Tired of the temp swings in #2. Help??

[Superrmario]

Hi all. I own a #2 Analog and my temp swings have come to a head. I walked away from the smoker in frustration for a few months after I ruined a $90 brisket for a BBQ this summer and a damn chicken a week later. My Temps fluctuate 30°~40°. At this time I went basic and threw beef in for Jerkey. My temp probe is accurate to 3 degrees F. I have my #2 set at 175° and I'm currently fluctuating from 150° to 200°. 50 degrees? What I'm getting at is I want to convert to a PID controller. Who has the best info on a conversion for the #2 Analog. I have no issue with managing electrical components, soldering etc. Please help???

 

[old sarge]

Mario - First off, 25 degrees on either side of the set point is fairly common with an analog.  But I can understand your frustration.  A lot of folks have bypassed the stock controller 100 percent and hard wired an Auber PID into their smoker and others have done similar but installed a toggle switch allowing them to select analog or digits; handy if the Auber dies.  Here are some links and I hope they help:
https://www.smokinitforums.com/index.php?topic=1863.0
https://www.smokinitforums.com/index.php?topic=1287.0
https://www.smokinitforums.com/index.php?topic=1594.0

 

[Pork Belly]

Great food every time in my #3 Analog. It has no temp swings, I set the temp and walk away. If anything stick a probe in the meat for IT, although I gave that up awhile back.

If you do not check there is no temp swing....

 

[old sarge]

That is another way to look at it.  And probably the best way.

 

[Lonzinomaker]

I have an analog #3 and don't have an issue with there being temp swings. I think it helps the wood keep smoldering with the element coming on and getting hot.

 

[LarryD]

I own a #2 Analog and my temp swings have come to a head. I walked away from the smoker in frustration for a few months after I ruined a $90 brisket for a BBQ this summer and a damn chicken a week later.

I also have the #2 and I know that I get temperature swings... I don't know if they go as far as +/- 50, but I'm sure they're a good 40 anyway.  I have yet to have it be a problem of any kind.  I've done a lot of briskets, butts, loins, ribs, turkey, fish, nuts, and the list goes on.  Over the course of the smoke the temperature averages out.  Some people smoke brisket at 300+, so the temp swing alone can't really explain your ruined brisket.

Can you go into any details on what happened with your brisket?  What was your prep process?  What was your smoke process?  What told you it was ruined and at what point?

Probably the two worst things you can do is to monitor the chamber temperatures because it'll just stress you out and open the door before your probe(s) say you've hit your target internal temperature on whatever you're smoking.  If you check my earliest posts on here you'll see one of my panic posts where I freaked out about the chamber temperature.  I've not had a problem with it since they implored me to quit abusing myself. 

At any rate, if you truly want to get rid of the temp swings then you're taking the correct approach by installing a PID.  I see others have pointed you to relevant posts, so hopefully those will get you just what you need.

 

[Superrmario]

Thank you all for your posts. It's much appreciated! I don't recall the exact prep for my Brisket other than the rub which was Salt and Cracked pepper. It was a point that I trimmed back the garbage silver skin prior to the rub and then tossed it in the smoker. 1 probe in the meat 1 probe for box temp. If I recall correctly after around 8 hours I wrapped it in pink butcher paper and threw in some drippings I caught. 10 more hours it hit 190°. I pulled it, kept it wrapped and tucked it into a cooler (obviously without ice) to let it rest. Once rested I pulled it and cut. Maybe 40% of it was useless. Dry dry dry. I have made some good pulled pork, ribs and wings as well as 1 good chicken. I think I will go along with the PID and see how it works out. I don't keep notes like a statistician yet I want to say my statistics say I'm 60-40, the former being a good smoke. Attached is a good chicken.

 

[old sarge]

Nice looking chicken Mario.  As for brisket, I smoke whole packers, prime from Costco, and trim the thick fat down to about 3/8 or 1/4 inch and save.  I do a dry rub and place on the rack, fat side down and the trimmed fat I lay across the top of the meat.  Fat side down sort of insulates the brisket from the heat.  Probe in the meat and set the temp to 225 and an IT of 195ish/200.  I have never wrapped a brisket till it was finished. I don't start looking at the temp for the next 10 or so hours.  Not uncommon for a brisket to take 12 or more hours.  Before Costco, I was getting brisket from the Army Commissary, choice which can be somewhat dry when finished. As for the PID, good luck with your project. My brother has the analog 3 and I have the digital.  Cook times for ribs, butts etc. are basically identical.  A 5 hour smoke is still 5 hours, temp swings or not.

 

[LarryD]

If I recall correctly after around 8 hours I wrapped it in pink butcher paper and threw in some drippings I caught. 10 more hours it hit 190°. I pulled it, kept it wrapped and tucked it into a cooler (obviously without ice) to let it rest. Once rested I pulled it and cut. Maybe 40% of it was useless. Dry dry dry.

I would speculate a couple things...  I don't actually recommend wrapping as doing so requires that you open up the smoker and mess with the product so you lose a ton of heat and moisture.  Otherwise, I actually suspect you pulled it a little bit early and it wasn't quite done.  I generally use 190 as the minimum temperature before I even consider it could be done.  The point, in particular, shouldn't be dry.  Dry can be a pretty good sign that the fat hadn't fully rendered yet.  Frequently it's not until somewhere between 195 and 205 (and rarely higher) that it's actually done.  When done it will have a nice jiggle to it.

I personally also always brine my briskets before smoking and I have no idea if you did.  In my experience, brining helps it cook faster and retain more moisture.

 

[Boone]

I’ve had my #2 for a few years now and after a couple smokes I did the changes that old sarge posted since I wanted to smoke fish and needed better temperature control. With the Auber I now only have temperature swings of about 2 degrees either way.

I tend to agree that the brisket was not done at 190 degrees. I do not wrap my briskets. I do inject them with beef stock and also apply a simple salt and pepper rub. I smoke them at 225 degrees with a temperature probe inserted and once they reach 190 degrees I start checking for tenderness about every half hour. Once I can insert a toothpick with no resistance .. it is done. I have my brisket done as early as 195 and as late as 205 degrees. Tenderness is the key with brisket!

With my pork butts .. I inject with chicken stock and apply my rub. I smoke them at 225 degrees until they reach an internal temperature between 190 and 193 degrees. I also only use bone-in butts for my pulled pork as I can easily tell when they are done by being able to twist the bone. When they are done the bone will pull right out.

For some reason I can never get my ribs done to perfection but near the end of last year I asked a professional at a resturant where I really like the ribs. I had been smoking my spare-ribs at 225 for 5 to 6 hours. They were eatable but nothing worth bragging about. I do not wrap any of my meats. Anyway .. he told me they also smoke their spare-ribs in an elecgtric smoker at 225 degrees but smoke them for 7 to 8 hours. I made one last attempt at ribs before packing the smoker away for the winter and the finished product was much improved. Now I can’t wait for spring so I can fine-tune this new method.

 

[NDKoze]

An additional tip that I would add regardless of whether you have an Analog or Digital, is to know if and where you have any hotspots in your smoker. Most of them do.

My Analog #3 definitely has a hot spot toward the back of the burner/smoker. So, when I place my meat in the box I take that into account. So, for a brisket, I always put the point end in first which will shield the flat from that high heat that could potentially dry it out. Same thing goes for ribs. There is always a larger end of the rib rack that I always put in first, thus toward the back of the smoker.

This also holds true for how I place my wood in the smoke box. If I am doing a higher temp smoke, I try not to place too much of my wood toward the back of the smoke box. On the other side, if I am doing a lower temp smoke like jerky or fish, I place more of my wood to the back to ensure that I have smoke for the longest period that I can.

for the original poster (Mario), we are glad that you found us, but wish you could have found us earlier and maybe we could have helped you ease some of these headaches. But, regardless of how you proceed, please use this resource before and after your cooks so that we can congratulate you on your successes and try to help you find resolutions for the failures.

 

[Superrmario]

Sorry it's been a busy month. Thanks again for all of your information and assistance folks. Much appreciated!

 

[old sarge]

Let us know if you get things figured out.

 

[Lipster]

You know, I wondered about this swing as well.  We have a new, spendy, Kitchen Aid electric oven in our kitchen.  I put the same temp probe I use for the smoker in the oven, and was very surprised to see the swing was almost the same.  Oven does cakes, etc very well. 
So, I quit worrying about it on the smoker.

 

[Superrmario]

Let us know if you get things figured out.

THX Sarge. I just ordered a WSD-1500H-W. Looking forward to the setup and the the smoke next weekend. Maybe I'm just critical, but I like having control. Wish I ordered the #2D

 

[old sarge]

Mario - with the seperate unit you can take it inside where it is warm and dry.  But the swings really are typical in a lot of appliances. Toaster ovens, HVAC systems, conventional ovens, microwaves, etc.  we all get used to it/them eventually. Enjoy your Auber.