Guru

[rowdycowboy]

I have been getting a good fire started but still taking about 25 min. to get up to temp with the guru. Also the other day I had it set at 225 and it was still blowing til my temp went up to 250?? It does hold good temp but still hadn't had it hold for more than prob. a hour to hour and half. Anyone have any suggestions? I do add a little lump at a time every time temp starts to drop.

[leanza]

The guru likes to bring it up slow in the begining and gracefully to get to the pit set point. Sometimes too slowly. What I do is just start with more lit coals then otherwise and it gets to the set point quicker. Also,, you can adjust your fan air bursts so that it doesnt allow for an overshoot the pit set temp. Also moderate it at the fan. The pit viper has that aperture that allows for an ajustment in the volume of air that the fan injects.

[rowdycowboy]

Where exactly do you adjust the volume? So I need to start out with more charcoal? Do I need to every so often add more to the back of the hot coals? Still trying to get down my charcoal usage. I cooked about 11 1/2 hours the other day on about 2 10lb bags.

[BRBBQ]

What kind of smoker?

[The Grill Sergeant]

#1 There is a "ramp-up" & "ramp-down" feature built into the Guru.

#2 The air volume control is located on the front edge of the SS fan part inserted into the SS housing. It's a little slide-up - slide-down aperture that opens & closes the hole for the fan.

#3. More lit charcoal would likely improve ur start time/temp. Takes me about an hour with my WSM but I'm also bringing water to a simmer...

[rowdycowboy]

ABS is the smoker I am using

[rowdycowboy]

I usually depending on what I am cooking I put from 1 gal to 2 gal of water in the bottom of the pit. I seen the amp up and down but I didn't see the little slide you are talking about I will have to look at that. Thanks for letting me know this. Usually don't take real long to get the temp up I think I just have to find out just how much more lump I need to use getting it started up.

[rowdycowboy]

Another question. So when the guru is ramping my temp up to 250 do I just need to ramp it down? Or do I need to work with the ramp and the opening to the fan and get them set how I like?? Or is that something I have to adjust everytime I cook with it??

[The Grill Sergeant]

Originally Posted by rowdycowboy

Another question. So when the guru is ramping my temp up to 250 do I just need to ramp it down? Or do I need to work with the ramp and the opening to the fan and get them set how I like?? Or is that something I have to adjust everytime I cook with it??

There may be a way to turn off the ramp-up / Ramp-down but I've forgotten. Frankly, I leave my air flow vent wide open and let the Guru do it's stuff. When it gets to temp, you'll find the Guru will "puff". That is, you'll hear the fan blow for a bit, then shut off - blow for a bit, then shut off.

If u want to find the slid-up / slide-down vent opener, look for the hole where the air comes out & fidget with the opener. U should c it readily - unless urs is different than mine.

[Dan - 3eyzbbq]

Originally Posted by The Grill Sergeant

#1 There is a "ramp-up" & "ramp-down" feature built into the Guru.

The ramp feature is to hold food. So, if you have ramp on and a meat done temp at 195, then the cooker will ramp down to 195 and keep it there. At least thats what Fred told me....

Also - the new software does make them get to temp slower. You can fire it up early or just set you temp higher at first. That will make the fan blow 100%, then you can lower it once it gets to your set temp. Be careful though, you can overshoot that way.

[rowdycowboy]

Thanks for everything and comments. I appreciate it.

[leanza]

Originally Posted by rowdycowboy

Another question. So when the guru is ramping my temp up to 250 do I just need to ramp it down? Or do I need to work with the ramp and the opening to the fan and get them set how I like?? Or is that something I have to adjust everytime I cook with it??

What I was refering to is the Proportional Band feature that I have with the CyberQll, I dont know if the other models have it.


Proportional Band

– This value is the band of temperature over which the power draft fan will pulse. Say your internal pit setpoint is 225 (215 + 10 deg offset). Below 200 the power draft blower will be full on, above 225 the power draft blower will be full off and at 212.5 the power draft blower will cycle 50% of the time. The default value of 25

degrees will work well with most pits. If you notice that the pit temperature is oscillating

up and down more than 5 to 10 degrees and never settles out, the proportional band can
be made larger. Making the proportional band smaller will make the pit reach the
setpoint faster, but will also increase the overshoot on startup. Each time you adjust the
proportional band, expect that you will also need to adjust the offset to make the pit
setpoint and actual temperature agree.

Cycle Time – This value is the time (in seconds) between power draft fan pulses. The default value of 6 seconds will work well with most pits.