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Old 04-04-2020, 06:18 PM   #1
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Pellet Grill Disappointment

Just unboxed and set up my new GMG Davy Crockett pellet grill and went for a test drive. After going thru the initial first startup procedure everything looked good. But - - I had read that some people were having serious temp differences from side to side so I decided to check mine. Went to the store and bought a new oven thermometer (I already had one). I fired up the oven in the kitchen range, set it for 350° and placed both thermometers in the middle rack. When the range beeped that it had reached temp I checked and all three agreed on 350° - - oven and both thermometers. Based on that I am accepting that the thermometers are accurate.

Fired up the grill, placed a thermometer on left and right sides on the rack and started testing. Dialed 250° on the control board and waited for 10 minutes after the grill said that the temp had been reached before I opened the grill and checked the thermometers. Then cranked it up to the next set point and did it again. See the chart I made. Very disappointing. And the variances get worse the higher the set point. Being 50-75-100 degrees off is not conducive of good cooking results. And here I am sitting with almost $100 worth of meat that I was excited about smoking/cooking.

There are a few things I need to play with - - maybe adjusting the heat shield will help even out the side to side temps. ??? But I am more concerned about the huge temp discrepencies. I had the stack cover completely open, as the manual suggested. Maybe loosing too much heat up the stack? ??? I will try with it barely open.

Lots of GMG users here. Anyone else have problems like this? Any suggestions?
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Old 04-04-2020, 08:45 PM   #2
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Wow that's not encouraging to go out and buy one. I am in the research stage of buying a pellet grill...so far the Grilla Silverback appeals the most to me.
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Old 04-04-2020, 09:03 PM   #3
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Move the box over the fire box to the right a tiny bit. The instructions say there is a "sweet spot".
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Old 04-04-2020, 09:06 PM   #4
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Originally Posted by BandJCarm View Post
Move the box over the fire box to the right a tiny bit. The instructions say there is a "sweet spot".

Yes, that was going to be my suggestion. Also from their website



Position your heat shield so the “V” on the bottom is centered over the firepot. This piece will split your rising heat left and right, so proper placement is crucial.
If your grill seems to run hotter than what it displays, or if it has a hot right side, move your heat shield further to the right. If the grill is running cooler, move it to the left. A general rule is half an inch for every 50 degrees of difference you experience. Once the perfect placement is achieved, measure the shields distance to the left wall of the grill for future reference.
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Old 04-05-2020, 09:49 AM   #5
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gastan, please keep us updated on your progress. I was planning to get one of these
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Old 04-05-2020, 09:53 AM   #6
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You can buy blowers of various sizes made just for this sort of problem and for adding more smoke if you want it. They are great for cold smoking fish and anything else you might want to cold smoke, too.

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Old 04-05-2020, 01:33 PM   #7
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Love my Rectec. Super accurate and VERY good customer service.
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Old 04-06-2020, 01:37 PM   #8
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When faced with an issue of two thermometers reading different temps, you always must ask, which one is the correct one?

In industry, we can trace the calibration of a instruments all the way back to the NIST (National Institute of Science and Tech). In other words, it is guaranteed to be accurate according to the NIST because the instrument that calibrated it was traceable back to NIST and so on and so forth.

Lacking an NIST traceable thermometer, you can do a quick check. First place both in ice water and record the temp. It should be 32 degrees. You can get down to 0 if you mix salt in with it. Then check each in rapidly boiling water. They both should read 212 (unless you live high up in the mountains).

I would check both and see which one is the more accurate. With that said, I found that cleaning the plug on the meat probe of my GMG with a bit of scotch-brite worked wonders for its accuracy.

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Old 04-06-2020, 01:41 PM   #9
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A man with two clocks never knows what time it really is...............
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Old 04-06-2020, 02:00 PM   #10
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take control by the horns... get the rectec.
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Old 04-07-2020, 01:45 AM   #11
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You are smart to practice with it. I have two GMGs one being the davy crockett and a few charcoal smokers. There are learning curves to every smoker and you are finding some well known ones for this one.

I use them all in BBQ competitions and have used 20 different pits. Every one is very different with its own personality.

As others said, for even cooking move the fire box all the way to the right for smoking. All the way to the left and centered can give you a very large temp delta side to side and is what I do for grilling and searing. If you want temp over 300 you will need to move the box centered or left and cook on the right.

Second is when firing it up it is important to let it get to 150 first before adjusting the temp. Once there then you can up the temp. This allows it to stabilize the temp. Not sure if you did this or not as it was unclear to me.

Third is cook on the left near the thermometer and don't fill your small smoker. More than half full will mess with it because it is small. I don't think they are required but the shelf in the davy crockett is great...the Jim Bowie not so much.

The davy crockett is a good smoker with bad feet. You can make great BBQ but as with any smoker you need to use them a few times to figure out issues as smokers are not rotisserie ovens you set and forget. If you want that buy an electric one.

Unless you are buying WAGU brisket $100 worth of meat is overfilling this smoker.

A packer brisket at Sam's or Costco is $50 and will fill it using the shelf separating the point. Two 8-9lb pork butts are $30 and is too much for the smoker. Ribs need a rack and 3 is all I would put in it.

I usually leave the stack all the way open but I have one of these in there to bring the heat (and smoke) down to the grate.
http://dongodkesdowndraft.com/gmg-da...-or-jim-bowie/

Happy cooking!
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Old 04-07-2020, 12:02 PM   #12
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Originally Posted by filthy-Beast View Post
gastan, please keep us updated on your progress. I was planning to get one of these
Had time yesterday to do two more runs on the grill (as I was doing spring yard work).
See the attached pic for details. The owners manual says to adjust the heat shield in 1/4" increments. My temps were so far off I moved it one inch. That evened out the side to side temps considerably. They are now (mostly) within 10-12 degrees of each other. Now that they are close I will probably nudge it by 1/8" increments and see if I can fine tune it more.

Moving the shield also helped with the set temps vs actual temps but not as much. Still off - but 50-60 degrees off is better than 100 degrees off. After much googling I am beginning to think that that is the nature of the beast and you just have to adjust for it. It seems that you can do some calibration using the wifi app - - but - - you need a smart phone and I don't have or use one.

I trust that the two oven thermometers I used are relatively close. As I said, I set the kitchen range oven to 350° and set the two in the middle of the oven. All three - - oven and both thermometers - - read 350° after 15 minutes.

for dbledan: yes, I followed the manual instructions exactly. It reached 150° before I set temps. That 100 bucks worth of meat was not all for one cook. Over $65 for a 4 bone rack of beef short ribs (some call them slab or plate ribs - the big meaty ones); a salmon fillet; a pork loin - - I was planning on a big weekend long smoking/cooking binge.

Your link to the downdraft got me googling that and now I'm thinking I need one of those, too. I chose the Crockett for its portability (we are 3-5 years away from going full time and I wanted something I could take with us. I can handle 65-70 pounds. 100 - 200 pounds? No. Not to mention the space requirements.) It's turning out that getting into smoking/grilling is just like getting into Rv'ing - - always something to buy. (upper rack, rib rack, beer can rack, cover, thermal cover, downdraft, grilling gloves, thermometers, frog mats, drip bucket liners ???? where does it end - and where do you put all of it )

Since the GMG temp probe seems so problematic, at least for me, I now don't trust the food probe, either. I have a ThermoPro TP20 ordered and it should be here later this week. I will run another test and the next cook I will use both the GMG probe and the ThermoPro probe and compare results. I will also retest the set vs actual temp with the ThermoPro.
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Old 04-07-2020, 01:05 PM   #13
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This thread was most interesting for me: I smoke a lot salmon. The volume (cubic feet) versus the volume of the fish may indeed have its "sweet spot" level. Each smoker is different.

I use a blower to generate smoke and a variable hot plate to control the temperature. So thank you "dbledan", your comments are well taken.
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Old 04-07-2020, 06:12 PM   #14
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My son and I both have Traegers and they work great. Too much emphasis is placed on the built in thermometers. For Christmas I was doing a prime rib and asked him to bring his Therm-Pro set to do it right. So for Christmas he got me the set that comes with the wireless unit to have in the house and outdoor one with the probes one for the grill and one for in the meat. This is a must to do roasts, turkey, chicken, and prime rib properly. Go by the internal meat temperature and you will have the best grilling possible every time.
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Old 04-07-2020, 06:59 PM   #15
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I did some tests with my RecTec today before I put my chicken in . I had the smoker set at 250°. I put two probes on opposite sides and they both read around 8 degrees higher that the smoker temp which has a probe halfway between the grate and the lid. I had my probes sitting on the grate which was probably why it read higher.

Both my sister and I had two different Traegers and they were the worst. On each of them, the temps would swing wildly. They were two different models and we were both able to bring back to Costco for a full refund and we both bought RecTecs.
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Old 04-08-2020, 12:54 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gastan View Post
Had time yesterday to do two more runs on the grill (as I was doing spring yard work).
See the attached pic for details. The owners manual says to adjust the heat shield in 1/4" increments. My temps were so far off I moved it one inch. That evened out the side to side temps considerably. They are now (mostly) within 10-12 degrees of each other. Now that they are close I will probably nudge it by 1/8" increments and see if I can fine tune it more.

Moving the shield also helped with the set temps vs actual temps but not as much. Still off - but 50-60 degrees off is better than 100 degrees off. After much googling I am beginning to think that that is the nature of the beast and you just have to adjust for it. It seems that you can do some calibration using the wifi app - - but - - you need a smart phone and I don't have or use one.

I trust that the two oven thermometers I used are relatively close. As I said, I set the kitchen range oven to 350° and set the two in the middle of the oven. All three - - oven and both thermometers - - read 350° after 15 minutes.

for dbledan: yes, I followed the manual instructions exactly. It reached 150° before I set temps. That 100 bucks worth of meat was not all for one cook. Over $65 for a 4 bone rack of beef short ribs (some call them slab or plate ribs - the big meaty ones); a salmon fillet; a pork loin - - I was planning on a big weekend long smoking/cooking binge.

Your link to the downdraft got me googling that and now I'm thinking I need one of those, too. I chose the Crockett for its portability (we are 3-5 years away from going full time and I wanted something I could take with us. I can handle 65-70 pounds. 100 - 200 pounds? No. Not to mention the space requirements.) It's turning out that getting into smoking/grilling is just like getting into Rv'ing - - always something to buy. (upper rack, rib rack, beer can rack, cover, thermal cover, downdraft, grilling gloves, thermometers, frog mats, drip bucket liners ???? where does it end - and where do you put all of it )

Since the GMG temp probe seems so problematic, at least for me, I now don't trust the food probe, either. I have a ThermoPro TP20 ordered and it should be here later this week. I will run another test and the next cook I will use both the GMG probe and the ThermoPro probe and compare results. I will also retest the set vs actual temp with the ThermoPro.
I am coming there once you start cooking...sounds so good. I am doing a pork butt this week and we will eat that 10 different ways over the next week. I usually have a lot more mouths to feed.

Yes always something more to buy. I do the camping thing and the BBQ thing. Expensive hobbies. You can make a downdraft with a simple sheet of steel cut to fit and 3 longer chimney screws with some bolts. They are pricey for what they are. In a pinch I have used foil and cardboard....much cheaper.

I find it difficult to move the box after you get it hot. Possible but painful. The mod I have in my larger gmg is some all thread going out the open end (not pellet box side) with a piece of metal on each end of the box to push/pull it from outside the smoker. I planned to attach it but got lazy. I need to do this on my davy crockett.

You do have to adjust the temp a bit unless you have a PID controller. It will vary based on wind and ambient temp as well as if you have the thermal blanket. The augers on most pellet smokers are just time based for the temp setting you pick. The gmg is a little smarter but not a lot. You can get into details for each brand. The only way around this is a PID controller or heavy gauge steel for stability. It's what makes it more of an art than a science.

I have mavrick thermometers to check grate temps and then probe with the GMG food probe halfway through to know when to start hitting it with my thermopen. I don't read the controller and usually just have it set to show food temp. I have cooked with just the dome or lid thermometers successfully and hourly checking. Don't be afraid to rotate the meat especially when you know you have hotspots.

For the pellet smokers they tend to smoke more when getting up to temp but then nothing once there. I use a smoke tube with chips in it until you get to 140 degrees on the food. After that you can switch to the oven if you wanted because you will not get more smoke into it and things just start to taste acrid with smoke if you try to drive smoke beyond that. This is why I always leave the exhaust wide open.

I found salmon to take some time to get the smell out of the smoker so I try to dedicate a smoker to that in most cases. I have done cooks in cardboard boxes lined with foil a few bricks and a grill grate that came out perfect but took lots of coals and work to keep temps consistent.

Don't suck all the fun out of it working too hard. You can just kick back relax and have some fun as well. You keep making me hungry....I left some picks for you to drool over in return. Note the layers in the photos.

Let us know how it turns out. Happy cooking!Click image for larger version

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Old 04-17-2020, 11:12 AM   #17
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gastan, please keep us updated on your progress. I was planning to get one of these
I haven't used the grill at all but thought I would update you. Am doing mods. I have ordered the Godke downdraft that dbledan mentioned. While I wait for it, I am adding a rod to the heat shield so that it can be push-pull adjusted while the grill is being used and hot. There is a handle on the pellet hopper (left side) but I am adding one to the cooking chamber (right side) to make it easier to pick up and move around - only when it is cold, of course.

I mentioned (whined ?) earlier that some calibration (to balance set vs actual temps) seemed possible with their 'app' but that you needed a smart phone, which I don't have. Well, I'm not real stupid - just sometimes slow. I finally realized that, hey, I have an android tablet - I bet I could use that. Sure enough, the app downloaded and installed just fine on the tablet. So once I get everything done I will run tests again and see how things look and let you know. I have googled more and it seems that set temps vs actual temps problems are a common issue across the board, no matter the brand. I have read complaints from owners of just about every brand about this issue. Seems very hit and miss. Some say their grills are spot on and others say they have wide differences. All brands. Guess if you get a grill that has set vs actual temp issues you just have to be aware of it and adjust accordingly.

(BTW, as an aside of no importance - - I grew up in the Chicago burbs. Lisle. Of course it was just a sleepy little village of 3500-4000 people then, surrounded by the Arboretum to the north and corn fields on the other three sides.)
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Old 04-17-2020, 11:48 AM   #18
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Originally Posted by gastan View Post
Just unboxed and set up my new GMG Davy Crockett pellet grill and went for a test drive. After going thru the initial first startup procedure everything looked good. But - - I had read that some people were having serious temp differences from side to side so I decided to check mine. Went to the store and bought a new oven thermometer (I already had one). I fired up the oven in the kitchen range, set it for 350° and placed both thermometers in the middle rack. When the range beeped that it had reached temp I checked and all three agreed on 350° - - oven and both thermometers. Based on that I am accepting that the thermometers are accurate.

Fired up the grill, placed a thermometer on left and right sides on the rack and started testing. Dialed 250° on the control board and waited for 10 minutes after the grill said that the temp had been reached before I opened the grill and checked the thermometers. Then cranked it up to the next set point and did it again. See the chart I made. Very disappointing. And the variances get worse the higher the set point. Being 50-75-100 degrees off is not conducive of good cooking results. And here I am sitting with almost $100 worth of meat that I was excited about smoking/cooking.

There are a few things I need to play with - - maybe adjusting the heat shield will help even out the side to side temps. ??? But I am more concerned about the huge temp discrepencies. I had the stack cover completely open, as the manual suggested. Maybe loosing too much heat up the stack? ??? I will try with it barely open.

Lots of GMG users here. Anyone else have problems like this? Any suggestions?
Heat shied is fixed location in the Davey Crockett.


I have had one for almost 5 years.

I stick the meat in, turn once, pull and eat. I see posts all over forums complaining about temps. If you are baking a cake it matters. Smoking meat not so much.
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Old 04-17-2020, 12:22 PM   #19
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Heat shied is fixed location in the Davey Crockett.

Maybe on older ones - I don't know. Mine is adjustable. It slides a total of 1-1/2" left to right. Manual says to position it 4" from left side. To even out the left-right side temps and center it over the firebox mine needs to be ~3-1/4" to 3-3/8" from the left side.
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