Aftermarket Controller for Hark Electric Smoker

[Jackfrost]

I've read that there is a product for the Masterbuilt Smoker in the US that allows you to keep your electric smoker's temperature rock solid at the actual grill temperature rather than the current 10c swings I get at the top of the smoker which can be 10-20c above the grill temp.

Does anyone know of a similar product that can be purchased is Australia as I'v become a tad disenchanted with smoking with my Hark due to these wild swings and massive discrepancy between the unit thermostat and the grill temp.

[woodpelletgrill]

A PID thermostat will work perfect
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... RK:MESE:IT

[Jester]

Are you referring to these? http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_ ... Path=14_28

I have one for my cookshack electric. You can set it to progress through separate temps at different times. Its universal powered so you can replace the cord with an Australian one and just use an adaptor on the outlet.

[Jackfrost]

Are you referring to these? http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_ ... Path=14_28

I have one for my cookshack electric. You can set it to progress through separate temps at different times. Its universal powered so you can replace the cord with an Australian one and just use an adaptor on the outlet.

Yeah those are the sort of devices I am looking at but the problem is that the Hark has an electronic control that you have to program each time to switch it on to get it going. If I plug the external plug into a controller and it switches off the unit to regulate the heat then it won't be able to switch back on as I'd need to reprogram the Hark electronic control.

[urbangriller]

You'd need to replace the controller or bypass it.

[Jackfrost]

Alrighty.

Lucky for me I had a spare controller that had a broken housing when it arrived so Hark sent me a new one. After much musing and trying to figure out the wiring I pulled the red and white one from the circuit board and joined them together and the element started to heat up. Beauty! I taped them together inside the control unit and put it all back together and I now have a smoker that is toggled on and off with mains power.

I have now bought a PID controller with SSR and K thermocouple sensor http://www.ebay.com/itm/231333835662?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT.

Once it arrives and I have a chance to build it in a box I'll do a test run and report back and then do a long cook and let you know the results. Man it's going to be great to be able to set and forget my DIGITAL smoker without fiddling with the temperature which is why I forked out for a digital one in the first place. The main thing is the unit is now going to be controlled by temperature at the grill and the SSR will give me a rock solid temperature instead of 10 degree swings each way which is crucial for fish fillets and chicken breasts.

[Jackfrost]

Ok so that was a failure as i bought a PId controller with SSR on ebay that wasn't designed to work with an SSR and required some rewiring to bypass the relay so I sent it back and forked out $200 for an Auberin plug and play PID controller from the US. Once it arrives I'll cook up some ribs and let ya'll know how it went.

Can anyone suggest something I can put in the smoker to keep a slow smoke going if I do an overnight cook. Would it work to use enough chunk charcoal to create a smokey flavour but have it burning low enough so that it didn't push over 100c which would allow the smoker to maintain the steady temp?

[urbangriller]

Hi Jack,

Your issue will be two things, first the heat generated by the smoke source, I'm using a Tube with redgum pellets in my Kettle to smoke some salmon (for the BBQ Gals Xmas party) at the moment and it has raised the ambient temp by 15C, the other will be air to keep the smoke source alive.

The woodchips in the pan will smoulder at roughly 80C, but will expire in a hour or two. For me, that is enough time to get the smoke you need without oversmoking. The smoke is only effective till the temp of the meat hits 65C anyway.

Cheers
Chris

[Jackfrost]

Hi Jack,

Your issue will be two things, first the heat generated by the smoke source, I'm using a Tube with redgum pellets in my Kettle to smoke some salmon (for the BBQ Gals Xmas party) at the moment and it has raised the ambient temp by 15C, the other will be air to keep the smoke source alive.

The woodchips in the pan will smoulder at roughly 80C, but will expire in a hour or two. For me, that is enough time to get the smoke you need without oversmoking. The smoke is only effective till the temp of the meat hits 65C anyway.

Cheers
Chris

Hi Jack,

Your issue will be two things, first the heat generated by the smoke source, I'm using a Tube with redgum pellets in my Kettle to smoke some salmon (for the BBQ Gals Xmas party) at the moment and it has raised the ambient temp by 15C, the other will be air to keep the smoke source alive.

The woodchips in the pan will smoulder at roughly 80C, but will expire in a hour or two. For me, that is enough time to get the smoke you need without oversmoking. The smoke is only effective till the temp of the meat hits 65C anyway.

Cheers
Chris

Cheers Chris and that sounds pretty much perfect. Excess heat would be fine at anything below 100c as the PID controller will work it’s magic to maintain a rock solid temperature around the 100-105c mark.

Regarding air flow, I finally cracked the code with using my Digital Hark with my ProQ cold smoker and am using an aquarium pump to pump enough oxygen into the unit through the chip chute to keep the dust smouldering so I’d assume that the same principle would work with your tube setup in my Hark.

Do you use a specific tube or would a milo tin with holes drilled into it suffice?

[urbangriller]

there are a couple of people selling tubes, a milo tin will work, but here are a couple of others:





Cheers
Chris

[Jackfrost]

Cheers Chris. What about using pellets in my ProQ cold smoker in the smoker or would this not produce enough smoke?

[urbangriller]

Try it, I've only ever used dust in the ProQ.

Cheers
Chris