I did a lot of reading up on pellet grills before purchasing my Rec Tec and I did note that many people have problems with actual temps vs set temps, consistency across the grates, and getting a good smoke on the meat. I just did a long smoke this weekend on some butts and had great results. I had read a lot about a downdraft mod that people are purchasing for around $100 and this intrigued me. The mod is supposed to help in the areas mentioned above. I wanted to test the theory and after seeing a mod from Pelletheads, I purchased a $3 3" elbow and used it to pull out exhaust air closer to the middle of chamber rather than from the top. One other mod I made is pouring about 20# of fullers earth in the bottom of my chamber. That does two things, sucks up any residual grease that misses my grease tray and helps me hold / maintain temps a bit better in sub freezing weather.
I had it set at 200 for about an hour while putting some smoke on the butts and the steaks in the pic above. After pulling the steaks and doing a reverse sear on them on my gasser, I bumped the temp to 230 and let the Rec Tec do it's thing. Early on in the smoke, there is a bit of a difference from set/actual temp, and grate temp (I have a maverick prove in the rear left corner just behind the elbow. I think the temp of the meat has a bit of play in this. The following were smoker set temps, grate temps and meat temps at different stages:
Set temp - 230
Grate temp - 221
Meat temp - 81
Set temp - 230
Grate temp - 221
Meat temp - 115
Set temp - 230
Grate temp - 226
Meat temp - 122
Set temp - 230
Grate temp - 232
Meat temp - 160
I then foiled and raised the temp to 240.
Set temp - 240
Grate temp - 245
Meat temp 200
I am more than ok with these temps. I can go to bed on overnight cooks and not have to worry about my actual vs set temps. This unit is rock solid and is very consistent across the chamber. I think the mods have helped. The nice thing about the elbow mod is that I can remove it in literally 5 seconds - the downdraft hood for $100 looks good, but is bolted to the chamber.
The results:
Happy smoking!
Lance
I had it set at 200 for about an hour while putting some smoke on the butts and the steaks in the pic above. After pulling the steaks and doing a reverse sear on them on my gasser, I bumped the temp to 230 and let the Rec Tec do it's thing. Early on in the smoke, there is a bit of a difference from set/actual temp, and grate temp (I have a maverick prove in the rear left corner just behind the elbow. I think the temp of the meat has a bit of play in this. The following were smoker set temps, grate temps and meat temps at different stages:
Set temp - 230
Grate temp - 221
Meat temp - 81
Set temp - 230
Grate temp - 221
Meat temp - 115
Set temp - 230
Grate temp - 226
Meat temp - 122
Set temp - 230
Grate temp - 232
Meat temp - 160
I then foiled and raised the temp to 240.
Set temp - 240
Grate temp - 245
Meat temp 200
I am more than ok with these temps. I can go to bed on overnight cooks and not have to worry about my actual vs set temps. This unit is rock solid and is very consistent across the chamber. I think the mods have helped. The nice thing about the elbow mod is that I can remove it in literally 5 seconds - the downdraft hood for $100 looks good, but is bolted to the chamber.
The results:
Happy smoking!
Lance