I have a Vision Series B Kamado Grill and I have been considering purchasing a blower rig for use on longer cooks. While it is not a must have it seems like a good tool to have in your smoker's toolbox. I have repeatedly read the blower reviews on Amazingribs.com and still I am not sure which unit would be the most practical. I am not a big Bluetooth guy but have not ruled them out. I was hoping some of you Kamado Smoker's might share your experiences as to whether you consider a blower unit a must have and if so what Controller do you use. Does your blower units easy to attached to the lower vent?
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Up In The Air About What Thermostatic Controller To Get
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Club Member
- Feb 2019
- 1555
- Salado, Tx
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Summerset TRL44 gas grill and side sear
Weber Performer
Weber 70th Anniversary kettle, Hot Rod Yellow
Camp Chef Somerset IV 4 burner propane stove
Camp Chef FTG600
OT QOMOTOP 23-inch Gas Griddle
Pit Boss Ultimate 4 burner griddle
Oklahoma Joe's HD orange Bronco
Oklahoma Joe's Bronco Pro
Oklahoma Joe's Judge
Oklahoma Joe's Rambler
Golden's Cast Iron Grill
Ooni Koda 16
Halo Versa 16
Everdure rotisserie grill
Titan Santa Maria grill
Coyote Pellet grill
Hasty Bake Roughneck smoker
LSG 48" Texas Edition offset
My experience is a bit old tech relative to some of the whiz bang stuff available today, but it does speak to history/reliability. I've had my KJ for around 8 years and early on I struggled with temp control. I read about something called a Digi-Q from BBQ Guru. Took a shot, loved it after a tiny learning curve. Pretty much a set it and forget it deal unless you're attempting a longish cook. No wifi or the like, just a digital readout on the controller, but the results make using a kamado a breeze. I've read where some haven't gotten long life from the fan, and the company has recently redesigned it for longer life, but mine still works fine. I don't run it exposed to fowl weather, but did use it often when we lived in the Seattle area, though always under cover.
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Club Member
- Nov 2017
- 7153
- Huntsville, Alabama
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Jim Morris
Cookers- Slow 'N Sear Deluxe Kamado (2021)
- Camp Chef FTG900 Flat Top Grill (2020)
- Weber Genesis II E-410 w/ GrillGrates (2019)
- Weber Performer Deluxe 22.5" w/ GrillGrates & Slow 'N Sear & Drip N Griddle & Vortex & Party Q & Rotisserie (2007)
- Custom Built Offset Smoker (304SS, 22"x34" grate, circa 1985)
- King Kooker 94/90TKD 105K/60K dual burner patio stove
- Lodge L8D03 5 quart dutch oven
- Lodge L10SK3 12" skillet
- Anova
- Thermoworks Smoke w/ Wifi Gateway
- Thermoworks Dot
- Thermoworks Thermapen Classic
- Thermoworks RT600C
- Weber Connect
- Whatever I brewed and have on tap!
I have the PartyQ, from bbqguru.com, and it works well on my kettle. No remote, but my thermometer (Smoke) has a remote that lets me keep an eye on things.
I would stay away from anything that requires bluetooth, as the range is just too limited. A dedicated remote, or a Wifi connection are the only ways to go. Fireboard and the new Thermoworks Signals are two to look at that have fan options, along with the DigiQ and CyberQ.
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Charter Member
- Dec 2014
- 7385
- Grew up in New Orleans, 20 years in Texas, 22 years in Mandeville, LA. Now Dallas, TX
I used a Party Q on my BGE but there was no way to monitor indoors unless you had another device to read the grill temp. It also ate batteries so I converted it to electric. I now use a Smobot which works differently than a blower. I don’t know if it will fit your grill.
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WVsmoke I like the Smobot more. Of course, it does cost more, but I gained much more. The Smobot gives you more having a grill temp probe to monitor air flow and two meat probes. That makes it possible to get all the monitoring features I need in one device. However, for me the big plus is that I don’t need to continue to go to the grill to check to see if the Party Q is still on target. The Smobot works off of WiFi so I can stay indoors with the temperature warning alarms set.
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What LA Pork Butt said. I have one for my kamado and am very happy with performance.
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Club Member
- Jul 2019
- 2110
- Central IA
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MAK 2 Star General
KBQ C-60
Weber Summit Charcoal Grillw/ Big Joetisserie, SnS LP, and VortexWeber Genesis II - S-345
Weber Traveler
Fireboard 2 Drive
Anova Precision Sous Vide
All the (pellet) grills I’ve loved before:
Traeger Junior Elite^
GMG DB
Traeger Texas Elite
Memphis Pro§
Traeger Pro 575
CampChef SmokePro STX (ugly grills need love too)
Weber SmokeFire EX4§
Traeger Select
CampChef Woodwind WiFi w/SearBox^
Weber SmokeFire EX4§
^ = Favorites
§ = Love/Hate Relationships
I’ve been very happy with the Fireboard, Drive, Viper setup. It’s a little pricey though, but I had the Fireboard already when I decided to put a fan on the Performer and then got a WSCG. We’ll see how good the SmokeFire setup is and if I use it as much after unless I’m cooking on the WSCG. Right now it’s used with every cooker for temp monitoring. That would be the downside maybe to something like a PartyQ is that it isn’t as versatile.
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Club Member
- Jul 2019
- 621
- Boston/South County Rhode Island
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Name: Scott, Chemical Engineer
Equipment:
Weber Genesis
Weber Spirit Special Addition, with Griddle and Grillgrates (just got)
Thermoworks Smoke (2)
Thermoworks Thermapen (2)
Thermoworks IR (1)
Maverick IR (1)
Penzey's Spice rack with loads of spices
Hobbies:
Cooking, wine, guitar, golf, beach, board games, travel, herb gardening
Want to get into BBQ and Smoking.
I have the DigiQ with the Pitviper fan from BBQGuru. I also have a Thermoworks Smoke and use the remote on that to check on temp. My Weber is too far away from the house to rely on wifi.
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Founding Member & Pit Barrel Cooker Queen
- Jul 2014
- 7202
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My toys:
Weber Summit Charcoal Grilling Center (WSCGC) aka Mr. Fancypants
Pit Barrel Cooker (which rocks), named Pretty Baby
Weber Summit S650 Gas Grill, named Hot 'n Fast (used mostly for searing and griddling)
Weber Kettle Premium 22" named Kettle Kid, eager to horn in with more cooks in the future
Camp Chef Somerset IV 4-burner outdoor gas range named AfterBurner due to its 30kBTU burners
Adrenaline BBQ Company Gear:SnS Low Profile, DnG, and Large Charcoal Basket, for WSCGC
SnS Deluxe for 22" Kettle
Elevated SS Rack for WSCGC
SS Rack for DnG
Cast Iron GriddleGrill Grate for SnSGrill Grates: five 17.375 sections (retired to storage)
Grill Grates: six 19.25 panels for exact fit for Summit S650
gasser
Grill Grates for 22" Kettle
2 Grill Grate Griddles
Steelmade Griddle for Summit gas grill
Fireboard Gear:Extreme BBQ Thermometer PackagePit Viper Fan (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Additional control unit
Additional probes: Competition Probes 1" (3) and 4" (1), 3 additional Ambient Probes. 1 additional Food Probe
2 Driver Cables
Pit Viper Fan new design (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Thermoworks Gear:Thermapen MK4 (pink)Maverick ET 73 a little workhorse with limited range
Thermapen Classic (pink too)
Thermoworks MK4 orange
Temp Test 2 Smart Thermometer
Extra Big and Loud Timer
Timestick Trio
Maverick ET 733
Maverick (Ivation) ET 732
Grill Pinz
Vortex (two of them)
18" drip pan for WSCGC
Ceramic Spacers for WSCGC in Kamado Mode: 2 sets each 1/2", 1", 2". The 2" spacers work best with the 18" drip pan. The 1+1/2 inch spacers work best with the 14 inch cake pan.
Two Joule Sous Vide devices
3 Lipavi Sous Vide Tubs with Lids: 12, 18 and 26 quarts
Avid Armor Ultra Pro V32 Chamber Sealer
Instant Pot 6 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Instant Pot 10 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Charcoal Companion TurboQue
A-Maze-N tube 12 inch tube smoker accessory for use with pellets
BBQ Dragon and Dragon Chimney
Shun Classic Series:8" Chef Knife
6" Chef's Knife
Gokujo Boning and Fillet Knife
3 1/2 inch Paring Knife
If you are willing to fork out the $$ and don't already have a Wifi-capable remote thermometer set, you can't go wrong with the purchase of the Fireboard Extreme BBQ set plus the driver cable and either their fan or the Pit Viper fan from BBQ Guru.
I've used Fireboard for a long while now and those six probes come in handy. Plus the capability of following the cook on my phone as I swan about the house during a cook is so convenient. And finally, the fact that you can keep a cooking log right on the Fireboard app while the cook is in progress is invaluable, especially since can look at your cooks retrospectively in case you want to tweak something next time.
I couldn't be happier. Every now and then Fireboard has a promotion. The last one was for two free probes with a purchase. That's when I bought my second Fireboard control box only, since I have plenty of probes and often have a two or three cooks going on at the same time.
Fireboard customer service is awesome. They replaced a probe no questions asked, at their expense when one of mine went flaky, even though I told them it may have been my own fault for letting the probe slide nearly into the PBC fire.
Kathryn
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I used a digi q and pit viper for a while but mine died on me. It was probably my fault however, i left it out for a few days and it got rained on a few times and started freaking out. When i wasnt treating it carelessly, the combo worked flawlessly. Im not sure what i will eventually replace it with to be honest
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Uncle Bob, HawkerXP, jfmorris, LA Pork Butt, glitchy, ScottyC13, scottranda, fzxdoc, grantgallagher, Troutman, painter, and Attjack
I am so thankful for all your insight in narrowing my selection for picking a controller. Most importantly is that within this cyber village known as the Pit folks such as yourself are willing to share your time and talents with anyone searching to enhance their food preparation, cooking, and presentation skills. The Pit is a virtual
library of food knowledge waiting to be mined and open 24 hours a day. For those of us who mine that knowledge your individual contributions and those who maintain the website are priceless. So for those of us who mine your talents we say THANK YOU.
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