Although the
WSM runs just fine without a controller I love having a BBQ guru......a little spendy but worth it in my opinion. 16+ hours of smoke and I never even need to check it.
I agree with Damon555, now that I have a
WSM, I'm not afraid to do an overnight cook. Never would've dreamed of doing that when using a stick burner. The first one I did, I did a pork shoulder for 12 hours at 250*. However, when I woke up the next morning and checked it, my grate temp was down to 200*. I used my fireplace poker to stir the coals up, added a few handfuls and it was back to 250* pretty quickly.
But, the next overnight cook I did with a pork butt, I used the Auber SYL-1615SYS-W temp controller, and it kept it right there on 235* all night long. That turned into a 14 hour cook, and the
WSM and Auber did it all. The next weekend, I used it on a brisket, 17 hours at 230*...all I did was stir the coals the next morning, and add a few handfuls of charcoal after about 13-14 hours. I never thought I'd be one of these "high-tech" meat smokers...but, it does a great job, and I've been smoking meat for 35 years on stick burners and deserve to rest and let the
WSM and Auber do all the work.
I did a lot of debating back and forth between using nothing, the Auber, or a Digi-Q. And, I was just dying to try one. And, the Auber sells for $141 on the Auber site. So, I thought I'd throw $141 out there to test it...and if I didn't like it, I wouldn't have wasted a ton of money. Now, I use it on every cook...and don't have to worry about my temps one iota.
One thing about the Auber though...it does not have a food temp lead...it's grate temp only. But, I've always used a Maverick for the internal food temp anyway, and have several of them. In the pic below, the Maverick is showing the brisket internal temp at 190*, while the Auber is showing the grate temp at 242*. At the same time, the Maverick was showing the grate temp at 241*.
I picked up these little round hole plugs at Lowe's, 3/4" fits perfectly, for about 79 cents each...and they work great. I didn't like the idea of using the tape that comes with the Auber or Digi-Q for plugging up my remaining holes in the vent the fan is plugged into.
Here's everything you get. The top temp lead showing is the one I got. They make another one with just the alligator clip...but it looked like it would be hard to put through the gasket in the side of the WSM to me. The fan has those little springs on each side, so you just fold them in and plug it in. Then, to remove it, you just pull it out. So far, it has stayed very tight.
