The Thermoworks ("TW") Billows Fan is designed to work with several different controllers from the TW lineup. You can choose RF Wireless, WIFI or Bluetooth options to connect remotely with the fan. I mostly use the RF on the Smoke X controller and remote. It has very good range. I can manage my cook in the upstairs bedroom from the portable remote. The controller enables you to set a high and low range of temperatures for the ambient heat in your cooker. I bought my set up to use with my vault cooker that came with screw in port valves for venting air into the cooker. TW makes adapters that screws into ports of various sizes. The system allows flawless temp management in my vault cooker.
Since I already had the TW Billow fan and the controller, I decided to see if I could set up the Billows fan on my Weber Performer Kettle. After a little research, I found the connectors to do that. Guru makes an adapter that they market for the WSM. It consists of a draft inducer (for outside the kettle) and a deflector plate that goes inside the kettle:
TW makes an adapter that fits securely and tightly inside the Guru draft inducer tube. The TW adapter connects to the Billows and in turn fits into the inducer tube of the Guru adapter.
The installation on the kettle requires drilling a 7/8" hole in the kettle. My drills are all 3/8" chucks that will not hold a 7/8' drill bit even if the bit is reduced to a 1/2". So, I used a Jerax Tools stepped drill bit from Amazon:
I have used other brands of step drill bits and they worked poorly. This Jerax bit worked very easily and cut through the kettle in a few seconds. I started the step bit in a smaller pilot hole, so the larger step bit did not wander. It is important to drill from the inside of the kettle as the baked enamel exterior is harder to drill through.
Locating the placement of the mounting hole took some thought. l wanted it under the charcoal grate, and I had to avoid the areas where the ash paddles travel. I discovered that the ash paddles do not fully rotate across the entire kettle. If you rotate them to the extremes of their opening and closing, you can draw an outline of the paddle locations on the inside wall of the kettle with a sharpie. Then you can see where to locate your placement of the deflector plate that screws into the draft inducer tube. Here are after pictures showing the paddles at their extremes of their rotation. You can full rotate the paddles to open and closed without hitting the deflector plate:
I placed the adapter on the table side of the Weber Performer. There is enough room for it there and you can still reach to install the fan, adjust the damper on the fan and plug in the cord. Also, I avoided the side of the kettle opposite the table as that is where the holder for the kettle lid is and it would be awkward to reach the Billow fan to adjust the damper if the lid was in the holder.
Here is the Billows fan unit and below the fan is the Billows fan installed on the Weber Kettle:
I have not yet done a cook with the Billows fan on the kettle. Just installed it today. But I have smoked low and slow on the kettle a number of times and it works well. I use a snake of briquets and wood chunks for fuel. I have also used the fan setup on my vault, and I have learned how to how to use the controller and remote (it is easy-peasy). I expect that I will use the fan on the kettle for ribs, pork butt and maybe a brisket too. The controller with the fan is particularly handy for long cooks or if you are busy in the kitchen getting other things ready for the event, you can monitor the cook from the remote.
If I am doing a large cook, I will probably use my vault, but a smaller cook can go on the kettle. I have smoked 4 racks of ribs at once on the kettle using a vertical rib rack. However, I prefer doing no more that 2-3 racks at a time on the kettle as you can get better bark development if there is airspace between the ribs in the vertical rack.
The Guru adapter comes with a silicone plug to fit in the inducer tube to close up the air intake if you are not using the fan. I will report back here after I have done a cook or two with the new Billows fan setup on the kettle. I anticipate that I can use the fan for rotisserie cooks as well as low and slow. I love using the rotisserie in the Weber kettle for chickens and prime rib. It is easy and very relaxing to rotisserie cook. And you can get a light smoke flavor from just a couple of wood chunks. I don't used more than one or two chunks to avoid getting too much of a good thing.
Day 2: Working on my first cook. I used a SnS insert and started briquets on one side of the SnS. Came up to my target temp of 240 in about 25 minutes. I then closed down the damper as shown in the picture below. The ambient temp in the kettle is hovering between 238 and 243. I was surprised by how little air is required to keep the temp around 240.
The two adapters for the kettle were not much. The TW is $5.99 (a great deal), and the Guru is $37.50 (not such a great deal). I already had everything else so this expansion to the kettle was easy and cheap. Total install time was about 20 minutes.
Since I already had the TW Billow fan and the controller, I decided to see if I could set up the Billows fan on my Weber Performer Kettle. After a little research, I found the connectors to do that. Guru makes an adapter that they market for the WSM. It consists of a draft inducer (for outside the kettle) and a deflector plate that goes inside the kettle:
Locating the placement of the mounting hole took some thought. l wanted it under the charcoal grate, and I had to avoid the areas where the ash paddles travel. I discovered that the ash paddles do not fully rotate across the entire kettle. If you rotate them to the extremes of their opening and closing, you can draw an outline of the paddle locations on the inside wall of the kettle with a sharpie. Then you can see where to locate your placement of the deflector plate that screws into the draft inducer tube. Here are after pictures showing the paddles at their extremes of their rotation. You can full rotate the paddles to open and closed without hitting the deflector plate:
Here is the Billows fan unit and below the fan is the Billows fan installed on the Weber Kettle:
I have not yet done a cook with the Billows fan on the kettle. Just installed it today. But I have smoked low and slow on the kettle a number of times and it works well. I use a snake of briquets and wood chunks for fuel. I have also used the fan setup on my vault, and I have learned how to how to use the controller and remote (it is easy-peasy). I expect that I will use the fan on the kettle for ribs, pork butt and maybe a brisket too. The controller with the fan is particularly handy for long cooks or if you are busy in the kitchen getting other things ready for the event, you can monitor the cook from the remote.
If I am doing a large cook, I will probably use my vault, but a smaller cook can go on the kettle. I have smoked 4 racks of ribs at once on the kettle using a vertical rib rack. However, I prefer doing no more that 2-3 racks at a time on the kettle as you can get better bark development if there is airspace between the ribs in the vertical rack.
The Guru adapter comes with a silicone plug to fit in the inducer tube to close up the air intake if you are not using the fan. I will report back here after I have done a cook or two with the new Billows fan setup on the kettle. I anticipate that I can use the fan for rotisserie cooks as well as low and slow. I love using the rotisserie in the Weber kettle for chickens and prime rib. It is easy and very relaxing to rotisserie cook. And you can get a light smoke flavor from just a couple of wood chunks. I don't used more than one or two chunks to avoid getting too much of a good thing.
Day 2: Working on my first cook. I used a SnS insert and started briquets on one side of the SnS. Came up to my target temp of 240 in about 25 minutes. I then closed down the damper as shown in the picture below. The ambient temp in the kettle is hovering between 238 and 243. I was surprised by how little air is required to keep the temp around 240.
The two adapters for the kettle were not much. The TW is $5.99 (a great deal), and the Guru is $37.50 (not such a great deal). I already had everything else so this expansion to the kettle was easy and cheap. Total install time was about 20 minutes.
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