A PID controller is something that some people like to have or need on their pellet grill smoker. There are other types of controllers and feedback loops as well, so I want to actually talk about all of these. Explain them and hopefully not show any bias.
There is actually quite a bit to the different types of controllers on pellet grills, what I have learned, is generally it doesn’t make a lot of difference.
Since the 80’s when pellet grills really actually came onto the market, there has been some development, mainly around these controllers. The principles of how the pellet grill works haven’t really changed much.
You still have a relatively efficient smoker and grill, which will have next to no ash, since it is…efficient.
Low & slow smoking isn’t really about accuracy and precision.
But I do understand that some peoples have a mentality or drive toward having an accurate and precise temperature controller.
And there is no judging here, I also do a lot of meat curing which sometimes overlaps with the low and slow smoking or cold smoking. For meat curing, you definitely do work around a level of precision especially when using things like equilibrium curing.
So obviously I am a big fan of pellet grills so I wanted to provide the most useful resource about these glorious toys, I mean tools.
Do I Need a PID Controller for a Pellet Grill? No, Low and slow smoking is not about accuracy, this component is not essential. The internal temperature of the meat and the overall average temperature are more important factors.
So here are the main types I will try and explain the differences so you can see how they work (not too techy).
When I first looked at PIDs, the pellet grill I have was pretty basic, so I have also dived into retrofitting pellet grills, will cover what I uncovered at the bottom of this post.
3 Types of Controllers for Pellet Grills
- Timed Duty Cycle Controller
- Digital Controller
- PID
To start with let me go over the different types of controllers that I’m familiar with from the 30 odd brands that of seen in the stores, at the expos, that I’ve used and information from dodgy sales reps.
1. Timed Duty Cycle Controllers
As much as I like to think that I am a very technical person, the way that I start to understand these types of details is through explaining it in layman terms.
What I understand is that it’s a switch that turns off when the target temperature has been achieved.
Which will generally always mean that the temperature will go higher than what you want. Especially when you think about weather conditions and if it’s warm, hot or extreme heat desert conditions.
Ideally, with any pellet grill – I like to coo in the shade
The same thing occurs when the heat is going down it’s not going to switch back on until it goes below the target temperature.
As you can imagine this does,t sound ideal, but in reality, you can still have great smoked low and slow food you just have to accept them be some variations along the way with the temperature.
Another way to think about this duty cycle time controller is that it has, at every temperature setting, a fixed cycle which will feed pellets in. So it knows one way to try and maintain temp.
2. Digital Controllers
It’s got that switch on and off basic functionality and it has a feedback loop
In other articles that I have written, I have made a comparison between in an oven and a pellet grill. And that’s because a pellet grill is more like an oven with smoke and compared to other smokers.
The charcoal smoker’s, like a kettle or a ceramic kamado, it’s mainly about fire management and airflow (which I still like to do every now and then but it takes dedication – time=which isn’t in abundance these days).
When it comes to electric and gas smokers there isn’t really any thermostat control so I don’t draw parallels to pellet burners.
With digital controllers like Traeger grills is an information feedback loop where the sensor inside the pellet grill sends information back to the microprocessor to do stuff.
In terms of the variation in the temperature, I haven’t found a lot of issues using digital controllers and the most I have seen is about 25°F variation, and with many smoke session, variations a lot less than this.
3. PID Controllers in Detail
Proportional Integral Derivative
The distinguishing feature of the PID controller is the ability to use the three control terms of proportional, integral and derivative influence on the controller output to apply accurate and optimal control.
Wikpedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PID_controller
Ok, that was a mouth full.
Now for my Quote/Definition
PID Controller – ‘approximates’ before the target temperature is being reached, this means it will turn off and cycle the heat more effciently. Regardless of weather or temperature, it’s a smarter controller with tighter temperature control then duty cycling or digital controllers.
Quote from Tom / Me
Now since I spent so much time learning about these PID controllers, I better try and get into a bit more detail.
P is for Proportional
Say the P in PID, means that the heating element won’t always be running on full power or 100% so it’s not a or nothing type of switch – fancy.
Dependent on how the microprocessor is designed this is another component aiding the efficiency of the system.
I is for Integral
So when the pellet grill goes below whatever the temperatures you want to hit, it knows it has to do some calculations get a backup to the set temperature, and it’s learning in real time.
D is for Derivative
This seems to be more about when the controller is reading what’s going on, when you open up the pellet grill it reacts to this change and makes an effort to push itself back up to temp.
Obviously the basics of any low and slow smoking are that you minimize the amount of peaking and poking you do with your meat anyway.
The other big influence, maybe a change in the weather during those long smoking sessions. The PDI controller will be able to deal with fluctuations with ease, but the question is does it really matter?
What I like about PIDs
- Efficient at Using the Wood Pellets
- It’s Smarter than other Controllers
Fan Variation it Depends on the Brand & Model of Pellet Grill
So what I’ve seen when it comes to the fans is they do vary quite a bit when it comes to digital or PID controller models.
However, with time duty cycle controllers they basically are always-on.
Fans are something that I will be doing some more research into and report back on the site give someone a particular these apart one day.
Certain Different Ways of Cooking Need Accuracy
So there is something that I have repeated quite often and I still believe it’s true.
And that is all low and slow barbecue master style is not about accuracy.
This is why you can enjoy a beer and if you want in large quantities whilst also cooking the perfect brisket or pork ribs (though I would never advise excess levels of alcohol whilst operating in the thing with fire – disclaimer).
There are certain types of cooking where you really want super accuracy with temperature such as sous vide. Which is basically cooking meat in a very consistent temperature in a water bath which is done in a restaurant or using home cook equipment.
But whenever I have observed the professional competition pitmasters there isn’t really much accuracy when they’re applying their rubs (although they have probably done it a few thousand times so that got good at application of seasoning.
But not Low & Slow Smoking
When I first started low and slow smoking it was on a very cheap charcoal kettle grill barbecue about 10 years ago, absolutely no airflow control and it mainly involved opening it up and adding some more charcoal or taking it off.
The variations were probably up to about 100°F but guess what, as long as I patient I still always got the delicious outcomes I wanted.
I still got sensational smoked barbecue food.
The Temperature of the Meat is Important
The internal temperature of the meat is the most important factor and whether it’s a up or down bumpy road or a very consistent one, as long as you get to the right internal temperature at the end of the day that is the key, in my experience.
But if you haven’t got a pellet grill smoker buy one they are awesome!
Now if you want to get a comparison tool and buyers guide, I spent way too many hours putting a ‘cheat sheet together’ – check it out here.
Retrofitting PID Controllers
Basically replacing the ‘brain’ of the pellet grill is what this is about, and it’s not as hard as you may think (depending on your pellet grill).
Disclaimer* Do your research incompatibility especially for the surrounding plate where the display board is.
Definitely do your own research thoroughly on this, but I wanted to give an overview of what I learned when deep diving into this topic.
First I want to look at the ‘features‘ that could add to your pellet grill, generally speaking.
The obvious one first,
- Tight Temperature Range
- Real-Time Adjustments / Corrections
- Cold Smoking – Fan Only Mode
There are a few more ‘brand-specific’ features, I will mention below these common ones.
1. Tight Temperature Range
This is really one of the big reasons why people end up changing their PID controller. As I mentioned before, I don’t think it’s going to double the flavor of your smoky pitmaster meats.
But some people just like to have found a higher level of control and precision, fear enough too.
2. Real-Time Adjustments / Corrections
When you are opening of the pellet grill hood or the weather may have an impact so you end up having a real-time correcting & learning system which adjusts accordingly.
Once warmed up, at the start of cook, it usually takes about first 10 or 15 minutes to get steady and then away goes.
3. If Cold Smoking – Fan Only Mode
So if you’re unfamiliar with cold smoking basically you just end up having a smoldering bit of sawdust or wood pellets in or near the pellet grill cooking area via a pellet tube smoker or smoke generator (or other areas with similar conditions). The key is it’s less than 86°F/30°C. Humidity and airflow are also points that help. So certain PID controllers like the Savannah smoker have the ability to just run a fan which will help circulating the cold smoke.
If you want more info on cold smoking, here is a useful guide on eatcuredmeat.com – basic guide to cold smoking.
Here is a summary of a few retrofit PID Controller I researched.
Smoke Daddy by Pellet Pro
Most guys report about 1 to 2°F variation which is rather epic.
When it comes to modifying a pellet grill with the PID controller, smoke daddy is probably the most well-known of all the hacks or modifications that can be done.
It’s a family business and they have all sorts of other the bits and pieces on offer, however, the reputation is really built on the PID controller.
It’s not the type of circuit board that has all the bells and whistles like Wi-Fi cloud connectivity but it does do a very solid job of the type temperature control.
And yes they are American made.
There is another product they do which is called the heavy D stick better. Which basically replaces the heat diffuser so that you can put large would chunks and to create a classic stick been a smoker.
Although if you do check out the videos it’s something that needs tweaking and you even have to leave the pellet grill door a little bit ajar, so this is the type of modification that probably needs to be sought through a little bit more I feel.
They do offer like a complete PID controller pellet grill rebuild which includes fans.
Specifically, there is a PID controller plug-in which is available on Amazon and this is the be a bind replacement to existing pellet grill which is very easy to wire in.
Another example of the smoke daddy product that not that keen on is the cold smoking smoke ring. Which you use with sawdust or wood pellets (just like pellet tube above to get some smoldering going if you wanted cold smoke bacon, cheese or whatever.
Now I have made one of these for a lot less than US$40 by just using a sieve and pushing an inside-out.
But they do a cold smoke generator which is a bit of a beast, it gets mounted on the side of many grills and smokers. The one that I have was made in New Zealand which is a rather simple device that does the same thing, but is designed pellets or a more specific ‘nodule’ wood bit, it uses the Venturi effect to pull the smoke out of a pipe with a variable pump to change how much smoke is being generated.
Savannah Smoker
Begin with this type of PID controller you can expect temperature variations of less than 1 to 2°F is common they generally state around 5°F.
In the smoking community, savannah smoker has a strong reputation as well, they do have some funky little features that they added into their PID controllers for a broken pellet grill or a controller that you just want replaced.
Savannah smokers were originally created to replace the Traeger grill controllers, because back in the day in the 1980s Traeger was actually the only brand of pellet grill and they had the patent for it, but not anymore with over 30 different brands on the market last some account.
Designed primarily to replace Traeger pellet grill controllers.
The Built-in Auto-Relight
It attempts to relight, but if it doesn’t work it will auto-shutdown. Cool feature.
GO GRILL
Continuous feeding of the pellets to get to maximum heat for grilling and searing purposes. A very cool feature especially if you’re trying to do some searing or pizzas.
If you want to more information on retrofitting PID controllers to pellet grills I get into a lot more detail on a page I created here.