Temp Controllers on Cabinet Smoker

[SchweinStein]

Thank you for the feedback. I realized that between my first fire and the first cook, i changed the water pan from the drop in position to the slide out position and also the head deflector was just above the coals on the first fire. I think I will stick with that as right now, the slide out isnt necessary.

I have placed a thermometer on the bottom rack and top, I wondered, when i set the fireboard to auto and input the desired temp, how does it know which thermometer to go off of? Or does it do an average between the two? The lowest of the two? I wonder if just having a thermometer at the bottom in channel 1 would be best.

[tenphases]

It's a big pit and a whole lot of metal that takes a long time to settle in. I typically light up my Humphreys pint hours (5 or 6) or the night before and set it to 200. It hardly butns any charcoal at that temp. So when I'm ready to cook it's ready to go. It's also easier to adjust the temp once it's at 200. What you did the first time is right, it needs plenty if time to settle in. The guy I bought my Pint from bought two battle boxes instead because he hated to wait for it to come up to temp. You can also get a blow torch and preheat the thing.

[ofelles]

I have a LSG insulated cabinet and use a Fireboard and Pit Bull fan. I notice it was about 30-40 degrees hotter on bottom than on top with out water in the pan. Temps are much more even with water, 10 degrees. So I always use water now.
I guess on a cook that I needed temp differences I could use that to my advantage.

[SchweinStein]

I am looking for some advice, tips, and tricks to use my Fireboard 2 and Pit Viper fan on my new Humphrey's down east beast. Or if someone knows of an existing article or guide they could point me to I would appreciate it.

I'm not new to smoking I've been using weber kettles for years and used to own a cheaper offset. I am new to cabinet smokers and temp controllers.

I've used my Humphrey's twice since I got it a week ago. The first time was just the "first fire" I loaded the charcoal basket full and set my fireboard to 225 and it ran for 24 hours. For the first few hours, I noticed a huge temperature difference between my lower probe and upper probe. After that things stabilized and my temp held dead on 225 for nearly 20 hours (on top and bottom).

My first cook was this past Saturday. I noticed the same thing, in terms of the temperature difference between top and bottom. To compensate, I turned the fan to 1% manually for about an hour but it didn't help. I never could seem to get stabilized. The ribs on the top rack came out perfect, whereas I ended up overcooking the racks closer to the bottom.

I'd like to know what's the best way to help the smoker come up to temp using the fan without creating too much of a temperature differential. Or I've contemplated warming it up not using the fan at all.

Thanks in Advance.