tried to smoke a butt when it was quite cold outside. I started it @ 6 am and wasn't too concerned about when it got done because I was going to freeze most of it anyway and we were eating something else for dinner. There were no issues getting everything up to temp and getting the meat on. I didn't bother checking the smoker for the first few hours because keeping it steady is normally not an issue. Well when I went and checked everything out the smoker temp had dropped to below 185 degrees. That's pretty odd so I looked everything over and noticed that the charcoal (kingsford blue) had a lot more ash on it then usual. The colder weather required me to rethink my vent settings and I was letting in more air than usual to keep the temps up. Ash accumulation had somewhat smothered the lit coals and dropped my temp to the point that I needed to stir everything up to get things cooking again.
This brings me to the point of my thread...Normally the temp issue wouldn't be a problem because I'm checking the smoker from time to time during the day. But for overnight smokes I leave it unattended for long periods of time and I'd like to do more BBQ in the winter months. So I decided to try out one of the temp control devices that are on the market. After some hemming and hawing I chose the BBQ guru Nano Q and the accessories needed to hook it up to the WSM. I've fought this urge for some time because everything works so good in the warmer months. With the price of meat these days I don't want to take any chances ruining anything so I just bite the bullet and went with what I think is the most cost effective, simplest and most durable option. I'll be sure to review this little gadget so you guys and gals can get some idea of how well it works.....
This brings me to the point of my thread...Normally the temp issue wouldn't be a problem because I'm checking the smoker from time to time during the day. But for overnight smokes I leave it unattended for long periods of time and I'd like to do more BBQ in the winter months. So I decided to try out one of the temp control devices that are on the market. After some hemming and hawing I chose the BBQ guru Nano Q and the accessories needed to hook it up to the WSM. I've fought this urge for some time because everything works so good in the warmer months. With the price of meat these days I don't want to take any chances ruining anything so I just bite the bullet and went with what I think is the most cost effective, simplest and most durable option. I'll be sure to review this little gadget so you guys and gals can get some idea of how well it works.....
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