Getting the device was interesting. I emailed the company and asked about getting the Pitmaster IQ 110 for the PBC and a standard adapter for my Weber kettle setup. Best option was to order everything directly from the company vs ordering the PBC setup through Amazon and the adapter through their website. I'd rather go directly to a company vs Amazon as I know the company keeps a bigger cut and it's a smaller company based here in MO and want to support smaller companies. I placed my order then waited. Two days later the standard adapter arrived and I received an email saying my order was complete. Huh? I emailed the company that night letting them know the controller and PBC adapter never showed. They replied that evening at 6 p.m., customer service!, apologized and sent the IQ with PBC adapter the next day, via overnight service! Mistakes happen but the company immediately took care of the issue.
First cook with this setup. I read the instructions for the IQ 110 and they say to decrease the amount of lit fuel you start with so you don't overshoot desired temp setting on the IQ 110. I cook with Kingsford Pro and my regular setup is:
1. Fill the PBC basket
2. Remove and light 30 for a light cook or 40 for a heavier cook
3. Light the coals from step 2 and let them go for 12 minutes, then pour them over the remaining unlit in the basket
For this cook the only adjustment I made to my regular PBC lighting steps was in step 2, I only removed 20 briquets for the initial lighting. Lit those 20 briquets for 12 minutes and poured them on the remaining unlit coals in the basket, immediately hung the meat, and put on the lid.
With the meat hung and lid on, I connected the Pitmaster IQ, set it to 250, set the controller to the 2 setting(50% airflow according to their instructions), put the lid on the PBC, and walked away. I also have my trusty Maverick 732 connected with the probe hanging from the rebar monitoring temps. I clipped the IQ 110 probe to the end of one of the PBC hooks. It's within a few inches of the meat so should give the IQ a good reading on temps closest to the meat.
It's a really windy day here and I didn't do anything to hide the PBC, just set it on the same corner of the patio it normally cooks on with the rebar pointing into the wind. The winds are really swirling so they are mostly pointing into the wind but the winds can come from anywhere it seems. So those are the conditions.
I picked up 2 slabs of St Louis style ribs from Costco yesterday. Purchased the butcher cut and packed version vs the Swift cryopak'd version. Thought I'd try something different. Covered the ribs with PBC Beet and Game Rub about a couple hours before the start of the cook. Here are some photos from the start.
Temps in the PBC started at 220 and slipped a bit to 215. I stood close and could hear the IQ 110 blowing air. Slowly but surely the temp in the pit climbed. I watched temps climb into the 240 range and turned my attention to the Belgium v Bosnia & Herzegovina World Cup qualifier game. I kept looking over at the Maverick just to see what was going on. Temps climbed up to 265 then bounced around 260 for a little while and have settled down since and are bouncing around in the 245 to 255 range. I'm not out listening to see when the IQ 110 is running but I can see temps drop into the 240s, settle, then climb back back up into the low 250s.
This is only my first run with this setup so I can't say anything with conviction but the first 2 hours of this cook look pretty amazing as far as temp control goes from what I'm seeing. I have a single whole chicken cook tomorrow and plan to run that at 325. Figure I'll start with 30 to 35 briquets to get a higher starting temp and see how it goes.
I chose to cook at 250 for the ribs just to see if I could cook at that temp in the PBC and to see how well that temp could be held. I could have chosen 225, 275, etc, just picked 250. We'll see what kind of food I end up in a few hours and how the full cook went but the start is pretty interesting. Now on to the France v Bulgaria game or the Andorra v Portugal game if I want to brush up on my Spanish and watch ESPN Deportes.
First cook with this setup. I read the instructions for the IQ 110 and they say to decrease the amount of lit fuel you start with so you don't overshoot desired temp setting on the IQ 110. I cook with Kingsford Pro and my regular setup is:
1. Fill the PBC basket
2. Remove and light 30 for a light cook or 40 for a heavier cook
3. Light the coals from step 2 and let them go for 12 minutes, then pour them over the remaining unlit in the basket
For this cook the only adjustment I made to my regular PBC lighting steps was in step 2, I only removed 20 briquets for the initial lighting. Lit those 20 briquets for 12 minutes and poured them on the remaining unlit coals in the basket, immediately hung the meat, and put on the lid.
With the meat hung and lid on, I connected the Pitmaster IQ, set it to 250, set the controller to the 2 setting(50% airflow according to their instructions), put the lid on the PBC, and walked away. I also have my trusty Maverick 732 connected with the probe hanging from the rebar monitoring temps. I clipped the IQ 110 probe to the end of one of the PBC hooks. It's within a few inches of the meat so should give the IQ a good reading on temps closest to the meat.
It's a really windy day here and I didn't do anything to hide the PBC, just set it on the same corner of the patio it normally cooks on with the rebar pointing into the wind. The winds are really swirling so they are mostly pointing into the wind but the winds can come from anywhere it seems. So those are the conditions.
I picked up 2 slabs of St Louis style ribs from Costco yesterday. Purchased the butcher cut and packed version vs the Swift cryopak'd version. Thought I'd try something different. Covered the ribs with PBC Beet and Game Rub about a couple hours before the start of the cook. Here are some photos from the start.
Temps in the PBC started at 220 and slipped a bit to 215. I stood close and could hear the IQ 110 blowing air. Slowly but surely the temp in the pit climbed. I watched temps climb into the 240 range and turned my attention to the Belgium v Bosnia & Herzegovina World Cup qualifier game. I kept looking over at the Maverick just to see what was going on. Temps climbed up to 265 then bounced around 260 for a little while and have settled down since and are bouncing around in the 245 to 255 range. I'm not out listening to see when the IQ 110 is running but I can see temps drop into the 240s, settle, then climb back back up into the low 250s.
This is only my first run with this setup so I can't say anything with conviction but the first 2 hours of this cook look pretty amazing as far as temp control goes from what I'm seeing. I have a single whole chicken cook tomorrow and plan to run that at 325. Figure I'll start with 30 to 35 briquets to get a higher starting temp and see how it goes.
I chose to cook at 250 for the ribs just to see if I could cook at that temp in the PBC and to see how well that temp could be held. I could have chosen 225, 275, etc, just picked 250. We'll see what kind of food I end up in a few hours and how the full cook went but the start is pretty interesting. Now on to the France v Bulgaria game or the Andorra v Portugal game if I want to brush up on my Spanish and watch ESPN Deportes.
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