new GMG Daniel Boone issues.. Temperature fluctuations..

[oonighttrain]

hello all,
I just got a daniel boone prime wi-fi a couple weeks ago. I have cooked a few easy things on it like steak and chicken thighs which went fine but, this past saturday I tried a whole beef brisket, the result was horrible, almost not edible brisket.. I set the grill at 225, wrapped the brisket after 6 hours of smoke and let it get to 203 before i pulled it off and wrapped it to rest for 2 hours.. teh brisket was dry and tough..

after talking to a friend who is a bbq guru, he told me to check the temp of the grill using a seperate thermometer. so, what i found is when the grill is set at 225, my secondary thermometer reads 210-215, when the fan of the grill kicks on to try to hold the grill at 225 my secondary thermometer jumps to 255 range for up to approx 10 minutes.. im wondering if this was the cause of my horrible brisket..

any opinions?
thanks!

 

[radio]

I have a Daniel Boone and still have not got it to hold very steady even with a new control board. The one thing that helped was gradually repositioning the deflector over the fire pot until I found the sweet spot. I actually made a gauge out of a piece of copper so I can reposition it in exactly the same spot when I remove it to clean the fire pot.
I do not use the factory probe at all and rely on my Maverick for temp readings. Make sure the rain cap has at least a 2 inch opening above the exhaust stack. You might try a different brand of pellets to see that might help. I believe it is the nature of the beast to have temp swings to a certain extent, but wild swings are not good.

 

[kruizer]

Think of your pellet grill like a small camp fire that needs fuel on a regular basis but the temps are going to vary as fuel is added. Your temp swings are within the norm for pellet smokers. Not to worry. As for your brisket, I don't have any answers. Did your probe for tender before you pulled it off? That is the best test.

 

[6GRILLZNTN]

Think of your pellet grill like a small camp fire that needs fuel on a regular basis but the temps are going to vary as fuel is added. Your temp swings are within the norm for pellet smokers. Not to worry. As for your brisket, I don't have any answers. Did your probe for tender before you pulled it off? That is the best test.

This!

 

[bregent]

>im wondering if this was the cause of my horrible brisket..

No, the problem is that you were trying to cook a brisket to a specific IT. The goal for a brisket is to cook it until it becomes tender - that doesn't occur at a specific temp. Next time, cook it until you can slide a meat probe or tooth pick in with very little resistance.

Your description of dry and tough sounds like it was probably under cooked. If you cut a 1/8 slice (and always across the grain) you should be able to pull it apart with a light pull. Part of what makes a brisket taste moist is melted collagen, and if it's not cooked enough then it may seem dry - and will be tough. On the other hand, if over cooked it will also taste dry, but will start to crumble when sliced.

 

[oonighttrain]

This!

i understand that to a point.. the problem i have is that im having readings that are all over the place. today i went and bought heat resistant green egg brand seal tape to seal up the lid that doesnt fit exactly right and leaks.. i then cleaned off the thermo sensor and figured id give it another try.. on initial start up where the grill is supposed to heat to 150, it was at 170... i then set the grill to 185 to see what it would do because i already have plans to try another brisket this weekend.. i left for an hour or so and came back, the grill itself (set at 185) read 215, 216, 217 and was climbing.. i let it go to see what would happen, came back 45 minutes or so later and it then read 185.. i dont know what to think now, whats right or wrong? seems like i cant trust what it says or does..

 

[bregent]

> the problem i have is that im having readings that are all over the place

The temp's you stated are typical for many pellet grills. 30 degrees over and under are not out of the ordinary for pellet grills with digital controllers. PID controllers are usually much tighter, but it's not unusual to see an occasional big swing, and it's not going to ruin your food.
Check with GMG to see if they have a software update coming that will reduce the swings. It might make you feel better but probably won't change the way the food is turning out.

 

[oonighttrain]

so... another night of temperature testing... i ended up buying a thermo works smoke didital thermometer.. set the daniel boone at 150, then 165, then 190.. temperatures were consistently 20 cooler on the "smoke" than what the grill said.. there were substancial differences in between.. at one point whil the grill was still set at 165 i went to look at it and the grill was down to 142.. i dont know what to believe now...

 

[SlowmotionQue]

so... another night of temperature testing... i ended up buying a thermo works smoke didital thermometer.. set the daniel boone at 150, then 165, then 190.. temperatures were consistently 20 cooler on the "smoke" than what the grill said.. there were substancial differences in between.. at one point whil the grill was still set at 165 i went to look at it and the grill was down to 142.. i dont know what to believe now...

Well, from what you're describing, I'll throw this out there too.

Your Thermoworks Smoke, is supposed to be to within plus or minus 1.8 degrees for temps from -4°F up to temps of 248°F, and accurate to within plus or minus 3.6° for temps from -58°F to 248°-392°F, and plus or minus 5.4° for temps from 392°F -572°F.

So I'd probably trust the Thermoworks Smoke readings for the temps that you are measuring.

All of that said though, where you take the temps can play a role.

How high above the grates is your Thermoworks probe? Is it in the same location as the grill's temp probe? Are you using the metal attachment that came with the Thermoworks Smoke and clipping it onto the grates? If so, well then that metal clamp itself can get hot and might give an accurate representation of the temperature "at the grates", but not say, 6-8 inches above the grates. You would expect the grate area directly above the firepot to be hotter than other areas of the grill. Is this where your Thermoworks probe is?

Is the displayed grill temp an accurate representation of the actual temperature at the probe? Or is it a corrected reading intended to be representative of the ambient temperature inside of the cooking chamber?

I'd start by taking temps at various areas of the grill using the Thermoworks Smoke and see how those correlate with the grill's reported temperature.

 

[oonighttrain]

thanks for the input.. i used the metal clip that comes with the thermo works, clipped directly to the grate which would be about 1 inch above the cooking grate.. i tried far left, in the middle and far right. all have given me pretty close to the same results.

 

[SlowmotionQue]

thanks for the input.. i used the metal clip that comes with the thermo works, clipped directly to the grate which would be about 1 inch above the cooking grate.. i tried far left, in the middle and far right. all have given me pretty close to the same results.

Scratch that. I’d see if there were a software update for your grill as some have indicated, and go from there if there is one.

 

[bregent]

> i dont know what to believe now...

Again, temp differences you are seeing is not uncommon. However, I believe GMG software has a setting that allows you to "offset" the temp readings, so you can essentially calibrate it to a 3rd party thermometer. Going from memory, so not sure of the exact details.