What Is the Pit Boss P Setting? Detail Guide with Settings Chart
If you own a Pit Boss grill and don’t take advantage of the P setting, you’re not in your right mind. I love the P setting on the Pit Boss grills. It’s a great feature for an overnight low and slow cook.
But what is the Pit Boss P setting and how do you use it? It’s just an efficient way to get that low and slow cook we all desire. It controls the auger motor and the pellet feeding cycle which in turn controls the temperature. Trust me; it’s going to give your money back in full.
If you’re upgrading from a generic smoker, and you want to get a handle on this P setting, stay with me till the end. I’ll be guiding you through everything you need to know about this amazing feature. It won’t take you more than a few minutes.
What Is the P setting on a Pit Boss?
In simple terms, the P in P setting refers to “pause”. What does this mean exactly? Well, I’m glad you asked.
If you want to control the frequency of your pellet feeding, you use the P setting. The pellet cycle of your pellet grill has intervals, right? With this setting, you can increase or decrease the time between these intervals or pauses, hence, the name “P SET”.
The P SET option allows you to control your grill’s temperature by controlling the timing of the pellet cycles. Each level on the P setting will either increase or decrease the amount of time passed before the pellet is released to be burnt. That basically means the control of the auger motor and auger feeder.
Depending on the temperature you want, you can adjust the P setting. If you want to reach a certain temperature quicker, you can reduce the pause time or interval time between each cycle by selecting your desired P setting.
When to Adjust the P Setting?
The purpose of the P setting is to reach the desired temperature quickly or slowly, whichever you prefer, and keep it there until you’re finished cooking. If it doesn’t give you the temperature the way you want, you should adjust the P setting.
P setting should be adjusted to compensate for ambient temperature. If the ambient temperature stays as it is throughout your cooking, the P setting will stay as it is. But if the outside temperature drops, you’ll need to adjust the P setting to keep your temperature stable.
In truth, you’ll be adjusting the P setting throughout your cooking. Usually, what we do is set the lower P setting at first to reach a certain temperature quickly, and then set the P setting to stay in a certain temperature range. So, the idea is to control the range of temperature fluctuation.
How to Adjust the P Setting on a Pit Boss?
Short answer: It’s all about fine-tuning to get the sweet spot. Change the P setting in small steps to avoid any sudden temperature swings.
If you’re new to the world of smoking, “P setting” will make “low and slow” cooking easy for you. But you need to go on about it carefully.
Experiment with each setting to see what they do. Understanding the theory and seeing it yourself are totally two different things.
Seeing how the temperature is controlled through pellet cycles is vital since you’ll be able to tell when to adjust the P setting and temperature just by intuition without looking at the temperature probe or the display. Yes, just like the professional smokers such as Texas BBQ do.
As you already know, the P setting controls the pellet feeding time. So, you should be careful with changing it. Any drastic change will mess with the cooking temperature and your meat won’t be cooked properly.
Adjust the setting one step at a time. It takes time to see the result of the adjustment. Give at least 30 minutes before making another change. Always keep an eye on the burn pot and the temperature reading. If the temperature drops too quickly, revert back to previous settings and select a different setting to get a steady temperature.
Pit Boss P Setting Temp Chart
The P setting is all about controlling the auger operation. Here’s a chart to understand each setting.
| ‘P’ Setting | Auger On | Auger Off |
| P0 | 18 seconds | 55 seconds |
| P1 | 18 seconds | 70 seconds |
| P2 | 18 seconds | 85 seconds |
| P3 | 18 seconds | 100 seconds |
| P4 | 18 seconds | 115 seconds |
| P5 | 18 seconds | 130 seconds |
| P6 | 18 seconds | 140 seconds |
| P7 | 18 seconds | 150 seconds |
Quick Tips
For those who are new to smoking on grills, here are a few quick and short tips.
- Use P Settings to Get Less Smoke and High Heat
If you’re working with a slice of meat that loses moisture quickly, you need to achieve a high temperature quickly.
And also if you’re trying to avoid getting the Smokey flavor, the pellet shouldn’t get too burnt.
In both cases, you need to select the P0 or P1 setting to get the best result.
- Use P Settings to Get More Smoke and Low Heat
This is for those who want a low and slow cook. It’s all about keeping the moisture inside and getting that entire Smokey flavor on the surface of the meat. For this, the higher the P setting you choose the better.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the best P setting for Pit Boss?
The best P setting is what the manufacturer recommends. And Pit Boss asks the users to start cooking at P4 which is the default and adjust the setting later.
2. What P setting gives more smoke?
The long something burns the more smoke it’ll produce. So, you’ll need to select the P6 or P5 on the P setting to let the pellets burn longer.
3. What is the risk of a high P setting?
If you select the higher P setting, you’re setting it up for a longer pellet burn. That way you’ll produce more smoke, but heat output will be less.
4. How fast does a Pit Boss go through pellets?
Your Pit Boss will need 3 pounds of pellets to cook for an hour at a high temperature. It means you’ll be cooking with a lower P setting. And for higher P setting i.e. low and slow cooking, it’ll need 1 pound of pellets in one hour.
5. What does P1 in the P setting do?
The P1 setting will set your pit boss auger to stay on for 18 seconds meaning it’ll feed the pellet for 18 seconds and stay off for 70 seconds.
Final Verdict
The main purpose of the P setting on P Boss grills is to control the auger and pellet feeding cycle. So, do not be afraid to dial it down to ‘0’ settings. All it does is increase and decrease the amount of time between each cycle. So experiment with it. Dial it down to 0’ first, and then go up from there.
Just keep an eye on the ambient temperature and the overall weather. The P setting is greatly affected by sunshine and wind. You’ll need to adjust it accordingly.
Also Read:
I need a temp and time chart for everything that can be smoked on the Pitboss pellet smoker.