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Q-talk *ON TOPIC ONLY* QUALITY ON TOPIC discussion of Backyard BBQ, grilling, equipment and outdoor cookin' . ** Other cooking techniques are welcomed for when your cookin' in the kitchen. Post your hints, tips, tricks & techniques, success, failures, but stay on topic and watch for that hijacking.


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Old 04-22-2014, 09:22 AM   #16
grill 'em all
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Not saying it won't work but sounds like complicating a time honored semi-simple process. While I would enjoy a few hours away from tending our stickburner I question keeping the cook chamber hot enough..Our UDS is very capable of maintaining a steady temp for hours on end..Waylon,however,just isn't wired that way..It is time consuming & requires near constant fire management(every 30-45 min.)..That being said it's not a pain in the arse to operate..Actually its very easy..I liken it to having a big block Chevelle with a small gas tank..Drives the same as anything else,just gotta take more fuel stops!

Give it a shot..Pass along what you come up with..

Good Luck!!
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Old 04-22-2014, 10:39 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ButtBurner View Post
I use the method on the woodburner.org site in my wood stove at my cabin

I am not sure I would want that smoke on my food though.

It is not always TBS.

I dont know how you would control your heat very well either. Heating a cabin is one thing but cooking a brisket is quite another

I guess its worth a try. I dont know

my thought it if you want set and forget then use another type of cooker than a stickburner.
And everyone said,... AMEN!
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Old 04-22-2014, 03:21 PM   #18
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I have been thinking that a way to make a stickburner work like a minion or gravity feed would be to use an external hopper. Wouldn't be easy to figure out but I think it could be done. My thinking goes like this:

Set up the firebox with a dropdown door/chute on one side. Next to it would be a hopper loaded with splits. A system would be set up that could, on sensing a predetermined temperature drop, open the chute and drop one split down the chute. Connect this door and hopper system to a motor/actuator that is run by an arduino processor http://www.arduino.cc/. This processor would be triggered by it's own sensor or get it's information from a digi-q that would be set up to run air flow. It would have to be set up in such a way that a drop would first be reacted to by the digi-q. If it failed to bring up the temp in a prescribed time frame then the next split would drop. Right now this is just a thought in my head. May one day see if it could actually be done.
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Old 04-22-2014, 05:06 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ag80n View Post
I have been thinking that a way to make a stickburner work like a minion or gravity feed would be to use an external hopper. Wouldn't be easy to figure out but I think it could be done. My thinking goes like this:

Set up the firebox with a dropdown door/chute on one side. Next to it would be a hopper loaded with splits. A system would be set up that could, on sensing a predetermined temperature drop, open the chute and drop one split down the chute. Connect this door and hopper system to a motor/actuator that is run by an arduino processor http://www.arduino.cc/. This processor would be triggered by it's own sensor or get it's information from a digi-q that would be set up to run air flow. It would have to be set up in such a way that a drop would first be reacted to by the digi-q. If it failed to bring up the temp in a prescribed time frame then the next split would drop. Right now this is just a thought in my head. May one day see if it could actually be done.
Stick burners need a clean burning fire. If i opened the door and chunked a split in (like the chute would- with no precision) the fire would smolder because the fire is not built correctly. It takes skill to maintain a clean fire, and a gadget has no skill. And if you wonder why us stick burners go to all this trouble? Because we enjoy it!
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Old 04-22-2014, 06:16 PM   #20
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It sounds like someone trying to get 50 mpg out of a full size pickup, if its 50 mpg you want buy a car rated for that. No offense its just a stickburner isn't designed for that. Low and slow, takes time to get that flavor.
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Old 04-22-2014, 06:26 PM   #21
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I guess the described technique of tightly packed wood, like for a long burn in a woodstove will technically "work", but I'm concerned about what kind of fire & smoke you will get? Like others have said the goal for a stickburner (at least my goal) is for a small, hot & clean fire with thin blue/clear smoke. I guess I'm envisioning a tightly packed firebox with air flow choaked down to burn for a long duration will result in a long burn with dirty white smoke; not the greatest for BBQ. I'll be interested in what you find out with your experiment.
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Old 04-22-2014, 06:33 PM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by grill 'em all View Post
I liken it to having a big block Chevelle with a small gas tank..Drives the same as anything else,just gotta take more fuel stops!!!
Damn!! I don't know the last time I heard someone describe a car using the words "big block" Am I really that old?
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Old 04-22-2014, 06:38 PM   #23
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One thing to think about with a woodstove is your not trying to maintain a certain temp or keep a clean burning fire the whole time. Some things are better left alone and I believe this is one of them. If you dont want or have time to tend a fire all the time look into a uds, pbc, cabinet, or pellet pooper type smoker and use the stickburner on days you have time to babysit.
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Old 04-22-2014, 06:55 PM   #24
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A lot of wise words in this thread, like most.
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Old 04-22-2014, 07:02 PM   #25
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ShencoSmoke View Post
Stick burners need a clean burning fire. If i opened the door and chunked a split in (like the chute would- with no precision) the fire would smolder because the fire is not built correctly. It takes skill to maintain a clean fire, and a gadget has no skill. And if you wonder why us stick burners go to all this trouble? Because we enjoy it!
I agree totally with you that it takes a clean fire. I am a stickburner and have been for years. I do it for two reasons. I enjoy maintaining the fire and, IMHO, it produces the best flavor. However, there are a few times when it would be nice to get the superior product a stickburner produces without having to tend a fire (at least not as much) such as when I have to do an overnight cook and go to work the next day. This seems to be what the OP was interested in. I am not saying it would be easy to design a working system and the question of fire quality had certainly come to mind. One solution I can think of for fire control is a system of guides and grates inside the firebox to help keep the fire in an optimal design. This idea may be more complicated than the OP wanted and I am not saying I will ever try it but it came to mind and I thought I would pass it along. Honestly I get fussed at by others for not being interested in getting a gravity-feed for competition but I just enjoy the process and taste of my stickburner too much - even if I am a little wiped out at awards
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Old 04-22-2014, 07:31 PM   #26
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Quote:
Originally Posted by grill 'em all View Post
Not saying it won't work but sounds like complicating a time honored semi-simple process. While I would enjoy a few hours away from tending our stickburner I question keeping the cook chamber hot enough..Our UDS is very capable of maintaining a steady temp for hours on end..Waylon,however,just isn't wired that way..It is time consuming & requires near constant fire management(every 30-45 min.)..That being said it's not a pain in the arse to operate..Actually its very easy..I liken it to having a big block Chevelle with a small gas tank..Drives the same as anything else,just gotta take more fuel stops!

Give it a shot..Pass along what you come up with..

Good Luck!!
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Old 04-22-2014, 07:50 PM   #27
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Originally Posted by matadorbait View Post
Hi All,

For those with stickburners, I think the consensus is that you have to add a split every hour or so (I've seed advice from 45 min to 90 min). And in many threads people talk about active fire maintenance is the biggest/only drawback to stickburners. So my question is this:

Are there any methods to get a longer burn with less maintenance from stickburning?

What I have in mind is this: what would happen if you filled a UDS basket with wood chunks (eg, use a bandsaw) and light from the top? No charcoal at all. Could it work for long cooks and need less frequent re-fueling?

I got the idea from this:

http://www.firewood-for-life.com/top-down-fire.html

When I light up my pit or pizza oven, I use this top-down method, and it works well. But I've always done it with splits on the grate. But what if one started with a basket with wood (not charcoal) chunks?

I've learned so much from this forum: I want to thank everyone in advance for your ideas.

Let the good ideas roll.....
Sorry to chuckle, but stick burners with a proper fire running only need attention every 4-6hrs. I get up twice in a night and usually just toss a large block on and head back to bed for another 4-5hrs.
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Old 04-22-2014, 07:56 PM   #28
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Old 04-22-2014, 07:58 PM   #29
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ag80n View Post
I agree totally with you that it takes a clean fire. I am a stickburner and have been for years. I do it for two reasons. I enjoy maintaining the fire and, IMHO, it produces the best flavor. However, there are a few times when it would be nice to get the superior product a stickburner produces without having to tend a fire (at least not as much) such as when I have to do an overnight cook and go to work the next day. This seems to be what the OP was interested in. I am not saying it would be easy to design a working system and the question of fire quality had certainly come to mind. One solution I can think of for fire control is a system of guides and grates inside the firebox to help keep the fire in an optimal design. This idea may be more complicated than the OP wanted and I am not saying I will ever try it but it came to mind and I thought I would pass it along. Honestly I get fussed at by others for not being interested in getting a gravity-feed for competition but I just enjoy the process and taste of my stickburner too much - even if I am a little wiped out at awards
I hear ya, and good on you for sticking with the stick burner. It's just that I ( and others) have a hard time understanding why folks spend so much time trying to get a square peg in a round hole.
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Old 04-22-2014, 07:59 PM   #30
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FatCoyote View Post
Sorry to chuckle, but stick burners with a proper fire running only need attention every 4-6hrs. I get up twice in a night and usually just toss a large block on and head back to bed for another 4-5hrs.
I'd be interested in your pit design. Mine would be cold after 5 hours.
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