Has anyone used the "Heavy D" Stick burner attachment?

[kstone113]

Here is a pic in the beginning and one maybe half way through....

This was before I got the heavy D.

 

[SlowmotionQue]

The size of Your pellet grill does play an important role and can factor in if the SD HD would even be a good viable option. I for one wouldn’t recommend the SD HD to anyone with a Tailgater, Small or near Medium size pellet grill...

That's good to know. But an important question is; "who else wouldn't recommend it?”

Take a look at the video in the first post of this thread. It appears that the item is being demonstrated in just the size grill that you recommend against using it in.

That doesn’t look like anything to me but a small to medium sized pellet grill.

I could be wrong. But that looks to me like a Pellet Pro 770 or similarly sized grill.

https://smokedaddyinc.com/product/s...e-stainless-steel-pellet-bbq-grill-model-770/

That model is said to have a bottom grill size of 22in x 19in. About 418sq inches on it’s bottom grate.

My Stampede has about 590 sq in on its bottom grate.

If it is indeed the case that this device is not good for such sized grills, then I’d not only hope, but I’d expect the sellers to say that.

But I doubt that they will or even if that is their position, based on the size grill they’re using in the video to demonstrate the SD HD in action themselves.

Also, if I am right about the make and model of the grill in the video, I’d ask if that model has a PID controller in it?

The narrator indicates that you’ll have to watch your temps for the first couple of hours as you’re turning your grill into a stick burner.

Well a true stick burner has vents/dampers which can be adjusted or even closed to control a fire which is getting too hot. You can turn a flaming log or flaming wood chunk into a smoldering log or wood chunk, literally in seconds if you need to.

My pellet grill does not have dampers or vents and so I cannot do this on my pellet grill.

So about all that I can do is “watch” as my temps get out of control as a result of flaming ignited wood and my PID controller either can’t stop it or will struggle to stop it.

The Smaller the Grill, the less Temp Control You’ll have due to the grills size and the amount of heat the SD HD can produce, In posting .#50 I said that using less wood in the SD HD could also help in temp management and if You’re working with 700 plus sq inches of cooking space, that is definitely something I would do...

I don’t want to be presumptuous here, but I’m guessing that you mean 700 plus square inches on the bottom grate?

My Stampede came with 540 square in of grill space. Now it’s well over that with the 3 Rec Tec shelves in it.

Not doubting your statement, but two things.

1. If that is the case, and again, I'm not doubting that it is, well then why have we not heard it from Smoke Daddy. Are the customers doing the beta testing of this device?

2. Who has taken the time to determine that 700sq in is the "cutoff" and what methods did they use to determine this?

Most of what I'm seeing, including my own comments regarding it, is anecdotal.

And again I point to the demonstration video for the product. That is not a very large grill that the product is being used in.

Using less wood. The heat distribution in a small to near medium size pellet grill would be almost impossible to control burning real wood in a fully loaded SD HD...

Then why is it’s use, and near fully loaded, being demonstrated in such a sized grill?

But to your above statement, I agree and disagree.

If this is completely true, well then why have I been able to do it, albeit inconsistently?

I have, in fact, done it. Managed heat distribution using it fully loaded in a medium sized pellet grill. But I strongly believe that climate conditions may have played a part. My best results using it were when the weather was cooler than it is now.

My PID controller, may have had some "outside help" at controlling internal temperatures while the full SD HD was in use.

So yes, it is in fact possible to load it chock full of wood in a grill with less than 700sq in of cooking space and not have temps run out of control. But from what I can tell, that appears to be dependent upon at least one external factor, that being ambient temperatures.

Other factors may be at work as well, but I don't know what they are and don't have the time nor motivation to find out what, if any other factors, may or do, influence temperature control in my grill when this item is in use.

My PB Austin XL comes with 1000sq inches of cooking space, so being able to add a water pan was no issue for me and I too don’t fully load my SH HD with wood... Maybe 70-80% loaded with wood... and I have no issues using it in my PB Austin XL and I don’t have to prop the lid on my PB either.. For Someone with almost half that cooking space and the size of the SD HD itself... I can see why some Users are having trouble controlling their grills temps. The larger the grill, the better heat distribution You’ll have. Medium Size Pellet Grills, I would try using 50% of Capacity for loading the SD HD with wood. The larger the Grill, the better heat distribution and temp control You’ll have... Seems logical... As the heat is not focused in such a small space.

All of this sounds good. If 70-80% loaded is good for a grill with 1,000 sq in of grate space, well then that ought to be spelled out in the sales literature and instructions.

I'm not saying that it's not in there. But I have not seen it. Has anyone else?

But the item as marketed, seems to me at least to center around loading it with wood and cooking with it in this fashion, regardless as to grill size or grate space.

Will Your Grills temps ever be within 5*-10* degrees of your set point using the SD HD?? No.. Common Since, it’s burning Real Wood in Real time. I knew when I first saw the Info Video that this device was going to add some extra heat that I was going to have too manage and deal with... I was ok with that. For those willing to compromise a little, the temps can be made very manageable. If anyone is not willing or is able to compromise, this product is not for You. To bad the SD HD doesn’t come in different sizes... and I’ve posted a few times, “One Size does not always fits all”. and to those who may be interested in adding real wood smoke option to their pellet grills, it would be a good idea to reach out too SmokeDaddyinc first for their input and advice. Giving them Your Pellet Grills brand and size.. Not only to see if the SD HD would fit, but also for their input and added information to help you get started.

Good luck.

PB Austin XL in SoCal and Always... Semper Fi

I could not agree more.

It would help if the sellers of this item would be more specific in it's marketing, instructions and recommendations regarding it's use given the two factors that you and I have discussed. Grill size and ambient temperatures. There could be other factors which we have not broached.

If the recommendation is to not fill it completely for grills of less than a certain size, be that size 700sq in of cooking space on the bottom grate, 1000sq in of cooking space on the bottom grate, etc., well then it would help a great deal if they were to come out and say that.

Instead, I'm hearing about propping your grill's lid open with a wood chunk.

 

[kstone113]

Hey guys - I saw a great hack on one of the Rec Tec fb groups. You take a aluminum meat loaf sized pan and put wood in it and put right in front of the fire box. The heat diffuser fits over that(just enough room). Pretty slick idea by the guy and said it's been working great.

Maybe those who are curious in the Heavy D could try this first. Now obviously this is a Rec Tec so it works there but not sure about other pellet grills. I can take a screen shot and post the pic if you guys are interested.

 

[SlowmotionQue]

Hey guys - I saw a great hack on one of the Rec Tec fb groups. You take a aluminum meat loaf sized pan and put wood in it and put right in front of the fire box. The heat diffuser fits over that(just enough room). Pretty slick idea by the guy and said it's been working great.

Maybe those who are curious in the Heavy D could try this first. Now obviously this is a Rec Tec so it works there but not sure about other pellet grills. I can take a screen shot and post the pic if you guys are interested.

Yeah. Sounds like a good one.

There’s another some time back of placing smaller sized chunks directly on top of the stock heat diffuser.

It mostly comes down to this. At least for me

What you smell is likely what you’ll taste.

When I light my A-MAZE-N smoke tube with quality hickory or pecan pellets in it, it smells fine to me.

When I first fire up my Rec Tec, it smells good too.

My thought on the SD HD stick burner diffuser, and why temps can get out of control on it in my pellet grill, is because unlike a stick burner, my pellet grill has no dampers on it which would allow me to snuff out flames from ignited wood and thus making the wood smolder the entire cook as opposed to igniting.

Once the wood is ignited, I’m at the mercy of that burning wood. There is nothing I can do to put it out, I have to give it time to burn out. And my temps are going up the entire time I’m waiting for that.

 

[RCAlan]

I just found this off a Weber grills forum site... I had posted this idea as well in this thread on page 1 quote #8 info steps 7-8... and was thinking about giving it a shot this weekend. I’m going to wrap my wood splits and chunks in Aluminum Foil and then put holes in the foil and place it inside the SD HD. This is a copy of the quote from the Weber Grills forum...
Quote..
The reason that people say to soak your wood is so that it will last longer and will smolder/smoke instead of flaring/flaming up. This can easily be done by controlling the main factor that causes a flame, OXYGEN. By wrapping dry wood in aluminum foil with small holes, it not only slows the rate at which the wood is used up but it also virtually eliminates flare ups by eliminating oxygen. Aluminum foil also helps draw heat around the entire piece of wood, creating a more even consistent burn. Also, the foil holds heat so if you turn down your heat source the wood will continue to smoke longer than if it was unwrapped. Not to mention cleanup is a breeze, because you can easily throw away the small tin foil pouch. End Quote..

I’m thinking this could possibly double the burn time of the wood along with added temp control of the burn. I’ll take notes and report my findings after the weekend...

PB Austin XL in SoCal and Always... Semper Fi

 

[SlowmotionQue]

I just found this off a Weber grills forum site... I had posted this idea as well in this thread on page 1 quote #8 info steps 7-8... and was thinking about giving it a shot this weekend. I’m going to wrap my wood splits and chunks in Aluminum Foil and then put holes in the foil and place it inside the SD HD. This is a copy of the quote from the Weber Grills forum...
Quote..
The reason that people say to soak your wood is so that it will last longer and will smolder/smoke instead of flaring/flaming up. This can easily be done by controlling the main factor that causes a flame, OXYGEN. By wrapping dry wood in aluminum foil with small holes, it not only slows the rate at which the wood is used up but it also virtually eliminates flare ups by eliminating oxygen. Aluminum foil also helps draw heat around the entire piece of wood, creating a more even consistent burn. Also, the foil holds heat so if you turn down your heat source the wood will continue to smoke longer than if it was unwrapped. Not to mention cleanup is a breeze, because you can easily throw away the small tin foil pouch. End Quote..

I’m thinking this could possibly double the burn time of the wood along with added temp control of the burn. I’ll take notes and report my findings after the weekend...

PB Austin XL in SoCal and Always... Semper Fi

Good luck.

This was also indicated in point #5 of the link I posted earlier.

https://www.grillbeast.com/blog/the-great-grill-debate/wet-wood-vs-dry-wood-is-soaking-necessary/

The trick wont be getting the wood wrapped in foil and poking the holes.

But it will be getting the foil wrapped wood inside the HD’s chambers without tearing the foil.

Heavy duty foil would seem like a good option for this attempt and I might try it this weekend myself.

This should at least make it much harder for the wood to ignite.

And ignited wood is the bane of this device.

And should allow the wood to smolder longer.

You just might have the answer to getting consistent results out of this thing RCAlan.

Good thinking.

 

[kstone113]

Hey RCAlan - so you plan to somehow wrap the chunks or logs in foil and poke holes in the foil and put into the Heavy D? Just seeing if I am understanding what you are saying.

 

[SlowmotionQue]

I'm game if nobody else is.

Let's do this:

Plenty of wood chopped up to the right size to fit the SD HD. I won't use it all, but will trial fit a few pieces of it.

Trial fit. lets wrap it and poke some holes.

A little less than an hour in. So far so good. Nice thin blue smoke, barely visible. Temps holding right where I put them. Were these naked logs, my PID controller would be fighting by now to maintain temps. Fan is cycling on and off temp is steady.

Great aroma, this is hickory. I'm liking what I'm seeing so far, but it's still early.

 

[SlowmotionQue]

Still rolling.

Pushing 80 minutes in and she's still as solid as a rock.

This is what I expect from a PID controlled pellet smoker folks. This is how a PID controlled pellet smoker is supposed to behave.

Still running a thin, blue smoke. And it's smelling good.

But the tale will be told when I empty the SD HD and see just how much of the wood I put into it, has burned inside of that foil during this planned approximately 4hr cook.

 

[SlowmotionQue]

Let's keep it going. 4hrs 22 mins in. Still at 250°

I just took them off and wrapped them.

 

[SlowmotionQue]

Well guys, I've gone that last mile.

A little over 5 hrs for this cook, and the ribs turned out good. Started the cook with the temp around 74° outside.

Finished it up and sliced them.

They tasted great. I could have run them a little while longer, but it was getting late and I'm starting to wear down.

But really, this is what you want to see.

Yes, that is smoke. And it's why some of the pics don't come out so clear. It's sitting in my fire pit, and it's hazy because of the smoke. The SD HD is still smoking and smoking plenty about 5-10mins after I have shut the grill down, removed the grates, drip pan and the SD HD from the Stampede, using vise grips and channel locks to handle the extremely hot SD HD diffuser as I lifted it out.

I removed the logs from the chambers by dumping them out.

Well
View attachment 397538

The foil did indeed prevent the wood from bursting into flame and running my temps up. My temps remained steady at 250° which is where I set the grill.

It allowed for a more controlled burn of the wood, and it appears that it burned on it's ends more than it's sides.

It gave off a good smoke. The holes definitely helped. But most of the wood, did not burn. I have plenty of wood left over for my next cook.

This experiment will require some tweaking, but it shows promise. My temps remained steady, and the wood smoldered on the front end of the one chamber, and gave off a very good smoke.

I would expect for more of the wood to burn were this a longer cook, but from what I can tell from this run, less wood, and definitely foiling the wood, might be the way to go.

This much though, I do know though as it pertains to me and my pellet grill. YMMV, but for me, running the SD HD with "nekkid" wood splits, and/or chunks, is definitely not the way to go. It is an outright recipe, at least in my case, for my temps to get out of control.

Just thinking out loud here, but judging from the burn pattern of the wood, with one end burning and the sides not, I'm thinking that for me, and again, YMMV, wrapping the entire log, save for the very ends of the logs, could be a route to take.

I'm going to get around to trying this again. Next time skipping the holes altogether, and just leaving the ends of the logs open and unwrapped by foil. Or just punching many holes in the foil covering the ends of the logs only.

At any rate, I'm glad to see that the foil starved the wood for oxygen, and kept it from igniting and running my temps all over the place.

This pic, sorry for the thumbnail, shows the ends are burned but not the centers.

 

[mike243]

I used a cast metal box on my gas grill for years,it only had a few holes in the top,wood couldn't get enuf air to catch on fire and it would just smolder, not sure why they used metal with so many holes but its clearly not a good design, if they had used solid on the sides and then a hinged end opening with several holes in it That would work much better. If I can ever get to the scrap yard I am going to pu some metal and build 1 while I finish my trailer pit.

 

[RCAlan]

Well guys, I've gone that last mile.

A little over 5 hrs for this cook, and the ribs turned out good. Started the cook with the temp around 74° outside.

View attachment 397529

Finished it up and sliced them.

View attachment 397530

View attachment 397540

They tasted great. I could have run them a little while longer, but it was getting late and I'm starting to wear down.

But really, this is what you want to see.

Yes, that is smoke. And it's why some of the pics don't come out so clear. It's sitting in my fire pit, and it's hazy because of the smoke. The SD HD is still smoking and smoking plenty about 5-10mins after I have shut the grill down, removed the grates, drip pan and the SD HD from the Stampede, using vise grips and channel locks to handle the extremely hot SD HD diffuser as I lifted it out.

View attachment 397531
View attachment 397532

I removed the logs from the chambers by dumping them out.

View attachment 397533
View attachment 397534

Well
View attachment 397538

The foil did indeed prevent the wood from bursting into flame and running my temps up. My temps remained steady at 250° which is where I set the grill.

It allowed for a more controlled burn of the wood, and it appears that it burned on it's ends more than it's sides.

It gave off a good smoke. The holes definitely helped. But most of the wood, did not burn. I have plenty of wood left over for my next cook.

This experiment will require some tweaking, but it shows promise. My temps remained steady, and the wood smoldered on the front end of the one chamber, and gave off a very good smoke.

I would expect for more of the wood to burn were this a longer cook, but from what I can tell from this run, less wood, and definitely foiling the wood, might be the way to go.

This much though, I do know though as it pertains to me and my pellet grill. YMMV, but for me, running the SD HD with "nekkid" wood splits, and/or chunks, is definitely not the way to go. It is an outright recipe, at least in my case, for my temps to get out of control.

Just thinking out loud here, but judging from the burn pattern of the wood, with one end burning and the sides not, I'm thinking that for me, and again, YMMV, wrapping the entire log, save for the very ends of the logs, could be a route to take.

I'm going to get around to trying this again. Next time skipping the holes altogether, and just leaving the ends of the logs open and unwrapped by foil. Or just punching many holes in the foil covering the ends of the logs only.

At any rate, I'm glad to see that the foil starved the wood for oxygen, and kept it from igniting and run my temps all over the place.

This pic, sorry for the thumbnail, shows the ends are burned but not the centers.

View attachment 397541

Great Job SlowmotionQue, I see my idea looks like it has great potential with a few more tweaks... I plan on doing a cook this Sunday without the Water Pan, but with the wrapped wood in my Non PID PB Austin XL for the first few hours... If the temps are stable, I won’t need to add the water pan after all. Again, thanks for the detailed posting, pictures and graphics on Your trail run with wrapping the wood splits and chucks in Aluminum Foil... I was thinking that maybe You could reach out to SmokeDaddyinc and share with them the Great Effort that is being put forth here by their Customers in trying to get their SD HD to work more effectively on all brands of Pellet Grills.. Maybe they can reimburse You for your efforts in some way... They should... Great job...


PB Austin XL in SoCal and Always... Semper Fi

 

[RCAlan]

It’s kinda like We’re SmokeDaddyinc’s research and development department.. smh. It’s all good. That’s what makes this hobby so Satisfying and frustrating all at the same time...


PB Austin XL in SoCal and Always... Semper Fi

 

[dward51]

Lightbulb moment!!!!!!

Who cares if the entire stick is consumed as long as it puts out clean blue smoke for an extended period of time and does not overheat the chamber. Plus less stick consumption is a plus, as you may only need one stick or smaller sticks conserving your supply.

PS - I'm going to "borrow" this idea for my Weber Summit S670 upber-gasser. The chip box on that thing goes through chips super quick. I'm thinking a stick cut to fit and wrapped like this would work perfect for longer smokes in the gasser (like on the rotisserie). Yeah I know, a gasser is heresy to a pellet poopers ears but I still have the monster sized Summit in the stable and never really liked the performance of the "chip" burner, I even tried pellets in it.

 

[kstone113]

Thanks Slowmotionque - I actually decided to do this also. I am in the close to finishing spare ribs myself. I have NOT had any temp overshoots besides me leaving the door open but nothing like before.

This was a great idea RCAlan and when they are done, I'll see how the wood chunks look in mine. Difference between yours and mine is I used chunks and you had nice logs. Regardless, we may have figured out a good way to extend the smoke and not have flame ups and take the temp above.

 

[SlowmotionQue]

Thanks all for the kind words. I'm glad to have contributed some way towards solving the overheating problem when the SD HD is in use.

I look forward to others adding to the "data base", kstone113, RCAlan, and others, so that all can figure out the most advantageous way to use this item for themselves.

Glad to hear that your temps are holding steady kstone113. Do let us know how much of the wood burned, and how the ribs tasted.

Many thanks to RCAlan for suggesting the idea.

Now, all that needs done is more tweaking.

dward51, you're right. Who cares if the log burns entirely. I intend to cut the burnt ends off of these and reuse them.

The only spot that I see this possibly being a problem, is if the SD HD is not removed soon after the cook is completed.

If not, then the wood will continue to smolder for no telling how long after shutdown.

I'm toying with the idea of using smaller, say 1 inch x 1 inch or so sized sticks, about 8.5 inches long, and bundling a bunch of them together in the foil, leaving the ends open, and poking holes along the foil so as to let the smoke out.

I figure that with a little air between the sticks, this should allow more smoldering.

Yes, the air could cause the wood to go up in flames again, which is not what I want. But if bundled and wrapped tightly in the foil, I should be able to keep flames to a minimum and have mostly smoldering and smoking.

 

[RCAlan]

Well, what a day bbqing... I bbq’d 2 baby back slabs and a tri tip on the PB while wrapping the cut wood splits and chunks with aluminum foil. Using heavy duty aluminum foil, the wood was double wrapped, but the ends were exposed and a Dime size hole on each side of the wrapped wood. The length of the wrapped wood was about 9 inches and they were a snug fit inside the SD HD, but they did fit. I did the preheat for 15 mins. and then dropped the temp down to smoke mode first and then too 200* degrees. No water pan used during the entire cook. I used Hickory and Cherry wood during the cook and the entire cook today was a little over 6 hours. While on Smoke Mode, the grills temps were running between 190* and 210, mostly below 200* degrees though... The Aluminum Foil definitely restricted the air flow to the wood and allowed it to burn slowly for those 6 plus hours... One thing I did notice was when I turned the grill up to 350*-400* degrees to sear the tri-tip, the wrapped wood ignited more, but the amount of smoke was not overpowering, but there was a definite increase in the amount smoke over from when the grill was set to 200* and lower. Even after the grill had been off for over an hour, the lids temp gauge was still reading 140* and there was still a light steady stream of TBS coming from the smoke stack, now going on almost 9 hours total. SlowmotionQue is right, it would be a good idea to remove the SD HD from your grill after you’re done cooking as the wood will continue to burn, possibly for hours. I’m thinking perhaps on My next cook, I’ll start it off at 300* plus degrees to ensure the wood has fired off and then drop it down to 225* degrees. If I can get the Wood to Smoke the meat and have the pellet grill act as an oven. Just a thought... Still a few more things to think about and work on. Oh, the Que came out great and the grills temps were right in line with using a water pan if not even better. This was the best Smoke flavor profile of any cook using the SD HD to date, as the smoke was not overpowering, because of the slower, lighter burn of the wood.

PB Austin XL in SoCal and Always... Semper Fi

 

[SlowmotionQue]

Glad to hear the good report RCAlan.

It will of course take a bit more trial and error to refine things. But the foil seems to show promise to this point and appears to be effective at slowing the burn of the wood.

 

[kstone113]

Guys - I have not had a chance to look at my heavy D to see how much wood was used yet. I will later today. But I did also cook boneless skinless chicken thighs and finished those off at 425 for just a bit so I would think the wood would be gone because of that.

Wanted to say again this was a great idea with the foil and super happy with no temp swings. Here are some pics of my spare ribs. I didn't separate the rib tips but next time I will and put those on a rack to cook a little slower. For not ever doing spare ribs and doing no research, I was very happy how they turned out. Here are some pics.