I've only used the Pitminder for low and slow cooks, but its been a life-saver for overnighters.

If I use it for tomorrow's turkey cook, is it going to be able to get up to temp okay? The normal way to use it call for closing all the bottom vents except for the one you have your fan hooked to.

I think I have the 4 CFM fan, but I'm not sure. It could be the 10.

Should I use it or not? And if I do, should I Minion-start it, so the Pitminder can control the temperature ramp?

i use my pitminder for 300+ cooks. i leave the vent the minder is attached to taped up and open the other two and keep the top vent wide open.. then i light a few coals, set the pit minder to 325 and let the WSM come up to temp before putting the food on. i also make sure to close the pit minder damper when i take the top off to put the food on or check on the food. i think i have decided to go this route with my turkey tomorrow. this has always worked well for me with whole chickens. but ask me again in 15 minutes and i'll probably say i'm doing it 250-265. i can't make up my damn mind. it's driving me crazy.

S., I'm going back and forth on the same thing, wondering if I should use my Stoker with my 5 CFM fan. My logic is if I have to mess with vents anyway what the point. I think it's going to be a last minute call for me. Oh, I cook my birds at 325.

larry, while i have a pitminder with 4cfm fan and not a stoker with 5cfm fan, i don't think i really have to mess with the 2 bottom or the top vents at all. it's been awhile(maybe 3 months) since i did a few BCC's this way, but i don't remember ever touching the vents. the minder kept it stable at 325-335 pretty good IIRC

I'll be using my Guru with 10 cfm blower for a 325-350º cook tomorrow (i always use my guru )

Bill

It's days like this that I wish I had the 10 CFM blower, but I only do a couple high heat cooks a year on the WSM . . . actually only one, Thanksgiving.

quote:

Originally posted by LarryR:
It's days like this that I wish I had the 10 CFM blower, but I only do a couple high heat cooks a year on the WSM . . . actually only one, Thanksgiving.

Man, sorry to hear that. Every time I would post, recommending the Guru, I always recommended the 10 over the 4 because of the versitality and the fact that it only cost like 6 bucks more than the 4. Sorry to hear you missed out.

Bill

Unfortunately on the Stoker it's a $60 upgrade (vs. Guru's $6 upgrade) to the 10 CFM and I guess I was being "cheap" at the time and primarily thinking about low heat cooks.

Cool!! Thanks for the replies!!

I got home and checked, and I've actually got the 10 CFM fan. With the bigger fan, do I leave the other two vents closed, or should I still open them up?

I'm shooting for cooking around 325 degrees.

quote:

Originally posted by S. Patel:
Cool!! Thanks for the replies!!

I got home and checked, and I've actually got the 10 CFM fan. With the bigger fan, do I leave the other two vents closed, or should I still open them up?

I'm shooting for cooking around 325 degrees.

You can open them to help get the temp up or just leave them closed and let the pitminder do all the work. I myself have been opening the other 2 vents so my cook at temp/pit temp comes up faster.

Forgive me for my naiveness here, but what is a pitminder? I am still waiting for my first smoker from amazon. 18' but have been useing my 22' silver one touch kettle for over a year.

victor, a pitminder is a power draft system for smokers. there are a few different brands and models out there. while they are nice i'd suggest getting the feel for the WSM first and then decide if you want one. i love mine, but i had my WSM for almost a year before i got one and i didn't really want it but a friend gave it to me when he upgraded to a digiQ 2. after 6 months i still use it every cook

http://secure.thebbqguru.com/ProductCart/pc/viewPrd.asp...ory=49&idproduct=154

Tony, I see from another thread you threw your bird on and you're at 300 already. What fuel are you using? How did you start your cook, MM or Standard? and what are your bottom vent positions? I do not have good luck with high heat cooks and my Stoker. I'm an hour out of starting my cook and I'm still trying to decide what to use for fuel. I'm leaning towards lump (unpacked) and Bryan assures me I'll get 4 - 5 hours cook time out of a full ring easily, but then in the back of my mind I'm afraid I'm going to run out of fuel. If I had to assemble my WSM now, I think I'd do a layer of unlit Rancher with a layer of lump with a full chimney of lit lump on top . . . maybe some whip cream too.

larry, i'm using royal oak lump. the damper that has the minder in it still has the 2 open holes taped. bottom and top vents are wide open and minder is set to 325 area. i touched off a few pieces with my torch turned on the minder and put the bird on when it got to 300(about 30 minutes). i used a full ring unpacked and hopefully that will last the entire cook. wsm is now at 331 btw. if it coninues to go up much more i'll just close down one of the bottom vents a tad.

edit. and i used 3 smallish to medium sized pieces of cherry and didn't put them on until the bird went on which may be why the temp is rising a little more than i want right now. they probably caught fire

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Tony C.,

Tony, thanks for the quick reply. I've made my decision, a mixture of unlit rancher and lump with a chimney of lit lump to start her off. Cool, thanks again. Oh, on this bird I'll be using two large pieces of apple, the other bird on my other cooker is getting cherry. Happy Thanksgiving!

yea, the chimney of lit will get it to temp quicker. i just wasn't in a hurry to get it up as i had just started icing down the breast. 30 minutes was perfect timing on the ice as the WSM got to 300 in 30 minutes.

Hi Tony,
Thanks for all the info. Just got a pitminder earlier this week so this is the first smoke with it. Doing a 15# brined bird, planning for 325 cook. Will be starting up in about 3 hours, so perfect timing!.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Don

I use the Stoker w/5 CFM blower. It holds my WSM at 350 pretty easily. Make sure you don't have water in the pan as it really makes it difficult to get the temps up. The only open vents I have are the top and the one the Stoker is attached to. I also use the Stokerlog program and it really helps to see not just what the temp is right now but what it has tracked thru the cook. Good luck with your bird!

Man, I don't know what you guys are doing but I cannot get over 275 with all vents wide open and Stoker blowing non-stop.

quote:

Originally posted by LarryR:
Man, I don't know what you guys are doing but I cannot get over 275 with all vents wide open and Stoker blowing non-stop.

I feel ya brother, I can't either, but then again I don't want to either. Hearing too many people out there hitting the magic number too early and I still have 3.5 hours to go before serving this beast. My pit is at 255* and my internal is at 127*... HMMMMMMMMM, sure smells good though.