First Run with BBQ Guru PartyQ on Backwoods Party

I looked through a lot of iQ110 and BBQ Guru Party Q posts to see who was running either on a BW Party. Didn't find much so thought I would post this. The iQ110 requires to either buy the BW adapter or rig something with one of theirs which I wasn't keen to do... Though it seems to work fine for those using it. I also was fine with battery operated approach. The Guru adapter for the BW is only $10 vs $40 when you order with the PartyQ so the costs were about the same as the iQ110 as well.

So I bought the Guru PartyQ. Used it for a brisket cook this weekend. I ordered the 8' probe vs. the standard 6'. The 6' would have been fine but the extra 2' is helpful. Very simple to install and setup. The adapter goes on easily and the PartyQ is pretty basic. Just set the temp you want. I also have an ET-732 for temp control so I could keep tabs on the temp in the house.

Was cooking a 12.9lb Snake River Farms Brisket I won in abangs charity raffle which I posted about here:
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=166843

I wanted to do a long overnight slow and low cook. Put the adapter on the front right side of the Party. Lit about 8 coals in a chimney and fill the water pan with hot water. Once is was about 180 or so I set up the PartyQ for 225 degrees. The smaller fan on the PartyQ is 6.5cfm vs a standard 10cfm. It did seem to take a bit to get to temp but I wasn't rushing anything. In the future, I will let it get closer to temp before letting the smaller fan take over. I lit the smoker about 10:30pm and by 11:45pm I had the brisket on, the water pan topped off, and went to bed. In the morning it was cruising right along where I set it.

I reloaded the charcoal and water pan in the morning turning the PartyQ off when I did. Everything recovered nicely. I do use some homemade charcoals rails to help with the burn.

The net is I had the smoker going from around midnight to 4pm the next day for beans, ATB's, etc. and it ran great. No signs of wearing down the battery. No runaway temps. Good burn times for the Party. Was able to bump it up to 250 no problem. All in all a good first experience with good results.

Again, didn't see many other posts like this so wanted to share the experience for the next brethren looking for this type of info...

Shameless mobile phone pron of the results...:becky:

Thanks iamadman-
I agree. I learned a lot about fire control on my first cheap offset an then a uds. I did 5-6 cooks on the Party to learn how it behaved. Mixed reviews on whether you need a temp controller on a BW. But it is a popular option particularly on the BW forums. It just helps keep things even,adds peace of mind, and extends burn times in my opinion. I also don't have a heat deflector and think te steady temps keep the water from boiling and extends the time between refills. Now just need to rig something for rain but have seen some ideas on that. Looking forward to the next cook.