SmoBot does Ribeye

Received a care package from Eric in the mail yesterday ... my own SmoBot (SB) to play with.  Decided to use the SB to cook a ribeye steak today. Short cook to gain experience and uncover any unexpected operational problems.

Rockwood and oak for smoke. Pit temp set for 230 degrees. Fired up the egg and installed the SB immediately. SB and bottom vents were both fully open.  With natural airflow through the egg, the controller brought the pit temp up to the set point with no over shoot.  The SB is a little slower on startup, but it reached temp just about the same time as the smoke cleared.  It's a little like having a butler to watch the egg while you prep the protein.

The steak went on at about 12:30pm (edit: the graph is EST ... and I live in CST, so I have to subtract an hour when viewing the chart) and roasted for about 35 minutes before the IT reached 105 degrees … coasted up to 108 degrees while waiting for the egg to heat up. The indirect setup and steak were pulled and set aside. Ugly daisy and the SB mechanical control system were pulled to allow the egg to get up to 550 degrees. Looks like it took about eight minutes for the egg to get up to searing temp. The meat probe was removed and the steak was dropped onto a CI grid down next to the coals on a spider. Started with 20 seconds on the first side … then three flips and 20 seconds per flip to yield crosshatch sear marks.

The SB can operate on a wall wart or two 9-volt batteries.  I tried it with the 9volt battery option and placed the unit inside a plastic rain-box. That made it very compact and easy to use. I really like the battery option. Might have to invest in a Lithium-ion pack.  It might seem like overkill to use a controller to cook a steak, but I like to roast the steak very low and slow.  The SB made it easy to maintain the low roasting temps.

I own a DigiQ and a Flameboss 200, so the transition to the SB went without a hitch. 24 hours from mailbox to egg!!!

A little graph porn: