Hi All,
Occasional visitor, first-time poster to the forums here. I've tried with somewhat mixed success to use the Billows/Signals combo on my 18" WSM . Here's a quick recap:
Smoker metup: Billows port on lowest of three holes on one vent (tape on others, no dogbowl). Manual damper valve installed on Billows underside set at 50%, top vent at 1/8. Non-Billows lower vents closed.
1. Attempt #1 - 2.5 pork tenderloins. Fired with standard method, waited until coals all grey, assembled smoker with filled water pan. Loaded first (largest) tenderloin at 6:03, then attempted to have Billows control at 225F. Held at 219F (vs 225F setpoint), then opened top vent to ~1/3, overshot to 230F. Added other loins at 6:19, Billows stabilized at 220-221 again.

2. Attempt #2 - 3 racks ribs with 3-2-1 method. Fired ~1/2+ chimney as recommended by Thermoworks. Full charcoal chamber, made plateau with center dimple. Mounted temp probe on underside of top grate at centerline since racks took up full area of top grate. Filled H2O pan with hot water. Billows settled and held temps well at initial 190F setpoint, held decently well at second-step 225F setpoint (but with some swings), but during third step could not hold 225F. Dropped to 211 (at 6:09), recovered and overshot to 240F. When tried to crank up to 250F at end to finish ribs it was unable to, so had to finish in oven.

3. Attempt #3: two racks BRITU ribs. Top vent at 1/8, despite the recipe calling for top vent fully open. Held 225F, but no smoke from top vent at all during cook. After ~2.5hrs when time came to crank up to 265F, couldn't get above 250 even with playing with vents. Added 1/2 chimney new coals, rose to 265 but could not hold, dropped continuously to 248. Removed Billows and temp increased to finish cook. Unclear why Billows could not hold even with new coals.
4. Attempt #4: three rack BRITU ribs. Ran 235-240C manually with standard method without issues. Put billows on ~1:00 to crank up to 275F but was unable to go above 225F even with fan running continously. Pulled off and finished manually (had to add 1/2 chimney of coals; still couldn't get to 275F but chalked that up to a cold windy day).

So after four attempts I am still struggling to get the Billows system to work stably. My questions for any users with good luck out there:
1. I am assuming I should use Billows in conjunction with the charcoal chamber ring? Or does that block to oxygen injection and you should just use a pile of coals?
2. Is it typical for Billows to stabilize ~5° below setpoint? if I want to nudge it up is it better to adjust the billows damper valve, the top smoker vent, or increase setpoint in app?
3. My experience so far is it performs stably at 225F or below but struggles at 250F or higher. Is this a general observation with this setup?
4. Is it capable of reliably increasing temps from lower to higher within-cook, or is it better to run hot, then drop down and hold a single temp?
I like the concept of the system to untether myself from adjusting the smoker but frankly it's caused me more stress so far with it than without it. This seems at odds with the experience many of you have had but I'm not able to find a stable process. Thank very much for any insight or detail on your successful setup/process you can provide
Cheers,
Mike
Occasional visitor, first-time poster to the forums here. I've tried with somewhat mixed success to use the Billows/Signals combo on my 18" WSM . Here's a quick recap:
Smoker metup: Billows port on lowest of three holes on one vent (tape on others, no dogbowl). Manual damper valve installed on Billows underside set at 50%, top vent at 1/8. Non-Billows lower vents closed.
1. Attempt #1 - 2.5 pork tenderloins. Fired with standard method, waited until coals all grey, assembled smoker with filled water pan. Loaded first (largest) tenderloin at 6:03, then attempted to have Billows control at 225F. Held at 219F (vs 225F setpoint), then opened top vent to ~1/3, overshot to 230F. Added other loins at 6:19, Billows stabilized at 220-221 again.

2. Attempt #2 - 3 racks ribs with 3-2-1 method. Fired ~1/2+ chimney as recommended by Thermoworks. Full charcoal chamber, made plateau with center dimple. Mounted temp probe on underside of top grate at centerline since racks took up full area of top grate. Filled H2O pan with hot water. Billows settled and held temps well at initial 190F setpoint, held decently well at second-step 225F setpoint (but with some swings), but during third step could not hold 225F. Dropped to 211 (at 6:09), recovered and overshot to 240F. When tried to crank up to 250F at end to finish ribs it was unable to, so had to finish in oven.

3. Attempt #3: two racks BRITU ribs. Top vent at 1/8, despite the recipe calling for top vent fully open. Held 225F, but no smoke from top vent at all during cook. After ~2.5hrs when time came to crank up to 265F, couldn't get above 250 even with playing with vents. Added 1/2 chimney new coals, rose to 265 but could not hold, dropped continuously to 248. Removed Billows and temp increased to finish cook. Unclear why Billows could not hold even with new coals.
4. Attempt #4: three rack BRITU ribs. Ran 235-240C manually with standard method without issues. Put billows on ~1:00 to crank up to 275F but was unable to go above 225F even with fan running continously. Pulled off and finished manually (had to add 1/2 chimney of coals; still couldn't get to 275F but chalked that up to a cold windy day).

So after four attempts I am still struggling to get the Billows system to work stably. My questions for any users with good luck out there:
1. I am assuming I should use Billows in conjunction with the charcoal chamber ring? Or does that block to oxygen injection and you should just use a pile of coals?
2. Is it typical for Billows to stabilize ~5° below setpoint? if I want to nudge it up is it better to adjust the billows damper valve, the top smoker vent, or increase setpoint in app?
3. My experience so far is it performs stably at 225F or below but struggles at 250F or higher. Is this a general observation with this setup?
4. Is it capable of reliably increasing temps from lower to higher within-cook, or is it better to run hot, then drop down and hold a single temp?
I like the concept of the system to untether myself from adjusting the smoker but frankly it's caused me more stress so far with it than without it. This seems at odds with the experience many of you have had but I'm not able to find a stable process. Thank very much for any insight or detail on your successful setup/process you can provide
Cheers,
Mike