Pit Boss Actual vs Set Temps

[Trky Chsr]

I'm also new to pellet grills and what I have found is at the lower temp settings (250 or so) the temp will vary around 20 degrees either way and at the higher end (350-400) it can vary around 30 degrees. I believe this is the nature of the beast. You are burning wood and as such don't have the same control as with gas. I did a cured pork belly, some call it bacon, and the trick I used was to set the P setting to P5 and kept it on smoke. The temp varied from 180 to 200 which was perfect for my use. I would like to do some rainbow as well and will probably use P6 or P7 to try and get the temp a little lower. I always use a grill temp probe along with the meat probe. One thing I did find was the PB thermocouples are way off from reality, usually at least 20 degrees. TC

 

[GeekChef]

Hey team, I apologize in advance if this horse has been beat to death and there is likely a ton of information on here but I cant find what I am looking for with a search … so I will likely ask a question thats been answered a hundred times (be gentle lol).

I finally got a smoker this summer, I bbq a lot and don't have time to smoke everything and my bbq was wore out anyway so I got a Pro 1100 combo bbq /smoker unit. Cool little unit, bbq works great with 3 burners in a relatively small area and the smoker works great for ribs, tenderloin (those easy cook things) but man am I having trouble with brisket.

I have done 2 now (~6 pound brisket points … I am a newbie so trying to give myself the best chance of success) and had a real challenge with both of them. First one was taking forever, I decided to put my second meat probe on the top grate beside the meat … well wow … set temp at 230 and actual temp on the grate at like 180 … I read thats normal? I cranked the heat up and finished the cook but it took like 4 extra hours (midnight brisket lol).

My question for the pros (again, I’m a newb … be gentle lol) Should I cook to set temp or actual temp on the top grate with the second probe? And is it normal to see like a 40 to 60 degree difference between set and actual temp? Seems excessive … ?

I did my second one yesterday and tried to “split the difference” with the set temp and actual temp (on the far right side of the top grate) - set temp between 230 and 250 actual temps between 190 and 230. Seemed ok, took about 7 hours to get to the stall (low stall at 155), tallow, wrap and back on. Of course I had a pellet jam up right at this point and had to reset my smoker … got really hot after that (that’s another thread likely). I couldnt get the piece of meat to get through the stall so after about 3 hours I turned up to 270 set which got my actual to about 230 that got it moving (maybe it was just an ornery piece of meat…).

My 2 brisket cooks took substantially longer than anticipated and I am thinking it’s the set and actual temp differential - could use some help from the pros here. Thoughts?

Both briskets (although late) were absolutely delicious so there is that!

Thanks team

Maybe move the temp probe to the center of the grate? Buy a spare probe and just wire it in and put it where u cook.

The reqteq controller that I installed in my pitboss PB4 Vertical allows you to enter an offset…..so I measured the center grate with 3 probes from front to back and put in the average as the offset. Then the controller sees the grate temperature instead of the back of the smoker.

 

[MikeB]

It seems to me Pit Boss is totally at fault with this dang temp difference problem. I have tried everything to fix mine to NO AVEIL.
I keep spending money trying to get it right and am about sick of it. I have ordered a new temp probe after I installed an expensive heat diverter.
Still reading 30-50 Degrees off. If the new probe doesn't help I will probably sell it off as junk $50. Then buy me another brand.
Totally aggravated $500 for something that doesn't do anything it's supposed to.
My family hates it too. "When is it going to be ready?"

 

[Trky Chsr]

It seems to me Pit Boss is totally at fault with this dang temp difference problem. I have tried everything to fix mine to NO AVEIL.
I keep spending money trying to get it right and am about sick of it. I have ordered a new temp probe after I installed an expensive heat diverter.
Still reading 30-50 Degrees off. If the new probe doesn't help I will probably sell it off as junk $50. Then buy me another brand.
Totally aggravated $500 for something that doesn't do anything it's supposed to.
My family hates it too. "When is it going to be ready?"

What I did is purchase a temperature probe with 2 inputs, one for meat and one for ambient temperature. Then I just adjust the PB temp settings accordingly. It will still vary somewhat but as I mentioned I believe that is the nature of the beast. Before spending money on another brand I would look at their forums and see what people complain about, it may be enlightening. TC

 

[MikeB]

What I did is purchase a temperature probe with 2 inputs, one for meat and one for ambient temperature. Then I just adjust the PB temp settings accordingly. It will still vary somewhat but as I mentioned I believe that is the nature of the beast. Before spending money on another brand I would look at their forums and see what people complain about, it may be enlightening. TC

Thank you. I will probably keep my pit boss for a while and do exactly what you suggested. But it is still rather disheartening in this digital computerized age that we have to fix brand new things to make them work properly. Thanks again for the reply.
MikeB

 

[sparkyv]

That's the spirit, never say die, MikeB!
I cook to IT and probe tenderness, grill temperature be damned.

I set mine at 225 degrees until internal temperature is around 160-170 degrees
Then I pull it and wrap it in peach butcher paper and get it to around 205-206 internal temperature then pull and rest for an hour

I mainly cook by grate temp and set my grill to whatever it takes to get there. A 250 grate temp might take 320-350.

What I did is purchase a temperature probe with 2 inputs, one for meat and one for ambient temperature. Then I just adjust the PB temp settings accordingly. It will still vary somewhat but as I mentioned I believe that is the nature of the beast.

 

[GeekChef]

It seems to me Pit Boss is totally at fault with this dang temp difference problem. I have tried everything to fix mine to NO AVEIL.
I keep spending money trying to get it right and am about sick of it. I have ordered a new temp probe after I installed an expensive heat diverter.
Still reading 30-50 Degrees off. If the new probe doesn't help I will probably sell it off as junk $50. Then buy me another brand.
Totally aggravated $500 for something that doesn't do anything it's supposed to.
My family hates it too. "When is it going to be ready?"

Well….i will buy it for $50. Let me know when you give up.

 

[Aggie_Aloha]

Mine case is the opposite. Thermoworks probes reads it at a much higher temp (yes it was calibrated and reads correctly. After an hour with customer service, was told my PID doesn’t work because the PB ports don’t recognize the PB probes (confusing but true statement also). Then got hung up on without any resolution or replacement information. Called back and got an automated answer saying to call back later (yes this was still during their business hour). It was always off by 10-20 but this is really ridiculous. And the app sucks now too.

 

[Cowboy1955]

Mine case is the opposite. Thermoworks probes reads it at a much higher temp (yes it was calibrated and reads correctly. After an hour with customer service, was told my PID doesn’t work because the PB ports don’t recognize the PB probes (confusing but true statement also). Then got hung up on without any resolution or replacement information. Called back and got an automated answer saying to call back later (yes this was still during their business hour). It was always off by 10-20 but this is really ridiculous. And the app sucks now too.

Welcome from Texas to the group!!