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There she blows

Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 10:03 am
by bondobill
Pulled the trigger and ordered a Perfect Draft BBQ blower for my trailer offset.
Gave it a dry run yesterday.
Didn't build a big fire..about 18 charcoals and 3 splits of cherry.
Set the blower on high in manual mode to get the coals going. It made a big difference on how fast the pit got up to temp. :D
Once the pit got up to 225 I set the blower to 225 in auto mode and installed the blowers temp probe in the pit along with my Maverick probe.
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1 1/2 hour later temp in pit was still holding at 225
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Smoke was a nice light blue and the drum at least to the touch was even heat on both ends.

Going throw some meat in her tomorrow. Keeping my fingers crossed :dont:

Bill

Re: There she blows

Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 10:15 am
by Okie Sawbones
That thing looks like a jump starter for a jet. :shock:

Re: There she blows

Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 10:48 am
by OldUsedParts
:tup: :salut: :cheers:

Re: There she blows

Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 11:08 am
by GRailsback
That is quite the unit Bill.

Re: There she blows

Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 5:41 pm
by Boots
Bones is right, it does resemble an APU. A beautiful thing, we got no such technology down here. Yoda blows into the firebox until he falls over sidewise, and off we go.

Re: There she blows

Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 7:27 am
by Chasdev
Looks pretty interesting..riddle me this batman..when the fire gets stable does it shut down or just push a tiny amount air?
My concern is that once temp is reached and the coal bed is established, if airflow shuts down won't the fire tend to starve for air and possibly produce sour smoke?
I can see how useful it is on startup and pit preheating but shutting down airflow is shutting down airflow no matter if it's a metal slider or an electric fan and fires need air to burn clean.
Maybe I should invent a "smoke sensor"..I'd be a rich millionaire (to quote the three stooges).

Re: RE: Re: There she blows

Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 8:47 am
by woodenvisions
Chasdev wrote:Looks pretty interesting..riddle me this batman..when the fire gets stable does it shut down or just push a tiny amount air?
My concern is that once temp is reached and the coal bed is established, if airflow shuts down won't the fire tend to starve for air and possibly produce sour smoke?
I can see how useful it is on startup and pit preheating but shutting down airflow is shutting down airflow no matter if it's a metal slider or an electric fan and fires need air to burn clean.
Maybe I should invent a "smoke sensor"..I'd be a rich millionaire (to quote the three stooges).

I'm thinking it's like the ones used for the Kamados. If I'm correct, it's is CONSTANTLY reading and adjusting for the smallest temp fluctuations. I won't allow the fire to go out, the fan probably hits quick tiny bursts constantly, just enough to keep the low temps.
I'm sure its huffing and puffing faster than a room full at a Lamas class....

Sorry for speaking out of turn Bill, lol. I find these technological ( always wanted to use that word ) gadgets very interesting ! :mrgreen:

Re: There she blows

Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 8:59 am
by bondobill
Chasdev wrote:Looks pretty interesting..riddle me this batman..when the fire gets stable does it shut down or just push a tiny amount air


I only ran it for 4 hours the other day but the fan never did stop running. I thought maybe it would turn off at set temp but ever time I checked it it was still running. It's pretty quiet. Even between the lowest and highest manual setting for the fan speed there is only a slight difference in noise it makes.
The blower has a 4" wide opening that attaches by magnets to the vent opening of the fire box atapter. The firebox can still draw air through the blower even if the fan malfunctions for some reason I'm thinking. Here's a photo looking through the fan when not running.
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I'll find out today how well "Yoda" does..thanks Boots :laughing7:
Got 18 racks of bones going in the pit today. :cheers:

Bill

Re: There she blows

Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 9:16 am
by OldUsedParts
18 racks :?: Wild Bill, you may need that Blower for a Respirator before you're finished - - KUDOS to the COOK :tup: :salut: :cheers:

Re: There she blows

Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 10:56 am
by Chasdev
It might be interesting to test it in a hot fire situation..(not saying it would or could cause a run-away fire) to see if it would shut down and reduce the the air to less than what would flow if it was not there and if it can act as a temp up AND a temp down control.
I think it probably is best used like a Kamado vent combo to control the coal bed just like you did it, where it's in control as the fire and temps build up and so it stays in control the whole time..
Then it becomes a matter of how much wood is available to the fire and perhaps spacing or stacking the sticks to make sure the air that gets in can get to all the fuel as the hours pass and wood is consumed.
I guess I'm wishing for a stick burner that acts like a pellet spitter or Kamado over long low and slow cooks.
In any case, I have serious BBQ gear envy now.

Re: There she blows

Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2017 6:20 am
by k.a.m.
Congratulations bondobill they are pretty good units. I was approached by the owner Stephen Thibodeaux
about trying them when he was in demo mode just before production. I am not a fan of forced air in my offsets so I declined the offer but I have heard good reports on them from folks that like the set up. I look forward to hearing about your experience with it. :D

Re: There she blows

Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 4:32 pm
by bondobill
I spent this last weekend doing a couple of test runs on my pit with the blower. Been trying to figure out what size of splits to use and size of fire needed for the blower to work best,
I have learned a few things about the blower.
It for certain gets the pit up to temp in a hurry. Took 20 minutes yesterday to get the pit up to 225. It also makes for a lot evener temps in the cooking chamber. I had 2 probes placed in chamber in different spots. One was on the lower R hand rack the other was on the upr rack L side. They where within 6 degrees of each other through out the 6 hours I had it running.

The one cook that I did with it was 17 racks of ribs over the 4th. Never had to move any of the ribs around and they where for the most part all evenly cooked. I didn't like the idea of closing down the exhaust stacks 60 to 80 % once you get to your desired temp as recommended by the manufacturer but I did it that way on the ribs and they where some of the best Ive ever done :dont:
Also learned that the blower maintain temp better with a large bed of coals which is hard too do cause of the undersized firebox. Been trying different size splits of wood. If I use large splits once a bed of coals forms the coals turn to ash before the wood has burned down. Smaller splits seem to work better for mainting a coal base but I have to add 1 or 2 splits every half hour to hour to keep a good coal base. Without the fan I had my best luck with as big of splits as I could fit through the door and keeping the firebox full but I was constantly opening and closing the vents on the firebox to maintain a somewhat constant temp. I'm going try filling up the coal basket with lump charcoal and add wood as needed to see if I can maintain a better coal base. :dont: the first time I fired it up with the blower I started out with a load of briquets and it seemed that I didn't have to add wood as often, at least not until the briquets turned to ash.
I don't mind adding wood every hour or so but every half hour is a little much, especially on a 8 hour cook but then again before the blower Id set my chair close to the BBQ cause I knew every few minutes I'd have to check temp and adjust the vents accordingly. I always made it through the cooks before but I was one tired puppy at the end of the day.
So I quess with saying that,this blower is going to make smoking a little less stressful but it ain't going make it like smoking on a pellet pooper :lol:
I gotta cook up 30 racks of ribs this weekend for a friends 60th bday party. That should be another good test. Going tinker with the BBQ before then.

Bill

Re: There she blows

Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 4:51 pm
by Russ
30????? Racks of ribs,wow, gunna need pics on this, man that's some meat. Keep the pics bill. What's that amount of ribs worth? If ya don't mind saying.

Russ

Re: There she blows

Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 5:15 pm
by bondobill
Gd day Russ :D
A case is 15 racks. Usually right around 45 to 50 lbs per case. Last month I picked up a case and if I remember right it was $ 2.19 a pound, they might have been more then that per pound but I know it was somewhere in the 2 dollar range. So let's see roughly a 100 lbs of ribs at 2.19 a pound .....I'm added it up in my head :lol: .....$219 give or take.
I get them at a restaurant supply store. They are St Louis cut fresh pork. Brand name is Chairmans reserve premium pork. Looks like they come out of South Dakota according to the box. Come 3 racks per vacuum packed bag.

:cheers:
Bill

Re: There she blows

Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 7:08 pm
by Russ
bondobill wrote:Gd day Russ :D
A case is 15 racks. Usually right around 45 to 50 lbs per case. Last month I picked up a case and if I remember right it was $ 2.19 a pound, they might have been more then that per pound but I know it was somewhere in the 2 dollar range. So let's see roughly a 100 lbs of ribs at 2.19 a pound .....I'm added it up in my head :lol: .....$219 give or take.
I get them at a restaurant supply store. They are St Louis cut fresh pork. Brand name is Chairmans reserve premium pork. Looks like they come out of South Dakota according to the box. Come 3 racks per vacuum packed bag.

:cheers:
Bill


You guys are so lucky with your pricing. We are 4 times that here, but on special occasionally, at twice your price. Thanks for info, it just makes me see how we are being screwed here on pork, but I spose lamb here is cheap. Waiting on pics with eager anticipation.

Russ