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[Bar-B-Lew]

Seems like 3 people with older model Memphis grills have a tighter tolerance performance from their controllers.  Probably good for understanding pit temp to be able to estimate length of time when food on the grill may be at IT temp for pulling off the grill.  I am not sure what other advantages it could have.  I don't believe it makes a difference on low and slow cooks.

[BigDave83]

Seems like 3 people with older model Memphis grills have a tighter tolerance performance from their controllers.  Probably good for understanding pit temp to be able to estimate length of time when food on the grill may be at IT temp for pulling off the grill.  I am not sure what other advantages it could have.  I don't believe it makes a difference on low and slow cooks.

I think as long as you know if it is hotter or colder than set temp that is the main thing. My RECTEC was up to 50° from side to side, with right side being hotter. My little GMG cooks hotter, no idea how much never tested temps, I just know if I want to cook at a certain temp I set it a bit lower. The Pit boss no idea on it. I need to fire that up and use it again for something.

[okie smokie]

Looks like the older models were more accurate, but less sophisticated for producing better smoke at low slow temps. I think that the fan going off for long periods on the newer models creates more smoke but less temp accuracy at the low end.  (Just my opinion). I agree with Lew and Dave: Probably does not matter since we all use probes to tell us when to pull the meat. Except for ribs of course.
On top of this: I will still try to get official info from Memphis if they answer my request.  Lots of nitty picking on my part, but so what? I am unemployed with nothing better to do. 

[Canadian John]

 To further comment on temperature swings.  We all managed to produce some mighty fine cooks using the earlier pits that had hellacious temperature swings.

 Nit picking is a good thing. It shows pride of ownership.

[Bar-B-Lew]

 To further comment on temperature swings.  We all managed to produce some mighty fine cooks using the earlier pits that had hellacious temperature swings.

 Nit picking is a good thing. It shows pride of ownership.

It also passes on knowledge to those who have not been through as may different pellet grills as some of us.

[okie smokie]

 To further comment on temperature swings.  We all managed to produce some mighty fine cooks using the earlier pits that had hellacious temperature swings.

 Nit picking is a good thing. It shows pride of ownership.

And I am having fun doing it. Gathered new info today. As you know, the ITC controls have continuous fan on temps above 300*. I found the Actual to be very accurate above that number, using a new temp probe for my Maverick. Also I hung up a couple of RubberMaid analogs that I purchased and pretested. My reason for using them was that analogs are slower to respond either up or down, and if accurate, I expected a bit more stable (average?)reads. I was not disappointed. Set temps of 305* and 500* were just about right on +- 5-10*(5* at 305* and 10* at 500*.) Faster, and a bit wider swings with the Maverick but the analogs were good.

At temps below 300* is where the inaccuracy is widest. I used 225* and found the the temp starts out at 225, but slowly creeps to 245 or about. The fan is off for as long as 45 seconds and only comes on for a few seconds at a time, with occasional 10 second runs (about).  At that pace, there is a smoldering fire much of the time with pellets dropping at irregular intervals and much ash accumulating in the fire pot. It results in the desired smoke, but I believe it is the cause of the temp variation, and inaccuracy. At set of 225* the BS averaged about 241* on my analogs and Maverick. With more accurate at the beginning and less so an hour later. Again wider swings at times on the Maverick. I did the low temp tests first and then the higher temp tests last.
I am therefore inclined to leave all as is and adjust my low temp cooks as needed.  All of your initial advice was therefore right on!

[okie smokie]

New info gleaned from Memphis web page.  Beale Street has ITC2 control. The Elite, Pro models have the ITC3 control. On low slow cooks, the Beale Street accumulates burnt ash in the fire pot because the fan is off most of the time. When that happens, the temps go higher, and there is a lot of undesired thick white smoke late in the cook. When the grill is shut down, you find the fire pot full of ash (even tho the fan was on during the "cool down") and the air holes mostly covered. A good cleaning is then needed for the next cook.  On the Elite and Pro, when first turned on, the fans, come on high and blow any accumulated ash out of the pot, AND during a low/slow cook, the fans come on at appropriate intervals to blow accumulated ash out of the pot and thus avoid the excess white smoke and whatever else this causes. Elite and Pro have 2 fans. So there is a significant difference. I could not understand why the price difference was double or more for the Pro and triple for the Elite. Did not make sense, on the basis of the cost of 430 vs 304 Stainless. But I think the sophistication of the ITC3 control may sorta prove that you do get what you pay for. Had I known this up front, I might not have considered the BS, and I could not justify buying the Pro.
I have a possible solution for the ash build up which I will test today.  Will run a low/slow at 225* for 3-4 hrs. During that time, I will turn the set temp to 305* for 10 minutes each hour, and back down to 225* after each. The fan will be on full constantly for those 10 minutes. Will monitor the central grate temp with my external probes and see if the temp is also more stable at 225*. After shutdown will observe and take pics of the fire pot ash. If the results are favorable, either white smoke, or ash or both, I will happily keep on "cookin". If not

[Bentley]

For the last 5 years I have had to clean out the combustion chamber on the Pro before every cook to ensure no ER-2's.  Not that big a deal as I always thrown in a handful of pellets to get the pit up to temperature faster!

[BigDave83]

I have always wondered if I could run a metal line in to the air chamber from the fan, put a valve and quick connect nipple on it and then hook it to my air tank if I wanted to clean the pot out with out taking it all apart.

I have not done it the only one that is a pain is the little GMG finding a place to put everything when taking it apart. the vertical pit boss I just have to move the diffusser to get to the pot.

[okie smokie]

Ran a 3hr low slow at 225*, and raised temp to 300 every hour to get the fan on constant. Changed my mind about the 10 minute period and figured that it should be plenty of time with a 3 minute time.  At the 3 hr mark I turned up to 300 for 3 minutes before putting in "cool down" mode. No heavy white smoke occurred during the cook, but took forever for the temp to come back down after each time, and thus it probably made the average cook temp higher. After the cool down, there was definitely less ash in the fire pot, but the igniter holes were still covered. IMO-not worth the effort and would require too much schedule attention. Since access to fire pot is easy, I am happy to just check and/or vac it after long cooks. It does not load up on short hot cooks. Wish you could upgrade the control to ITC3, but doubt it.
PS; the base temps still ran 15-20* hotter than set temp in low/slow mode. Sooo back to low/slow setting at 210* to= 225* real temp.

[okie smokie]

Sorry I discussed current BS info on my 1070 thread, it belongs here. I have a new control coming today and will run the requested test runs after I install it. Bet I get more stable temp control. We shall see.

[okie smokie]

Installed the new control I received today. Hooray! It works well with none of the marked oscillations of the previous control. I found the actual temp on the control very steady and matching the set temp after initial stabilization both at 180*, 350* (I skipped the 550* as it was late and the first two hrs were so good).  Here is the good part. I put 3 probes in the grill. Left center, Middle center, Right center. They were very stable IMO without wide fluctuations. Using all three to average the true temps, I estimate that I was very close to the set temp while on 180* set temp. Perhaps about 188* true temp. At 350*set temp for another hour, again I estimate that I was within 12-15* higher temp if I averaged all three "true" temps probes. Of course the "actual" temps stayed right on the "set" temps almost all of the time. Sorry if this sounds confusing, but bottom line. I was correct about the old control being sick. I am pleased, and will stop gritching for now. Will run a 225* test tomorrow just find how much offset I need to get that temp. Plan a Trisket to follow.   

[Bar-B-Lew]

Glad to hear so far so good.

[Canadian John]

 
 "Curiosity killed a cat".  Re the 3 probes:  Have you ever put them together, either held together or immersed in oil at different temperatures to  see how they react ??

 The reason I ask is that Thermoworks stated somewhere that temperature probes can drift off. This can be compensated for by recalibrating the unit.

[okie smokie]

 "Curiosity killed a cat".  Re the 3 probes:  Have you ever put them together, either held together or immersed in oil at different temperatures to  see how they react ??

 The reason I ask is that Thermoworks stated somewhere that temperature probes can drift off. This can be compensated for by recalibrating the unit.

No not in oil., I tested all three on the grill at the same spot at the same time. They were within 1-2 degrees of each other. I did that when I got the new Square D which is certified to within 1* at lower temps. They did not react at the same speed with each other. (the SqD is very fast) but were all about the same at 78--250 range. I watched them go up as grill heated up. Good enough for me.