Post your live HeaterMeter Cooks


 
RWilloughby said:
And it went out again with plenty of lump left. I've reset it and building the temp back up...
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It looks like your blower, is underpowered for your smoker. What are you using? Either that you don't have the exhaust vent open enough to let the air out and your blower is pressurizing the smoking chamber.
 
John Bostwick said:
It looks like your blower, is underpowered for your smoker. What are you using? Either that you don't have the exhaust vent open enough to let the air out and your blower is pressurizing the smoking chamber.
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I'm using one of the original microdampers. I was reading on that thread that they switched fans, so may need to look into that. My exhaust vent was open 2/3 of the way.
 
John Bostwick said:
It looks like your blower, is underpowered for your smoker. What are you using? Either that you don't have the exhaust vent open enough to let the air out and your blower is pressurizing the smoking chamber.
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Probably not. It's a Kamado. Really don't even need a fan, only a Damper. Fan is good as backup to control the "hick-ups".
 
WBegg said:
Probably not. It's a Kamado. Really don't even need a fan, only a Damper. Fan is good as backup to control the "hick-ups".
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I can say the same for my UDS, but if the blower is not raising the temp, then it's underpowered. Unless he has so much ash build up that it is blocking the inlet.

I have perfect control of my UDS without a blower, if I set the inlet valve correctly(my weber lid is always open all the way) and start enough coals, I can hold a steady temp all day and night, without touching it. But, If I put my blower on it and I don't correctly set the blower speed, then my UDS won't hold temp and will drop below 200.

Looking at his graph while he was smoking, I can tell the blower, in this case, a fan was either underpowered, inlet was plugged up or outlet was closed down way to much.
 
John Bostwick said:
I can say the same for my UDS, but if the blower is not raising the temp, then it's underpowered. Unless he has so much ash build up that it is blocking the inlet.

I have perfect control of my UDS without a blower, if I set the inlet valve correctly(my weber lid is always open all the way) and start enough coals, I can hold a steady temp all day and night, without touching it. But, If I put my blower on it and I don't correctly set the blower speed, then my UDS won't hold temp and will drop below 200.

Looking at his graph while he was smoking, I can tell the blower, in this case, a fan was either underpowered, inlet was plugged up or outlet was closed down way to much.
Click to expand...

i would agree with outlet (top damper) closed too much.
 
RWilloughby, I didn't get to see your graph, but I do know you have a very early prototype and an incorrect fan (you were one of the first to give it a try!). Things have changed a little bit since then. Shoot me an email and I'll hook you up
 
Hey Guys,
Here is my first official cook, 1.8kg Pork Shoulder covered with Memphis dust and smoke with apple wood done on my Weber 22" kettle with a Smokenator and a heater meter with a Microdamper.
I don't think I've quite got my fan settings right so if you see something weird let me know.

And special thanks to SteveCK for all his help getting it assembled!

http://bbq.dumbar.net:889

2017-01-21%2007.31.24.jpg

Heatermeter%20settings.PNG
 
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Thanks, that microdamper is just awesome! I can believe how accurate this system is.
I've played with a few settings but nothing seems to have been an improvement yet so I set it back but its really going great.
 
When I first checked you were plus/minus less than 1 degree. Since then you've had some bumps in there, but plus/minus 4 or 5 isn't bad at all on your first run. It's certainly holding temperature better than your kitchen oven can do. If I were you, I wouldn't even bother messing with the settings. Just sit back, relax, have some beer and bbq!
 
haha yeah thinks have been misbehaving but I think I've worked out why.

The first fan spike was because I had the top vent closed way to much, once I worked that out it came right.

The second I believe is because of my fan location - my vent is directly below the charcoal and has a elbow on the end to stop ash going down, its causing the charcoal on one side to burn hot while the other side isn't burning that well if at all. Once I mixed the charcoal from both sides it came back to temp. I think to resolve this I will move the charcoal to the other side, I think that will mean its slower to respond to temp changes as it wont be blowing on the coals but that not a big deal.

Third was cause I needed to top up the charcoal, which I should have done earlier.

Besides that its all going great, cant wait for it to finish.
 
Another 9 lb pork butt. Cold and very windy. We'll see how it goes.

http://hmbbq.servebeer.com/

HM 4.2.4 with adapt-a-damper on Chargriller Akorn.

OH, and 25 mph winds with 50 mph gusts currently. No real effect on the temps.
 
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The Akorn is a great cooker isn't? I've done plenty of cooks in mine in windy weather, and it doesn't even blink!
 
Pre-Blizzard 9 pound brisket on the Akorn with RotoDamper keeping things in check.

http://phillip.is-a-geek.net:56789/

And here is how we ended up:

Pgtxa3t.jpg



For the most part, things were smooth. The wind kicked up quite a bit today and that was responsible for the bulk of the fluctuations. The damper-side happened to be facing the wind and I didn't want to shift the grill owing to the water pan inside. This created a second stall, but after probing it a couple of times, it felt great and I pulled it at 198º for resting.
 
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