Who uses controllers?

[coldgas]

How was your learning curve? I started using a stoker ii yesterday and did much more work then I did without it. I have a vault type smoker and it over shot the temperature past the point of getting it back down. I did the last half of my sausage cook yesterday with the door cracked open because the temp was too hot.
After the sausage cooked I ramped up the temp to 225 and put some ribs on and got the same thing. My smoker went to 265 and would not come back. I'm sure the stoker will be nice after I figure it out but I'm have to learn my smoker all over again.

 

[geezer]

I use a Cyber Q II on my kamodo grill. Its great for long cooks. I've had this unit I guess 5 years now? Its pretty well made and has put up with a bit of abuse. This photo is from a pork shoulder cook when I was just getting the shoulder on the grill. The pit is still warming up and is at 187 degrees and will be held at 225, give or take a few either side during the cook. I have the alarm for the meat probe set at 203 degrees but obviously since it just went on the IT of the shoulder is only 48 degrees. This has several hours to go. 

pork shoulder 003.JPG

• geezer
• Feb 26, 2017

It did get there tho, they always do. 

pork shoulder done 003.JPG

• geezer
• Feb 26, 2017

 

[mdboatbum]

Only thing I've had to be careful with is the placement of the temp probe. If it's too close to cold meat it throws the temp off as the unit thinks it's much cooler than it really is.

 

[dward51]

Actually the door being open may have contributed to the temp overshoot.  That is another path for oxygen/air to the fire, and more oxygen/air will generate even more heat.  It takes time, but unless you are using a smoker with a water pan (another story in physics on how they work), about the only thing you can do is throttle back on the air supply from all sources to choke back an overshoot.  This is true both with or without a fan controller.

I would close down all air inlets and let the fire start to choke back, then as the temp is falling and right at where you want it to be, crack open the air inlet that is on the controlled fan only.  It should still fall a little but the controller should take over and get back in control of the air flow and temps.  It may overshoot a bit on the rebound, but unless it really gets upwards of 50* or more over, let the controller do it's job.  Make a change, and wait at least 5 minutes to evaluate the results as fire management is like turning an ocean liner, it takes time.  Otherwise you can end up chasing a yo-yo of undershoot and overshoot temps if you don't give the fire time to settle down before you make another change.

It's a learning curve, but we all went through it (more so without a power draft controller, but the principals are the same).

I've been running a BBQ Guru DigiQ II for about 11 years now and love it.

 

[geezer]

 
Actually the door being open may have contributed to the temp overshoot.  That is another path for oxygen/air to the fire, and more oxygen/air will generate even more heat.  It takes time, but unless you are using a smoker with a water pan (another story in physics on how they work), about the only thing you can do is throttle back on the air supply from all sources to choke back an overshoot.  This is true both with or without a fan controller.

I would close down all air inlets and let the fire start to choke back, then as the temp is falling and right at where you want it to be, crack open the air inlet that is on the controlled fan only.  It should still fall a little but the controller should take over and get back in control of the air flow and temps.  It may overshoot a bit on the rebound, but unless it really gets upwards of 50* or more over, let the controller do it's job.  Make a change, and wait at least 5 minutes to evaluate the results as fire management is like turning an ocean liner, it takes time.  Otherwise you can end up chasing a yo-yo of undershoot and overshoot temps if you don't give the fire time to settle down before you make another change.

It's a learning curve, but we all went through it (more so without a power draft controller, but the principals are the same).

I've been running a BBQ Guru DigiQ II for about 11 years now and love it.

Sounds right Dave. Anymore when starting up a cook I'll let the fan get things close to the desired temp and then unplug it for about 20 minutes. This has helped a lot with run away fires which I've only ever experienced early in a cook. From there I just adjust the top damper slightly as needed. 

 

[joakimericsson]

How was your learning curve? I started using a stoker ii yesterday and did much more work then I did without it. I have a vault type smoker and it over shot the temperature past the point of getting it back down. I did the last half of my sausage cook yesterday with the door cracked open because the temp was too hot. 
After the sausage cooked I ramped up the temp to 225 and put some ribs on and got the same thing. My smoker went to 265 and would not come back. I'm sure the stoker will be nice after I figure it out but I'm have to learn my smoker all over again.
 

 

[coldgas]

Thanks for the replies. I'm going to try it again this weekend. I think I'll choose a piece of meat that its,ik if it over shoots some and just let the stoker do its thing without me having to interfere. This way maybe I can get a better idea of how it works and also let the stoker learn my pit. I don't believe I gave it a chance to learn but I also had a batch of sausage in that I couldn't afford to let it learn my pit.

 

[geezer]

 
How was your learning curve? I started using a stoker ii yesterday and did much more work then I did without it. I have a vault type smoker and it over shot the temperature past the point of getting it back down. I did the last half of my sausage cook yesterday with the door cracked open because the temp was too hot. 
After the sausage cooked I ramped up the temp to 225 and put some ribs on and got the same thing. My smoker went to 265 and would not come back. I'm sure the stoker will be nice after I figure it out but I'm have to learn my smoker all over again.
 

What did your fuel set up look like at the beginning of the cook?

When I start out in my kamodo I build it like this:

h upmann ribs ect 012.JPG

• geezer
• Feb 28, 2017

If you'll notice there is just a small bit of charcoal burning there on the left. Also, the burning charcoal is well out of the main draft of the blower. Once everything is settled in and the dampers are set and everything stays closed up the fire will slowly burn across the provided fuel and will usually stay within 5 to 10 degrees of the setting on the controller. 

The only time I've had issues with a run away fire was at the out set of a cook. My habit these days is to let it get going a bit and then unplug the blower and let the heat rise in a slow fashion as opposed to the blower getting it there in a hurry. I find the blower is much better suited to maintaining a temp range vs getting up to a temp from scratch. Usually I let it run a few minutes at the very start and then unplug it for 20 or so minutes and let it settle in and then plug it back in for the hours on auto-pilot.

 

[coldgas]

What did your fuel set up look like at the beginning of the cook?

When I start out in my kamodo I build it like this:

h upmann ribs ect 012.JPG

• geezer
• Feb 28, 2017

If you'll notice there is just a small bit of charcoal burning there on the left. Also, the burning charcoal is well out of the main draft of the blower. Once everything is settled in and the dampers are set and everything stays closed up the fire will slowly burn across the provided fuel and will usually stay within 5 to 10 degrees of the setting on the controller. 
The only time I've had issues with a run away fire was at the out set of a cook. My habit these days is to let it get going a bit and then unplug the blower and let the heat rise in a slow fashion as opposed to the blower getting it there in a hurry. I find the blower is much better suited to maintaining a temp range vs getting up to a temp from scratch. Usually I let it run a few minutes at the very start and then unplug it for 20 or so minutes and let it settle in and then plug it back in for the hours on auto-pilot.

I usually make a level basket and leave room for a chimney load of lit charcoal on the side of my inlet. I've tried the minion method and it never got hot enough. Are you saying start the fire opposite of the intake and see if that works.
Here is a picture of my rig.

20170226_170257.jpg

• coldgas
• Feb 28, 2017

 

[coldgas]

This is how I usually load the basket.

20170204_115437.jpg

• coldgas
• Feb 28, 2017

 

[geezer]

This is how I usually load the basket.

20170204_115437.jpg

• coldgas
• Feb 28, 2017

Yeah your setup is a bit different since I'm using a kamodo.

But the main thing is to not have the blower blowing directly on the lit charcoal early. With my set up the lit charcoal is to the left of the opening the blower is mounted in.

The only time I've had a fire run was early in the cook when the controller via the blower was trying to get the temp up too quickly. So, upon start up I give a short blast with the blower to just get it going, then unplug the blower and let it slowly get up to temp on its own. Once everything has settled in (usually about 20 or so minutes) I then plug the blower back in so it can give the fire the occasional puff of air. I've found this works very well with my set up.

 

[coldgas]

I'm at it again. This time I put a new gasket on the firebox door and loaded everything as normal. I had an overshoot due to the firebox door coming open a couple of times and now it seems to have lined out since getting that problem fixed. WiFi is now hooked up and logging on my laptop with stoker log. This is pretty cool!

 

[lu1847]

Just using my digiq 2 for the first time today. I'm about 2hrs into a smoke now and according to my maverick it's staying 5-10* to where it is set.

 

[geezer]

I'm at it again. This time I put a new gasket on the firebox door and loaded everything as normal. I had an overshoot due to the firebox door coming open a couple of times and now it seems to have lined out since getting that problem fixed. WiFi is now hooked up and logging on my laptop with stoker log. This is pretty cool!

Cool. Sounds like once you get the airflow under control you'll be set. 

Those Stokers are nice units, I had seriously considered one when I got my Cyber Q unit, but didn't because I didn't know anyone who had one. I know 3 other guys locally running the CQ rigs.

So I guess the real question is, Coldgas, what are you smoking? 

 

[geezer]

Just using my digiq 2 for the first time today. I'm about 2hrs into a smoke now and according to my maverick it's staying 5-10* to where it is set.

Lets us know how the session goes. 

 

[coldgas]

Cool. Sounds like once you get the airflow under control you'll be set. Thumbs Up

Those Stokers are nice units, I had seriously considered one when I got my Cyber Q unit, but didn't because I didn't know anyone who had one. I know 3 other guys locally running the CQ rigs.

So I guess the real question is, Coldgas, what are you smoking? :439:

We are having a birthday party for my daughter tonight and she requested pulled pork.

 

[geezer]

We are having a birthday party for my daughter tonight and she requested pulled pork.

Nice. 

 

[coldgas]

Just using my digiq 2 for the first time today. I'm about 2hrs into a smoke now and according to my maverick it's staying 5-10* to where it is set.

Mine straightened out after fixing the door. It over shot 6 degrees but came back in.

tapatalk_1488736764623.jpeg

• coldgas
• Mar 5, 2017