PartyQ question..

slantback37

Hi. I am a newbie here. Just got a small egg. I also bought a PartyQ control for it because of it's size. I am going to fire it for the first time this Saturday. I will do a 4 Lb pork butt. I have a question though about the PartyQ. When it is installed.. What should the Daisy Wheel vent be set at?? Thanks

Cowdogs

It should be nearly shut.  I would say open the wheels so the slits are a width of a dime. 

tarheelmatt

Cowdogs said:

It should be nearly shut.  I would say open the wheels so the slits are a width of a dime. 

+1  

You will want an efficient fire going and you also want to hold in the heat that it's generating.  

Jeepster47

+1

The PartyQ fan can ONLY make the temp go up by pushing combustion air into the egg.  Since it has a "bottom vent" opening the lump continues to receive air flow, even when the fan isn't running.  You need to close the top vent down until non-fan airflow is throttled down such that the fire cannot continue to burn without the fan running.

When it's set up correctly, the top vent shuts the fire down and the PartyQ turns the fire up.  If your fan is running about 10~30% of the time, you have the correct balance.

slantback37

Thanks for your help.

Mickey

You need to put that back in the box and learn how to go without it. I am not a fan as I gave away a new one. 

smbishop

What @cowdogs said.  I bought a partyq after I was several months into my first egg.  It helped me with piece of mind on those long low and slows.  Then I bought a Cyberq WiFi, and used that a lot.  Almost 5 years later, I rarely use them.  However I love being able to monitor a cook from inside.   For example, that Thanksgiving turkey!  .

slantback37

That is the next thing I want to do. Been deep frying them before. 
I think I will feel safer using the Q the first few times out. Last time I tried smoking a butt I was using a Masterbuilt electric smoker. I bought some rub online. Loaded with brown sugar. Well after cooking it for 12 hrs. It was black, bitter, and tasted different. I had to add chips every half hour, or no smoke.

slantback37

Well I did it this morning. It all went well. Except for the burning out after only 4 hrs. The temp was only 152 when I had to pull it. All out it took me 8hrs. Most of it was cooked at 250. The last 18 degrees I jacked it up to 290.

slantback37

Is there any way of recalibrating the PartyQ??

westernbbq

Slivers of watermelon seeds up top.  Barely open slits and if it  is open too much youll get a dome temp that is too high and that is tough to lower