Evening out temp on pellet grill

[qposner]

I was at a BBQ and grilling class a few weeks ago and told the instructor my GMG Jim Bowie runs 50 degrees cooler than the digital display. He recommended I ball up aluminum foil and stuff it into the chimney to prevent heat and smoke loss. That seems absurd to me, but that is what they did on their DB. Has anyone tried this suggestion? If so, with what results?

 

[Free Mr. Tony]

Asking for trouble. Sounds like a sooty mess waiting to happen. I've had several pellet grills, and they all have their hot and cool spots. If it's simply a matter of display not matching actual temp you can just adjust accordingly on set temp. If you are trying to even out left to right sometimes playing around with firebrick helps.

There is a company that makes a downdraft hood for the exhaust vent, which is a better way of doing what the instructor was trying to accomplish without actually blocking the exhaust.

 

[Towen7]

Pardon my ignorance but can you calibrate the digital display to a know good thermometer?

 

[qposner]

Asking for trouble. Sounds like a sooty mess waiting to happen. I've had several pellet grills, and they all have their hot and cool spots. If it's simply a matter of display not matching actual temp you can just adjust accordingly on set temp. If you are trying to even out left to right sometimes playing around with firebrick helps.

There is a company that makes a downdraft hood for the exhaust vent, which is a better way of doing what the instructor was trying to accomplish without actually blocking the exhaust.

Thanks. Is there a decent write up about firebricks that you are aware of?

 

[tom b]

I don't trust my therm either , I just use it as a gauge and ajust accordingly. Until I was comfortable I would seT a probe or 2 on the grate or by you digital probe to compare

 

[MossyMO]

Asking for trouble. Sounds like a sooty mess waiting to happen. I've had several pellet grills, and they all have their hot and cool spots. If it's simply a matter of display not matching actual temp you can just adjust accordingly on set temp. If you are trying to even out left to right sometimes playing around with firebrick helps.

There is a company that makes a downdraft hood for the exhaust vent, which is a better way of doing what the instructor was trying to accomplish without actually blocking the exhaust.

Agreed... and you will be pushing unplanned for heat and smoke into the electronics area of the hopper that will lead to additional problems. Contact GMG.

 

[qposner]

Agreed... and you will be pushing unplanned for heat and smoke into the electronics area of the hopper that will lead to additional problems. Contact GMG.

The guy is a GMG dealer as well. SMH.

 

[tom b]

The guy is a GMG dealer as well. SMH.

If this is true , I SMH too

 

[cpw]

I've seen (but haven't tried) a fix that was just a 3" aluminum elbow and a little bit of pipe attached to the chimney on the inside of the cooker so that the pipe was just a few inches above the grate. What it did was raised the temp of the entire cook chamber, but also evened it out. Do a web search for "pellet heads" and they have an entire forum sub-section devoted to GMG.

 

[Burnt at Both Endz]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFvYKBZR384"]Don Godke Downdraft - YouTube[/ame]

 

[qposner]

Don Godke Downdraft - YouTube

Looks interesting. Most reviews seem favorable. I may give it a shot.

 

[Kyle Serlington]

bumping this thread because I just became interested in these downdraft attachments after reading about them yesterday. I also just got a GMG pellet grill recently and I've had the same issue as the guy who started this thread, the grates are cooler than what the grill says it's running at. I only did one cook so far so if I do a couple more and the temp is still off by the same amount then I can work around that, just set the grill to 25 degrees higher than what I want to cook at.

what interested me in the downdraft is that it's supposed to keep more smoke in the smoker to help with the flavor, and it also is supposed to not use as many pellets, which would be a plus if i'm doing an over night cook. so has anyone else had any experiences with the downdraft?