Automatic Temperature Control

[smitty]

Have to agree with this,

I don't agree with this as the skill is still there deciding what temprature you're cooking at, if you use foil or not and if so how long you cook the meat before foiling, how tender you cook the meat. Not concentrating on fire management allows you to concentrate on improving all of the other processes you follow to make better BBQ.

I don't own a pit controller, but the idea of being able to control temps for a long period of time easily without having to stand guard sounds more appealing to me, IMHO

[Tiny]

Agree with the point that a sleepless night tending the fire sounds very lame.......to follow the logic through, why wouldnt you use gas or electric then as this takes the temp management off the table?

I am not looking to offend anyones sensibilities, I know often when we try and debate and discuss BBQ philisophical issues it does become a little vexed, who can forget the "proper bbq" thread", but I am genuinely interested in folks thinking on this, as we have learned before there are no right or wrong answers only opinions..........

Cheers
Tiny

[Swindon_Ed]

to follow the logic through, why wouldnt you use gas or electric then as this takes the temp management off the table?

This is quite easy to answer, it comes down to one main thing, cost.

Cheap electric smokers like the Bradley, generally don't cook hot very well and dry out the meat and the good ones like cookshacks are a lot of money.

Smoking on a gas BBQ won't give you the same flavour unless you look at a commercial one which again is a lot of money.

you can get a WSM with a pit controller for £400-£500 depending on what offers are available, the cheapest decent electric smoker will cost you double that price.

[thesmokingpenguin]

Having done a season without and cook every weekend without and it's fine, but to be honest, getting up every 30mins during a night to check meat temps is starting to get a bit old (especially when you understand what the stall is, why 140F is important etc) and more than anything, a stoker helps me recover heat quickly so I can cook to a target time (eg a comp)

[keith157]

Tiny, quite right sir this is a forum for opinions and, relishing in living in a democracy everyone is entitled to their own without fear of abuse, mild mickey taking excluded.

Ed, I've never burned a steak so you are safe.

In my case I would have sold my ProQ after 5 failed attempts at smoking. The layout of our garden prohibits any consistent breeze, which is why I had opted for the Outdoorchef gas grill. I am lucky with my Weber OTP in that I can wheel it around the garden (yes I know H&S) to catch the breeze. The posts on here about the iQue led to me "joining the bandwagon" and buying one, I can't do long or successful cooks without it.

As to competitions, I don't compete so can't answer for that only to say you can tell the teams who use ATC from those who don't especially on the second morning

I'll stick with my iQue thank you very much, sleepless nights went out when I stopped working shifts................They can take away my Propane but they'll NEVER TAKE MY iQUE!!

[aris]

I've been building custom stokers based on a couple of open source projects and some of my secret penguin electronic engineering degree knowledge - am happy to help anyone if they're dev-ing their own project

C

What have you build mr penguin? I've seen an open source one based on a WRT wifi router. Pretty funky!

[Chris__M]

I fear an angry mob approaching, but I profer this as an alternative view.

No angry mob, here, but certainly a voice of dissent!

I am sure others will chip in, but my point would be that not everybody here is involved in (or even interested in) competition.

I just want to cook good food, to the best of my ability.

If automatic (or - in my case - remote) temperature control means I can cook a butt or brisket, while working in my home office, without having to go out in the garden to check it, then I am a happy bunny.

[thesmokingpenguin]

What have you build mr penguin? I've seen an open source one based on a WRT wifi router. Pretty funky!

It's also built on the open-wrt system, but with re-written algorithms and a couple of extra features built in compared to other products/projects

C

[MrJaba]

What have you build mr penguin? I've seen an open source one based on a WRT wifi router. Pretty funky!

It's also built on the open-wrt system, but with re-written algorithms and a couple of extra features built in compared to other products/projects

C

I'm attempting to build one at the moment, and learn electronics at the same time! I've got the thermocouple hooked up to the arduino and reading temps fine. Next step is to get the circuit for the blower working! It's all quite tricky though! What do you use to power your blower?

[thesmokingpenguin]

I use a 12v blower controlled with a low current gate pin triac. I power the system with 12v then regulate down to 5v for the IC circuitry