I never bring my pit up to temp before putting the meat on it.
Are you letting it pretty much come up all the naturally and then hooking the guru? You should if you're not.
Nothing against you but this is why people should learn their pit manually before ever getting a controller. Your pit will come up to temp quicker if you just open the vents up and let mother nature take it's course vs having air blown on it.
I never bring my pit up to temp before putting the meat on it. Not a good habit, let the fire get hot. Wait for TBS before putting the meat on.
Why would you have to bring the pit up to temp without the Guru first? If you want to have your pit up to temp first, why not use the Guru to bring it up?
Roger it's bunk about bringing it up quickly...it'll be just as fast or faster with the vents open.
I have never use a Guru, but the guy at the factory was telling me that the reason for them including a 10CFM fan for the WSM is to "bring it up to temp quickly".
For me, to date anyway, I have always brought my WSM up to temp manually, but "with" meat in the pit. I like the way the smoke lays on the meat doing it this way. I read a study years ago saying that the smoke lays on the meat better bringing the temp up with meat in the pit vs bringing the pit up to temp empty and adding the meat later.
I understand what I just typed - can you please tell me the advantages of doing it the way you have mentioned?