Many years ago I owned one of the original Big Green Eggs (BGE) and added a DigiQ system to control the temperature. It was a real god send, and if I still owned the BGE I would still use it.
Unfortunately, I sold it when I sold the BGE. Has anyone modified their Pit Barrel with a DigiQ? I checked with them and they definitely sell an adapter to hold the fan. Did anyone find the DigiQ useful in the Pit Barrel, or was it counter to the simplicity of this cooker?
For very long cooks I still plan on using my Smokin-It electric smoker. I modified it to use an external temperature controller and for long cooks, it's my "oven-of-choice." For ribs, chicken and chicken parts, I'm planning on using the PBJ. I would like to try a smallish pork shoulder or butt on the new cooker and see how it comes out, but I still plan on using the Smokin-It for anything that would cook overnight.
Now, maybe Santa will want to get me a DigiQ for Xmas, I don't know, but nice to know that you've tried it, Jerod.
I used mine as backup. Once the barrel settled to its temperature, I set the fan temp approx. 5-10 degrees below that. Things don't run quite as hot with 4 briskets or 3 butts.
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 Griddle
Grill Grate for SnS
Grill 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 Package
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 (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Pit Viper Fan new design (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Thermoworks Gear:
Thermapen MK4 (pink)
Thermapen Classic (pink too)
Thermoworks MK4 orange
Temp Test 2 Smart Thermometer
Extra Big and Loud Timer
Timestick Trio
Maverick ET 73 a little workhorse with limited range
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
There are several topics here which describe modifying the PBC for an automatic temperature control device (ATC). It's easy to do.
I often smoke in my PBC with the Pit Viper fan controlled by the Fireboard with driver cable. I use an adapter purchased from BBQ Guru that works well for the PBC.
From experience I can say that there is no compromise in the quality of the food produced using and ATC with the PBC. It makes the PBC even easier to use. Whenever I want to cook "old school" I leave the adapter in place and proceed with the cook. I don't have any problems cooking without an ATC this way, so it gives me the best of both worlds.
Here are some topics that discuss installing an ATC on the PBC:
Calibration tests with no food to characterize settings.
All using a level basket of KBB, and subset of that ignited by PBC chimney and lid clamped on immediately.
I’m sure things will change with food load, but gives an idea how settings may affect things. Ambient temp was 30-40F.
Altitude is sea level.
Temperature at cook
Works very well. The fan controlled plots are obvious from the fan cycling. Max I achieved with no refueling was 28 hours at 225F with char logs (no food for that test).
I've been reading everyone's posts on this topic, and I think I'm going to pull the trigger on a 10 CFM kit from BBQ Guru. I'm using a PBJ and shouldn't really need the larger fan. In addition, the larger fan seems to weigh more creating the need for the adapter to be fitted with a second screw on the bottom. I really don't want to drill the PBJ barrel as I agree that it is an invitation to rust.
My DigiQ arrived last week and I put it to the test with chicken quarters yesterday. Since the quarters were about one pound apiece, I decided to hang them. I set the DQ3 to 275°, lit the fire using the PBJ chimney, and immediately put the chicken on the rods. It took about 45 minutes to get to temp, but after two hours the chicken was only at 150°. I had a hungry family patiently waiting, so I finished them off in the oven at 400° for 20 minutes. They were tender and juicy with a delicious smoked flavor (I threw in a couple small chunks of mesquite).
The lesson (I think) is that the fire needs to be ashed over before the meat goes in. That extra ten minutes would have raised the pit temperature earlier. I also think the fire needed to be hotter, closer to 300.
In truth, this might have been a better cook if I wasn't using the DigiQ at all since I've previously done a couple hanging chickens in only one and a half hours.
I'm curious where people put the pit probe in order to get an accurate read on the pit temperature. I threaded mine through one of the rebar holes, wrapped it once around the rod and then directed it down the center just below the chicken.
Another question is the fan damper. I set it at 50% open, but it dawned on me that if I wanted to use the PBJ without the DQ3, I would simply leave the blower off and the opening on the adapter would equal the sea level setting with the original disk that the adapter replaced. I'd be really interested to hear what others have done.
I'll follow up again with my adventures of the DigiQ and the PBJ when I do my second cook!
My DigiQ arrived last week and I put it to the test with chicken quarters yesterday. Since the quarters were about one pound apiece, I decided to hang them. I set the DQ3 to 275°, lit the fire using the PBJ chimney, and immediately put the chicken on the rods. It took about 45 minutes to get to temp, but after two hours the chicken was only at 150°. I had a hungry family patiently waiting, so I finished them off in the oven at 400° for 20 minutes. They were tender and juicy with a delicious smoked flavor (I threw in a couple small chunks of mesquite).
The lesson (I think) is that the fire needs to be ashed over before the meat goes in. That extra ten minutes would have raised the pit temperature earlier. I also think the fire needed to be hotter, closer to 300.
In truth, this might have been a better cook if I wasn't using the DigiQ at all since I've previously done a couple hanging chickens in only one and a half hours.
I'm curious where people put the pit probe in order to get an accurate read on the pit temperature. I threaded mine through one of the rebar holes, wrapped it once around the rod and then directed it down the center just below the chicken.
Another question is the fan damper. I set it at 50% open, but it dawned on me that if I wanted to use the PBJ without the DQ3, I would simply leave the blower off and the opening on the adapter would equal the sea level setting with the original disk that the adapter replaced. I'd be really interested to hear what others have done.
I'll follow up again with my adventures of the DigiQ and the PBJ when I do my second cook!
I just did Chicken Split breast (bone in) this past saturday
I put mine on the grate with the bones facing towards the chimney basket and ran the PBC at 250F. It was at 165F after 2 hours. Super Juicy, it was just dripping rendered fat when I took it off the grate. My skin wasn't crispy, so I think next time after 1.5 hours I will run the PBC at maybe 325F to crisp up the skin towards the end.
That's what I would have expected. I did two chickens the week before and they were done in 90 minutes, but without using the DigiQ. I think one of my mistakes was not letting the fire ash over. Using the grate would probably have been a better idea, but these quarters were large and I have a PBJ, not a PBC and decided hanging would be better choice. I guess that wasn't the right decision!
I guess I'm missing something. My experience and some of the consensus here for optimal chicken is to force the PBC hotter than the designed temp of 275 - 300 degrees, not lower, through a longer pre-burn, larger fire and/or rebars removed. Is there any reason the DigiQ setup couldn't be set to say 325?
I guess I'm missing something. My experience and some of the consensus here for optimal chicken is to force the PBC hotter than the designed temp of 275 - 300 degrees, not lower, through a longer pre-burn, larger fire and/or rebars removed. Is there any reason the DigiQ setup couldn't be set to say 325?
No, absolutely no reason it can't be set to 325°. I chose 275° because I thought that was near the upper end of where the PBJ operated normally, so I thought I'd try it. Next time I'll follow what you're suggesting. The good news is that the chicken was delicious. The PBJ is great at keeping chicken juicy and tender. It took a small push in the oven to get the chicken to temp, but the flavor was just as I expected.
Yesterday I cooked a boneless Boston Butt (from Fresh Market) in my Pit Barrel Junior (PBJ) with the DigiQ (DQ) and it was hands-down the best I've ever done. Once again, I used Oakridge BBQ Competition Beef and Pork Rub and I loved the tenderness and flavor of the finished product. Here's how I did it.
First, after starting the charcoal, I set the DQ to 230°. The fire pit in the PBJ started at around 250° but settled back to 230° in about 45 minutes. I put some aluminum foil around one rebar to help keep the temp lower. It then took about 6 hours to get the meat to 150°, better known as the stall. I then wrapped the meat in heavy duty aluminum foil after adding ½ cup of hard apple cider and kicked the temp of the PBJ to 250°. It took an additional 3 hours to get the Boston Butt to 203° internal temperature.
We weren't quite ready to eat, so I wrapped the Boston Butt in a towel and placed it in an Igloo cooler for two hours. When it was time, I removed it, shredded it with Bear Claws, and enjoyed the best BBQ Smoked Pork I've ever cooked, and I have cooked a lot of them. It was tender and juicy, and the "money muscle" was easy to keep whole. We enjoyed them on Martin's Potato Rolls, topped with cole slaw, BBQ sauce and some dill pickle chips, accompanied with an ice cold Corona . UN-BE-LIV-A-BLE!!
I am really pleased with the PBJ and DQ combination. I got over 9 hours (!) with a full load of charcoal, and when we were done, we easily could have gone for at least another hour. I've had prior experience with the DQ when I owned a Big Green Egg, and it is a great device for holding pit temperature. From my brief experience with the PBJ, I don't think it's necessary to use a DQ when cooking ribs or even chicken in the PBJ, but for long and slow cooking, nothing makes the process easier than a DQ.
In the photo of the shredded pork accompanying this photo, you can see the "money muscle" on the left side of the pan. The other photo shows 0° on the DQ. That's just an anomaly with my iPhone camera. It was set to 230° when the picture was taken.
Im all about thermostatic controllers. You can use them, or not. Depending on what you are doing. I say get the adaptor and go for it. You have the costlier parts (cooker, controller, fan). So why not? If you decide not to use it, nobody says you have to. But for those times when you are busy or just do not want to monitor things closely, the controller takes over.
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