Pro Q Excel mods

[smokeyBandit]

Hey,

I have had some issues outside of summer with my pro q excel not getting up to temp on long cooks. Whilst the temps are always rock solid stable, I have struggled to get it up to 225 (190 was avg on last attempt - windy day but still quite warm -sept) using 2 lit chimneys of big k lump over a basket of unlit charcoal.

I have been using the water bowl filled with 3/4 filled with hot water and both stackers on. All vents fully open .

I was thinking that raising the charcoal basket to try and increase airflow to the charcoal - but due to the shape of the base of the Q I wasn't sure on how to go about this, any ideas?

I really don't want to use forced air temp regs

I would like to cook a turkey this christmas so would like to get the temp issues resolved before this so any ideas would be appreciated

[Catsup and Mustard]

Have you tried using a clay saucer instead of the water? My Excel runs around 225-250 ish like this and ill have only one vent open.

Philip

[smokeyBandit]

Hey,

I haven't tried the clay saucer method as I like the idea of the water in the chamber, however if this is a choice between fair weather cooking or not cooking - then I will happily give it a shot

Do you find a saucer that fits into the holder? or do you just sit it on top of the existing water dish -foiled?

Really keen to raise the charcoal basket also

[Catsup and Mustard]

Myelf I popped down the garden center and picked one up that fits inside the pan, wrap in foil.
You could still put a little pan on top of the saucer to fill with some water if really felt that you need water in the chamber.
The only real benefit to water is you don't get such a high weight lose on you end cooked product, but not really tested this so don't take my word on it.

Philip

[keith157]

I use sand instead of water or clay saucer, foiuled across the top of the pan for easy clean up. I can't see how raising the basket would do much good, after all it was designed to be where it is, I haven't read about anyone else solving the heat problem by this method. That's not to say it won't work, I just haven't heard of anyone doing it.

[smokeyBandit]

I saw a couple of posts on american forums where people modded the baskets to get more air under the charcoal.

Looks to me like a good move in a longer cook due to the ash dropping through, recently I started at 6am and was still cooking at 7pm and noticed that the temps were dropping quite a bit towards the end of the day, as the ambient temps were still good and the fuel was regularly replaced, the only thing I can attribute it to would be lack of air getting to the charcoal.

How often do you replace the sand?

[paulfire]

to raise the fuel grate you could try bolts nuts and washers like the UDS builders use. bolt passing through grate held at the grate by a washer and nut both sides of the grate. that way you can adjust the height a bit, careful you dont foul the water bowl, although the discussions rumble on whether the bowl is of any use at all....im going to try a heavy metal disc replacing the bowl completely, if i want to add water a shallow tray on top of the metal disc should suffice.
what fuel are you using, i prefer heat beads in my excel, no probs so far and im using LWP rest. lump at the moment and that is fine too.

[keith157]

SB I don't it is well foiled and all that happens to it is it gets hot then cools down. I used playpit sand, i.e. refined rather than a damper builders sand. To date I've had no clumping or other problems in the 2+ years I've used it.

[YetiDave]

You'll reduce heat loss if you seal the doors. I used high temp silicone and stuck PVC tape around where the sealant would connect with the body of the smoker then applied a thin layer of cooking oil over the tape. Silicone around the doors, close it and leave to cure, then after a while you'll easily be able to open the door, peel off the PVC tape and.. you're done. I got much more stable temps after doing this

[keith157]

Ditto, although I didn't use tape, I applied a barrier (best british butter) then the silicon to the door, shut and locked it and Robert became a close relative.