If it ain't broke...

[Firemonkey]

I saw a bumper sticker recently that said "if it ain't broke, fix it til It is".

That about sums up my cook last night. I lit the grill and let it come up to temp slowly, natural draft, in preparation for an overnight butt. It was a quiet still night, and the smoke was rolling down the sides of the grill almost like waves over a waterfall as they came out the grill and cooled off.

Once it was up to temp, I closed the lower vent, closed the top all but the slightest crack, and turned on the stoker. Rock steady temps were insured now. Loaded up the butt:

Cleaned up the pan, listened to a little music and finished my drink while I smelled the peach and pecan floating on the air, and went to bed. Didn't think anything else about the butt - it would be ready sometime this afternoon.

When I got up, I walked past my iPad, which had the Pit Pal app running and logging the cook, and remembered I had food on the grill. Then I realized that the iPad was showing a notification that said "error communicating with stoker". I went outside to find the stoker completely turned off! The irrigation had come on at 6 am and the other device I had plugged into the grill outlet got wet and tripped the gfci. I checked the log in the iPad and it had been off for about 4 hours! I popped the grill open to have a look:

So the device that I used to insure my cook, ended up hindering my cook. Had I set the grill for natural draft it would have held the temp just fine, but I added an extra moving part, and it backfired. With the stoker the grill is closed up too tight to draft naturally, so the grill was down to about 150. I stuck the tip of the torch down though the hinged grate, lit a spot in the lump, and set the stoker for 250.

Despite the fire going out, the meat was at about 145, so it cooked a few more hours, and I bumped it up to 275 for a final couple hours, then pulled this off when it reached 250 degrees:

15 hours total, 4 hours with the fire out, for an 8.5# butt. In the end, no harm done, the butt was amazing after resting in foil/towels/cooler for a couple hours.

Gadgets are fun, but there's definitely something to be said for "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

[ckreef]

Good story, glad it had a happy ending.

So far I'm had very stable results with using just the vents. Doubt I'll ever spend the money on a controller.

Charles - Prometheus 16.5", Cassiopeia 19" TT

[MacKenzie]

It sure is an advantage to having such a well insulated grill that kept the meat out of the danger zone and made the rescue possible.

[Jon B.]

My controller sits on the shelf getting dusty!!!  

 

I drink a big glass of water before bed on overnight cooks and then check the cooker when I get up to go to the restroom.  Make any necessary adjustments and go back to bed. 

 

I found I was checking on the controller more than natural draft cooks.

[Firemonkey]

Yeah, I find that too sometimes if the controller is running during long daytime cooks, I do a lot more fiddling and checking on things. 

 

The controller is useful when I am out and about running errands, so I can monitor things from afar.

 

I don't generally set any alerts or alarms on the stoker, or through any of the apps I use, but perhaps I should start?  Surprisingly, PitPal - the most useful of the apps I've found so far - doesn't have a setting to alarm if the controller goes unreachable for a period of time.  It has low/high temp alarms on any probe you want, but I don't think they would alarm if the connection was lost (haven't tested to be sure though).   It does have a cloud servicethat it uses  to keep polling and logging the controller even when the app is back-grounded, so if the feature is an oversight, it shouldn't be hard to implement.

[CeramicChef]

I've got a controller, but it mostly sits idle.  I've found the KK to be so rock steady that I only drag out my puffer when I've got really mission critical cooks that will take hours when I'm unavailable to monitor a cook.  I like the security I feel it gives me.  

[tony b]

I'm using my Guru less and less lately and my Maverick more. I've never used the Guru on any cook under 4 hours, only on the really longer ones, especially anything overnight. I sleep better with the "security blanket!" I also tend not to use it on any cook above 275F, just the lo & slo's. YMMV

[Firemonkey]

yep - that's me.  Only the security blanket strangled me while i slept this time.

[tinyfish]

I'm glad it turned out great.

[ckreef]

yep - that's me. Only the security blanket strangled me while i slept this time.

LOL - give up the blankie ...........

Charles - Prometheus 16.5", Cassiopeia 19" TT

[CeramicChef]

yep - that's me.  Only the security blanket strangled me while i slept this time.

Firemonkey, I think everyone gets strangled by their personal security blanket in this hobby (at least once)!

[wilburpan]

When I got up, I walked past my iPad, which had the Pit Pal app running and logging the cook, and remembered I had food on the grill. Then I realized that the iPad was showing a notification that said "error communicating with stoker". I went outside to find the stoker completely turned off! The irrigation had come on at 6 am and the other device I had plugged into the grill outlet got wet and tripped the gfci. I checked the log in the iPad and it had been off for about 4 hours! I popped the grill open to have a look:

image.jpeg

So the device that I used to insure my cook, ended up hindering my cook. Had I set the grill for natural draft it would have held the temp just fine, but I added an extra moving part, and it backfired. With the stoker the grill is closed up too tight to draft naturally, so the grill was down to about 150. 

 

Well, here’s the glass half-full side: folks into cold-smoking salmon and other foods would kill to have a kamado that could hold temp at 150ºF for four hours.