Kettle Vent Settings for Smokenator / PartyQ?

[mushroomhunter]

Hello folks,

Following Meathead Goldwyn's recommendations on AmazingRibs.com, I just bought a Weber Gold 22.5" kettle, the Smokenator, and a PartyQ thermostatic air temp control with mounting adaptor. I mounted the PartyQ according to Meathead's advice, between the charcoal and food grates, on the left side of the kettle looking from the front.
My question is this: What should the settings be for the upper and lower vents on the kettle in order to permit the PartyQ to control the temperature?

Thanks!

[ksu1971]

Everything I have read and seen when you use an Temp Controller you close down all the other intake vents and the exhaust vent will be wide open. Did you drill a hole in the kettle for the PartyQ? Whatever the setup the PartyQ should be the only inlet.

[mushroomhunter]

Thanks for responding, and for the advice! Yes, I did drill a hole in the kettle for the PartyQ. Looking downward at the kettle bottom, the hole is at 9:00, vertically positioned midway between the charcoal grate and the food grate. The PartyQ instructions say to mount it below the charcoal grate, but according to Craig "Meathead" Goldwyn on AmazingRibs.com, doing so can cause ashes to fly about. My setup is identical to that in the photo on the page www.amazingribs.com/tips_and_techniques/smokenator_tips.html . What cannot be seen from the photo is whether the PartyQ is mounted directly to the hole, or via the optional "small universal adaptor" they sell, which permits the PartyQ to be removed simply by pulling it out of the hole, as opposed to unscrewing the mounting bracket, as shown at www.thebbqguru.com/products/PartyQ-with-Weber%7B47%7DSmall-Universal-Adaptor.html . I use the adaptor.

[mushroomhunter]

Oops... In my wordy post above, I managed to mess up the link to the "Smokenator Tips" page on Craig Goldwyn's site. Since I think there's a lot of good info there that folks might be interested in learning about, I give the correct link below:

www.amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/smokenator_tips.html

[ksu1971]

Yeah I have gotten a lot of useful information from Meathead's site. He is the one that turned me onto the Smokenator. On his write up about the PartyQ I think he mistyped. He said he drilled a hole above the cooking grate but he did mention to shut off all the other bottom vents. If you could let us know how it performs. I am curious how long the PartyQ will last on a set of batteries.

[meathead]

DUDE!!!! When you spot a typo like that PLEASE let me know!!!!!

I have fixed it but I peeved that you did not help me back.

[meathead]

Ummmm. My ire was aimed at KSU1971, I see that the "reply" is not nested to the comment above.

But in answer to the initial question, I have just posted an article on controlling temp with vents that applies directly to this discussion

amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/controlling_temperature_with_vents.html

BTW, I have every grill and smoker known to man and I love working with the Smokenator. So easy. So tasty.

[ksu1971]

Aug 5, 2012 20:08:08 GMT -5 meathead said:

DUDE!!!! When you spot a typo like that PLEASE let me know!!!!!

I have fixed it but I peeved that you did not help me back.

The reason I didn't let you know is two fold.

1. I am just a newbie and you are well your Meathead. I wasn't for sure I was right and I would never question something you posted.

2. I know with all your experience you know better then me so maybe the picture was backwards and you typed it right or the picture was right and you typed it backwards.

Next time I see one I will be sure to let you know. I love your site.

[hotblackdesiato]

Doing my first smokenator + PartyQ cook today.
Testing with some baby backs, and so far everything seems to be working very well, temperature is set to 225 and the highest i've seen is 237, which was during the initial warm-up.

I opened top and bottom vents fully to get close to temperature, at which point i closed the bottom vents off and damped down the top vent to just shy of 1/2 way.

[smokenator]

Sweet, post some picks of during and after ;D

[hotblackdesiato]

Things are still working out well with the Smokenator PartyQ combination. I've made a couple of changes via trial and error.
1) I'm no longer using any water, aside from in the drip tray. Sometime back, pre-PartyQ, i'd swapped out the original water bath for a 9by5 loaf tin, to reduce the refill frequency. While this worked well without the partyQ i had the feeling the fan was running excessively maintaining a 225 grate temperature, and reasoned that this might be because the steam/ larger water heat-sink was cooling to 212. Removing the water bath i have found greatly reduces the fan on time and the fuel burned.

2) In the past i'd load the 12-16 lit coals in the center water bath, i now add them at 1 end and allow them to burn across the unlit coals.

With a fully loaded smokenator and no water bath i can maintain 225F for 10-11 hours.

[vcsoto]

To the poster who had the most luck with the Smokenator/Party Q settings: When doing long cooks, do you still knock the ash off the coals? I ask b/c I am thinking of starting a 'butt hella early, and was wondering if I would able to catch a few winks inbetween.