sjportera
Got rid of the matchlight.
I previously sent the below questions directly to Mr. wang of Allchinas.com, the builder of the Qmaster-Senior, and decided to also post in this forum for other feedback. So far I'm happy with the construction, performance and price (compared to the BbqGuru Dx2 and Stoker) of the Qmaster-Senior system as it performed with my Weber Performer. Not too happy with it controlling a wood fire cook on my Old Country Wrangler Offset. He did quickly respond back but had no history of using his controller on an Old Country offset to offer recommended PID settings.
I have made 2 cooks now with my new Qmaster-Senior controller to date, one burning oak and hickory wood on an Old Country Offset Smoker, and one on a Weber Performer Kettle burning charcoal briquettes.
Weber Performer Kettle - The default PID settings of P=5, I=0, D=2, seemed to work well maintaining 225 DegF for a 3 hour pork tenderloin cook. My only complaint would be that the fan cycled on and off instead of variably changing fan speed as needed to maintain pit temperature. Is there some other setting to correct this?
Old Country Offset Smoker - The default PID settings of P=5, I=0, D=2, DID NOT work to maintain a pit temperature of 250 DegF while burning wood only to smoke a pork shoulder. It appeared the temperature swing on the pit when fire produced after adding wood affected the PID control negatively, with wide temperature swings requiring manual adjustments to stabilize control. As a result I could not tune the controller to maintain smooth control of pit temperature during the cook. Please advise recommended PID settings for offset smoker burning wood. My next step will be to burn a mix of charcoal and wood chunks in hopes of getting stable control although I'd much rather burn wood only.
Note: I opted to purchase the 50 cfm fan so I could use it on both my Weber Performer and Old Country offset pits. During my first two cooks, I found my pit control ran at best programmed with 50% max fan speed for Weber kettle, and 80% max fan speed for Old Country Offset.
Any user feedback on this pit fan controller would be appreciated.
Oh...my background. I've been an avid BBQ griller for over 40 years and smoker for over 5 years. Been looking into all the pit controllers sold for about 3 years and after much reading, I decided to try this controller.
I have made 2 cooks now with my new Qmaster-Senior controller to date, one burning oak and hickory wood on an Old Country Offset Smoker, and one on a Weber Performer Kettle burning charcoal briquettes.
Weber Performer Kettle - The default PID settings of P=5, I=0, D=2, seemed to work well maintaining 225 DegF for a 3 hour pork tenderloin cook. My only complaint would be that the fan cycled on and off instead of variably changing fan speed as needed to maintain pit temperature. Is there some other setting to correct this?
Old Country Offset Smoker - The default PID settings of P=5, I=0, D=2, DID NOT work to maintain a pit temperature of 250 DegF while burning wood only to smoke a pork shoulder. It appeared the temperature swing on the pit when fire produced after adding wood affected the PID control negatively, with wide temperature swings requiring manual adjustments to stabilize control. As a result I could not tune the controller to maintain smooth control of pit temperature during the cook. Please advise recommended PID settings for offset smoker burning wood. My next step will be to burn a mix of charcoal and wood chunks in hopes of getting stable control although I'd much rather burn wood only.
Note: I opted to purchase the 50 cfm fan so I could use it on both my Weber Performer and Old Country offset pits. During my first two cooks, I found my pit control ran at best programmed with 50% max fan speed for Weber kettle, and 80% max fan speed for Old Country Offset.
Any user feedback on this pit fan controller would be appreciated.
Oh...my background. I've been an avid BBQ griller for over 40 years and smoker for over 5 years. Been looking into all the pit controllers sold for about 3 years and after much reading, I decided to try this controller.