Chasing temps with the IQ110 and a Akorn Kamado

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Rackovanz

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So I had my first smoke today, I did three slabs of baby backs. I started my fire in the recommended way of building a volcano out of lump and starting just a small section in the very top. Temp came up nicely, I set the IQ to 250 with, after the temp settled I was directed to ramp it up to 275. I hit 275 and then 280 then 290 then topped out at 309. Eventually it calmed down and started to fall. Then it bottomed out at 213. I opened the top vent a little more and it balloned to 308 again.

I am looking for guidence on what to have the vent on top set at, how to build the fire (if I did it wrong) and what other pointers guys who have a egg and the IQ.

Thanks for the help.

Zachary
 
Close off some of the intake on the IQ and close off the chimney a bit more. It overshot because it wasnt able to snuff out the fire enough when it stopped its cycle
 
Thanks for the reply, I had the IQ set on 1 and I had the vents only open a very very small amount and it was having trouble heating up. The temp only made it to 241 and then started to fall. Thats when I opened the top up.
 
With these type of cookers it's best to nurse the temp up slowly so it doesn't over shoot so much... have had many battles with my keg and stoker.
 
Yes, it is harder to bring temps down then up with a pit controller.
 
Personally I don't like the volcano method in a Kamado. I do just the oppecent. (spell check sucks). I put the lump on the outside of the fire bowl and a small piece in the middle. You gotta take it slow with a Kamado.
 
I don't usually have any trouble at all keeping my akorn at temp all day without a temp-controlling device. Sounds like you're overcomplicating it. Get your vents set right and it'll go all day with only a couple minor adjustments. Smoked butts for 10 hours on mine last weekend, no fancy IQ thingy, only touched the vents maybe twice for minor adjustments all day, and it held right in the 250-260 range like an oven. It took me a few tries to learn how to get it to temp and keep it there, but once I did, it is the easiest cooker I've ever had to keep temp on. Usually after I have it where I want it at smoking temps, the bottom and top vents will both be somewhere around .5 to 1. I try to keep the top a little more open than the bottom if I can.
 
Thanks for all of the advice, I would like to get the IQ working since I just spent 139.95 on it. I bought it based on the advice of a friend of mine. Gnaws I see your point tho. I think I will try to smoke a chicken today and do it the old fashion way to see how it works. If anyone had been able to use the IQ and the Akorn together and had it work I would love to hear from ya. Like i said I just don't want to have wasted the money.
 
Well I gave it another shot, I lit one piece of lump and set the target temp on the IQ to 200 to bring it up slow. Where do you put the thermometer probes? I have them in the center, could I be getting a false reading because it is right over the flame? I have a diffuser (pizza pan) in place. I am currently at 289, 291. With the top vent at a setting of one. I have not touched the IQ it is still set at 200 with a damper setting of 1. I am about to call them and talk about refunds..... Just hit 297 while typing this. 298. Getting frustrated. Just hit 300 a full 100 degrees over the setting that I wanted to achieve.

306. GRRR
 
That's a good temp to smoke chicken at, though. Never used one, so I don't know. But you should be able to hold temp much better than that without the thing.
 
I don't have an IQ, I do have a Guru which works flawlessly on my WSM's either bringing the temp up or down. When I tried to adapt it to my acorn it was an epic fail. first it wouldn't bring the temp up very fast, it turns out it was because of the air gap between bowl and cooker was just channeling the air around the lump and out the top vent instead of through the lump and stoking it. Then once I figured that out and decreased air flow it would over shoot not matter what I did with the top vent then as it attempted to bring the temp down the coals would go out by the time the temp dropped enough for the Guru to stoke again (this was while trying to see if the Acorn could hold 225 steady). I have given up (for now) and just control the temp manually.
 
I had the same issue with my stoker. I had to damper down the top vents quite a bit or the temps would swing ALOT. With the egg I've heard of people either getting up to temp and then turn on the draft controller or setting the temp low and let it overshoot up to your set point. I usually close the exhaust on the egg most of the way and set the temp for 200. It will overshoot to around 230-250. I change my set point to 250 and away we go. The stoker has a 10 cfm fan and I think it's way too big. The partyq is much smaller and creeps up on the set point very slowly. I can set it for 250 and let it do its thing.
 
Thanks for the help. I smoked a butt last night using just the manual control of the pit and it went pretty smooth. I will try using the IQ tomorrow night on another butt. I will post up my results and let you all know.
 
I was able to smoke a butt at 245ish all night using manual control. I find that maybe the IQ over complicates an issue that does not need it. :( I feel like I wasted 139.00
 
I think I may have the IQ dialed in, despite the answer from the manufacture was to learn how to cook on my grill before I could use it. I explained that I am capable of cooking on my pit manually with out an issue but the IQ just makes things worse. I think I may have figured out a way to make it "usable" Still not worth the money and I am not very happy with the purchase. I think the product is made to generic and not designed for a highly efficient egg style. I shouldn't have to jimmy rig it all to work. I would not recommend this product for other egg users. Unless customer service has a solution, I am not happy with it.
 
I honestly think that you don't need it with a kamado-type cooker, they are very easy and efficient to hold temp with manually, as you have found out.
 
I was wanting a controller for my Akorn but as most have said the more I use it I find out it's pretty much set it and forget it. I've been writing down the vent settings for the 2-3 different temps I cook at and its been on every time.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Xparent Blue Tapatalk 2
 
Draft controllers have their place. The egg is perfectly capable of holding temps unassisted. That being said my stoker adds the ability to remotely monitor the pit and food temps, warn me of any issues, and raise or lower my pit temp as I feel necessary from my phone or PC. If I am doing some BBQ on the weekend I usually stick to manual temp control. During the week I can start the fire and let the draft control bring the egg up to temp while I prep the meat. I can throw the meat on and go to work knowing what is going on at any given time. If I feel the meat is getting done too fast or slow I can change the pit temp or use the crock pot feature. I have not use the iq110 but the NW gave it a good review. He did state a large overshoot initially until the controller settled in.

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/productreviews/pitmasteriq110/ique110-1.htm#features
 
Well I got an email from the owner of Pitmaster John. He wants to use my cooker to produce a FAQ video for using the IQ on the Akorn. I think it is a pretty cool offer to have the designer of the company work with my grill and my pitmaster to dial it in and then share the results with me. I only live about 45 mins from him and will be taking the pit up there this weekend.

I have been playing with it almost all day and I have used it to control a fire for 2 hours now +-10 at 225, It over shot to 237 and it is slowly falling back to 235 and seems stable for now.

I started with a very small fire, I hooked up the IQ and set it to 175. It over shot to 179 and stabilized. I then adjusted it to 200 and it over shot to 207. I then programmed it to 225 and it overshot to 237. I currently have a red light and the temp is falling. I am hoping that it returns close to 225 and maintains. However in the past it has overshot and then the bottom fell out of it and the fire died. So we will see.

I will update this post later tonight and let you all know how it goes. I have wasted a lot of lump to figure this out but for now it "seems" that I have got it down.

Zachary
 
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