My first cook with the Heavy D in a Smoke Daddy Pellet Pro vertical

[2fatpugs]

Hi all,

I just wanted to share my first experience using the Heavy D in my Pellet Pro Vertical. First off I would like to thank everybody who gave me advice regarding this in the other thread I started. Reason why I went with the HD was because my heat deflector was already badly warped and needed to be replace anyway. Before starting my first cook I spoke with Dennis from Smoke Daddy who was very generous with his knowledge and time.

How I loaded the HD
I used a total of 4 big chunks of hickory wood. I first put a layer of small lava rocks, then 1 chunk, more lava rocks, 1 more chunk and a topping of lava rocks. I made sure to pack it as much as possible. The reason for the lava rock is to reduce the surface area of the wood chunks there by reducing the amount of flames.

Burn baby burn!
For my first cook I made St Louis ribs with Memphis dry rub. I started at MID (270) till the chunks caught on fire. I opened the top vents on the Pellet Pro let it do it the initial burn off. After the heavy white smoke dissipated, I put the ribs in and started tracking the temps using my Inkbird Thermometer. I dropped set temp to 225 but the internal temp started to rise fast. The vent alone wasn't enough to release the additional heat so at around 300 degrees I cracked open the lid and the temps crept back to around 275. There was a good steady stream of blue smoke coming from the smoker. After about 45 mins I was able to close the lid and it still keep it around 275. After about an hour and 30 mins after the start of the cook the wood chunks seems to have burnt out. I closed the top vent and set the control temps to 275. I cooked the ribs the whole way through without wrapping. I pulled it out by around the 5th hour @ 207 internal temp. The ribs were came out perfect, super juicy with a good bite to it. The smoke flavor with the HD is noticeably more than without but not overwhelming. I did not taste any sour or bitterness.

Over I think it HD does what it promised and delivered excellent smoke flavoring. The draw backs I see is you need to be careful of how you load the wood and not to use too much. Also until the wood burns out, you can't "set it and forget it".

For my next cook I am going to smoke a brisket using full splits and see if I can still manage the temps.

-Trey

 

[bill1]

Couple questions Trey:
1. So your starting wood was 2 big chunks per side??? What were the approx dimensions of the wood? If you only got 1.5 hours of smoke, I'm thinking these were fairly small?
2. How did things look after your cook? Did you have 4 chunks of charcoal-like chunks (if so, how big compared to starting?) or did you end up with just a bunch of ash?
3. Did you use all 4 cover plates for the ends that are provided? I'm thinking without those, the oxidizing air can flow very freely though the two channels and greatly increase your burn rate, even with the lava rock.

 

[2fatpugs]

1. My chunks were able 2x3x3 ish. 1.5 hrs is plenty of time to infuse smoke into the food. I'll update the smoke time when I use a mini log.
2. After the cook all I saw in the HD was white ash, there were no unburned or charcoal wood pieces.
3. I kept all the plate covers on to keep the lava rocks from falling out.

 

[RCAlan]

Hi all,

I just wanted to share my first experience using the Heavy D in my Pellet Pro Vertical. First off I would like to thank everybody who gave me advice regarding this in the other thread I started. Reason why I went with the HD was because my heat deflector was already badly warped and needed to be replace anyway. Before starting my first cook I spoke with Dennis from Smoke Daddy who was very generous with his knowledge and time.

How I loaded the HD
I used a total of 4 big chunks of hickory wood. I first put a layer of small lava rocks, then 1 chunk, more lava rocks, 1 more chunk and a topping of lava rocks. I made sure to pack it as much as possible. The reason for the lava rock is to reduce the surface area of the wood chunks there by reducing the amount of flames.

Burn baby burn!
For my first cook I made St Louis ribs with Memphis dry rub. I started at MID (270) till the chunks caught on fire. I opened the top vents on the Pellet Pro let it do it the initial burn off. After the heavy white smoke dissipated, I put the ribs in and started tracking the temps using my Inkbird Thermometer. I dropped set temp to 225 but the internal temp started to rise fast. The vent alone wasn't enough to release the additional heat so at around 300 degrees I cracked open the lid and the temps crept back to around 275. There was a good steady stream of blue smoke coming from the smoker. After about 45 mins I was able to close the lid and it still keep it around 275. After about an hour and 30 mins after the start of the cook the wood chunks seems to have burnt out. I closed the top vent and set the control temps to 275. I cooked the ribs the whole way through without wrapping. I pulled it out by around the 5th hour @ 207 internal temp. The ribs were came out perfect, super juicy with a good bite to it. The smoke flavor with the HD is noticeably more than without but not overwhelming. I did not taste any sour or bitterness.

Over I think it HD does what it promised and delivered excellent smoke flavoring. The draw backs I see is you need to be careful of how you load the wood and not to use too much. Also until the wood burns out, you can't "set it and forget it".

For my next cook I am going to smoke a brisket using full splits and see if I can still manage the temps.

-Trey

Here’s something to consider that’s very effective at controlling the high temps spikes when using the SmokeDaddy HD Stick burning heat diffuser. Use a nice size water pan… When I first got the SmokeDaddy HD Heat Diffuser and installed it in my Non-PID Controller, PitBoss Austin XL almost 4 years ago, the temp spikes were crazy and the main thing that help to solve the temp spike problem was to use a water pan. The larger the water pan, the better. It’s an excellent heat sink and the steam it produces will also help in tenderizing the proteins being bbq’d. FYI… The only downside is that you have to be very careful and avoid any spillage when using a water pan in a pellet grill. Water is a pellets worse enemy when mix together.. Give it a shot. You should have a lot better accurate temps on your PID Controller, Pellet Pro Vertical Pellet Smoker. Hope the info helps and good luck.

__________________
Char-Griller 980 GF… Pellet Pro Austin XL and a few more mods... In SoCal and Always... Semper Fi

 

[2fatpugs]

Here’s something to consider that’s very effective at controlling the high temps spikes when using the SmokeDaddy HD Stick burning heat diffuser. Use a nice size water pan… When I first got the SmokeDaddy HD Heat Diffuser and installed it in my Non-PID Controller, PitBoss Austin XL almost 4 years ago, the temp spikes were crazy and the main thing that help to solve the temp spike problem was to use a water pan. The larger the water pan, the better. It’s an excellent heat sink and the steam it produces will also help in tenderizing the proteins being bbq’d. FYI… The only downside is that you have to be very careful and avoid any spillage when using a water pan in a pellet grill. Water is a pellets worse enemy when mix together.. Give it a shot. You should have a lot better accurate temps on your PID Controller, Pellet Pro Vertical Pellet Smoker. Hope the info helps and good luck.

__________________
Char-Griller 980 GF… Pellet Pro Austin XL and a few more mods... In SoCal and Always... Semper Fi

Yeah I always use 2 Costco medium size water pans in my cook. They reduce clean up!