Here's my $.02 on using DigiQ and fan, and on water and cleanup.
Set your top dampener to 1/3 open, set your front ball valve to 1/3 open, set your pitbull fan dampener to 1/3 open. Make sure your water pan 1" valve is closed...again, I never use it!
Cap your rear ball valve off, u won't use it...or close the valve if u have a rear ball valve. Fill your T plate maze up with briquettes and chunks of wood.
Use a handheld blowtorch (the small camping bottle one) and light the first three or four briquette at the very front left (just hold the blowtorch on the very front briquette or so, for about 3 mins). That's it. You don't need a fire going, just a couple briquettes shown a bit of grey.
Close firebox door, set DigiQ or cyberq or whatever u are using to 225 (or whatever temp u want to cook at)
Wait an hour and a half and your LSG with be almost up to temp (use the hour and a half to inject, rub, whatever your meat. I never marinate overnight...)
Put your meat on, stick meat probes in, set your DigiQ food temp alarm to 195 or whatever u cook until. Don't open the door again until your food alarm goes off, 10-14 hours later.
Key point here is SMALL fire! If you think you didn't get it lit enough, that's probably just perfect. People tend to start WAY too many briquettes initially!
You cannot control a big fire....start 3-4 briquettes by blowtorch while already in the maze, and let the fan and the oxygen starved box do the work! This is how you will get 14 hours out of a 7-8 lb sack of briquettes (I used Stubbs hardwood as the year are cheap and 100% hardwood) they are uniform and burn at pretty much the same rate. Lump varies in size too much and burns at different rates...don't use lump.
That it, easy and simple, works every time.
Now for water....don't use it. It doesn't need it, doesn't add any moisture to the final product, causes temp swings as it evaporates, and is a big frickn mess.
If you just can't help yourself, put water in a half sheet pan and set it in the water pan. Easy cleanup, no mess. There Is plenty of water in the 10-50 lbs of meat you just stuck in your smoker! And that water turns to moisture and sweats out of the meat while it cooks, adding all the moisture you will ever need in your LSG.
Use drip trays under all cuts of meat to catch ALL drippings, and you will never clean anything but the grates your meat sat on. Keeps your smoker super clean.
That's it. The beauty of an insulated cooker is that you don't have to overthink it!
That's my story and I am sticking too it! Full size LSG insulated vertical here, love it with the DigiQ! Truly a set it and forget it 14 hour cook machine.
