Startup Temperature?

[BoilerBrewer]

I've only done a couple of fairly quick cooks on my Series 4 vertical smoker (the new version with the PID controller), so I decided to do a couple of racks of ribs today. I fired it up and left it on "S" so I could get some solid smoke for the first hour or so, but it climbed to 130 degrees and no higher. Is this correct? I was under the assumption that people were getting up into the 180 range while still on "S" but maybe I misread.

I'm getting boatloads of smoke, but it's going to slow things down quite a bit.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

 

[BoilerBrewer]

I've only done a couple of fairly quick cooks on my Series 4 vertical smoker (the new version with the PID controller), so I decided to do a couple of racks of ribs today. I fired it up and left it on "S" so I could get some solid smoke for the first hour or so, but it climbed to 130 degrees and no higher. Is this correct? I was under the assumption that people were getting up into the 180 range while still on "S" but maybe I misread.

I'm getting boatloads of smoke, but it's going to slow things down quite a bit.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

Quick update. After about 45 minutes it started to climb and at one hour it was 157, so I guess 130 isn't the max. Regardless, I jumped it to 250 and will let it roll four an hour or two.

I still haven't figured out the interplays between the chimney cap, temperature, and smoke. I assume that the more I can keep it cranked down without causing a high temperature error, the more heat it retains, but perhaps that mutes the smoke since it wouldn't require as many pellets to maintain that temperature. Does that seem to make sense, or am I missing something?

Thanks everyone!

 

[MikeInFla]

My "S" rolls around 180 on my pellet grill and 145-175 on my vertical but they are non-PID controllers. I don;t think the cap matters. Some say it is only a rain guard. But I keep mine lower when on Smoke and raise it up as I raise the temp. Keeping too much temp inside can cause it to overshoot your setting (at least on a non-PID controller).

 

[BoilerBrewer]

My "S" rolls around 180 on my pellet grill and 145-175 on my vertical but they are non-PID controllers. I don;t think the cap matters. Some say it is only a rain guard. But I keep mine lower when on Smoke and raise it up as I raise the temp. Keeping too much temp inside can cause it to overshoot your setting (at least on a non-PID controller).

Thanks Mike!

 

[Mike From R.I.]

If it's empty it will get to 180 deg in no time. You added your ribs and the coolness of the ribs, will make it take a little more time to get to 180.

 

[BoilerBrewer]

If it's empty it will get to 180 deg in no time. You added your ribs and the coolness of the ribs, will make it take a little more time to get to 180.

Makes sense, although I also added some boiling water to the water pan and thought it would compensate for the cold ribs. I guegs not. Live and learn.

Thanks other Mike!

 

[mixed up]

I have a PB 4 I have my cap down all the way and don't have any temp issues . and for start up I just start it let run for a little then set temp but try to pre heat most of the time not all the time