Info and steps for new and potential Pit Boss owners

Traegers, Green Mountain, Smokin Tex and all other Pellet and Wood Chip Smokers

Moderator: TBBQF Deputies

Nightram
Pilgrim
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Jun 14, 2019 8:08 pm
Contact:

Re: I think somethings wrong, its probably my understanding

Postby Nightram » Fri Jun 14, 2019 11:21 pm

My other post went live, then dissapeared.......

I have a pit boss, not the most expensive i know but suites my entry.

I think my understanding of operation is wrong, despite my readups.

I thought there are two modes, an "oven mode" where you set the temp and it tries to stay there. Where smoke is a byproduct. "Smoke mode" attempts to make smoke, where temperature is manualy controlled by the p mode. Bursts of heat to keep temp up, and fan modes to smoke.

So i started the grill up on smoke, preheat for 40 mins at 175c/345f. Put in ribs (pork with a paul kirks rub) and flicked it over to smoke to get that flava. Temp dived to 100c/212f in about 30 mins. Panicky i put it back to 150c/302f to get temp back.

You see i want to cook at 150c/302f because, well time and its what i know.

So can someone help me relign my thinking. Whats the point of smoke mode if the temp isnt high enough? Is it for initial flavour? Will i get that smokey flavour still if i run at 120-150c or am i just using an oven?

I can use a kettle, keep it stable at 130c for 6 hours and produce great food, but i want that pellet skill now.

Pics are just for intrest with this mornings rib run. Image
ImageImageImage
oldusedparts USER_AVATAR
OldUsedParts
Deputy
Posts: 21559
Joined: Sun May 15, 2011 7:09 pm
Location: Montgomery, Texas
Contact:

Re: Info and steps for new and potential Pit Boss owners

Postby OldUsedParts » Sat Jun 15, 2019 7:49 am

Great Bone Post and Welcome to the Forum :tup: :salut: :cheers:
I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country—Victory or Death. William Barret Travis - Lt. Col. comdt "The Alamo"
spacetrucker USER_AVATAR
spacetrucker
Chuck Wagon
Posts: 3434
Joined: Sun Jun 02, 2013 4:36 pm
Location: Round Rock Texas
Contact:

Re: Info and steps for new and potential Pit Boss owners

Postby spacetrucker » Sun Jun 16, 2019 10:49 am

I gonna make an attempt to splain the two modes...
at the smoke mode the temp is lower due to the combustion process preventing a "clean burn of materials" the higher temperatures allow for more efficient "cleaner burning" of fuel. I noticed this when I do pizza on my Traeger, the lower settings produce lots of smoke and of coarse lower temps while at the higher temps 450 or better there is little or no smoke, while there is still some smoke not nearly as much, just my $.02
others may weigh in with an easier to understand splaniation…. :D
Don't count every day, Make every day Count
Good Cue to ya..
Vernon

FEC-100
Webber kettle 22"
Webber genesis
Blackstone pizza oven
papa tom USER_AVATAR
Papa Tom
Deputy
Posts: 6771
Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2007 9:40 am
Location: Oak Point, TX
Contact:

Re: Info and steps for new and potential Pit Boss owners

Postby Papa Tom » Sun Jun 16, 2019 12:33 pm

I will try to add a bit to the smoke generation explanation.
In smoke mode the controller uses the maximum interval between auger cycles, doing this causes the fire in the firebox to dwindle down to embers with no active flame. The next auger cycle dumps fresh pellets onto those embers causing some smoldering (big smoke) before they catch and have an active flame that diminishes the smoke.

When set to a temperature setting the controller uses the temp to trigger auger cycles and usually there is active flame in the firebox reducing smoldering and smoke.

Same explanation hopefully a bit clearer.
tarde venientibus ossa....
Nightram
Pilgrim
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Jun 14, 2019 8:08 pm
Contact:

Re: Info and steps for new and potential Pit Boss owners

Postby Nightram » Mon Jun 17, 2019 4:31 am

Ok, i think i am understanding better now.

Can someone give me an actual example of when they used smoke mode? What cut of meat, how long etc.

I am cooking for my neighborhood this coming sunday. Gonna jam 7 ribs in there, will get pics hopefully. Currently i am doing 120 deg for 4 hours (2 unwrapped, 1.5 wrapped with a little butter, .5 with sauce). Any suggestions to improve?
oldusedparts USER_AVATAR
OldUsedParts
Deputy
Posts: 21559
Joined: Sun May 15, 2011 7:09 pm
Location: Montgomery, Texas
Contact:

Re: Info and steps for new and potential Pit Boss owners

Postby OldUsedParts » Mon Jun 17, 2019 7:45 am

If that technique is working for you and giving you a tasty and tender Rib then I wouldn't change a thing. :tup: :salut: :cheers:

I own a PB 340 (smaller version) and have had it several years now and am still learning. My Wife likes her Pork Ribs to be fall of of the bone tender so I use a slightly tweeked 3-2-1 version I use the Smoke Setting for the first couple of hours and I am "guilty" of also using the "P" setting for those first few hours just for the "SMOKE". After that I cook them either side of 250 wrapped in foil until I get some pull back and a decent bend. The last phase is barely under 300 unwrapped with a lot of apple juice spritzing, basting and glazing going on. A lot of these numbers are based on what I am seeing during the cook. Footnote: I also rub the rack with Honey Mustard the night before, dust with preferred rub or seasonings, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate over night - - - then I repeat the mustard and seasonings before putting them on the Grill. I also spritz with apple juice about every hour during the first hours before the foil wrapping :dont:

:!: Truth be known, I should probably try and get more into the "set and forget" technique which is really what I bought a Pellet Pooper for. :whiteflag:
I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country—Victory or Death. William Barret Travis - Lt. Col. comdt "The Alamo"
papa tom USER_AVATAR
Papa Tom
Deputy
Posts: 6771
Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2007 9:40 am
Location: Oak Point, TX
Contact:

Re: Info and steps for new and potential Pit Boss owners

Postby Papa Tom » Mon Jun 17, 2019 8:40 am

My rib process is pretty close to yours.
Mustard or honey for glue, Sucklebuster Hog Waller or Honey Hog Waller rub
"Smoke" for 1 hr
275° for 1 hr.
Wrap for 1 hr or a little more depending
Unwrap naked for .5 hr
Baste W/ glaze for another .5 hr

last couple steps vary a bit depending on doneness.
tarde venientibus ossa....
Nightram
Pilgrim
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Jun 14, 2019 8:08 pm
Contact:

Re: Info and steps for new and potential Pit Boss owners

Postby Nightram » Fri Jun 21, 2019 10:37 pm

Well ignoring the inability to stay at its set temp i am pretty happy with it.

I saw a Louisiana grill in costco today for 999Aud and am more impressed with the pit boss (700Aud). For one the hopper was half the size!

Wrote to PB about the temp being different, and unfortunatly no solutions were given, just suggestions that its me not them.

I got a big grill on tomorrow, cooking 6 rib racks for the neighborhood so i am keen to see it stuffed with meat.ImageImageImageImage
Nightram
Pilgrim
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Jun 14, 2019 8:08 pm
Contact:

Re: Info and steps for new and potential Pit Boss owners

Postby Nightram » Sun Jun 23, 2019 2:12 am

7 loinback ribs, next time ill do moreImage
Nightram
Pilgrim
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Jun 14, 2019 8:08 pm
Contact:

Re: Info and steps for new and potential Pit Boss owners

Postby Nightram » Thu Jun 27, 2019 4:57 am

Finished picImage
oldusedparts USER_AVATAR
OldUsedParts
Deputy
Posts: 21559
Joined: Sun May 15, 2011 7:09 pm
Location: Montgomery, Texas
Contact:

Re: Info and steps for new and potential Pit Boss owners

Postby OldUsedParts » Thu Jun 27, 2019 6:34 am

Very Nice with great pull back also :tup: :salut: :cheers:
I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country—Victory or Death. William Barret Travis - Lt. Col. comdt "The Alamo"
Smokey Wasatch
Pilgrim
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2019 3:48 pm
Contact:

Re: Info and steps for new and potential Pit Boss owners

Postby Smokey Wasatch » Wed Jul 31, 2019 4:56 pm

Hey all, first time poster here and new to pellet smoking. Loved all the input in this thread, but I'm still struggling managing the temperature on my Pit Boss 440d. I set it up last night and did the burn off, and this morning I set it up for my first low smoke, just lightly smoking a brined salmon. My first big mistake was not following the automatic startup procedure which the manual calls for and says to start on the SMOKE setting and leave it there until the white smoke dissipates, then set it to your desired temp. We went straight ahead and did the desired temp (200) and saw it shoot up to 400. First question, did we just mess up this grill?

After that I read the manual more and saw that we needed to let it rest in SMOKE so we turned it off for awhile and came back to try again, still saw it climb as high as 290 before it calmed down. Next up I read about the P setting and thought ok, well it is in the high 80's here in Utah so maybe it's a bit warm, so I set it to P5 in SMOKE and tried again. Still climbing up to 290. By this point the salmon is pretty much done but I'm still concerned about these temp swings, so I took the salmon off and let it cool down for about 30 minutes and thought I'd do some dry runs just to figure this bad boy out. This is also the point that I found this thread and read everyone's recommendations. I tried the recommended preheat of 30 minute at 350 degree (after letting it run on SMOKE for about 10 minutes). It seemed to be holding temperature better here at the end, it would fluctuate between 320 and 375. After the 30 minutes I set it down to 225 (figuring this will be the most common temperature I'll be cooking at in the future). It came down to 225, then a bit lower to 210, then it kicked on and made it back to 225, and started climbing up to 290 - 300 before it would dial it back. Any suggestions as to what is going on here?

One thing to note, before I did the pre-heating recommendation I had the flame broiler plate all the way closed (because I thought the manual said to just have that open for direct cooking). But I saw another recommendation in this thread to move it to the center, so when I did the pre-heat I also made that change. Should I have kept that all the way closed or is that indeed the right spot for it?

Thanks in advance for any future input! I'm hoping I haven't already messed this baby up and I look forward to configuring it just right for my needs...if I can!
oldusedparts USER_AVATAR
OldUsedParts
Deputy
Posts: 21559
Joined: Sun May 15, 2011 7:09 pm
Location: Montgomery, Texas
Contact:

Re: Info and steps for new and potential Pit Boss owners

Postby OldUsedParts » Wed Jul 31, 2019 5:48 pm

I have a Pit Boxx 340 and my start up instructions say to put it on Smoke "WITH THE COOKING LID OPEN" until you see smoke. Then it says to close lid and increase heat to the highest setting but I only use 450 and it works fine. It says to leave it at this high setting for 15 to 20 min and then set it to your Temp that is needed to start your Cooking. I use a P setting of 4 during the start up process also.

I don't think you've hurt or damaged anything but I would suggest that you clean up the burned stuff before starting a new Cook.

GOOD LUCK :!: :salut:
I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country—Victory or Death. William Barret Travis - Lt. Col. comdt "The Alamo"
papa tom USER_AVATAR
Papa Tom
Deputy
Posts: 6771
Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2007 9:40 am
Location: Oak Point, TX
Contact:

Re: Info and steps for new and potential Pit Boss owners

Postby Papa Tom » Wed Jul 31, 2019 7:44 pm

First you ain't broke nuthin'
Second to first temperature fluctuations are NORMAL......if you don't believe go check the oven in your kitchen.
Third beyond second know your machine.
When you power up the auger will run continuously for four minutes loading the firebox with fuel to start the fire.
Until that load of fuel burns down there will be NO regulation so early temp rises are NORMAL you need to wait for that load to burn down (it really doesn't take long....Unless you are looking)
The startup high temperature they recommend is to burn off any funk you have in the cooking chamber and yes I normally do this.
I also like smoke flavor so I move the setting to "Smoke" and let it be until the temp settles down to the 150° to 200° range depending on ambient temperatures.
Now I put the meat on cold to gather that smoke flavor for the first 1-2 hours then switch to desired cook temp.

This startup procedure takes a little time and it happens while I am prepping the meat.
And leave the broiler thing shut unless broiling.
tarde venientibus ossa....
montanadave
Pilgrim
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Nov 17, 2019 11:25 pm
Contact:

Re: Info and steps for new and potential Pit Boss owners

Postby montanadave » Mon Nov 18, 2019 12:02 am

Ok, I am having issues with my pit boss 700s I purchased from Cabelas. Is having multiple 50 to 75 degree temp swings within an hour time period acceptable?
I follow the startup process exactly how you state above. I even have a double layer welding blanket fit to the grill but temps have only been in the 40’s... not too cold.
I have tried the smoke option using the P setting adjustments, I have tried the temp settings (also with P setting adjustments), I have used both cabelas & Traeger pellets and no such luck getting this grill to settle on desired consistent temperature without these huge swings in temp.
I’m new to smoking and not sure if there is a difference in a meat probe and ambient probe? I am using the Uzone BBQ thermometer with 4 probes I bought on Amazon. I am using one of the probes to measure the ambient temp and one for the meat. Chart shows huge temp swings in the grill. So does the Pitboss digital display and the lid probe.
I am sure it is user error somewhere. Any help would be appreciated before I ruin another brisket!

Return to “Pellet Cookers and Smokers”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 17 guests