Hello from California!

T

TheNightSquatch

New member
Hello everyone! New to the forum and I just got a little model #1 in the mail, it’s tiny! I live in California with my wife and our dog hazel. We’ve been under a shelter in place order for a couple weeks now and I decided it’s time to try out a smokin-it smoker. It’s been on my wishlist for awhile.

So far I’ve seasoned it and auto tuned a PID for it. I picked up a brisket for Easter so I think that will be the first cook.

Anyways, I wanted to say hello and I also have a question about cook temp/time when using a PID for a good smoke. Not sure if it’s okay to ask here.

I read somewhere(wish I could find it again) that when using a digital controller, the wood in the wood box doesn’t get heated properly to produce as good of a smoke as analog. I believe, the theory was that the analog, with it’s larger temp swings and longer sustained burn times of the heating element produced better smoke compared to the tightly controlled on/off feathering from a PID. Have any of you heard this? Is there a particular temp/setting or method to get a pre-smoke before hitting the desired cook temp?

Thanks!

Collin
 
Welcome Collin from SE Arizona. I am not aware of any problem with the quality of smoke from a digital model compared to an analog.  What I remember reading was that actual combustion for some folks was a problem and it was problematic for analog and digital smokers. When the heating element comes on, it will be cherry hot red and stay that way till the smoker reaches your desires temp; then it will cycle off, then on. Analog or PID, it works the same.  You will see smoke at the 125 to 140 temp.

For the digital models, folks programmed the PID at a lower temp, 140/150 to get the smoke going and after some time, maybe 30 minutes or so the PID would go to the final smoker temp of 225 degrees or whatever it was set at. This presumably got the wood smoking and a good char without actual combustion. 

For the analog models, people took to making little foil boats for their wood; reducing the surface area of the wood to air decreased the chances of combustion. It seems to have worked well enough that folks with a digital controller went with the boat as well.

A lot of us just toss the wood into the smoker, put the meat in the smoker, lock it down and power it up.  And walk away. You do want to cook large cuts (briskets, butts, whole chickens, etc.) by meat temp so you want to have a good meat thermometer, like a Maverick if your PID lacks a meat probe.  Wings and ribs is more of a time smoke rather than a temp smoke and you can get a good idea of times and temps on the forum.

Enjoy the #1.
 
Thanks for the reply! That makes far more sense than what I remembered reading. It was awhile ago and it wasn’t really adding up in my head.

I think I’ll give that a try and start off with a lower initial temp. Thanks!
 
Welcome Collin! Enjoy your new #1, I’m sure you will enjoy it. If you have questions along the way there’s a lot of good, smart people on the forum
To help out. Take care
 
Welcome, enjoy your #1.  I got one last year to take camping, still hope that the campgrounds will be open later this summer.
I'm ordering the pre-drilled door and Bella cold smoker to use mine for a cold smoker for cheese in the meantime.
 
Welcome from ND Collin!

I have heard of this issue when referencing pellet smokers and PIDs, but I have not really heard of the issue here with the Smokin-It smokers. I think the guys have already given some thoughts on the issue which I agree with.

The nice thing about the Smokin-It smokers, is that it is pretty hard to mess things up too bad.

I am sure that you will love your #1, and might even want to upgrade to a bigger model at some point. :)
 
Welcome to the family, Collin!  I'm in SJ... are we neighbors?  Since I've gone digital I frequently program a 20-30 minute time up-front at a lower temperature.  I don't know that this is so much a digital thing as much as I went from a #2 to a 3D-Wifi and the element wattage is quite a bit higher, I believe.  Anyway... I ramp it up so that it doesn't just go full-tilt and catch the wood on fire.
 
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