WSK Newbie: Need Help Holding Temp & Blower Recommendations plus Bonus Question

[Krafty1111]

Hi everyone,

I recently purchased a Weber Summit Kamado E6 and am having trouble getting smoking temperatures set and holding them steady. I am coming from a Traeger, while I am used to the convenience, I made the switch for better flavor and a more hands-on experience. I suspect my current temperature issues are mostly due to user error and a lack of experience.

To help manage this, I am strongly leaning toward adding a FireBoard and a blower. I have been looking at the Pit Viper, but it appears to be out of stock.

My main questions for the group:

• Is the FireBoard paired with a Pit Viper still the recommended setup for the E6?
• What blower systems do most of you use around here?
• Note: A strict requirement for me is that the blower must be easy to attach, remove, and store inside after the cook.

Any advice for getting temperatures dialed in would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!


PS Bonus question. I a big disappointment is the top vent rotates around... so when I open the lid I LOSE the vent position. What gives? Did I get a dud?

[RonB]

First, welcome to The Pit.

Second, a little more info would help. What temp are you shooting for, and how close are you getting?

I can't help with your kamado, but how you are making the fire might help.

Third, is there a screw on the top vent you can tighten?

[Mosca]

fzxdoc!

Kathryn knows the WSCGC [edit: or is it the PBC? Or both?] pretty thoroughly, she’ll be able to help with that one more than I can. Without a blower, your Summit is capable of hitting a temp, then holding it until the fuel runs out. It’s just physics. Blowers don’t change that, they’re just gadgets. I use one because I like gadgets. But I ran my BGE without a fan for 24+ hours at 225°, just to see how long it would go. The temp didn’t vary more than a degree or so, until it started dropping.

Without a fan, it reaches stasis, and just burns. With a fan, the air flow keeps the fire from dying. It isn’t any harder or easier to set up one or the other, they’re just different. You still have to get the vents right. Some people like to regulate from the top, some from the bottom, some (me) use both.

Controllers do allow you to monitor cooks remotely. Actually, the probes and app let you do that; the fan lets you do something about it. But only to a point. If you’re at work while the pit temp is dropping, you can bump it somewhat, but you’ll be limited by the vent settings anyhow. Once the fan is running at 100%, you get what you got. I’ve had fires crater with a fan. You go outside at 4AM, stir the coals, open everything up, etc., get it going all over again.

To answer a specific question: FireBoard Drive will run a Pit Viper in anything. The plugs (connectors) are the same spec. The fan inside the Pit Viper is the exact same as is in the FireBoard G3 blower. I’ve had them both open. Part# AV-F7350HB. I use both FireBoard and BBQ Guru controllers.

[Krafty1111]

First, welcome to The Pit.

Second, a little more info would help. What temp are you shooting for, and how close are you getting?

I can't help with your kamado, but how you are making the fire might help.

Third, is there a screw on the top vent you can tighten?

Any temp I try to hold the thing just climbs or goes down if I choke it off too much. Just seems way harder to dial in than a regular Weber Kettle to me. But for arguments sake let’s say 225.

There is no screw to tighten. It’s a rivet. Searching the internet says I need to wait until seasoning starts to build on the vent, take out the vent and add a washer, or like pound on the rivet. None of these anre very appealing to me on something I just $1400 for.

[Mosca]

That sounds like the regular kamado learning curve. Esteemed former member Ceramic Chef wrote a wonderful primer that applies to all kamados.

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/charcoal-kamados/other-kamados-and-misc/179353-taming-the-savage-kamado

[Krafty1111]

fzxdoc!

Kathryn knows the WSCGC pretty thoroughly, she’ll be able to help with that one more than I can. Without a blower, your Summit is capable of hitting a temp, then holding it until the fuel runs out. It’s just physics. Blowers don’t change that, they’re just gadgets. I use one because I like gadgets. But I ran my BGE without a fan for 24+ hours at 225°, just to see how long it would go. The temp didn’t vary more than a degree or so, until it started dropping.

Without a fan, it reaches stasis, and just burns. With a fan, the air flow keeps the fire from dying. It isn’t any harder or easier to set up one or the other, they’re just different. You still have to get the vents right. Some people like to regulate from the top, some from the bottom, some (me) use both.

Controllers do allow you to monitor cooks remotely. Actually, the probes and app let you do that; the fan lets you do something about it. But only to a point. If you’re at work while the pit temp is dropping, you can bump it somewhat, but you’ll be limited by the vent settings anyhow. Once the fan is running at 100%, you get what you got. I’ve had fires crater with a fan. You go outside at 4AM, stir the coals, open everything up, etc., get it going all over again.

To answer a specific question: FireBoard Drive will run a Pit Viper in anything. The plugs (connectors) are the same spec. The fan inside the Pit Viper is the exact same as is in the FireBoard G3 blower. I’ve had them both open. Part# AV-F7350HB. I use both FireBoard and BBQ Guru controllers.

I was looking at the FireBoard blower, but the cut out is square where as the Pit Viper is round and a bit more compatible for the Weber Summit Kamado it seems. I have not took an exhaustive look at all the options out there. Was hoping for people with the Weber Summit Kamado with hands on experience to opine on what has been working or not working.

Totally understand that a blower still has to deal with the physical elements… I too like gadgets, so it seemed like a fun way to help me get things dialed in… Maybe a bit of a crutch. Plus regardless I do want to get something to monitor the temp remotely so I dont have to walk out every 5 minutes. Even on a nice day that gets a bit tiresome. Perhaps once I build the experience to lock things in I will have more confidence the WSK will hold.

[Mosca]

Ok, I got it. I wish I could give you more specifics on that unit; also, I wish Weber had come out with it earlier, I’d have one of those in a heartbeat. That’s a great tool.

I remember chasing temps when I first got my BGE. I took a day when I wasn’t cooking anything and woodshedded that son of a gun. Best advice I can give.

[DavidNorcross]

I cant really weigh in here. Welcome from Virginia! Highly encourage you to end that trial and become a member of this fine group!

[WI Bubba]

Welcome from Wisconsin. Glad you could join us!

What you are experiencing is the learning curve of a new cooker. The top vent sounds like it will behave once you get some cooks in and some gunk builds up. If it were tight now, then a year from now you probably wouldn't be able to move it. I understand your frustration, but it's all part of learning a new cooker. We've all been there.

I know it's frustrating, but I highly recommend learning to control the temp without a fan. I don't have a WSK, but by all accounts they are solid cookers that run very well once you learn to control them. And there will come a time when the fan dies, or the power goes out mid cook. That's when you will be very glad that you know how to run it manually. Once you do know how to make it behave without gadgets, then by all means get a fan and a controller. I'm 100% sure somebody out there is making an adapter for the WSK to accept a fan. I ran a Fireboard Drive on my WSM, and was extremely happy with it. I didn't really need to run a fan, but I'm like Mosca, I like gadgets.

In general, the key to holding temps on something that doesn't shed heat rapidly is to build the right sized fire to start with, and throttle it down before you get to your setpoint, so it rises that last 15° slowly and settles in where you want it to. If you don't start closing off the vents until you reach set point then it will overshoot and since it holds heat so well, it will take a very long time to get it back down. Or you will close the vents too far trying to get it cooled down that you kill the fire, and that's no good either. If you start with too small of a fire or choke it back too early, you'll be forever and a day to get to your desired temp. You just need to find that sweet spot of how much burning charcoal to start with and where to set your vents to hold the temps you are looking for. And don't worry about the temp swinging +/- 10°. that's normal with any cooker and you should just let it ride. Chasing temps is the number one cause of baldness amongst people who BBQ.

Your cooker will also have it's own preferred temp that it likes to settle in at and will run very steady at. My WSM with the water pan filled liked to run right around 260°. I could fight with it and make it run hotter or cooler, but it's not worth the effort. Find your cookers sweet spot and adjust your timing to match it. For low and slow my kettle with a SnS like to run around 230°. I don't argue with it. I just adjust the cook times for it.

The switch from a pellet pooper to a charcoal smoker is major adjustment. But once you learn your new cooker, it will soon be second nature to you on how to build your fire and manage the heat.

[HawkerXP]

+1

[Krafty1111]

Thank you for the tips!

[Mosca]

And don't worry about the temp swinging +/- 10°.

Early recipes didn’t say temps. They said “low oven”, “hot oven”, medium, etc.. And how about those old Tel-Trus that just said “Smoke”, “BBQ”, and “Grill”!

A nice feature of the BBQ Guru controllers is that they don’t display variations of less than 5° from the set point. If you set one to 250°, when it hits 245° it snaps to read 250°, and it displays that unless it goes over 255° or under 245°. They explicitly state in the manual that it’s to keep users from obsessing over something that doesn’t matter.

[WI Bubba]

It took me a long time to learn to stop chasing temps. Once I did, life was much easier.

[HawkerXP]

Welcome to the Pit!

[dpearce]

Welcome to the Pit! While I'm not going to be much help on this cooker, I'm sure you'll find plenty of people here who can!

[Jessterr]

The WSK (mine is a WSCGC) is a very efficient cooker. To hold around 250F it needs to be run with both top and bottom vents just barely open. In Kamado mode, I start with just a single Weber starter cube in the center to get things going, that’s all that is needed. I do recommend using lump charcoal to keep the bottom vents from becoming clogged with ash from briquettes on a long cook. Once the starter cube is done, I close it up and keep the bottom and top vents fully open until it reaches around 200F, then start closing things down. When running steady at around 225-250F, the bottom vents will be 25% open or less, and the top just barely cracked. Temperatures are very sensitive to even slight changes in the top vent setting, so that will take some getting used to. The good news is that unlike ceramic kamados, if you overshoot the temp a bit it will come back down pretty quickly, so it’s generally no big deal. And you will never have to add additional charcoal during a cook, this thing will go at those temperatures for 24 hours on a full load. I love mine, it’s a fantastic cooker once you learn a few tweaks.

[Krafty1111]

Thanks for the tips! And that is a big issue I noted is that my WSK top vent spins very loosely. So even if I get something dialed in. If I open the top it resets the setting. So I am can obviously take a pic and eyeball it but this is not ideal obviously.

[glitchy]

I use the Fireboard 2 Drive with a Pit Viper fan on my WSCG and it works great. However, I’d be tempted to try Thermoworks RFX system if I was starting today even though I love my Fireboard. The Fireboard wireless probes (Pulse) are just not impressive and mine broke after a couple uses.

Before setting up the fan, I noticed like Jester mentioned above how barely open the vents were for smoking temps. It’s just a sliver, especially on the top vent.

Also, not needed but another tool available is they make a Slow N Sear for the WSCG/WSK to help manage the fire as well.

[Krafty1111]

I use the Fireboard 2 Drive with a Pit Viper fan on my WSCG and it works great. However, I’d be tempted to try Thermoworks RFX system if I was starting today even though I love my Fireboard. The Fireboard wireless probes (Pulse) are just not impressive and mine broke after a couple uses.

Before setting up the fan, I noticed like Jester mentioned above how barely open the vents were for smoking temps. It’s just a sliver, especially on the top vent.

Also, not needed but another tool available is they make a Slow N Sear for the WSCG/WSK to help manage the fire as well.

I will for sure check out the Thermoworks, thanks for pointing me there. I have heard such good things about the FireBoard so that is why I started there.

I also picked up the Slow N Sear and Vortex. I love the Slow N Sear for burgers and steaks etc… I have been using that for years on my kettle so that was a must have for me in a Kamado and one of the reasons I went with the WSK. I use my grill more often as a Kettle than a smoker.

[Krafty1111]

The more I look into blowers I am kind of thinking the Spider Grill Venom may be a good choice for me. Wondering if anyone has a good or bad experience using it on the WSK?

The reason being I am kinda concerned with assembling the Pit Viper, seems like i need to get high temp washers, and I am not sure what washers I would need and how that will hold up with getting my grill very hot. I like to do some very high heat search which the WSK has been GREAT for.

[glitchy]

If you buy the kettle adapter from bbq guru you can just pull the pit viper and plug it with the silicone plug that comes with the adapter (buy a spare plug too so you don’t have to pay more than plug in shipping when you lose it). The kettle adapter is a direct bolt on for the hole in your WSK.

[tstalafuse]

I use the Thermoworks billow fan that fits directly into the WSK fan port without needing any adapters. It can be paired with the Smoke x4 for wired probes or the RFX for a wired temp probe and wireless meat probes. Both work perfectly

The top vent will gunk up after a few cooks and stay open to where you position it.