ATC Recommendation


 
B

B Frosolone

New member
Hi Everyone,

Can anyone make a recommendation of either a PartyQ, NanoQ or DigiQ? I like the middle of the line NanoQ, but am not sure if I am missing any better features of the DigiQ. I do not do competitions, mainly because I live in Connecticut, but would like to keep my options open for the future without having to write a financial justification to the boss.

Thanks

Brian
 
For me, being able to monitor the ATC remotely, either inside the house or out-and-about from my smart phone, is the most important feature.

I have 9-10 year old original BBQ Guru that has no networking. To monitor it, I'd setup a baby monitor inside so I could hear the guru alarm if it went off.

Couple years ago I bought a Stoker w/wired ethernet. There's a 3rd party Windows client that's great for monitoring inside and I map the Stoker http port to an outside port so I can access the Stoker page from anywhere on my smart phone.

Both unit work great as ATC, so not pushing one or the other. Monitoring via network is important to me though. BBQ Guru and Rock's both have wireless models now also.

That's my 2 cents.
 
Brian, I've had the DigiQ DX for a number of years now - used exclusively on my 22.5 WSM - and have had nothing but good results with it. Given the fact that my cooks are normally started at night, right before turning in, and performed on my attached, screened-in porch, I don't really see a need for a wi-fi feature.
 
you may want to do a supervised cook the first time. I borrowed a IQ110 and I had to do some tweaking to the exhaust vent and tape off some inlet as it had a tendency to overshoot and not be able to pull its self back down to temp with the top vent wide open. I know the guru has a dampener on the fan that may need to be tuned to your pit before your truly set it n forget it
 
Chris is right; to avoid overshoots, I set my damper to half-open (I have the 10 CFM fan), and use the stainless steel conduit plugs - they fit perfectly and I found 'em at Lowe's (you may wish to search the forum for this discussion) rather than the heat-resistant tape to seal up the bottom vent holes. Finally, just barely crack open the top top vent, about the thickness of a penny. Do this, and you never should have a problem in that regard.
 
So I went with 2 racks of baby backs. I started with a dozen lit Kingsford Blue and a full ring of unlit. I set the unit to 235, but it overshot about 30 minutes in to 260 and stayed there for most of the cook. I tinkered around with the top vent and the damper, ended up going 1/3 open on the damper and the top vent slightly open. I am probably going to try 8 lit next time and start the damper at 1/3 instead of 1/2. About 7 hours in after cranking it down to 150, I reset it to 275 and it got there and held for about an hour. Overall I'm pretty happy with it. Thanks again for all the help.

Brian
 
Over shooting the temp will happen when trying to increase temp a large amount. I always step up to the target cooking temp. If I'm shooting for 235, I'll first set to 175 and see where it peaks. It will overshoot 175, to 200 or maybe even 225. Let it settle a few minutes, then step up no more than 25 degrees at a time, letting it peak each time until I reach the target temp.
 
R L Bagwell said:
Chris is right; to avoid overshoots, I set my damper to half-open (I have the 10 CFM fan), and use the stainless steel conduit plugs - they fit perfectly and I found 'em at Lowe's (you may wish to search the forum for this discussion) rather than the heat-resistant tape to seal up the bottom vent holes. Finally, just barely crack open the top top vent, about the thickness of a penny. Do this, and you never should have a problem in that regard.
Click to expand...

As R L and Chris suggest, you do have to learn to use the DX2's damper to adapt to different cook temps, loads, and conditions. It's important to consider the "passive" draft that's flowing into the cooker through the fan when the fan's not running; regulating the passive draft is where the damper really becomes useful. In summer with a light load of just a couple racks of baby backs, I'll typically run with the damper only 1/4 to 1/3 open with the 10 cfm blower; if I open it all the way the passive draft will take the temp up to 300 without the fan ever running. Yesterday, at 45 degrees with a 20 pound turkey aboard, I ran wide open with the 25 cfm fan to keep the WSM 22.5 at 325 degrees. If you learn how to use the damper and build your fire right, the DX2 will take care of the rest.

I try to set the damper so as to achieve a fan cycle of 30-40%. That way the DX2 can adapt to the natural fluctuations of the fire. If I'm using the ramp feature, which I don't do that often, I shoot for a 40-50% fan cycle so the DX2 can throttle down and let the cooker temp drop.

Since you're in a colder climate, as I am, you may want to buy or build some form of insulation or shelter for your WSM. I've got a BBQ Guru smoker jacket for my 18.5, and it definitely makes it easier to hit and hold the temperature you're shooting for. I use a lot less coal and smoke wood for a given cook, and I prefer to cook over cooler coals rather than have the DX2 running wide-open and full blast for the entire cook.

As a bunch of threads on this forum point out, skip the water in the pan with the DX2 or any other ATC.

I never close my top vent unless I've really over-fired my WSM and need to reel it in, but YMMV.

Enjoy your DigiQ! You've entered a whole new level of cooking now.
 
Conduit Plugs?

R L Bagwell said:
Chris is right; to avoid overshoots, I set my damper to half-open (I have the 10 CFM fan), and use the stainless steel conduit plugs - they fit perfectly and I found 'em at Lowe's (you may wish to search the forum for this discussion) rather than the heat-resistant tape to seal up the bottom vent holes. Finally, just barely crack open the top top vent, about the thickness of a penny. Do this, and you never should have a problem in that regard.
Click to expand...

So do you close 2 of the bottom vents 100% - closed, and the 3rd vent (the one you attach your Guru to)
is closed 50%? I can understand how heat tape would hold the vent closed 50%, but no sure about the
conduit plugs doing it. Can you please tell me what a conduit plug is?

Also, whenever I have closed 2 vents and only run with one bottom vent, my WSM seems to heat uneven.
Do you find this with the Guru? Also, when I had closed my lid vent 50% or so, I've gotten a creosote
buildup on the inside of my lid, and at the bottom of the lid making removal of the lid difficult. Does this
happen when you cut down the top vent with the Guru?
 
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