Bullseye 380-x Losing Confidence

[MattInMidlo]

Kids got me the Bullseye 380-x for Christmas...it's my first pellet smoker...been cooking on the green egg for the last 10 years. I feel like I'm missing something. 5 racks over 5 different cooks of baby backs and I can't get it. 3 calls to customer service and I thought we nailed it with the pellet feed rate (20 to 10, 10 to 90, and 90 to 50). It seemed like I got control of the temp issue. But after 9 hours at 225 (according to the display), this last rack finally got to 195F internal and it was like leather. My Meater probe showed ambient temp at 177F. Am I overthinking or underthinking...does anyone have any thoughts?

 

[Greg Jones]

does anyone have any thoughts?

One question, why did you stop cooking on the Egg?

 

[rhouser]

Good ribs require time and temperature no matter what you are cooking them on/in.
Baby Backs at 225 - 250 should not take 9 hours. Obviously we have a temp issue at grill height.

I almost NEVER tell people what to do, so this is an exception.
Recomendation:
1. Order one of these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000PAO3NK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 for between 12 and 15 dollars. It is not great, it is not super accurate, but it is accurate enough to see what is happening. I have 2 of them and will drop them on a grill in a second if I think something is lying to me.

2. Start your grill and set at 250 (since you controller obviously doesn't like 225). My own preferred temp for ribs is 275 degrees for Memphis style dry ribs that are never wrapped. This is based on 60 years of cooking ribs, but again, this is personnel. I would try the 250 to see if you get grill heat.

3. If your bullseye says you are at 250 throw your thermometer on the grill grate and close the top. Wait 5 or 10 minutes and see what your bullseye temperature is at the grill level. If you are needing 9 hours to get to 195 with baby backs, it CAN NOT be at or holding the right temperature.

If you are in fact at a grill temp of 250, then you will need to get an air probe of some brand to monitor the 250 grill height temp as you do one more rack. If the bullseye runs at 250, your Baby Backs should be done in about 2.5 to 3 hours. If the grill won't hold temp, then something is broken, because mine will hold 250 like a rock.

I ran BGE's for 10 years plus and loved them. I run pellet grills now for their ease of use and consistency.

I am sorry that you are not as happy with your Bullseye Deluxe as I am with mine. Hope things get better.

v/r r

 

[SmokeOCD]

Go old school and do the bend test with your ribs, I always get funny readings on ribs due to shape and thin-ness of the rib.
Cook at higher temps for shorter time to hit I.T. and avoid making jerky. (I do 270*)
Keep cooking ribs on the egg, many of us have multiple grills and use specific ones for specific proteins because that's where it's best done.

 

[Jim6820]

My Meater probe showed ambient temp at 177F.

The ambient temp reading on the Meater probe will not be the same as the ambient temp reading on the RT display. Not even close. And, yes; I do own some Meater probes.

Meater measures “ambient temperature” close to the protein and that proximity will lower the reading 50-75 degrees. The Meater literature explains it better then I can.

Your “177F” ambient reading on the Meater was probably at least the 225F shown on the RT display IME.

 

[Motodad1776]

I have yet to check the temp with a probe on the MANY pork ribs I have cooked over the years, I am all about that bend and pull back off the bone.......meat is done when it's done.

 

[rhouser]

If the OP put a rack of Baby Back Ribs on his Bullseye for 9 hours and only got to 195 degrees internal on the ribs, he was not getting 225 degrees. I don't even understand how the ribs were at 195 degrees. Something is either wrong with the posting itself, or his grill is running on and off etc.

Time and temperature. Time is 9 hours, ribs at 195, what temperature is his grill grate and/or grill? It either never got above 195 or it cooked the ribs to some unknown temperature higher than 195 and then cooled down to 195 at 9 hours into the cook.

MattinMidlo, if this is real, could you explain anything? Is your grill going off and restarting? You mention changing the pellet flow rates, are you having shut downs at low temp?


v/r r

 

[Motodad1776]

Hopefully there is more to the story

 

[rhouser]

I guess I have been trolled.

To all who read my above, those little hockey puck thermometers are my low tech alternative to my ThermoWorks Thermadata Data logger that lets me capture and display my grills temp history over multiple hours and then lets me download the temperature history for the time period. I have run some of these for 20 hours and more to try to understand the time temp progressions of an environment. Pretty obsessive.

I also have a signals that lets me map a grill temp using an air probe in one of the ports.

I got the "hockey puck" for use with my bullseye. I just wanted something easy to "slap down" on top of my ceramic stone or cooking grate to see what it really happening at the meat position.

Note, the hockey puck does not replace any of my other temp monitoring stuff. (including my IR gun especially needed with the deluxe bullseye and the 1000 degree environment). It is just another thing to help me understand my outcomes.

v/r r

 

[LarryCTN]

To your point @rhouser , I have a couple of them myself and have used them to help verify other stuff.

 

[MattInMidlo]

Hopefully there is more to th

Hopefully there is more to the story

Thanks for the comments fellas. I haven't noticed it restarting over the course of my cooks (and I've been watching very closely). I read on here that when starting, leave the lid open until it starts smoking. That has seemed to help it not run up so high in the beginning. I finally had a good cook yesterday with some game hens and vegetables...they were excellent and they finished in a reasonable time frame. Temp was on point through the whole cook. Maybe it's just taken me a little bit longer than I wanted to understand how to manage the temps. I'll get some of the hockey pucks as well just for a reference point. Thanks Again!

 

[TheRicker]

If the OP put a rack of Baby Back Ribs on his Bullseye for 9 hours and only got to 195 degrees internal on the ribs, he was not getting 225 degrees. I don't even understand how the ribs were at 195 degrees. Something is either wrong with the posting itself, or his grill is running on and off etc.

Time and temperature. Time is 9 hours, ribs at 195, what temperature is his grill grate and/or grill? It either never got above 195 or it cooked the ribs to some unknown temperature higher than 195 and then cooled down to 195 at 9 hours into the cook.

MattinMidlo, if this is real, could you explain anything? Is your grill going off and restarting? You mention changing the pellet flow rates, are you having shut downs at low temp?


v/r r

I’m betting troll.

 

[Smoker Bill]

Kids got me the Bullseye 380-x for Christmas...it's my first pellet smoker...been cooking on the green egg for the last 10 years. I feel like I'm missing something. 5 racks over 5 different cooks of baby backs and I can't get it. 3 calls to customer service and I thought we nailed it with the pellet feed rate (20 to 10, 10 to 90, and 90 to 50). It seemed like I got control of the temp issue. But after 9 hours at 225 (according to the display), this last rack finally got to 195F internal and it was like leather. My Meater probe showed ambient temp at 177F. Am I overthinking or underthinking...does anyone have any thoughts?

First, never, ever, trust the ambient sensor on Meaters. They are not accurate because their proximity to the cooler meat skew their readings.

Next, as you know, the B380x isn’t insulated even a little. It’s going to cook completely different than your egg and you will have a learning curve.

 

[Grilltreats]

Kids got me the Bullseye 380-x for Christmas...it's my first pellet smoker...been cooking on the green egg for the last 10 years. I feel like I'm missing something. 5 racks over 5 different cooks of baby backs and I can't get it. 3 calls to customer service and I thought we nailed it with the pellet feed rate (20 to 10, 10 to 90, and 90 to 50). It seemed like I got control of the temp issue. But after 9 hours at 225 (according to the display), this last rack finally got to 195F internal and it was like leather. My Meater probe showed ambient temp at 177F. Am I overthinking or underthinking...does anyone have any thoughts?

Get back to enjoying the smoke and don't over think it. The Bullseye is the best. I absolutely love mine. For ribs, somewhere close to 240 for five hours, basting with sauce at the 4th hour, and never opening the lid except to baste. I do the bend test but already know they are perfect at the fifth hour. I don't need to do an IT test. Temps don't have to be scientific just somewhere in the ballpark. No foil is harmed in my cooks. I enjoy the extra smoke flavor. I use 100% hickory for pork.

 

[Motodad1776]

I just have to say, that I finally got to see one of these in person today at my local Ace Hardware. So WTF was/is Recteq thinking with the design of the lid and the handle placement? This should either be on a hinge system, or most importantly the HANDLE should be mounted directly on top like the Weber kettle grills........the current design is whacked and makes zero sense. I did however walk away impressed with the new Backyard Beast 1000, that could be my next pellet grill when my 590 finally kicks the bucket.