Procom, Butt, and More

Sacrifice · March 04, 2005, 05:49:09 PM

I have a 7.7 lb butt and a 12 pound brisket (I cut the thin pointy end off so its not about 9 or 10 lbs) sitting in the refrigerator waiting for tonight when they will start their journey to my plate and beyond. They both have different, and very nice tasting, rubs – so they should be getting very happy about now.

I received my Procom4 and Raptor and plan to use them for the first time tonight. I do have a few questions – where is the best place to put the pit thermometer? I was thinking of putting it on the second rack from the top. Does anyone change the Cycle Time on the Procom? Are there any offset or proportional band setting recommendations?

I was planning on 14 hours total time in the Bradley at 210 (4 with smoke – 10 without) and then 4 hours FTC. The 4 hours FTC can be adjusted in case the meat is not done. I was going to pull both at 185 degrees.

Anyway, this should be an interesting night. I will post a pic of the results – [:)]

Nice weekend to all!

MallardWacker · March 04, 2005, 05:58:11 PM

Hey Sac,

Good idea, I think you will only have to do the FTC thing for about 1-2hrs(I would do 2), after that I would just use theat method for keeping it warm....

SmokeOn,

mski
Perryville, Arkansas
Wooo-Pig-Soooie

If a man says he knows anything at all, he knows nothing what he aught to know. But...

nsxbill · March 05, 2005, 02:21:32 AM

I think I have the first Procom4/Raptor - the Raptor was my idea, and Fred built it for me.

Wanting a controller, and not wanting a oven thermostat, I heard previously from Jeff aka BigSmoker who told me he had a Competitor for his Big Green Egg. I loved the idea of controlling the BS with other than the slider switch, and contacted the owner of TheBBQGuru.com and asked if could make his Competitor control an electrical smoker. We spent about an hour on the phone and he said he would fool around with it.

2-3 weeks later he told me it worked, and I bought a Competitor/Raptor combo...a prototype. Lots of back and forth how it worked...The Raptor was born, and now they are selling them to control temps on other electrical smokers. When the Procom4 was announced, I bought one the next day. Mine doesn't even have a serial number. I have Fred's first pre-production controller.

Not saying that my experience with this item is the most knowledgeable, I have used it once a week since it came out. I put the probe on the second shelf down. I don't use the ramp-on mode, despite Shotgun Fred's feeling that it is the unit's strongest capabilities. I don't think the Bradley gets hot enough, and I generally like to smoke at 210 and not much higher on brisket and butt.

To those who don't know what is being discussed, the Procom4 is infinitely adjustable in controlling the cycle of the electrical bursts to the fan, if being used with fan, or bursts of power to the Raptor. The default is 6 seconds... I have never expiremented with this. I actually might try a longer burst of power next smoke. I might try 8 to see if a longer burst maintains the temp a little better.

Give it a try and expirement a little with it.. I have pretty much used it with default settings, and it works pretty well. Sometimes it takes a little longer to reach and maintain temps, and the increased cycle time might be the ticket. Thanks for reminding me that it will do this...it has unbelivable capability to massage the control of the temp in the smoker. You will love it! Get back to us with your experience. They are only a handful of members on the list that use the Procom4, but they are all smiling after trying it for the first time.

Bill

There is room on earth for all God's creatures....on my plate next to the mashed potatoes.

gotbbq · March 05, 2005, 12:32:55 PM

Bill,

I have a competitor for my bge and am on the edge of getting the procom and the raptor. It doesnt seem to make sense to have the raptor and have to got out to the smoker to check on temps etc. Your thoughts?

gotbbq

nsxbill · March 05, 2005, 01:05:31 PM

The Competitor works well. The Procom4 is like a Competitor on steroids. The remote feature was what I was after, but you can actually set the Procom4 to shut your smoker off when you reach internal meat temp. It gives you a break from going in and out of the house.

Some with the Competitor use a baby alarm intercom to listen for the alarms...The Procom4 only sounds on the remote you carry with you. Want to bump a couple of degrees? Just do it remotely. Set the time for a task like rotating or changing the water. It reminds you with the count down timer.

It is the best. The Competitor is excellent, but the Procom4 is in another dimension...costly, but worth it to me.

Bill

There is room on earth for all God's creatures....on my plate next to the mashed potatoes.

gotbbq · March 05, 2005, 03:32:18 PM

Bill

Thanks - I'm going to go for it. I like the not having to run out to check temp. I already have a redi check wireless but doesnt control anything. How far does the signal go?

gotbbq

xcowell · March 05, 2005, 05:19:52 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by gotbbq
 Bill

Thanks - I'm going to go for it. I like the not having to run out to check temp. I already have a redi check wireless but doesnt control anything. How far does the signal go?

gotbbq

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
You already have half of the poor man's Pro Com.Purchase the standard Guru combo,247.00,as a cabinet temperature controller. Use your wireless unit to keep informed of the bake temp,violla!

gotbbq · March 05, 2005, 07:45:57 PM

xcowell-

I already have a competition, but cant control the bs remotely. How's a man to smoke a cigar and keep running to the smoker.[^][^][^]

gotbbq

nsxbill · March 05, 2005, 09:26:38 PM

I am on about 1/3 acre and house about 4K feet. I understand it has line of sight of 200 Yards. I can check and adjust temps anywhere on property pool spa or computer room (through walls) from any room, upstairs, garage, downstairs....etc. Very good range!

Bill

There is room on earth for all God's creatures....on my plate next to the mashed potatoes.

gotbbq · March 06, 2005, 12:30:07 AM

Bill,

Sold[^][^][^]

gotbbq

Sacrifice · March 06, 2005, 05:35:27 AM

Here are the results of my smoke:

I originally thought that the smoke would take 14 yours – After 18 hours, the temps of the meat finally hit 185 for the butt and the large chunk of brisket. The small end was at 190. Because it took 4 hours extra, there was no FTC[V]. I did have a chance to rest the meat for about 10 minutes. The butt was fall-apart tender and very juicy. The butt was my favorite. The small hunk of brisket was very tender and moist, but with FTC would have been better. The large brisket was tender, juicy, but could have used an additional 5 degrees of cooking I think. Again, FTC'ing would have improved it. The people eating over were very impressed with all the meat, and I honestly have never seen people eat that much meat at one sitting. Their favorite was the brisket. They are now thinking of getting a Bradley as they have had my ribs and chicken also. The crusts on all the cuts of meat were very tender and tasty – one of the best parts.

The Procom and Raptor worked great. Because of the weather changes we are subject to here, smoking with out a Procom/Raptor would not be easy. One minute it is calm and dry, the next is 25MPH wind and rain. Even smoking for 5 hours required constant attention without the Procom.

After becoming comfortable navigating the menus of the Procom, I decided to mess with the settings a bit. This is because the pit temp never got to 210, which was my temp setting. The low temps – around 204, may have contributed to the 18 hour smoke time. I noticed that the "fan" percentage was only 68%, which when it is 40 outside is not sufficient to get the cabinet up to 210. The settings that worked best were:

Proportional Band = 8
Offset = 5
Cycle Time = 8

This combination maintained temps of 210, with the occasional 209. When I upped the temp to 220 for a bit of experimentation, these settings got the temp up quickly, "fan" at 100%, and maintained 220 almost flawlessly.

Money well spent for the Procom/Raptor? Very much a Yes answer. Without it, no long nighttime smokes for me.

The best thing about the Procom is one pit temp probe and three meat probes. All read the same temps when I tested them, and having probes in all the items being smoked is a help in determining what is actually happening. The thing that drove me to but a Procom was the difference in temperatures that I received when I smoked two weeks ago and after smoking, found that my very expensive digital thermometers differed my 9 degrees.

Cold Smoke · March 06, 2005, 06:21:12 AM

Sure is nice to hear you are now considered a true smokin' Chef Extraordinaire by your friends/family. [8D]

Sounds like NSXBill is onto something with the Procom4 .

Cold Smoke