Attachable Grill Temperature Regulator TTT-02

Bought this to see how it stabilized temperatures on the Akorn, which is a steel kamado with great value but tends to be oversensitive and finicky about temperatrure control. I installed it with a plate hanger on top of the exhaust vent, pulling the red sleeve slightly off the base to form a better seal. Tip 1: the hardest thing about setting this up on the Akorn is trying to get the base to seal off the outside of the vent. It's almost exactly the same size, so a mm or two off-center will cause a top leak. Just watch the smoke when you fire it up and check for leaks.Temperatures held very well on my daytime test burns. I started my burns as follows: open the bottom vent, open the top vent, turn the TTT dial as open as possible. As the temperature rises, you will have to keep adjusting the TTT to keep it open. As normal, when you get to target temperature -100F, close the bottom vent halfway; -50F, close it to 1/4, and when you get close, put the bottom vent at your target setting as normal. Tip 2: with this thing you want to keep your bottom vent slightly more open than normal to compensate for choking off the top so your fire doesn't go out.Not much, maybe a few mm. At the target temp, I close the TTT to a small crack, then monitor temps to see where it stabilizes and adjust accordingly.Did some chicken recipes with it, holding around 375. I was worried that closing off the top would result in some nasty stale smoke getting on the food, but I didn't notice anything off on my chicken, and poultry is a smoke magnet so if anything was wrong it would have shown up.A couple nights ago I decided to try it on a brisket, putting it on around midnight and going to sleep. I set the Akorn stable at about 225-230, which is lower than I usually go but I didn't want to risk drying it out. Tip 3: The way the TTT works is by maintaining a delta between the grill temp and the outside temp. The outside temp dropped a lot overnight, and my grill went down to 208 and stayed there most of the night. This is below water's boiling point, so in the morning my bark wasn't set due to all the surface water. I managed to save the bark by cranking up my temps for the last part of the cook, but it's something to keep in mind.Overall I'm quite happy with this product, especially at its price point, although I can see the advantage of an electronic blower system that adjusts based on target grill temp. However, I'm not quite willing to spend almost as much money on a temp controller as I did on the Akorn.

I never was able to satisfactorily manage the temperature on my Akorn before.With T.T.t this is much better but new problem arose.When it works the T.T.T allows me to maintain a set temperature more than to set a temperature like a thermostat would do .I used it yesterday morning to cook pork ribs when I notices that temperature was keeping going down.I went to check to find out the reason: the butterfly was glued shut by the creosote produced by the smoke.I cannot trust this product to constantly work as I would it to work.I am not yet sure what to think about this product and if I will keep it.The idea is good and the price is very reasonable but would I recommend t a friend? Probably not.Updated April 1st 2021( not an April fool)So, I now have this TTT for over 6 weeks or so and I used it, on m y Akron grill, probably 6 to 8 times.I finally understand how to use it and it works great.If you understand that it is not design to set the temperature but to maintain a set temperature then it works very well.Yesterday I cooked a turkey at 250 degrees for about 5 hours.I sett he temperate at 250 then I let the TTT maintain the temperature.It stayed within about 10 degrees ( +/- 5 degrees) for all 5 hours.The bottom vent must be completely closed for the TTT to work correctly..I use a small magnet the keep the butterfly wide open the start the fire and completely closed to kill the fire.I now would recommend the TTT to my friends after telling them how to use it.I completely removed the original vent on the Akron and installed the TTT in the opening.It fits perfectly in it and it looks great in it..

I do a lot of smoking, with both a WSM and a Char Broil Akorn. I really like the size and versatility of the Akorn, but it's nowhere close to the WSM for holding temps over a long smoke. I had intended to buy an expensive fan based solution to try and better regulate my temps, but I came across this and a lot of reviews showed positive results with the Akorn, so I gave it a go.It does what they say it does, exceptionally well. With the stock damper, I wouldn't leave my Akorn monitored for more than about 15 minutes for fear temps would skyrocket or plummet. With this I can comfortably walk away for hours and it will do it's job and keep temps exactly where I want them.That said, there are a few annoyances that could be easily fixed, and would be well worth spending an extra couple bucks. For starters, it would have been nice if they gave better guidelines for learning how to use this damper. You can find a temperature chart on their website, but it's a low resolution file that's difficult to read. It would be nice to see a professionally printed, high resolution version of this in the box. For something that would cost very little, it would be a big help. It would have also been nice to see more seals than just the one included. Maybe some thicker and thinner options, or some sort of sealing tape, to adapt to a wider variety of products. I ended up using the included band on my Akorn and still didn't get an air-tight seal, so I had to seal it up with some high-temp silicon sealant. This solution is functional, but it's not pretty. I would have appreciated some more options to get a more professional looking seal.My biggest issue is that you cannot fully close this damper. Being that the Akorn is very kind on charcoal consumption, I have no problem loading it up with a full bucket of charcoal knowing that if I close it up, the coals will get snuffed out, and I will have plenty of reusable charcoal left over. The only way to do this with the tip top temp is to opt for the non-permanent solution of just setting it on top of the damper. It would annoy me to have to remove it every time I needed to open the grill and have to store it separate after each use. I opted for a permanent install but found with my first two cooks that the damper will never fully seal, your coals will not snuff out, and you'll wake up the next morning to a still warm grill and no reusable coals. My solution to this was to find a silicon jar sealer that (sorta) fits over the top. It technically works, it puts out my coals, but it's not an elegant solution and I have a feeling this seal will wear out quickly. I would really love to see a silicon cover made specifically to fit the unique shape of the tip top temp to ensure a true air-tight seal. I would have happily paid any extra $10-$15 to see something like this included (or offered as an accessory).That all said, I can still absolutely recommend this for $35, especially for temperamental grills/smokers like the Akorn. I just think it would have been great if they came up with a more complete, professional package and maybe asked for $50 instead. I ended up spending another $25 to fix the issues I had anyways, and while my solutions worked, it could have been a lot better with something purpose-built for this device.