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Darryl.O

TVWBB Member
I'm about to use mine for the first time with my 18.5".

Wondering if anyone has any "special" settings that they've found to work well on WSM's? Or have most of you found the default settings for parameters like Offset, Proportional Band, Cycle Time, etc to be perfect?

Thanks.
 
Do you own the DIGIQ II or another one of their models. If you own the DIGIQ II just make sure you have the ramp mode turned off, or it will drive you crazy. When I first got mine, over two years now, I didn't know about it and when I did my first cooks, I kept losing pit temps once I got within 25* of my target temp. That is how it is designed so that you don't overshoot your meat temp. In other words, if you have your meat temp set at 190, once it reaches 165, the pit temp will drop so that the meat temp doesn't overshoot. It's a great feature, I just didn't know about it and there just wasn't enough info provided with the purchase. I found myself bumping up the pit temp and checking how much fuel was left in the charcoal ring. Once I found out what was going on, I reset it and have had no issues since other than a probe going goofy on me and they replaced it quickly and made sure it was calibrated and working well.
I just set it and forget it if that answers your question. I have a 4 cfm fan and leave it wide open, and just leave the top vent cracked just enough to keep the fire going, as the bottom vents are completely shut down.
 
I splurged and picked up the Procom4 so that I could carry the pendant with me and (hopefully) get some sleep. I believe the Ramp feature on it is OFF by default.
 
I have a DigiQII and have only used it twice, once on the WSM and once on my UDS. I set the dampner on the blower half open and had rock solid temps both times. I'm gonna smoke a couple of butts tonight and try my first ever overnighter.
 
Sorry Rob, but that is something that I do not know anything about. I think you can go to Guru site and download that info, but I am not sure.
 
Well.... The manual says to ENABLE ramp mode you turn the unit on with the meat probe set to anything but "OFF".

If I follow that logic then to DISABLE ramp mode you would turn the unit on with the meat probe turned fully counter clockwise (or off).

There is no manual for the Guru Competitor but I would imagine it follows the same rules.

-rob
 
Guru Competitor - I always start it with meat set to 0(ramp mode off). The time and temperature is is more traditional cook.

10CFM vents at 1/2-3/4
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Russell Y:
Guru Competitor - I always start it with meat set to 0(ramp mode off). The time and temperature is is more traditional cook.

10CFM vents at 1/2-3/4 </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Russell, I'm planning my first cook this weekend - 20+ pounds of butt - on my DigiQ DX-equipped 22.5 WSM; to avoid overshoot problems, the Guru website recommends the minion method using only 2-3 lit charcoal briquettes to start; in your (or others' - please chime in) experience, is this correct?
 
I'm sure it will avoid overshoot but it's sorta like saying I'm going to avoid a speeding ticket by pushing the car.
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Just for comparison purposes, I usually start with about 8-10 and I'm typically using a kettle which is much smaller than a 22.5 inch WSM.

I think the key to overshoot (and temp control in general) is keeping the dampers closed and keeping the damper on the fan closed as much as possible to get the job done. You'll see what I mean when you start to play with it.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Justin W:
I'm sure it will avoid overshoot but it's sorta like saying I'm going to avoid a speeding ticket by pushing the car.
icon_wink.gif


Just for comparison purposes, I usually start with about 8-10 and I'm typically using a kettle which is much smaller than a 22.5 inch WSM.

I think the key to overshoot (and temp control in general) is keeping the dampers closed and keeping the damper on the fan closed as much as possible to get the job done. You'll see what I mean when you start to play with it. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Justin, thanx for the reply - I was inclined to use more than 2-3 briquettes, as it seemed that using so few would result in it taking an hour or more to get up to temp. I think I'll try 10 to begin with, and see how that pans out...
 
I use lump charcoal and put in half a chimney of lit and dump that over a full load of charcoal for my 22.5". In the winter I use about 3/4 chinmey of lit. Takes about 10 minutes to get up to temp using my DigiQ II.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> DigiQ DX-equipped 22.5 WSM; to avoid overshoot problems, the Guru website recommends the minion method using only 2-3 lit charcoal briquettes to start </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Overshoot will happen when too many coals get lit at the same time as the WSM comes to temperature. For a long cook, it won't make much of a difference.

When you log the temps of your cook and you get an overshoot, you might think that the temp controller is not doing it's job. Maybe Guru doesn't want you to think this, so they just recommend starting with 3 lit.

I just light a bunch and let the Guru do it's work.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Ed Roach:
I use lump charcoal and put in half a chimney of lit and dump that over a full load of charcoal for my 22.5". In the winter I use about 3/4 chinmey of lit. Takes about 10 minutes to get up to temp using my DigiQ II. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanx Ed & Russell - By the way, I plan on cooking my 21 lbs. of butts tonight at 250* using the new K briquettes (don't like lump at all, but certainly no offense to you, Ed) - any suggestions as to how wide open I should set the 10 CFM blower damper on my DigiQ DX?
 
R.L. The new K blend "Competition" runs hot and burns a little faster. With a 10 CFM blower you shouldn't have any problem other than making sure there's enough fuel.

The way I use my WSM (when not in a comp) is to fill a Weber chimney like so:

1 layer of K, then fist size chunk of hickory then another layer of K. This should fill it about 3/4 of the way to the top. Start it and wait until it's just graying at the top.

Once it's lit, add a fist size chunk of maple, cherry or other fruit wood and cover that with with another 2 chimneys of K. Let it come to temp and wait until the smoke turns blue with the Guru on.

Some notes:
- Weber chimneys are much larger than the cheapo knock-offs.

- Start your butts at refrigerator temp. The reason for this is you want the best smoke ring as possible. The smoke ring formation stops at 140 degrees so the longer it takes your meat to get from start to 140 the better the more ring you'll have. It might require more time but it's worth it. You can really tell the difference cooking brisket.

-I start fat site up. This does 2 things - Allows the fat to baste the meat as it renders AND it creates grill indentations (knooks and crannies) on the meat side which are great for caramelizing your baste when you flip it. Which leads to....

- Using a 22 inch, if you are cooking all the meat on top, flip the butts fat side down about 5 hours into it and baste with your pork baste. I use a maple slather.

- Once your crust has set or about 165, baste and foil the butts fat side up, meat side down.

- At 190 remove butts from from pit and allow them to rest for about 20 minutes.

- Place them back on the smoker with no foil meat side up and baste

- Yank at 195 and place them in a hot box for 40 to 60 minutes. I use a buffet tin and a cooler.

** The above method I learned from the team that won the Jack in 2009 **

-rob
 
R L Bagwell wrote:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">any suggestions as to how wide open I should set the 10 CFM blower damper on my DigiQ DX? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I leave my 10cfm pit viper open halfway and leave the lid vent open 25%.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Ed Roach:
R L Bagwell wrote:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">any suggestions as to how wide open I should set the 10 CFM blower damper on my DigiQ DX? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I leave my 10cfm pit viper open halfway and leave the lid vent open 25%. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Great, thanx Ed - I'll use those settings for my first cook with this thingamabob...I've got everything ready to go, I'm putting them on around 8:00 PM - I'd imagine it'll be at least 14 hours for them to get close to pulling temps - Rob, thanx much for that comprehensive response - I'll incorporate most of your steps, and let y'all know how it turned out - I appreciate everyone's input!
 
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