Pitminder questions after first cook


 

Mike Parrish

TVWBB Member
I got my pitminder on Friday and decided to do two butts and some fatties for saturday. Used MM and put on about 15 bricks then set unit for 240 deg. with probe thru block of wood on top rack. The unit eventually stopped running the fan around 170 deg. per my Tel Tru in dome. I finally had to open the other bottom vents to get temp up to 240 deg. then the unit would cycle the fan and maintained that temp. Should I have ran the temp up to 240 manually then started the pitminder or should the unit have brought the cooker up to temp then maintain? Can I verify probe accuracy on the pitminder? My top vent was 100% open the whole cook. I guess I'm asking for a short course on a typical pitminder cook, perhaps I am missing something obvious. Foil tape used on two remaining holes on bottom vent, 40 deg. outside temp.
 
There are a lot of possibilities. First, the Pitminder isn't great for setting the absolute temp on the dial. It can vary from a thermometer. However, it is usually excellent at holding a temp. There are two ways you might want to consider to go.
First, you could place the Pitminder probe in the same location as your temperature probe and see what the difference is and use that an adjustment offset for your Pitminder dial. For example if you have a dial thermometer you run through the top that you trust, wrap the Pitminder probe to it. Move the Pitminder dial to the place where the fan seems to go on an off and the temp stays pretty good. That would give the offset. Then you could apply for puting the Pitminder probe at meat level or wherever.
Another method would be to set it up the way you did and adjust the Pitminder until it keeps the lid temperature you want.
With the Pitminder, or any fan-controlled unit, you do not want to have to open the top and bottom vents the way you did. My guess is that the natural draft was was what was keeping your temps up when you opened the vents.
If your WSM is reasonably tight, if all vents are closed or taped so that the only air inlet is controlled by the fan, and the top vent is open only say 1/4 of the way, you should be able to anticipate that the top rack temp is within 15 or 20 degrees of the lid temp. I would try this setup, which I have used very successfully for a few years now, and adjust the dial on the Pitminder until it keeps the lid temp at 240 degrees, if that's what you want. Once it settles down, I would be surprised if the dial and the thermometer were as far apart as your experience was. If it is, you might want to call the Guru people.
Unless there was a lot of wind, it shouldn't be hard to stabilize the temps at the termps you are talking about.
I hope that helps.
 
Mike, The pitminder should bring the cooker to temp on its own. Your top vent should be shut tight to the stem of you dome thermometer, that's all the opening you need. You want it sealed up enough that the guru has to push the air out, this prevents the cooker from drawing air through the fan opening when the fan isn't running and over heating the cooker. My procedure using the guru is to fill the coal ring with as much as you can, light it in a couple places with a MAAP torch, assemble the cooker with a foil lined empty water pan, set the temp on the guru and let it come to temp, then add the food. -RP
 
Someone mentioned that you do not open the top of your grill all the way when running a fan. Is this true??? I thought you want to have a good flow of air out of the smoker so you do not get a build up of the nasty cresote.

Rick
 
My vote is to always leave the top vent completely open and to keep all of the bottom vents closed when using a Guru.
 
The fan forces air into the system, so you don't need to establish a draft, just enough open on the top vent to let some out. You want to be able to have exhaust, but you don't want more heat escape than necessary. The Guru jacket essentially places a cover over the whole WSM and lets it force the smoke out the bottom. In actuality, the top vent opening may not make too much difference, unless you have a breeze. Then I think you'd notice a difference in how much charcoal you'd burn.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Ricklynch:
Someone mentioned that you do not open the top of your grill all the way when running a fan. Is this true??? I thought you want to have a good flow of air out of the smoker so you do not get a build up of the nasty cresote.

Rick </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Rick, I leave my top vent wide open when smoking bacon, due to the moisture and the amount of smoke wood used. All other cooks with the Comeptitor I close the top vent to 1/3 rd open. HTH
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Smoked the brisket fri. night with so-so results. Used MM with 15 bricks. Left bottom vents open 100% except for pitminder inserted one. Ran temp up to 250 deg on my Tel-Tru mounted in dedicated hole in dome then clipped PM probe to the Tel-Tru probe. I kept the dome vent less than 25% open after smoker was up to temp. PM probe was tested with boiling water and was ok but when I connected to the Tel-Tru stem, the PM needed to be raised 50 deg. higher on the dial to not cycle @ 250 deg. I don't really care where I have to place the dial so long as I know the true temp of smoker.
Smoker ran steady for about three hours then I went to sleep. Woke up about four hours later and checked smoker and temps were down to 170 deg at dome. PM fan was running continuously so I stirred coals and went back to bed for a few more hours. Couple hours later I had to add coal and bring temp up to finish the cook.
I thought that the PM was suppose to conserve fuel? I am wishing now that I would have went with the 10cm fan because it appears that the 4cm fan cannot keep up but enough air is being passed to consume an entire ring of fuel.
Within the last several months I have been trending towards less smoke wood, using three sub fist sized pieces of hickory and cherry on this cook, and found this brisket way too smoky than usual. Could this be because of restricting the top vent? I placed the PM adapter in the bottom hole of one of the bottom vents because of the PM directions but notice that their pic shows the adapter placed in the top right hole of bottom vent as does the other pics I have found here. Can this make a difference?
I have used my WSM for 4 years now and the only rare problem I have is trying to keep temps down from leaks in cooker. Now I am having the opposite problem. I'll try one more cook this weekend with two huge butts and see if I can make sense of my problem then I guess I'll call Guru if I am still having problems, unless anyone can suggest a solution.
 
Hi Mike,

I've never heard of leaving the bottom vents open with the Pitminder, or with any fan system. Even with the smaller fan, the Pitminder should provide enough air. It should also use less fuel, and certainly not more. I'm sure you've checked it, but the damper on the Pitminder should be open. With bottom vents closed and top vent 1/4 open, the Pitminder should handle the WSM without much trouble.
 
i use the pitminder and 4cfm fan and have no problems. as stated earlier, you can't really trust the dial numbers on the pitminder. i just use them as a general guideline. on mine 240 is usually 225 according to my maverick et-73 that sits right next to the minder probe. that is on a mild day. if the outside temp is higher, 225 is usually near 225. i just keep tweaking the dial either way until the temp stabalizes where i want it. usually an hour after i start it's good for all night. i rarely have to add lump unless the cook is over 15 hours.
 
Hopefully this is the right button to ask some questions. Heres a tough one for everyone. I on friday recieved a pitminder with a 10 cfm pitviper (I beleive it's called) for my WSM. I was used to about a 7 degree difference here and there for cooking without one and I guess about 1 or 2 trips down the stairway to check on and adjust my cooker. I really did my homework on the "guru" stuff, followed every direction, and things on this web site, and other websites, and all that good stuff, and then some, before I decided to purchase one. It sounds like a great product. Anyway basicly i'm stumped so I will just describe everything I did last night when I wanted to fire up a briskit and someone let me know what the heck is wrong. I prepared briskit and fired about half chimney starter of kingsford briq's. I do use water so I got some boiling for my pan. Little later I go down and fill the ring up w/ charcoal and I guess about 3 chunks of very dry cherry and some storebought in a bag 2 smaller chunks of Hickory, maybe 3. I say extra dry Cherry cause it is off of a stump in my old man's orchard, been there a while. Everythings perfect and i just hang out till 11 p.m. just to make sure (the whole "guru" is new to me and I didn't trust it.) for 1 and a half hours, no lie it was stuck dead on 231, super sweet. First time ever I go to sleep... ALL night. Well my thermometer of all the times that it had worked great, lost signal and contact outside. Anyway I wake up and its at 280, and i didn't know (thermometer died) and I guess thats not super hot but to me it's definatly not the best. Actually to me thats pretty bad. I feel like it may have stayed closer to 230 w/ out the guru. Heres the funny part. I decided to keep it goin and stabilized it and the REST OF THE DAY it would be really really good at about 229 to maybe 234 or so, and then all the sudden for about 30-45 minutes It would flare to 250 and sometimes well past. and then back to perfect again... I'm not even touching it or nothing. I dont know if its me or what but I ussually have nothing like that happen and have also never read anything like that... by the way my briskit's been way better, she was a little stiff and dry. (haha).
 
Dan,

I use a DigiQ, but with a foiled pan without water... It's not required. How long was your cook? Any charcoal left at the end of the cook? Was the water pan empty?

Bob W.
 
Well this particular cook lasted from about 10:00 pm through the night till about 2 or 2:30 next day. I just looked at my charcoal thats left and of all the bits and pieces there's probably the equivalent of maybe 30? or so whole briquettes, just about like there ussually is. And the water pan was empty at 6 am the next morning, and refilled again and lasted rest of day but almost all gone again. I kind of left out a few things like that the damper on the blower i left about a little more then halfway closed. My top vent about 2/3rds closed. (not sure why) A paper that came w/ it said that may be a good starting point for a medium sized cooker with the 10fmc or ac or whatever blower. So i assumed maybe the wsm is a medium size, i dont know. I also relized that I kind of buried 2 or three of the wood chunks in the charcoal pile this time and I've never done that before. always would set them on top... what do you think? I dont know why, guess since im new to this stuff it made me feel cool. maybe some effect on temp and i wont next time? I'de like to see a few more responses and stuff but I will surely try absolutely no water if you think it will help. I feel like I cant be the only one w/ this problem and maybe i missed something on this site somewhere. I dont get to technical with all the "do's and dont's" and rules and myths and contraversy's I always read about, I just love bbq, but I just had started using water since i got it and just really thought all my things were turning out really good esp. briskit so i never changed. Basicly i figured it was worth the money for being able to sleep and still have nice fresh briskit for birthday party's or bbq's or dinner. Just would like any info on a sure fire way to get this to work or i'll return it cause im not rich anyway. Im glad I logged on here because, not to offend anyone, but there customer service stinks so bad in my opinion. 4 phone's and nothing each time. Morning, noon, night, weekday, weekend, NOTHING and nobody to talk to or return a call. I'll check this in a few days and thanks for the help, appreciate it very much
 
Dan, I don't have a Digi but do have another brand of automatic draft control system. Everything I've read is to run dry as your Digi controls the temp of your smoker and does not require a heat sink. I read one thread that suggested a heat sink can actually throw your system off. Shotgun Fred has a post on this on BBQGURU.com.

Also, I don't start off with as many lit coals as you do and i run my top vent about 1/4 open. A buddy of mine has the Digi and runs his system exactly the same way, his works like a dream.

Hope this helps.
 
Next time don't put water in the pan. Just foil the pan and place it in the WSM.

I have the DigiQ with a 10cfm fan. When I am using the Guru the bottom vents on the WSM are closed, and the top vent is set at about 25%. The dampner on the fan is set at 50%. We did pork butts last weekend and during the 11 hours of cooking the temp did not vary more than a degree or two.

What were the winds like when you were cooking?
 
finished 33 lbs of pork butt saturday afternoon and still had trouble keeping temps up. There was a pretty good breeze during cook and normally that would mean keeping an eye out for spiking temps unless I have this stainless contraption sticking out of the side of my wsm.
Dropped to 220 during the night then to 120 at dawn so I refilled ring, having just enough lit coal to re light ring after 11 hours and basically had to run smoker with bottom vents open to keep lid temp @ 250. I even cut the foil tape from the two other holes on guru installed vent.
I used water on all my cooks and guess I will try next week with just foil but I can't imagine that that would cause my problems. The only thing I can say positive about this guru so far is that I'm pretty sure I won't be overheating my smoker anytime soon. This was also the most meat I have cooked on my wsm at one time.
 
Mike,

Water may be your problem. I have a DigiQ and never use water in the pan. All you need is a empty foiled water pan. Keep your bottom vents taped shut, your top ~1/4 open, a full ring of charcoal, and your all set. If you have the 10CFM fan, close it down to half. That's the way I do it with my DigiQ and have had no problems.

Bob W.
 
Well you guys know your stuff. I cooked a couple of racks of bb ribs this morning mostly just for the reason to try no water and figure out my pitminder. Honestly it really was sweet and I think i'de like to keep it now. within 5 degrees whole time. If I had to guess on my own w/ out knowing its almost like maybe the humidity affects the thermometer or something, kind of like you said, beats me. Will I notice a difference in food w/ out using water? I didn't really w/ the ribs but w/ other things, maybe long cooks? and one more new question. Now I wonder what "was" the PRIMARY job of the water pan filled before I bought the unit. I thought I used to know and now I don't, my ribs were fine w/ out water...? For Mike I'm not a pro so you can count on my honesty and dumbness, but I feel like my wsm worked great before i had a pitminder and I did cook enough things I feel like I knew its limits pretty much, and like you one time i fully fully loaded that thing for a birthday pary, something like 8 or 9 racks and a darn big briskit, i had like two ribs laying on top of rest in the rib rack, and one next to briskit, couldn't get lid on, gees.... anyway all was good till I added all the ribs and that poor thing wouldn't get past 197 or so at full throttle, but it was kinda fun. But yours is esp, strange sounding with your fan on and all that, but the water thing these other guys suggested sure seemed to do something for me. I also didn't dump in near as much lit coal this time, maybe 16 or 17 pieces to start. Use to use half a chimney. I'm pry no help at all, but the no water worked for me also. more heat, consistincy, and all that. Thanks again, good luck.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dan H.:
Will I notice a difference in food w/ out using water? I didn't really w/ the ribs but w/ other things, maybe long cooks? and one more new question. Now I wonder what "was" the PRIMARY job of the water pan filled before I bought the unit. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Dan, The primary job of water in the water pan is for a heat sink. With water in the pan it helps with keeping the temps low in the WSM. With the Pitminder, no water is needed. Just think like the Pitminder replaces the water to a degree. With water in the pan it's hard to get high temps in the WSM. Not to mention it takes alot of fuel to keep that water @ 212 degrees.
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