Howdy folks! I recently pulled the trigger on a FireBoard and Pit Viper fan setup for my Pit Barrel Cooker, and took it on its maiden voyage this past weekend.
The FireBoard itself is incredible! Crazy accurate, and I love all the data it provides. I was skeptical that it could be THAT much better than my ThermoWorks Smoke unit, but I’m head over heels in love with the thing.
Mostly. LOL
The catch comes in with the performance of the fan driver. As you can see from the pics, the barrel temp fluctuated quite a bit... the beautiful, rock steady chart I normally have seen in other posts here was nowhere to be found. Particularly troubling were the severe drops, in that on a couple of them the FireBoard never did start the Pit Viper fan to correct the falling temp - I had to switch the control from auto to manual and start the fan myself. Kinda defeats the purpose of an automatic controller.
Now, I have a couple of theories on what could’ve caused this:
1) Not a picture perfect installation of the XL Dome Adapter I ordered with the fan. I’ll get pics to add to the ones below later tonight, but overall I’m pretty satisfied with the way it finally ended up after numerous "Dang it, try again" attempts. They really, REEEEALLY need to include a drilling template or installation instructions with these adapters, to save monkeys like me from ourselves! LOL
2) Like a doofus, I forgot to order an ambient temp thermometer to go along with all those gorgeous meat thermometers I bought. Couldn’t wait to play with my new toys, so I used one of the meat thermometers for the ambient temp probe with the thought that "a thermometer is a thermometer is a thermometer", but maybe that’s not the case? Rectified my mistake, and a proper ambient temp probe will be in place by the time the next cook happens.
Fan was set to 100% max output, vent ON the fan was open halfway if either of those settings could make a difference.
I look forward to any theories and guidance the community has to offer, as I am extremely new to the whole thermostatic controller game.
On the the good news front, the brisket I cooked using the setup, despite the extremely fast cook time, wound up being one of if not THE best brisket I’ve ever produced! 😃 Yay Pit Barrel!!!
Thanks,
G
The FireBoard itself is incredible! Crazy accurate, and I love all the data it provides. I was skeptical that it could be THAT much better than my ThermoWorks Smoke unit, but I’m head over heels in love with the thing.
Mostly. LOL
The catch comes in with the performance of the fan driver. As you can see from the pics, the barrel temp fluctuated quite a bit... the beautiful, rock steady chart I normally have seen in other posts here was nowhere to be found. Particularly troubling were the severe drops, in that on a couple of them the FireBoard never did start the Pit Viper fan to correct the falling temp - I had to switch the control from auto to manual and start the fan myself. Kinda defeats the purpose of an automatic controller.
Now, I have a couple of theories on what could’ve caused this:
1) Not a picture perfect installation of the XL Dome Adapter I ordered with the fan. I’ll get pics to add to the ones below later tonight, but overall I’m pretty satisfied with the way it finally ended up after numerous "Dang it, try again" attempts. They really, REEEEALLY need to include a drilling template or installation instructions with these adapters, to save monkeys like me from ourselves! LOL
2) Like a doofus, I forgot to order an ambient temp thermometer to go along with all those gorgeous meat thermometers I bought. Couldn’t wait to play with my new toys, so I used one of the meat thermometers for the ambient temp probe with the thought that "a thermometer is a thermometer is a thermometer", but maybe that’s not the case? Rectified my mistake, and a proper ambient temp probe will be in place by the time the next cook happens.
Fan was set to 100% max output, vent ON the fan was open halfway if either of those settings could make a difference.
I look forward to any theories and guidance the community has to offer, as I am extremely new to the whole thermostatic controller game.
On the the good news front, the brisket I cooked using the setup, despite the extremely fast cook time, wound up being one of if not THE best brisket I’ve ever produced! 😃 Yay Pit Barrel!!!
Thanks,
G
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