Smoke Boost Info

[Johnny Guitar]

I want to use the SmokeFire to hot smoke Salmon. I need 150-160. I also make charcuteri, smoked pastrami or sausages.

anyway......can someone point me to any info on SmokeBoost.

 

[bbqking]

I don’t think the SF goes below 200. I think I read smokeboost runs about 230-260, or so

 

[JpsBBQ]

It fluctuates between 165 -200 degrees. It will not show you the temp while operating so if you need or want to know, you’ll have to use a probe or outside monitoring system.

 

[Dassman5]

I don’t think the SF goes below 200. I think I read smokeboost runs about 230-260, or so

I have an extra ambient air probe that is in use during every cook to keep an eye on the actual grill temp. In Smoke Boost it will typically run between 150F and 170F. However, I live in a moderate climate area, and cannot speak to whether it needs to run “hotter” in other areas in order to maintain stable combustion.

 

[AHoneyman]

I want to use the SmokeFire to hot smoke Salmon.

I am trying to be careful here. Privately done smoked salmon is one of the leading causes of food poisoning in the country. Check CDC.gov and be careful. One of the problems is the Salmonella and other pathogens in the GI tract. The problem with the SF and other smokers is the inaccurate temp maintenance (plus and minus of the PID). In short, the salmon is smoked but the bugs are not killed and you are infected. Best wishes.

 

[DutchieCooks]

When I use smokeboost it always runs at 180ish

 

[JpsBBQ]

I’m not an expert at all, but don’t the pathogens get killed at fairly low temps as long as the exposure to those temps is for a significant time? For instance, chicken can be safe well below 165 if it is at that temp for only a minute. 165 is for nearly instant safety. I’m thinking it’s in the cooling and or storing the food. I would think as long as you make sure the salmon is 140+ internal it should be safe. Then cool down quickly or consume. No?

 

[Johnny Guitar]

If you take

I am trying to be careful here. Privately done smoked salmon is one of the leading causes of food poisoning in the country. Check CDC.gov and be careful. One of the problems is the Salmonella and other pathogens in the GI tract. The problem with the SF and other smokers is the inaccurate temp maintenance (plus and minus of the PID). In short, the salmon is smoked but the bugs are not killed and you are infected. Best wishes.

if you take raw salmon and smoke it you are absolutely correct. However, if you brine it for a couple of days it already Preserve the flesh. Notice I said hot smoke. The process of hot smoking at 150-200 and the smoke it self will do.

i the past I have smoke salmon in Bradley Smoker, you can control temp down to 140.

 

[AHoneyman]

Yes, in that case, the brine will inhibit growth of the nasties. Just wanted to keep you from experiencing a real bad time. Most of the bad cases of smoked fish are from your region north into Oregon, are close to the coast, and involve natives of the area.

 

[Johnny Guitar]

Just bought and ambient temp probe.....that should help

 

[Bruno]

You lost me at FISH!

Smoke boost should run around 180 is what the original plan was.

I’d run a separate temp probe as suggested to see exactly what you are getting. It’s one thing to run smoke boost on an 18 pound brisket for 3 hours before you run it another 10 and another to expect smoke boost to cook your food to a safe level.

 

[SillyRabbit]

I just smoked some salmon yesterday and used smokeboost. I dry brined it for 24hrs and then let rest for 2hrs before putting it on the SF. I find it annoying that the temp is not shown during smokeboost. I set the temp to 200, then switched to boost. The first 60-90 mins seemed to go pretty well. Once they got to 100°, I rotated them. They were gaining ~1° every 2 mins, then completely stalled at 130°. I found it odd, so I turned off smokeboost and it was showing the grill temp at 135°. That seems pretty low. I left it at 200° and after 15 min the temp hadn't changed. The fan had noticeably changed and there was still smoke, so I don't think it died. I turned it up to 275° and it really, really, really slowly started to climb. After about 15 mins of this, the temp went from 130° to 165°. This was getting frustrating and I cranked it up to 450° and it finally started gain temp. Once it hit 200°, I reset for 225°. The temp continued to climb up to 400° fairly quickly. I open the lid to lower the temp and I could see pretty large flames coming from the firebox. It took a few minutes to calm down. I pulled the fillets at 145° and the overall cook was good. I don't know what is going on with smookboost dropping so low and this is not the first time that the grill is extremely slow to heat up after smookboost. I think it would be better off if they just allowed the temp range to start at 150° instead of having this feature. The grill is up to date and using the new app 1.0.

Here's a pic, just before putting on the grill.

 

[JpsBBQ]

Smoke boost works by intentionally burning the pellets in an inefficient manner. The temp will by design fluctuate up and down pretty significantly. I would recommend picking your temp(200) and rolling on if that’s the temp you want. You will get smoke.

 

[Dassman5]

Smoke boost works by intentionally burning the pellets in an inefficient manner. The temp will by design fluctuate up and down pretty significantly. I would recommend picking your temp(200) and rolling on if that’s the temp you want. You will get smoke.

I have a separate ambient air probe in constant use on my ex4. In Smoke Boost mode, my probe typically records temperature fluctuations between 160F and 185F, sometimes a bit lower (150 to 170) depending on which grate it is monitoring and the outside air temp.

As you say JpsBBQ, it needs to do so in order the maintain combustion while, at the same time running at the lowest possible temperature to produce a smoldering-fire type of smoke.

 

[AHoneyman]

Your temp variation is typical of PID controlled units. They are balancing ambient temp, speed of pellets burning, speed of pellets being dropped, speed of fan, amount of heat output by burning pellets, etc. And then you open the lid or crank up the temp setting........

I always run an air probe to see what is going on. You will find that the controller temp shown (determined by the PID) is generally 20-50 degrees higher than the air probe temp. This is to keep from burning things up. The SF controller/PID does fairly good at 200-225. From 250-375, it gets a little flakier. At 400 and above, it is working fairly well. IF any changes are made to any of the input factors above, the PID is playing catch up and fighting against its programing and the input it has been receiving from the temp sensor.

 

[TexB]

When I ran Smokeboost during the summer, it seemed to be around 180° F.

Lately if I'm running it and the outside air temp is 60° or less, my Smokeboost runs around 160°-165° .

 

[Dassman5]

When I ran Smokeboost during the summer, it seemed to be around 180° F.

Lately if I'm running it and the outside air temp is 60° or less, my Smokeboost runs around 160°-165° .


View attachment 2590

I believe that is because of the need to maintain combustion. My SB mode typically runs a bit cooler this time of year ( think snow country) than it does in Summer.

 

[TexB]

Also about a month ago when it turned cooler (like 40-45°F), I ran Smokeboost while doing a brisket with another brand of pellets. The Smokeboost temp dropped below 150°, and it kept dropping over the next half hour or so until it was below 115°, and the grill detected a "flame out". I took the brisket back inside and opened the diffuser up, and man it was hot even with gloves (I won't be doing that again). There was still a small flame going. I had to shutdown the grill, and when I restarted it I just set the temp to 250° and moved on.

I messed with it without food the next day, and I preheated the grill to 300° before using Smokeboost and the other brand pellets. The temps didn't drop below 155° after I switched to Smokeboost, so it had me thinking preheating helped, but I don't know if that actually had any impact. And I haven't had any issue when using the Weber pellets. It was probably just a fluke, but it had me wondering if the latest firmware update messed with it, or it was just the cooler temps and thicker pellets.

 

[TexB]

I believe that is because of the need to maintain combustion. My SB mode typically runs a bit cooler this time of year ( think snow country) than it does in Summer.

Weber says Smokeboost is between 165-200°F, so it doesn't bother me. Just passing on my experience in case someone is trying to smoke at 165°