On my 1975 I've been getting great results running the pit with the stack wide open, and my door cracked an inch. However, I've noticed a lot of others use the damper, and there's been some recent guidance on why it's important (e.g. lower and slower, more smoke flavor, less crispy food with a gentler cooking environment/less convection).
My results with time stamps and settings are in the spreadsheets below. I'm more than excited I can run my pit in a "high convection mode" and a "lower & slower mode" depending on the stage of my cook or what I'm cooking. Isolating the hotspots in each mode was very helpful too.
A few notes:
-I tested all ThermoWorks probes before.
-I elevated the probes with foil in the effort to eliminate radiant heat from the grates, however the foil may have negated this.
-The 10 data points are at various stages of adding splits for a broader range of impact.
-With the damper closed, temperature spikes were minimal when adding a new split, vs. quite the opposite with the damper wide open, which makes sense since the damper slows down airflow.
-With the damper and slower airflow, I had to build bigger fires (1 extra split) to reach my target temps, which is due to the slower airflow and extra time the gasses have time to cool before reaching the cooking surface.
My results with time stamps and settings are in the spreadsheets below. I'm more than excited I can run my pit in a "high convection mode" and a "lower & slower mode" depending on the stage of my cook or what I'm cooking. Isolating the hotspots in each mode was very helpful too.
A few notes:
-I tested all ThermoWorks probes before.
-I elevated the probes with foil in the effort to eliminate radiant heat from the grates, however the foil may have negated this.
-The 10 data points are at various stages of adding splits for a broader range of impact.
-With the damper closed, temperature spikes were minimal when adding a new split, vs. quite the opposite with the damper wide open, which makes sense since the damper slows down airflow.
-With the damper and slower airflow, I had to build bigger fires (1 extra split) to reach my target temps, which is due to the slower airflow and extra time the gasses have time to cool before reaching the cooking surface.
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