Best Brisket Ever - Pellet Smoker Instructions

[Fueling Around]

Sounds good.
I haven't done a brisket on my pooper. I do chuck & pork butt butt.
Instead of foil packets of wood chips or chunks, I use a pellet tube.

Take any photos?

... there is a thermodynamic explanation of the exploding pellet grill.
...

Chemistry. Heating wood produces methanol aka wood alcohol.

That's why we do should the startup procedure with the lid open.
Once the pot catches fire it burns off the methanol.
If blocking vents is bad, why did my MB pooper come with a daisy wheel vent that closes?
Poopers are forced induction wood stoves. When I close down the hood vent, the air pours out the grease bucket hole along with the gaps in the lid.


Dave @6GRILLZNTN
Did you watch the video @heislord5 attached "How not to use a pellet smoker"?

Chris @gmc2003 not dissing your post, but the sad reality of stupid people and our "victim" and litigious society.

 

[Fueling Around]

Sorry took me too long to post my previous.

Does your exhaust vent have a damper ?

My pellet grill starts with the lid closed , some don't some do .
That's why I say follow the directions of your grill .

Yes my MB has a daisy wheel with damper.
It also directed to start lid open.

Pitboss and rebrands (Cabelsa, etc.) have a chimney top that closes down.

 

[civilsmoker]

John, If the smoker was designed to have a variable air flow vent as yours then you are operating within the manufactures design and that is perfectly acceptable. This is much different than blocking the vents on a smoker that is not designed to have them blocked. IE a "loose" smoker will breathe differently than a "tight" smoker.

Real life example of almost burning my house down. My old smoker a Memphis Wood Fire Grill (very high-end grill), had a fixed back vent that went through the double skin back wall. Over time this vent got blocked on the inside skin between the double skin and the blockage was not visible. As anyone that knows me, I keep my grills clean but I missed this even with my extra care. This blockage caused all kinds of functional issues over a few weeks and eventually ending up causing a significant overheating issue (3 hours into a cook) and fire so hot that it caught the actual rib bones in the smoker on fire. I always keep my smoker more than 3 feet away from the house and proper clearance over it. Had I not done this it would have caused a house fire. After the fire I went through the grill and discovered the design flaw issue and cleaned the vent..... Bingo the grill started working perfectly after that and did so for another 4 years.

The message is to carefully review the owner manual of your particular grill and operate it as is specifies. Making modifications or changing the air flow by force is not advisable.

 

[heislord5]

John, If the smoker was designed to have a variable air flow vent as yours then you are operating within the manufactures design and that is perfectly acceptable. This is much different than blocking the vents on a smoker that is not designed to have them blocked. IE a "loose" smoker will breathe differently than a "tight" smoker.

Real life example of almost burning my house down. My old smoker a Memphis Wood Fire Grill (very high-end grill), had a fixed back vent that went through the double skin back wall. Over time this vent got blocked on the inside skin between the double skin and the blockage was not visible. As anyone that knows me, I keep my grills clean but I missed this even with my extra care. This blockage caused all kinds of functional issues over a few weeks and eventually ending up causing a significant overheating issue (3 hours into a cook) and fire so hot that it caught the actual rib bones in the smoker on fire. I always keep my smoker more than 3 feet away from the house and proper clearance over it. Had I not done this it would have caused a house fire. After the fire I went through the grill and discovered the design flaw issue and cleaned the vent..... Bingo the grill started working perfectly after that and did so for another 4 years.

The message is to carefully review the owner manual of your particular grill and operate it as is specifies. Making modifications or changing the air flow by force is not advisable.

I'll be careful to monitor this. My grill does not seem to be super "tight". Smoke comes out the seems fairly easily and it also does not seem to produce a lot of smoke like the ones you see in the exploding videos. Mine has a thermometer to regulate temperature, not providing fuel when above the desired temperature. I've not seen the temperature rise very much at all as I monitor from the phone app and my grill has been rated very high for staying very close to the specified temp, much better than virtually all other grills. On top of that I grill at 195 degrees. Given the thermometer regulation I think it would be almost impossible for me to have a dangerous flareups.

Not to mention that flareup during BBQ is normal (at least with charcoal and sticks). One of the best ways to deal with it is to cut off the air flow and smoke it out.

My manual under "Pellet Restrictions" recommends using their pellets (Z-Grill) and that the wouldn't be responsible for any "loss, damage or injury" caused by the use of any other brand of pellets." Really? That's obviously an attempted money grab or the lawyers being overly cautious. I tend to believe in making risk-based decisions. What's the level of risk, probability of the risk given the precautions taken and what's the reward. I prefer that over religiously following a manual. I'm not going to be slave to buying Z-Grill pellets because the manual said so.

Again though I disagree on the foil scenario, the conversation was really helpful because you alerted me to the danger of startup with hood closed which was called out in my manual. I'll be safer as a result of that. I'm thankful to you all for that.

 

[civilsmoker]

I thought this may help the conversation as well, from the engineering risk perspective:

A PID controlled grill as a limited number of parameters that the PID controls for proper function: ie the generally a PID controls the Auger (on, off and/or speed), the fan (on, off and/or speed), and ignition rod (on off). The PID uses set controlled values-based input from a temperature thermocouple. The typically the PID has NO fire sensor or mathematical connection to what is happing in the fire pot or any other part of the grill. It simple reads the air temp and provides a pellet load and air flow volume to the fire pot. Noted there are lots of customizations to the parameters to avoid overshoots and some even have an open-door sensor to lock out adjustments to operations for a period of time the door is open and then close to avoid spikes or a secondary thermocouple to monitor ambient temp.

Typical with fire and heat flow, the hot air like to go up, even if its forced, this is the same for a pellet grill. All pellets have a stack or vents placed "near" the top to allow the flow around the deflector plate and drip plate to create a convection current in the cooking chamber and exit the smoker. This convection current is pretty uniform and most happen along the longitudinal axis of the unit. Now the typical placement of the temperature probe the PID uses, is usually placed at the midpoint height and width of the smoker opposite the exhaust path and NOT in the direct path of the convection currents, ie this helps the thermocouple get a better average temperature reading to get the best fit solution for the air flow/fuel load parameters. Also note that all the parameters are calibrated on a test set of fuel, ie pellets (more on the later).

Now with a basic understanding of the PID function and basic smoker design, if an operator chooses to change the convection flow patterns in the smoker by blocking a vertical stack or other designed ports the internal convection flow patterns are completely changed. Since the system is forced air, blocking the design vents creates a pressurized system and the pressurized air is forced to find an exit, ie out the lid edges, out the drip hole, etc. Since forced convection air is now be forced out the lid edges there is a higher concentration of heated air being force close to the thermocouple placement. This will cause the thermocouple to read a higher reading and then reduce fuel load/air flow to cause a reduction of temprature.....When the air currents drop since the overall system is no longer in balance the convection currents can cause a drop in the forced heated air flow, ie creating a "higher frequency of pulsating" on and off fan or reduce fan rpm..... and/or call for more fuel/air mixture.... Now the PID is operating outside its programmed and calibrated parameters, but it will make the adjustments to make the calls, so everything appears to be just fine......

Now let's add the variables of a dirty fire pot with buildup, external wind or variable relative humidity, questionable batch of pellets or higher moisture content... The PID doesn't consider any of these conditions or impact on the actual fire creation however, each affect the performance of the fire pot and producing complete combustion. Now add the operator change in air flow to the above mix and inducing a more fluctuating fuel/air mixture calls and furthermore do it at a lower operating temperature (195) when the operation of the fire pot is more sensitive to quick changes. Now the whole system is working in a compromised way, and it is very sensitive and therefore way more susceptible to have an issue in the burning process which could create a rich environment of explosive gases....ie the "risk" of having a fire or explosion goes up.

With regard to pellets, I will share what I have learned with the more than 5000 lbs that I have burned over the past 13 years in 3 different grills, and that is that they are not all equal. However, the most important thing I have learned is how the operator stores them and the condition of them, ie humidity wise and second the cleanliness of the burn (ie how often a pot vacuum will be required). Now with a grill manufacture that says to only use their brand is likely saying that they have only tested and calibrated their system with their test pellets and they either one: know other pellets may not burn as well with their calibration (tort liability here), or two: they just want the market share as you said. Most well-known brands to not limit warrantee or operations to a particular brand of pellets other than a suggestion.

At this point may I quote forest gump and say "that's all I have to say about that"

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

@heislord5
One thing that stands out above all in this forum is that safety is foremost when practicing this hobby. Whether it be curing meat or going for a low and slow overnight cook, the focus is all about accomplishing it safely. Hence, all the responses from OTBS members. We are here to help and advise.

With that said, you should contact customer support at Z Grills to find out what they advise about plugging the rear vents since this creates a low ventilated environment ripe for a potential backdraft which is totally unrelated to the flameout situation in the burn pot. This is not legend; it is fact and science.

Most likely, CS will advise you against plugging the rear vents for safety reasons and inform you that doing so will void the 3 year warranty.
No point in having a $1,200 piece of yard art when Z Grills refuses to fix it. Or worse, being one of the 10 people killed on average each year due to grilling "accidents".

By the way, how often are you opening the the lid on your smoker during a smoke?
We have a saying here at SMF: "If you're looking, you're not cooking".

Plus, if you haven't already done so, then purchase a remote digital thermometer with multiple probes that will allow you to program hi/lo alarms and monitor chamber temps at grate level. Never trust the built in meat probes, PID, or the RTD thermocouple since most of those are cheap junk and fail often.

 

[heislord5]

Report on injuries and deaths due to grilling:

https://www.nfpa.org//-/media/Files/News-and-Research/Fire-statistics-and-reports/US-Fire-Problem/Fire-causes/osGrills.pdf

Definitely need to keep grill away from structures and flammable objects. All the deaths are due to structure fires.

I don't check it very often as I do use the probes that come with it and they seem to track fairly consistently the temperature so I check from my phone. Only open the pit onces every 2 hours at soonest and sometimes leave it overnight.

Interesting information. I never thought about it but gas grilling seems to be very dangerous relatively speaking.

 

[Kevin Braker]

Never thought about using wood chips/chunks on the fire pot cover...

 

[heislord5]

Never thought about using wood chips/chunks on the fire pot cover...

forgot to mention I poked holes in the foil to get enough oxygen/air-flow to the chips.