Got a Stoker.

[moocow]

We have a Stoker and yes customer service is a problem but I can usualy get aholdof him around 4:30pm his time. We also use an airport express, Its very small and there are no power wires to mess with. We have a Backwoods, stumps clone and we use the stumps 1.5" threaded adapter from rocks. I believe they have the adapter for the backwoods too. You will like the Stoker but we have gone away from using the stoker log and now just use the macbook or the Palm Pre.

[Greg60525]

Originally Posted by SkySaw

Of course, I have seen every minute of every video you have produced that mentions the word Stoker. Also read about the yahoos who talk about choking the fire and creosoting your food...

Mark and Funk,

Talk to me about the creosote issue.............does the Stoker keep the fire burning hot enough to prevent the issue (I burn only wood)? Can you maintain that thin blue smoke? I would like to try one out, but before I spend the cash I'd like to be sure this is not an issue.

Does the Stoker give you longer burn times, saving fuel?

I have a Gator Pit offset, which has a 48" long X 24" dia. food chamber and a 24" long X 24" dia. firebox. It has 2 spin open type air inlet dampers. How would you configure the Stoker for this set-up? Would you replace one of the dampers with the fan and close the other or would you replace both dampers with 2 fans? What size fans would I need?

Thanks,

[barbefunkoramaque]

This reminds me I need to post my Video Mod on the Brazos (my big offset) to accept the stoker.

First, what creosote issue? There is none. None. Period. Nada. And I hope you didn't derive that from my videos on overloading because. If you did blood is going to start squirting outta my eye. LOL

Seriously, the poster was just commenting on the "Yahoos" that saw my WOOD packed and Coal Packed videos and thought I was trying to cook meat. Often people skip around in videos like porn and miss crucial things. In my experience, the stoker makes that fire much cleaner. As you read on you will see why. Of course I am a hot and faster so I am not going to get anywhere close to smoking something out.

Second - I am a strong believer in the air management system (AMS - the series of pipes fabbed my the owner to connect to the AMD or Air management Device.) Now if you have a stoker or a Guru and a little Bandera or an egg or even a drum you MAY not have problems with coreout (defined below). On a larger pit, like yours, You can EXTEND the air coming out of ther stoker through a pipe with holes in it so that your entire firebox has air, not just the part where the air comes in.

Here are some vids showing this. The second vid I think I was just using a popcorn machine blower and an Oven Thermostat.

coupling Size - ITHINK THIS WAS MADE FOR A GUY THAT HAD THE SAME PIT FIREBOX AS YOURS... A SMALL 2 FOOTER.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Popdaddy...59/iVYTVn69vQs

Before the Stoker
http://www.youtube.com/user/Popdaddy...58/GkCaXZChIlg

So as you can see the air is going on all parts of my fuel supply. At 1:34 you can see my air supply on the Meat Mama to the right.

On your system I would not TOUCH the air inlets. I wouldn't ven block them with the stoker. More on that in a minute. I would cut a hole coming in the back if you can to accept and weld in a pipe which could then be split, threaded and capped so that it could supply air throughout the firebox and your wood supply and not just where it comes in. I could talk for days about how much better this works. I DO NOT like to touch exsisting air inlets for two reasons.

First - If you sell the unit a nice double capped pipe exiting the back allows you to sell your pit without having to address some mod you made to the vents. It returns the pit to the OMSpecs with little mods. You can always say the pipe coming out is for future AMD the new owner may want to provide.

Second - and this is the most important, say you want temp that the AMD cannot provide, like if your making pizzas or a Clod at 400 degrees or if it is REALLY cold and windy. The AMS (air managment system) is not blocking an existing vent and you can open it up for more air than the AMD can provide for your purposes.

The Brazos AMS. I can't find the damn pics so I had to take some of a vid.

Attachment 33438
Here the AMD is connected to the AMD and routed back to the firebox.
Attachment 33439
Shot through an open vent the right side of the capped pipe. You should be able to see the little hole for air. I think I have a total of 9 and the pipe layout is like a hockey stick.
Attachment 33440
The left side of the pipe (the inlet is in the center and splits to both sides). I might add a 90 degree turn where the cap is and come about 30 inches to the front. I plan to rebuild the firebox anyway with a rack that swings in and out should I wanna sear some briskets, ribs or Clods right before i put them on. The while firebox on this thing needs to be cast in the sea of forgivance..... the person who did it didn't know anything.


A COREOUT is when you lay out your fuel supply and the nozzle is close to the wood or coals that you have in your fire area. At first the air easily blows on the fuel supply. As time goes by this fuel supply gets burned up and leaves a hole in a pile of COAL that looks like a cored out section. It can do this to wood stock too. Over time the fuel supply burns out and gets FURTHER from the air supply and thus makes the Stoker air less effective. Sometimes, eventually, because your vents are closed and tghe stoker is the only thing providing air, the fuel source gets so far away that it goes totally out. Or the fan runs and runs and your temp is nowhere near where it needs to be.

[barbefunkoramaque]

Hmmm I got those pics coming up

[Greg60525]

Originally Posted by barbefunkoramaque

Second - and this is the most important, say you want temp that the AMD cannot provide, like if your making pizzas or a Clod at 400 degrees or if it is REALLY cold and windy. The AMS (air managment system) is not blocking an existing vent and you can open it up for more air than the AMD can provide for your purposes.

Good point.........gives me more control and additional temp if needed.

Thanks for the detailed response to my questions and concerns. I've been cooking at 250°, so not hot and fast, but not low and slow, either. I want to try 270° or so.

Do you think there would be any issues with burning clean at 250° when using a Stoker or Guru? Basically, how low do you think you can go before having issues?

Thanks,

[barbefunkoramaque]

Originally Posted by Greg60525

Good point.........gives me more control and additional temp if needed.

Thanks for the detailed response to my questions and concerns. I've been cooking at 250°, so not hot and fast, but not low and slow, either. I want to try 270° or so.

Do you think there would be any issues with burning clean at 250° when using a Stoker or Guru? Basically, how low do you think you can go before having issues?

Thanks,

Well first, 270 is not the end all of temps. It just works best for my technique and rub. Each is dependent of one another. I like crispy real bark, and juicy tender meat inside with great penetration of flavor.

The stoker will do fine on your gear as long as you don't load it incorrectly. This rule is just like NOT using the stoker. Its about timing and the size and condition of your fuel when you load it.

There are guys that use it and dial in 225 and it is fine. Smaller fire. No need to obsess about white smoke with the stoker. It will NOT get around fire management laWS. However, it can bend them a bit.

[Sauced!]

'Funk,

Any chance you can post some pics of the pipe in the firebox so I can see how it looks? I'm not sure how you mean its shaped like a hockey stick?

Thanks!

[MemphisQ]

Originally Posted by SkySaw

Of course, I have seen every minute of every video you have produced that mentions the word Stoker. Also read about the yahoos who talk about choking the fire and creosoting your food...

One of the brilliant things about the Stoker to me is that it is totally platform independent. Stoker doesn't care if you are Mac, PC, or Linux. With built-in twitter support, it can even present enough of a log that I can roll over in bed at night and call up my Twitter page to see if my 165 degree butts are just entering, well into, or should be finishing the stall.

My problem is that I can't get Twitter running properly yet. StokerLog is dependent on PC, and I am all set up on Mac. However, I have pulled out my old XP Ppc, and am in the process of loading all the upgrades and stuff so that I can fire up StokerLog.

In the end, I'm hoping John gets the Twitter thing figured out.

Mark

You could always run Parallels on your Mac. This gives you the ability to run Windows Xp on your Mac. I have been doing that for 3 years on a 17" MacBookPro. Runs great. Seemless between MacOS and WindowsXP.

[barbefunkoramaque]

here it is

[Sauced!]

Thanks 'Funk! Another question and maybe I missed it in your explanation earlier by why do you have the pipe and airflow blowing away from the entrance to the cooking chamber? Is that to keep ash from getting in to the chamber and on the food?

[barbefunkoramaque]

Originally Posted by Sauced!

Thanks 'Funk! Another question and maybe I missed it in your explanation earlier by why do you have the pipe and airflow blowing away from the entrance to the cooking chamber? Is that to keep ash from getting in to the chamber and on the food?

First was, hot pipes in the front.. i can see me breakin one when I throw a log on.

Second was, you don't want to blow your fire in the firebox AND send it too quickly down the shute.

Third, a Pipe coming in any other way and of front before going up would be a pan in the ash.

forth because some yahoo build this crappy oversized firebox they cut out the grid that kept logs from rolling into the chamber. This helps a bit

[SkySaw]

Originally Posted by MemphisQ

You could always run Parallels on your Mac. This gives you the ability to run Windows Xp on your Mac. I have been doing that for 3 years on a 17" MacBookPro. Runs great. Seemless between MacOS and WindowsXP.

I got Parallels when I bought my Mac a few years ago. It quite working a year later, and I just stopped trying to use it. But you inspired me to check for updates to my version of Parallels today, which I found, downloaded, and hey! it works again!

So I got back into XP on my Mac and downloaded Stokerlog. I had seen graphs of other people's cooks, but was not prepared for how much I would like using it on my own cook. Also, the Twitter support worked right-away. I guess it is irresistibly neat for any Stoker owner, and I can see how it will help me to learn to improve my cooks with it. One thing I discovered already is that when I open the Egg, I get a temp spike that takes quite a while to dissipate. I even turn the Stoker off before raising the lid, and turn the Stoker back on once the lid is back down, and this is what leads to the spike (a cook at 250 degrees takes the Egg up to 262-265 after opening/closing the lid).

Anyway, thanks for the inspiration.

Mark

[Smokey-T]

Is there any place that provides a discount on the Stoker (Brethren discount, or other)?

Looking for a good setup for my Primo Oval XL.

Thanks,

Ted

[Vince RnQ]

Our team has been using a Stoker for the last 2 years and we love it. We use one Stoker to control all four of our WSMs and it works like a charm.

[SkySaw]

The only place I know of to buy a Stoker is from the builder - Rock's Barbque.

Mark