top vent position w/ guru


 
Chris Bjork

Chris Bjork

TVWBB Fan
How does everyone run their top vent with an ATC? Ive done 2 cooks with a Pitmaster and I had to close down the top vent 80% to prevent overshoots. my 2 cooks with the guru Ive had the vent wide open and struggled to reach temps (250, empty waterpan). Is it possible that Im not achieving temps because of the vent being open? to me it would seem like a simple equation of Lit+O2=temp. Maybe I just didnt have enough lit? took close to 45min to go from 200 to 250 last cook. seemed a little odd.

veteran naturally aspirated cooker. n00b ATC guy
 
I recently got a DigiQ, first run, overshot it bad. Since then, I learned to only use 8 lit coals on a full ring (I have an 18.5) and close the top vent about 80%. It takes a little longer to get up to temp, but once it is there it is rock solid. I do not use water, I switched to a clay saucer foiled in a foiled pan now. Good luck.
 
On one hand you want to get to proper temperature faster, on the other hand you want to not overshoot.

On long cooks, I lite some coals, close my eyes and come back in an hour and see how close I am to temperature. Coming up slow and taking a long time or coming up fast with an overshoot on a long cook eventually balances out in the long run with maybe with a little bit longer/shorter cook time.
 
Chris Bjork said:
How does everyone run their top vent with an ATC? Ive done 2 cooks with a Pitmaster and I had to close down the top vent 80% to prevent overshoots. my 2 cooks with the guru Ive had the vent wide open and struggled to reach temps (250, empty waterpan). Is it possible that Im not achieving temps because of the vent being open? to me it would seem like a simple equation of Lit+O2=temp. Maybe I just didnt have enough lit? took close to 45min to go from 200 to 250 last cook. seemed a little odd.

veteran naturally aspirated cooker. n00b ATC guy
Click to expand...

Chris,

I seldom have to mess with the top vent during a cook unless I've really over-fired the WSM and I need to reel it in. And even if I'm shooting for 225 degrees, I always use a full chimney of lit for a Minion start. Dumb questioni: you do have the damper fully open on your blower when you're starting out, right?

Also, being a fellow St. Paulite, we have to allow for cold weather. I ran the 25 cfm blower yesterday and held 325 degrees in the garage with no problem. And I've found in cooler weather that I'm able to hit and hold temps more easily with lump than with briquettes. YMMV.
 
I run mine fully open for my partyq. I do try to let the wsm get somewhat close to temp before switching on the guru.
 
This is the very reason I got back to basics (aka naturally aspirated). I have a pitmaster and never was happy with how it managed the fire. ...so I learned how to make a clean burning fire that holds steady temps using nothing but the bottom vents. I know that's not the answer you're looking for but it's the solution I came up with for the same issues you're having. ...and it didn't involve buying another gadget.
 
I use a Stoker and my top vent is almost always about 25% open. I typically use a full ring of charcoal, with about 20-30 lit coals on top. Set the Stoker to 25 degrees below target temp and let it go. Once it gets to the set temp. I bump it up another 25 degrees to my target temp. It usually takes about 15-20 minutes total to get up to target temp and I've ran it for over 24 hours on a very full ring without adding any charcoal. I hardly ever have overshoots, and I don't mess with the vents (bottom vents closed all the way except for where the fan is attached, top vent at 25%) at all during the cook.
 
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