Temperature control on a stick burner?

I wouldn't use it.. if you know what you are doing.. they are not needed.. in stickburners you have a live fire in your fire box as oldbill said. You cut off the air to that.. and its asking for creasoty white smoke from a dying fire to cover your food and a pit to drastically fall in temp. You are counting on a fan to come to your rescue. I don't need a fan or electricity to run my pit.. To each there own though :caked:
 
i have never had a problem with bad white smoke with using my stoker. within 45min to 1 hr after starting the fire i have no visible smoke at all and when i add a split (meaning a piece of firewood to answer tx_hellraiser) i get minimal blue smoke. i do leave the damper slightly open 1/4" and do not seal it off completely.

again i agree with the others that it is not necssary, but it has worked well for me in the past and i will continue to use it. i feel that at the temps that i want to cook at and doing it hot and fast that the stoker is the tool that will help me to do so.
 
Splits some need to be split into splits.. lol here is a visual reference for ya!
 
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RX2006JE:

I have been thinking about trying this for a long time. What size is the pipe used for the draft system and what CFM fan is it using? Is is a home grown system or an off the shelf unit like a guru?
 
i had to use a 25cfm fan and i use the stoker system. I used a 1 and 1/2" by 16" black iron pipe with a cap and drilled staggering air holes on either side of the pipe. the pipe is then routed through the back of the fire box using a 1/2" coupler and a 4" black iron pipe nipple. I would highly suggest that if you do put the pipe in and use threaded pipe to pt some anti-seize on when assembling it or you will never get it to come out. I used an end cap on my pipe which you can see and should have used anti-seize on it to help with clean out from where ash falls into the pipe. Now that i have my new firebox i have the holes turned down so that ash that falls doesn't fall into the pipe. you can also search fellow brethren on youtube pitmaster t and search pitmaster t stoker and you can see his videos where he did several test with the stoker and a stick burner.
 
Again Johnny if it is working keep on doing it!!!!! As a fellow brethern and pit builder who am I to say that what you r doing is wrong. To say if you know what you are doing you do not need it is not right. Obviously. You must know what is working for you or at least the judges think so. I was raised to believe that there is more than one way to skin a cat , sounds like you are doing a good job of skinning to me
 
For those of you that can get these to work well how far open do you place the damper on the controller? Also is there a preferred unit bbq guru vs the stokers?
 
NorthernMN said:
For those of you that can get these to work well how far open do you place the damper on the controller?
Click to expand...

That would depend on the size of your fan and the size of your firebox. On a 30"x30"x30" firebox I use a Guru with 2x25cfm fans wide open.

On a 20" Klose I used to use a Stoker with 1x25cfm fan. I've gotten to where I prefer running this pit manually, so I don't use my stoker much anymore.

NorthernMN said:
Also is there a preferred unit bbq guru vs the stokers?
Click to expand...

They both have their pros and cons.
 
They both have their pros and cons.
Click to expand...

Can you give more of your opinion on this?

It seems like both bbq guru and stoker's websites dont give alot of info about how there product works in detail.
 
There was a team in Bardstown this year that walked a couple of times (don't remember their name) that was using a Pitmaker Sniper and had a Guru on it. I hadn't seen that before, so I asked him about it. He stated he used lump and could get a 6 or 7 hour burn out of 3/4 bag. I've been thinking about trying it with my Sniper, but since it is the long version, I'm not sure the heat would be enough with just charcoal and chunks. The Sniper is very easy to control temp wise........as long as you're awake
 
I have never tried to use one, but I would say do what works for you and your pit. Experiment with it and have fun doing so. Any reason to fire up the pit and pop a cold one, is a good reason :becky:
 
NorthernMN said:
Can you give more of your opinion on this?

It seems like both bbq guru and stoker's websites dont give alot of info about how there product works in detail.
Click to expand...
I believe that the main difference between the two is that the Stoker can operate multiple pits at once and I've read that many users prefer the stoker's wifi software capabilities. In my studies on the subject it appears that the Gurus are less expensive and are the way to go for most.
 
i would tend to agree with oldbill. i got the stoker for the reason of using multiple probes(2meat probes) and 3 temp sensors(1 for pit control and 2 monitors for other zones), the fan, and initially the ability to control via the computer. I started out with the old stoker without wifi, i now have the blackbox wifi version. I dont use the computer anymore with the stoker just a prefrence not to but i do like that i can expand the system to as many probes and sensors that i want.
 
I purchased a Stoker but not for its Fans or blow motors ... I have an insulated Firebox on an Offset Stick burner by R&O Smokers. I saw no reason what so ever to add a fan to that and even think it would be a set back. The reason I bought the Stoker though was to monitor my pit temps, which it does nicely.

I have 2 temp probes at each end of the pit and use 3 meat probes. The Stoker is wireless and I use a wireless AP with it. They both run off a battery pack. If my pit temps change up or down by more than 10 degrees I get an alert to my phone.

As for the fire - with a stick burner it comes down to fire management and knowing your wood and pit. Mine - about ever 50 minutes takes a new 12" long 3-4" split to maintain around 275.
 
RX2006JE said:
i would tend to agree with oldbill. i got the stoker for the reason of using multiple probes(2meat probes) and 3 temp sensors(1 for pit control and 2 monitors for other zones), the fan, and initially the ability to control via the computer. I started out with the old stoker without wifi, i now have the blackbox wifi version. I dont use the computer anymore with the stoker just a prefrence not to but i do like that i can expand the system to as many probes and sensors that i want.
Click to expand...


The ability to infinitely expand and the built in WiFi capability are the Stoker's main Pros. The Guru (DigiQ II) is cheaper than a Stoker. It also has a much simpler interface and occupies a much smaller footprint. They both control the fire well.

I use the Guru on my tailgate smoker. I prefer the simplicity and the smaller footprint since there are a lot of drunks around and the odds of them messing something up are less. It would be kind of nice to have WiFi so I don't have to get out of the camper to check the fire.

I use(d) the Stoker at home with my Klose. I liked being able to connect it to the network so I can run errands and still be able to monitor the fire. I also used Stokerlog which allowed me to graph and "save" my cooks for comparison purposes.
 
Is anyone using the CyberQ from bbq guru? Seems like that would be a better comparision to the stoker since it has wifi. Does the CyberQ let you log a cook process to compare with other cooks later on?
 
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