I am new to electric smokers and to the forum. I looked at the cheaper smokers and came away saying that I was not going to waste my money on a lesser quality smoker. That lead me to Smoke-it. I am considering either a #1 or #2. I see a #2 comes with a rehostat. What is the difference between a rehostat and PID? I am looking for a smoker that after working out my kinks and the smoker's I can set it and pretty much walk away. Your help is much appreciated.
#2 PID VS. REHOSTAT
- Thread starter Garyfake
- Start date
Pork Belly
Moderator
When you are debating between two smokers of the same brand, get the bigger one. Analog or digital is a personal choice. Pros for Analog it is cheaper, makes great food and has very little that can go wrong. Pros for digital IF you do everything correctly in your programing. When you read through the forum you will find may occasions where digital was a problem.
You will do just fine with the analog version. As Brian stated, very little to go wrong; I will also add that the entire smoker including the analog controller is covered by the full warranty. Going with a digital D or PID model does require some programming and gets you tighter temperature control but the controller is warranted only for one year; the smoker is still covered by the 3 year warranty. Analog or digital, a 5 hour smoke will still take 5 hours whether you go analog or digital. Also, as Brian stated, get the larger unit.
I apologize for not being very clear in my original post. I am not trying to decide between the #2 or #2d. What I am trying to determine is the difference between a rehostat (which comes with a #2) and a PID and if the rehostat is all I need to "walk away from the smoke" or will a PID afford me more freedom. Thanks again.
Garyfake said:
As with everything here, I'm posting from my own experience and of my own opinions when it's an obviously subjective statement. Disclaimer out of the way...
The rheostat is going to turn the element on when the ambient/box temperature drops a certain number of degrees below the set temperature and it's going to turn it off when the ambient/box temperature rises a certain number of degrees above the set temperature. This could be +/- 40 degrees so that if you set it at 225 and you measured the box temp during the smoke you could see temperatures between 185 and 265. The digital/PID is going to much more precisely manage the temperature such that it keeps it with a couple degrees of the set temperature. It's also going to either rapidly cycle the element or change the power to the element (not sure which it does) so that it can even mange the ramp up speed and achieve that fine temperature control.
Your first thought might be to freak out a little bit about the temperature swing... however, for most smokes, it simply doesn't matter. Over time the temperature averages out. You're not dealing with a high enough temperature nor a low enough temperature at any given time for it to cause any harm. A notable exception would be for something like cheese where you can't let it get really hot and need more precise temperature control. This doesn't mean you can't use the analog smoker... I've successfully done cheese a couple times now in my #2... it just meant that I had to manually turn it on until it started smoking pretty well and then turn it off so the temp wouldn't rise. I'd have to repeat that multiple times until done. For briskets, butts, nuts, fish, turkey, mac & cheese, and everything else I've done it's been 100% set it and forget it.
(Everything said up to this point is objective/factual to the best of my knowledge.) Now to get just a little subjective... I actually contend that the analog models are more set it and forget it than the digital models. Although not frequent enough to be a flat out indictment against digital, you will see posts here on the forums about people with the digital models programming the PID wrong, having a momentary power interruption that disrupts the program, or a probe placement or mechanical failure that causes things to go sideways resulting in the smoker turning itself off in the middle of the night and ruining whatever they were smoking. That simply doesn't happen with the analog... it stays set wherever you put it until you turn it off. (Of course, an extended power outage would be an issue and it's still possible that the element or rheostat could fail, but I've not even heard of those happening yet.) For my purposes, I love having the analog... nothing to program (and I'm a professional computer geek), almost nothing to fail. Just set it, walk away, go to bed, whatever until your meter tells you you've hit your target internal temp.
Lonzinomaker
Member
I agree with LarryD.
I believe my analog #3 is as close to set and forget it you can get. When I do ribs, I stuff the smoker, turn it on and come back about 5 hours later to check and see if they are done. On other things like bacon and pork butts, I include the use of a meat thermometer to let me know when meat reaches done temperature. I do use a wifi thermometer so I can watch it remotely too.
PID controls can do the same thing and now that Smokin-It has a wifi PID controller, it can do the same thing.
Bottom line is I felt like the PID controls aren't necessary or produce better Q.
I believe my analog #3 is as close to set and forget it you can get. When I do ribs, I stuff the smoker, turn it on and come back about 5 hours later to check and see if they are done. On other things like bacon and pork butts, I include the use of a meat thermometer to let me know when meat reaches done temperature. I do use a wifi thermometer so I can watch it remotely too.
PID controls can do the same thing and now that Smokin-It has a wifi PID controller, it can do the same thing.
Bottom line is I felt like the PID controls aren't necessary or produce better Q.
Pork Belly
Moderator
I have a plain old non digital #3. I put in meat and wood and walk away. There is noting to do or worry about. I do not obsess about, steps or functions. Just crank it to the heat you want and leave it alone.
