What's the learning curve on these things? Pitboss combo pellet / gas PB1230CS1

[mikec35]

I've got a new combo smoker / grill and am 2 cooks in on the smoker side and have not had much success. The smoker will not maintain a temperature like I thought it would. I have used a lump charcoal smoker for the past 15 years and so far it was easier to regulate the temperature on it then this new grill. First I tried to smoke some burgers, I set it to low temp and every time I checked the app the smoker was at least 30-40 degrees higher than set. Same thing on the second attempt at using the smoker, this time I smoked 2 racks of ribs. I tried the 3-2-1 method. The plan was 195 degrees for the first 3 hours unwrapped, 225 degrees for the next 3 hours (2 hours wrapped and 1 hour unwrapped.) I had to keep monkeying with the grill temperature settings over the course of this cook to keep the smoker temps at the 195/225 temps I was looking for, sometimes setting the temperature 30 degrees lower than the desired setting just to get the actual where it should be. I let the ribs smoke for 7.5 hours and they still did not exceed 170 degrees internal temperature as being read from my Thermapen. They tasted ok but we tough for the most part.

Is it common for these grills actual temperature to be up 50 degrees or more off from the setting? I know you are going to have high and low temps ranges as the pellets burn and are being fed into the burn pot. I also realize that it usually takes a while for the grill to settle in on a temperature, which I feel I gave it ample time to settle in before making adjustments. This was assembled at Academy Sport where I bought it from and it appears to be set up correctly. Any advice as to how to get this thing under control would be appreciated.

 

[Sparky]

Welcome to the group. Mine took several cooks to settle down on temp swings. keep the temp probe clean.

 

[Jimsmokes]

My 1150 started reacting better after 10+ cooks. I use a temp probe from a second device on the grate I'm cooking on. Then I set grill temp to whatever I need to achieve that.

 

[Steve In Pa]

My 1150 started reacting better after 10+ cooks. I use a temp probe from a second device on the grate I'm cooking on. Then I set grill temp to whatever I need to achieve that.

Similar with my model. I use oven thermometers and tweak the controller to get them where I need the temp to be. In warm weather the difference is 10 or so degrees, in colder weather it be more of a difference

 

[mikec35]

Thanks for the replies. I used 3 thermometers today to measure the grill ambient temperature and they were all reading about 10 degrees off from each other. 2 Mavericks and 1 UEI commercial thermometer, all are about 10 years old so I think I’ll buy a new thermometer and try again. Any suggestions on a thermometer that I can trust to be accurate that won’t break the bank?