grate temps

T G

New member
I just picked up a pitmasteriq 110 this past week, and decided to give it a test run this weekend with 4 racks of baby backs. I had everything set up all nice, I had the iq therm right in the middle, and put in another digital therm along with a bimetal just to verify that this thing works like it's supposed to. One thing I noticed was the temp in the middle of the grate was actually lower than the outer edge of the grate. I knew something wasn't right when my digital was reading 250, but the iq had a flashing green light. I moved the digital to right beside the iq probe and that's when I realized it was only 235 in the middle. Now, since Im running 2 grates in my drum, I use a deflector/water pan so as not to run anything I put on the bottom rack. Just thought that was interesting since the middle is usually the warmer area. Once I moved everything around and got to the sweet spot on the damper on my iq, we were trucking right along at 240-250.

Only issue I saw was that you're supposed to be able to close down all the intakes and just use the iq, but I still had to open one intake along with toying with the damper. I noticed that the hose barb is 1", so I had to buy a reducer fitting to get down to the 3/4" that my ball valve is. Im wondering if that restriced the airflow enough to make me have to keep both intakes open, or if maybe mine just has to run with two open.
 

Big Poppa

Administrator
ahhh the water pan....it is an insulator and a moisture preserver.....If you are using a water pan for insulation then you may need to adjust your volume of water vs the length of anticipated cook....if you are getting 15 degree drop you have too much water in the pan.

But....the drum is a moist cooking system the size vs heat vs meat location makes for great food. I never ever need a water pan. With you monitoring the temp with an Ique try yuour next cook letting it manage your temp and see how good your food comes out.

Too much moisture affects the bark and smoke ring Smoke ring is just a cosmetic deal but nice to have, bark isnt.
 

MrAdam

New member
Another drawback to having a water pan in the drum is that it can increase the risk of black rain on the food. Greasy, sooty water that drips on the food from the lid. Definitely not very appetizing.

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scooter

Moderator
Staff member
If you're using a water pan in your drum you might as well be cooking with a WSM. The best part of a drum is the semi direct cooking it gives and the resulting caramellization it produces on the surface of the meat/skin. I encourage you to remove the waterpan and learn to cook your drum without it and grab the incredible bark/skin that is the signature of a drum.
 

wneill20

New member
I have the IQ 110 also, you should not have to open any dampers if it is working right. I can set mine anywhere between 180 and 275 and it will maintain temp green light all the way. Take a look at the pork on the drum thread a few down and you will see my deflector i get even temps all across the grill. And like they said no water pan needed. Good luck
 

T G

New member
Thats why Im wondering if I need to go up to a 1" inlet & ball valve from 3/4". If I close everything down and let the iq run, the temp plummets.

Looking at your photos, it looks like you took a big pizza plate and punched holes in it, is that correct. I will admit that when I cooked a fatty last weekend I didnt have any deflector or water pan and it was a lot more stable. More r&d it looks like.
 

MrAdam

New member
The deflector is fine since it will even out the temps across the cooking surface. I'm pretty sure your problem lies in using a water pan. No need to increase your ball valve size.

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wneill20

New member
It is a pizza pan that came with the holes already there. What position do you have the damper set at on the IQ? i have mine fulley open.
 

T G

New member
It is a pizza pan that came with the holes already there. What position do you have the damper set at on the IQ? i have mine fulley open.

I have it between 1 & 2. The manual that came with it said setting 1 would work with a UDS. Im gonna meddle with it this weekend, see what I can figure out
 
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