Temp control and snoking on kamado style cookers

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briggss3

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Original poster
Oct 10, 2024
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1
I have a Vision Pro Series from Academy. I typically use this to sear but honestly I have had fits keeping the temp in the right zone. Wayyyyyy too hot and flaming up or dives down to 300 or so. In general temp control sucks.

Was wondering if I could add a temp controller to this thing to make it work. Plus also wondering if it did work....could I do slow smoke cooking like pork butt's, ribs, and briskets?

Looking at the BBQ guru DigiQ 3 as a controller.

Or should I give up and scrap the kamado style cooker and get a gravity feed smoker/cooker?
 
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The key to temperature control in a ceramic kamado is patience - vent changes take a while to affect the temperature due to the cooker's mass - so the first rule for using them is to tweak a vent and wait a while before tweaking again. That being said, temp controllers work very well as long as you don't build a huge fire.
 
I never got along with mine, so I sold it off.
I did have some sucess with a "Tip Top Temp Controller" though.
Purely mechanical flap that opens and closes to restrict or enable airflow from the top vent.
Driven by a coiled bi-metal spring exactly like an antique carburetor's choke flap driver.
(And for those who know antique car engine conrol systems, a heat riser spring mounted on the exhaust manifold to control the heat riser flapper, as in cold engine closed flap, hot engine open flap).
I also had a "Party-Q" blower that attached to the lower air inlet and it also improved cook chamber temp control.
 
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A few more thoughts in addition to my "patience" advice...

Don't chase a particular temp - if you get the cooker settled at a temperature reasonably close to the target you have in mind, leave the cooker alone rather than trying to tweak the vents to adjust that last 10° or 15° (of even 25° while you're learning the cooker). As long as you're close, it just won't make much difference in the final result and you'll feel a lot less stressed.

Don't light a big pile of charcoal in an attempt to get the cooker up to temperature quickly; you're likely to overshoot your target temp and then when you close down the vents to bring the temp down you risk snuffing the fire out. You also increase the risk of running out of charcoal before your cook is over and it's a real pain to refill most komodos. If you're using a torch to light the charcoal, light just a small area of charcoal and let the fire naturally propagate. I usually just light a half or quarter of a charcoal chimney and dump on top of the charcoal in the cooker, trying to concentrate the burning charcoal in one area rather than spreading it across all of it.

Bring the temperature up slowly and let the cooker heat soak before putting the food on. This will let the mass of the cooker help hold the temperature steady or recover to target temp when opening the lid. I have a large kamado with very thick walls and try to allow for at least an hour for it to come to to target temp and head soak before adding the food.

The advice above also holds when using a temperature controller - most controllers will run wide open when you first light your fire since you'll be way below the target temp, causing it to overshoot and shut off the fan. If you're cooker is heat soaked, the temperature will drop slowly, risking snuffing the fire; some controllers are smart enough to still pulse the fan occasionally to keep the fire from going out but then you end up never bringing the temperature down. Some controllers also attempt to "learn" the cooker and how fast it responds to the fan cycling, but cooker response will change and slow down once fully heat soaked. I limit the by either running without the controller until my cooker is 75°-100° below the target temp or setting the controller well below my actual target temp and then stepping out up several times to allow the cooker to slowly come up to temperature and heat soak. That's where having a controller that you can monitor and adjust remotely comes in handy - i can be doing other things away from the cooker while it comes up to temp.
 
I have a Vision Pro I bought in 2018? and once you follow the advice J JeffShoaf mentioned that smoker will set and forget. I do something very very similar and I've set it at 2am, and gone back to bed when I was smoking a full brisket for 12 hours or so. I've never used a temp controller but not building a big fire is great advice. I'll fill quarter to a half a chute of lump into the chimney and light that. Before you light the chimney make a bed of charcoal and wood down in the bottom. Once you dump the coals close it up and open one intake to about 2 and 3/4. The other is shut and your exhaust should be a sliver. no more than 1/8" open. Nails 235 -250 every time depending on the outside temp. In winter you'll be open to 4 (I'm in Michigan and do not mind freezing for some pulled pork in January).

The exhaust is a little gives you a lot. I would estimate every 1/8th gives you about 30 deg (roughly). The intake will give you smaller amounts of increase/decrease (maybe 10 deg for every 1/4 of the number gap). If you overshoot your desired temp it takes a looooong time to come back down.

Make sure that your intake plate is sealed nicely. I ended up modding mine with a high temp seal so it fit more tightly to the body of the smoker.

As for a new smoker....The komodo is an amazing smoker but the limitations on cooking space is an issue for me at times. That's why I'm modding an offset smoker someone donated to me and that should help when I have guests.

Hope this helps.
 
Another thing - mind the wind! Wind blowing into the air intake at the bottom can cause temperature fluctuations; less likely but also possible is wind blowing by the exhaust at the top can draw air thru as well.
 
I have had a BGE for 10 years. There is a learning curve for sure. once I get it going I can shut it down and open my vents to the appropriate temp desired, within a margin of course its not an exact science. Adjusting the air flow will take time to make a change on the temp gauge as noted above. its not instant like a gasser.
I used to reference other ppls cooks and try to mimic them but a Kamado is a different animal. One guy says he never has his top on and can get it low, where I cannot. Not even close. I know the sweet spots on my vents for my climate and conditions.
The food coming off the BGE is spectacular, if you have the patience to learn how yours works.
 
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