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Brisket and DigiQ DX

Hungry in Lilburn
Hungry in Lilburn Posts: 756
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
Well, I am going for my second brisket today. The first one took 27 hours and I had to finish it in the oven in the house. It was very tasty but I felt I did something wrong. After about 12 hours the DigiQ DX went to screaming (alarm) and the pit temp went to about 325 (3 am in the morning). I didn't want my neighbors upset so I pulled it and put it in the oven to finish. It cooked another 14 hours and only hit 195 after I turned the oven up to 325. All in all it was tasty. Kind of fatty because I cooked it with deckle on and did not trim it of excess fat. I like fat. 3 Basic Food groups: meat, salt, fat.

So today I am trying another one. Got a Choice brisket from Sam's yesterday ($27! YIKES!) no deckle and seasoned it with kosher, garlic powder and Raising the Steaks. Filled fire pit to top of fire ring, set it aglow, added whiskey barrel chips and then hooked up DigiQ. I have draft door on DigiQ closed down to 1/4, daisy wheel almost shut and my gasket is a nomex with a pretty decent seal. Hooked it all up and turned it on at 6:30 am. After about a 5 min delay blower came on and pumped up pit temp to 225. Meat is 44. I took first set of pics. Then I decided to play with display bracket and had minor tech glitch but everything seems to be working well.

Okay all you DigiQ experts, what did I do wrong? Why did my pit temp go to 325 the first time? Do you think it will happen again? If it does should I just shut it down and let it fall back to the 225 range? The ambient air temp right now is 26 degrees, any affect?
Okay, here are the pics. I am using my brand new Nikon Coolpix L22 and know less about it than the DigiQ.
DSCN0034.jpg
DSCN0032.jpg
DSCN0033.jpg

Comments

  • Okay, here is a better picture of display. The pit probe is clipped to the grid a few inches away from drip pan. DSCN0037.jpg
  • Rascal
    Rascal Posts: 3,923
    Looks like you've got a gasket/seal issue going on there..
  • Heavy smoke and forced draft. So maybe time to replace gasket again? Guess it is a trip to mothership tomorrow to get a new gasket. I have to replace my firebox and grate anyway, they both cracked. Thanks!
  • I can't seem to get my draft door to close over the adaptor door. It will slide right up to it and it all looks sealed up but will not close to clip. Any ideas?
  • Try sliding it in behind the door when it all the way to the right and then closing them. I had trouble also until I did this.
  • 1.5 hrs later and the temp is holdinig steady. No smoke coming from egg at all. Food temp is now 87. If this only takes 12 hours this time I will be very happy!
    :laugh: :woohoo: :P I could eat it now!
    DSCN0038.jpg

    :ermm: :huh: :blush: :S :whistle: :pinch: :( :angry: Looks like I need to clean my table up and my backyard! I guess I have been way to busy. I will need to wash my table with a degreaser and then stain it. I plan to build a huge deck extension onto my back porch this summer and build a smoke hut at the end of the house. Cooking on the egg is actually a pretty dirty affair but it is good clean dirt that produces excellent food!
  • I have no gasket and do not have that issue with my stoker!
  • Good tip, I will try that when it is cool. I have no gap right now and it is holding temp. I wonder if I had a back draft the first time? I really closed the damper down on the Guru adaptor door this time.
    DSCN0039.jpg
    Pic of door. Guru is "puffing" which after reading the instructions is normal. I count the blink rate at 4 which is okay, I think.
  • Charlie tuna
    Charlie tuna Posts: 2,191
    The blower adaptor plate is flat, while the Green Egg's draft door is curved to fit on the round egg. I took that edge of the blower adaptor that mates up to the left hand side of the draft door and bent it very slightly inward. Now the draft screen followed by the draft door rides over the blower adaptor easily, while maintaining a good seal.
    I agree with others that your gasket is the biggest cause in maintaining temp.. I have the same problem and need to change my gasket--i have a factory replacement but am considering an upgrade?? Been egging only about six months and used to be able to set and maintain any temp., but i've noticed while cooking holiday turkeys that my pit temps. start climbing for no reason. My unit blows smoke around the gasket area just like your!!! I'm considering how "sensitive" the opening of the draft door effects pit temps....... and then add up all those little openings around the leaking gasket and you can see where the problem is...
  • TXTriker
    TXTriker Posts: 1,177
    Hungry,I struggle with my draft door at times till I get the adaptor pushed in enough where I can get the door on the outside. Keep pushing on the end till you get it to clear. I also put that in before I light the egg so it isn't hot. Some I think may wait till their egg is up to temp. I don't. I may not put the fan on but get the door closed to the adaptor at least.
  • Just talked to my brother-in-law (he became an official egger at Christmas) and told him that I will need his help to replace my gasket. I am going to take the lid off this time turn it upside down, scrape it and apply a new nomex gasket. That should make it seal better. I don't think I ever got it sitting right the last time and ended up with a hole at the back side. I had never even tried a lo & slo though until I got the DigiQ for Christmas. I need to take my egg out of the table and do a complete refurbish. Or just go ahead and build my smoking hut and put in a permanent crate for her to sit in. I don't have enough work space where she is sitting right now anyway. I only need two things, money and time. :woohoo:
  • TXTriker
    TXTriker Posts: 1,177
    I'm curious why your dome thermometer is reading about 450 when the pit temp is 225. Seems like the dome thermometer is a tad high. Calibrated it lately? Or is the pit probe misplaced?
  • TXTriker wrote:
    I'm curious why your dome thermometer is reading about 450 when the pit temp is 225. Seems like the dome thermometer is a tad high. Calibrated it lately? Or is the pit probe misplaced?

    It looks like his thermometer is just rotated a bit...normally the egg isn't on its side like it is in that thermometer photo.
  • TXTriker
    TXTriker Posts: 1,177
    Yes, I see you're right after I stick my nose in my computer screen. Thanks for sharing that.
  • Sometimes in cold weather, my Guru freaks out. The temp it sees is not the temp it's at. When the probe gets above freezing, I unplug the Guru and reset it.
  • My dome probe is actually reading about 275. I rotate my dome probe so the desired temp is at the 0 degrees mark, as in completely vertical. I did not go back and look at all the pics but the post start pics could have a higher dome temp as I did overshoot and then let the cold pan and meat pull it back down. Within and hour the dome thermometer and DigiQ DX read the same within 25 degrees. I expected the dome temp to run higher than the DigiQ. Thanks for being aleret! Keith
  • correct, it is rotated. I learned that trick from Bacchus and Vidailia 1. It worked very well when I was doing Turbo Butts, Prime ribs, burgers and steaks. It has become habit now even with all the high tech gizmos I own!
  • my guru shivered through the night but kept on plugging away. We are having a heat wave this am, it is already 32 degrees now! And it is still cooking away!
  • 24 hours later and we are at 182! Yeah! only 13 more degrees to go!
  • Hatch
    Hatch Posts: 149
    Also the slide clip on the Guru adaptor is made to rise into the upper track of your damper. Simply place the bottom edge in and then expand the adaptor to your track,