Mawgie: newbie's PID saga, and results of the first Smokes

[Mawgie]

Folks -

Well,  both me and the Bradley are now a little broken in.  I'll break this down into three parts: PART ONE, THE PID SAGA; PART TWO, THE INTIAL SMOKES, and PART THREE, QCD CLEAN UP.


PART ONE, THE PID SAGA:
Well, I fell out of love with making my own, though not due to feeling technically overmatched  (it really is a reasonable DIY project, if you take your time).  I contacted the guru at Auber Instruments with a bunch of newbie technical questions about multi-function probes, and ended up ordering a semi-custom PID controller made to my specs, as follows:

- Bradley/Sous Vide controller (WS-1500A)
- Bright, outdoor LED display
- .030" cable (thermistor, not K couple sensor)
- Sensor cable = 5 feet
- Modified smoker controller sensor to "switch hit", e.g., mapped at the factory to be able to be switched between Bradley or Sous Vide applications.
- $129.50 (same as the regular price)

The Auber guy took awesome care of me, and the Auber PID controller is first class, from chassis to internals.  I would do it again without blinking. 

The probe was the "custom" part of "semi-custom".  Here's part of my e-mail exchange with the Auber guy, who is, obviously, an expert:

ME TO AUBER:
"If I understand you correctly, too much thermal mass in the probe means the end of the thermocouple responds more slowly to temp changes. In terms of response time, how does the RTD probe compare to the K thermocouple alternative, and the better performing bare wire K thermocouple alternative? Finally, what if I just bought your plug and play thermistor controller (WS-1500A)?  Would that possibly be the best of both worlds, or would it
also be slow to respond in the air?"

AUBER TO ME:
"You are right, the large mass of the probe make the sensor response time
(95%) in air in the 15 to 20 minutes range. I think that is too slow for
the  smoker.  A bare wire sensor can response in 20-30 seconds. The faster
sensor  makes the smoker more stable. However, I have not found the clear answer
in  terms how fast is necessary. There are problems with very fast system
too.  When the system get too fast, it can oscillate. Bare sensor is less
durable.  The controller also needs to have a faster algorithm in term of PID
calculation and the SSR firing scheme. The Fuzzy controller is not the
best  choice for fast system either. In addition, the meat in the smoker warms
up  at very slow speed, making very fast response system not very critical.
The response time of the sensor we used in our smoker controller is a 4 mm
diameter half filled probe. The response time is about 4-5 minutes. We
found  that response time is sufficient for the smoker. The sensor we used in
Sous-vide is a 5 mm filled probe (for water proof). The response time is
about 10 minutes. It is a little too slow to hold the system stable.

RTD sensor will not be as fast as the bare wire thermocouple. But I
think it should be ok for the smoker. Thermocouple will not be accurate enough
for the Sous-vide cooking because the cold junction compensation error. It
might  appear to be accurate, but the actual temp might be not. In our SV
controller, we used thermistor sensor because it is more accurate in the
range and cable can be made very thin (0.030"). The thin cable allows us
to put the sensor in the pot without affecting the cover. It is difficult
to make a RTD sensor with such thin cable because the resistance of the
cable becomes significant when compared with the value of a pt100 resistance.

If you want use our Sous-vide controller to control both smoker and slow
cooker, we can make a sensor that works for both. It will be a modified
smoker controller sensor with the tube filled with sealant. The smoker
sensor also has a longer cable."

That's what I ordered.  I have at least 7 smokes under my belt, and it is working fine.

PART TWO, THE INITIAL SMOKES.

To date, here's what ol' Mawgie has done, with general observations as to each dish. 

Before I start, I'll just mention that the seasoning and set up, and PID configuration (easy, when you buy one from Auber), all went perfet.  No misfeeds, erratic temps, broken parts of any kind to date.  Based on other posts, I did modify the bottom of the smoke box with a piece of maple milled just taller than the control panel to relieve pressure on that piece of plastic, and trimmed it out with a couple of epoxied on pieces of old tire tube for "stiction".

Baby Back Ribs:
- I rubbed them first and rested them in the rub, no sauce.  They got pretty dry after three hours in the smoker, so I FSO'd them (foil+ a touch of sauce+ warm oven), and they rescusitated nicely.  Baby backs are small and thin enough that they seem easy to overcook.  Tasty though, and they have me lusting for bigger ribs, and smoked short ribs that I will finish in a lingering braise on the stove when snow is on the ground.....

Cold Smoked Cheddar
Cold Smoked Havarti
- I rigged a QCS (quick, cheap and sturdy) cold smoke set up as follows:
1) smoker box inlet = 4" pipe duct elbow (leftover from workshop dust collection project); transtitioned to dryer duct, into the top of a cardboard box; smoke gen feeding into the side of the cardboard box. 2) I took two Pyrex pie plates, chilled them in the freezer, filled them with ice cubes, then put them on the lower racks.  I experienced no overheating problems of any kind.  The cheese didn't even sweat!    As for the smoke flavor, it was really, and I mean way too smoky.  40 minutes of cherry smoke on a piece of cheddar the size of one third of a brick was way too much smoke for me. The Havarti was milder enough as to be palatable, maybe because it is a softer cheese.  Next time: less smoke. 

A brace of cherry smoked yard birds:
- Two Perdue yard birds from Sam's Club, rinsed, trimmed, patted dry, slammed with Montreal chicken, inverted onto empty beer cans set in a small Pyrex baking dish.  5 pucks of smoke was way too much for me and my wife here, too.  Texture of meat was great.  Beer can in Pyrex dish worked slick, only minor mess on V-Pan. 

Smoked Turkey breast:
A triumph.  Took a frostbitten and on sale turkey breast at a homely $2.00 per pound, slowly defrosted, rubbed in olive oil, and smoked for 40 minutes at 200 degrees, then roasted at 200 degrees.  While roasting, I made sure to religously massage two to four tablespoons of single barrel bourbon onto my gums every twenty minutes, to keep everything happy, until achieving the target internal temperature of 157 degrees.  The result? Righteous!!Smokey, but not overpowering.  Loved by all who tried it.

Venison jerky (muscle meat, not extruded):
Hi Mountain original recipe + cure, onto one year old venison roasts, cut into strips 3/8" thick.  24 hours in the cure, then rolled 40 minutes of smoke, and roasted at 200 degrees for around three to four hours.  Great texture, firm, with a little crunch to the edges of the thinner pieces, but not like a cracker, or donut soft.  Problem: too darn salty.  I wish that I had quickly rinsed the meat after curing, then carefully dried on a paper towel before smoking.  On the other hand, perhaps that would have made no difference.  The pieces may have been thin enough so that the salty cure was through and through the meat, no matter what I rinsed.  Jerky screens worked great, though they did take on a slight, permanent discoloration, and one of them melted just a little at one edge (smoker set at 200 degrees, controlled by the Auber PID).

THREE, QCD  (quick, cheap and dirty) CLEAN UP.

1) Dawn Power Dissolve works great, if you can get it.
2) If not, hit it all with oven cleaner, let it sit, then rinse, thoroughly wash, and let dry.  As everyone else has said, keeping the rig clean is not a big deal.
3) No oven cleaner on the door, smoke gen, hinges, door seal, or anything else but racks and pans, and I wouldn't let it sit too, too long on the rack and pans, but, boy, does it work great.  Literally spray on, wait, rinse off.  Just make sure you give everything a good wash after the oven cleaner, to vanquish those chemicals.


FINALLY:

My apologies for not taking any pictures.  I should have, and will going forward.
Plans are now in the works for custom smoker graphics, utilizing a "Pork" theme. 

Best Regards to all.
Thanks to you all for posting, and for encouraging this newbie.
My beginning smokes have been learning experiences, but, remember this:

"Beware of the man with one Smoker."

And I only got the one - Mawgie

p.s. That black dog in my avatar is my Senior Hunter (soon to be Master Hunter) Labrador Retriever, "Diesel": my "quicker picker upper" in the field!  (He is on a pretty strict performance diet, but I did let him try the smoked turkey breast.  He loved it.) Goose jerky attempt is in the pipeline.

p.p.s. In an earlier post, I mentioned "custom cart."  I haven't come up with a design I like yet.  The sticking point is that I don't want to bulk up the profile of the smoker much, if at all.  For now, it rides on a piece of 3/4" plywood the size of the smoker's footprint, with locking casters from Tractor Supply.  I may just buy the Bradley cover for it, and leave it the way it is. 

[FLBentRider]

Sounds like you are off to a great start.

[Oldman]

Thanks! Interesting read...

[grizrider]

 hey Mawgie this is my first post and just wanted to say that is a pretty lab, hope you made out well with the masters test's.  I just walked in for the goose pit here on the eastern shore of md got skunked this morning but it was a blue bird day and we couldnt compete with the thousands of birds half a mile away on open water my dogs were mad no fun for them today.  anyway just made a batch of goose jerky worked great just had to be careful not to dry it out  tried some duck that my brother made in the oven and was not impressed tasted oily. My brother now has bradley envey after the goose, turkey, and the smoked oysters I made for an early thanksgiving.  Good luck this season next year I will be taking two junior dogs and one senior so I should be busy.

[Tenpoint5]

Great Post Mawgie. For a quick and simple cart I bought the lower half of a rolling tool chest. It also make a great place to store all the Toyools.