Dramatic Temp Changes

[JpsBBQ]

Wow, I agree, if you’re trying to hit a specific serving time temp is everything. Also the impact on large cuts like beef rib.
Guess I’m buying an accurate ambient probe.

Just a little nugget for yah, a good oven will fluctuate 50 degrees routinely. It just doesn’t tell you that it is. I haven’t noticed such fluctuations on my cooks at all. Only issue I’ve had is when it gets stuck after opening the lid and I’ve had to change the set temp. Annoying, but I’m hopeful this will be eliminated eventually.

Second nugget, every protein cooks at a different rate. Often times a butt or brisket can be hours different. Monitoring and adjustment are mandatory in good BBQ. Internal temp of your protein is everything. It far outweighs all the other factors or variables. World champions cook at 225 and others at 275-300. Having a resting cooler is a great tool. Always plan to be done early and then rest. Your product almost always improve with a substantial rest anyway.

Just trying to relieve unneeded stress for everyone.

 

[AHoneyman]

Guess I’m buying an accurate ambient probe.

Weber has an air probe. Just stick it in one of the ports and leave it there. Their probe at $15 matches my more expensive thermometers.

 

[rwhapham]

Weber has an air probe. Just stick it in one of the ports and leave it there. Their probe at $15 matches my more expensive thermometers.

I have one from when I used Weber's iGrill temp monitor on my WSM. I can also vouch that it is an accurate thermometer. Now I'm just waiting for Weber to implement some decent graphs in the Weber Connect app so I can actually see what is going on without having to watch it all the time. I will say, though, that under most conditions, the ambient probe eventually hovers around the SF setpoint. But you can clearly see how much heat you lose when you open the lid. Why the SF temp display doesn't reflect this is a mystery to me. Maybe Weber felt that because of the ease of using the SF, they'd be getting a customer base that they needed to hide some of the inherent uncertainty of BBQ from. And I somewhat agree with that. Given that it's a relatively small fire giving off the heat (vs., say, a WSM or offset smoker), I can see how temp fluctuations could occur more easily. It then becomes how well the SF reacts to those and how long the temp stays out of tolerance. If I thought I was cooking at 275 but it was more like 225 for the span of hours, I'd be quite irritated. But if it dropped to 225 for 10 minutes or so and then corrected itself, well that's the experience of cooking over a fire. I don't say any of this as a jab to anyone (honestly), because I think it's fantastic that pellet grills open up the world of BBQ to those who wouldn't be inclined to babysit a wood and charcoal smoker. But for those of us who have had to keep a fire going, I'd say that the mechanics of any pellet smoker are pretty dang amazing. Not saying that Weber (and others) don't still have issues controlling those mechanics, but I'll take it warts and all.

 

[Tbone707]

These are some of the weird inconsistencies I have been seeing with the WSF after the December update. After having 2 flame outs during Smokeboost doing jerky I set the grill to 550 F for some tri tips. During that warm up the WSF internal probe showed 280 F and the Inkbird probe showed 261 F , 19 F degree difference. The WSF probe then showed 425 F and the Inkbird probe showed 423 F much closer. Then when the WSF grill indicated it hit its target temp of 550 F the Inkbird showed 514 F and never went above that. The Inkbird probe was calibrated and the probe was set within 1 inch of the WSF internal probe. It is weird that the probes can be so far apart at times and then almost identical at other times.

 

[AHoneyman]

You can not use the temp displayed on the controller as the real temp. It is the temp that the controller/PID has calculated from the software/firmware and the temp set point. The real temp would be shown on an air probe stuck into another port.

Also, differences of 20 degrees is close enough for BBQ. It is the 50-75 degree differences and wild swings that become problematic.

 

[Tbone707]

You can not use the temp displayed on the controller as the real temp. It is the temp that the controller/PID has calculated from the software/firmware and the temp set point. The real temp would be shown on an air probe stuck into another port.

Also, differences of 20 degrees is close enough for BBQ. It is the 50-75 degree differences and wild swings that become problematic.

So what is the point of setting a grill temp for 550 degrees and it never gets to 550 and it only 514? Yes, I understand there will be some fluctuations but it should be +/- 20 either way but to never get to the set temperature is a little weird. I also set the temp to 575 but it only got to 459 degrees.

 

[Dassman5]

What everyone forgets is that PID controllers are designed to iteratively seek to achieve the set point (SP), that you manually enter by periodically measuring the temperature feedback from the grill probe against the that SP. During each measuring cycle is measured the under and/or over is adjusted via the “P” function using the “I” function and the “D” functions to get closer to SP.

That is why, if you start your grill at a target SP temperature and leave it alone for 20-25 minutes it will tend to hone in and get closer and closer to the SP if you leave the SP unchanged. It may vary be 50 to 70 degrees initially as it heats up, senses what is going on, learns and adjusts. My ex4 has been rock solid after a bit when leaving the SP alone, but then again I tend to do 90% of my cooking between 200F and 350F,

However, since these are solid fuel burners, unlike indoor ovens or gas grills, there is a natural time delay from the time the grill calls for heat —> the auger feeds the pellets —> the pellets combust —>heat is produced, the probe senses it —> and the controller get feed back. The same when turning it down.

Every temperature change entered, whether at the grill or via your phone, starts that learning curve all over again.

Having said that, if your grill is continuously running more than 50 degrees off of SP as measured with another probe, you probably have an issue.

 

[Dassman5]

So what is the point of setting a grill temp for 550 degrees and it never gets to 550 and it only 514? Yes, I understand there will be some fluctuations but it should be +/- 20 either way but to never get to the set temperature is a little weird. I also set the temp to 575 but it only got to 459 degrees.

Are you certain that is the case... purely a question, as each probe has its own built in tolerance/variance, which is why I always use an extra ambient air grill probe to measure against built-in unit. Further the set point you see on the grill screen is “buffered” within a range so as not to display minute changes...not any different than a household oven.

 

[Tbone707]

Are you certain that is the case... purely a question, as each probe has its own built in tolerance/variance, which is why I always use an extra ambient air grill probe to measure against built-in unit. Further the set point you see on the grill screen is “buffered” within a range so as not to display minute changes...not any different than a household oven.

The grill was set at 575 which I understand there will be a variance +/- but the secondary ambient probe never went over 459. Again it was a weird day with 2 flameouts on smokeboost, 2 factory resets and then weird up and down temperature variations and not hitting setpoint temperatures. After each flameout the grill never shut down by itself and I had to manually shut it down, restart then shut down properly. Pellets were new and fresh and wind was minimal. It was just a weird day of grilling.

It still managed to rock the Tri Tip steaks so there is that!!

 

[Dassman5]

The grill was set at 575 which I understand there will be a variance +/- but the secondary ambient probe never went over 459. Again it was a weird day with 2 flameouts on smokeboost, 2 factory resets and then weird up and down temperature variations and not hitting setpoint temperatures. After each flameout the grill never shut down by itself and I had to manually shut it down, restart then shut down properly. Pellets were new and fresh and wind was minimal. It was just a weird day of grilling.

It still managed to rock the Tri Tip steaks so there is that!!

Wow! Quite an adventure in cooking.

 

[Tbone707]

Wow! Quite an adventure in cooking.

It was a trying day but then there was this! Completely made up for the rollercoaster!!

 

[Dassman5]

It was a trying day but then there was this! Completely made up for the rollercoaster!!

At the end of the day, that is what it is about for all of us backyard BBQers!

 

[Tbone707]

At the end of the day, that is what it is about for all of us backyard BBQers!

Just an FYI - Weber CS did confirm there is a fix for the smokeboost coming in the next week or two. Fingers crossed!!!

 

[AHoneyman]

I wonder if it is going to be more than 4045. I hope so. The notification thing needs fixed.

 

[Tyler6590]

Getting some swings right now cooking a chicken... Strange, it seemed pretty consistent until this week. It just keeps climbing up to about set temp and then dropping 50 degrees... I can live with 25 but 50 is a little rough. I hope an update gets pushed to my sku soon.