Smoke Daddy heat diffuser Question

ModernRec

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  1. Stampede
So my SDHD will be arriving this week. I've read from other sites that setting the grill to 225 will ignite the chunks or wood that you place in it.

For those that have it and use it (i've seen members here have it). how many chunks do you add in it without it throwing temps off? I'm thinking three per side, or can i use more?
 
Just got my heavy D and have tested it once. I called and asked them about wood chunks and he said that they could cause too much area to light if they don't fill the entire side. He recommended a large lava rock then chunks then another lava rock - if you don't want to fill the entire side. (IOW a lava rock on each end). I'm using some ceramic coals rather than lava rock. I only had a run up of temp at the beginning but once it settled back down it was nice and steady - i did not have to crack open the cover. I set to 270 but it started smoking around 235-240. I let it ride up to near 270 and then it shot up to around 400 before eventually settling back down to 235 and kept rock steady. Next time I'll set it to 250 and just keep eye out for the good smoke.

For thursday turkey I have 2 large chunks on one side and smaller chunks on the other - ceramic coals on each of the ends cuz the chunks are not end to end.

If using the heavy D I will keep an eye on it for a few hours rather than trusting the pellets alone. IMHO worth it to get more smoke flavor I've been missing.

hope that wasn't too confusing...
 
Just got my heavy D and have tested it once. I called and asked them about wood chunks and he said that they could cause too much area to light if they don't fill the entire side. He recommended a large lava rock then chunks then another lava rock - if you don't want to fill the entire side. (IOW a lava rock on each end). I'm using some ceramic coals rather than lava rock. I only had a run up of temp at the beginning but once it settled back down it was nice and steady - i did not have to crack open the cover. I set to 270 but it started smoking around 235-240. I let it ride up to near 270 and then it shot up to around 400 before eventually settling back down to 235 and kept rock steady. Next time I'll set it to 250 and just keep eye out for the good smoke.

For thursday turkey I have 2 large chunks on one side and smaller chunks on the other - ceramic coals on each of the ends cuz the chunks are not end to end.

If using the heavy D I will keep an eye on it for a few hours rather than trusting the pellets alone. IMHO worth it to get more smoke flavor I've been missing.

hope that wasn't too confusing...
Not confusing at all, thx for the response! , I actually read that wrapping the chunks with foil and punching holes in the foil when added to th HD eliminates the fire flare ups.
 
I’d definitely recommend wrapping in foil. I’ve only tried chunks and small splits in mine and I’ve had issues with flare ups and the wood just burning up too fast.

theres definitely a sweet spot when it comes to initial temp setting. I don’t know if 225 would be enough to ignite the wood especially if wrapped. 300 plus will definitely ignite it but then as mentioned you’ll have to wait a while until the grill cools down.
 
I’d definitely recommend wrapping in foil. I’ve only tried chunks and small splits in mine and I’ve had issues with flare ups and the wood just burning up too fast.

theres definitely a sweet spot when it comes to initial temp setting. I don’t know if 225 would be enough to ignite the wood especially if wrapped. 300 plus will definitely ignite it but then as mentioned you’ll have to wait a while until the grill cools down.
Did you wrap the chunks individually? I'm going to do some test runs tomorrow to find the sweet spot before i throw the bird on.
 
The pics i've seen are one piece of foil for all chunks (creating a log). I'm still deciding if my first use of the heavy-d should be involved with the thanksgiving turkey. Might just pass on it and use a couple smoke tubes so as not to risk the possibility of infuriating the family...won't be as smokey as I like but will have better chance of living to smoke again.
 
Did you wrap the chunks individually? I'm going to do some test runs tomorrow to find the sweet spot before i throw the bird on.
I haven’t yet but that’s probably what I’ll be doing. Wrapping individual chunks or splits.

some test runs and experimenting is what I need to do.
 

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