PK100 Uniformity

[Brianh]

My PK100 is on the way. I plan to do a temperature uniformity test while seasoning. Has anyone else done this? What results did you see?

[Jonathon]

I’ve done it after it got to 200° on the top and bottom racks for about an hour and when I checked the graph the highest variation was 7 degrees and lowest was 3 or something like that. I just did top and bottom I did not do front/back or left/right and my dampers were fully closed.

[Brianh]

Jonathon I have 4 probes I plan to use, I’ll record it as temp rises and let you know what I see. I deal with heat processing equipment in the foundry every day so I’m used to tracking uniformity. Looking forward to getting it here and unpacked!

[Meateater1]

Brianh Please post your results. Congrats on the new equipment.

[akdave]

Trying to get more temp uniformity, I added a 2nd convection fan to my smoker have one on top and one lower back and that with a pan of hot water and auto sponges on shelf in front of lower convection fan looks like as good as I am going to get to make a picture perfect product. my 78 mm summer sasuages only had 5 degrees temperature difference in the batch from top to bottom of the sticks. On the other hand with my snack sticks and the very long length, I was worried and when they got to 135-140 I finished them off in a hot water bath at 160-170 and in a very short time I got them up to 160 and perfect appearance. First time for hot water bath and it worker great.

[Brianh]

The smoker arrived today, all unpacked and assembled, currently seasoning it. Man this thing puts out the smoke, really no comparison to anything else I’ve ever used.

The unit is very impressive from a quality of construction standpoint. Nothing fancy, pure utilitarian, well built. Can’t wait to get some meat in it this weekend. I am planning to run the uniformity test tomorrow evening. I decided it would be better to let everything burn in before testing.

[Joe Hell]

Brianh I’m looking forward to hearing more! PK is high on the wish list!

[Jonathon]

Brianh Good luck, the PK100 is pretty easy to figure out, let us know if you have any questions and also, let us know if you ever use the low wattage setting and what you think of it? As far as I am concerned it might as well not exist.

[Brianh]

Jonathon Interesting you brought that up. I started the pre-smoke seasoning process last night at 150 degrees (1250 watt) per the manual. It was smoking incredibly well. About an hour in, I found in the manual where it says “only smoke on 625 watt setting”. Out of curiosity, I went out and switched it to 625 watt. I did not notice any difference in chamber temp or amount of smoke. Keep in mind, that was with an empty smoker. I can see how the 625 may not be effective with a full load of meat. I will get the uniformity test done and let you know what I find.

[Jonathon]

Brianh Yes, the instructions seem to indicate that 625 Watt CAN only be used for smoking but it doesn’t seem to say that it increase the amount/length of smoke or anything that I can find? Let us know how everything goes!

[Brianh]

Have not had time to do the uniformity test yet, decided to smoke two racks of ribs instead! Basically followed Jon’s video and did one rack marinated in Pa’s Black Bull and the other rubbed with a locally blended seasoning we really like. Results to follow…

[Jonathon]

For anyone looking for the results https://meatgistics.waltonsinc.com/topic/2026/pk100-ribs and … Pa’s Black Bull is the winner!

[Parksider]

Just a quick PK 100 bit of advice. I rub the gasket with mineral oil. When I opened it today for the first time in a while it wants to stick. I rub the gasket and the metal frame and usually store it with the door latched but not locked. Just a quick note while I was setting up for a jerky run.

[twilliams]

Parksider yes that mineral oil works wonders. I usually soak it on there quite a bit rather than just wipe a thin layer on there. Im gonna try a spray bottle or dishsoap bottle. Just pouring it on a paper towel is messy. I also keep the face of the stainless where the seal is free from smoke build up and lube it as well

[Jonathon]

Parksider Great tip, I usually have this issue and for some reason that never occurred to me, thanks!

[Parksider]

twilliams That’s what I ended up doing too, putting mineral oil in a dollar store spray bottle, i use it on everything now! I agree, you can’t put enough on it. This also works on walkin cooler door gaskets, they like to freeze since ours in outside and this takes care of it.