Got a Stoker.

Thats awesome! Where did you get it?

He He He
Test 1 Top Secret Results "Meat Mama 300 Hits 644 degrees!"
Test 2 Top Secret Results "Meat Mama hits Ambient Surrounding Temperature"

Test 3 (a) Initial Test after Rock Tweaked for Big Unit

Test 3 (b) Cold Test


Test 4 Mess of Coal


Test 5 (a) Mess Of Wood
Test 5 (b)

Please in either case pay attention. Every time I post these some yahoo doesn't pay attention and says I am ruining meat and that its not the way to properly smoke meat. These are test to show how durable the stoker is.


Look here at about 1:20 - New Programs for the Stoker go far beyond where you are buddy! Its called Stoker log and it will call you up on your damn PDA.

Stoker Log and a Small Clod


I could not get Brazos Pit (8000) up to my smoking temp of 270-325 or the meat mamma up to 400 (for making Pizzas) without this thing.

Google Stoker and you get my Vids.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=stoker%20bbq%20video&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv#

I can say, other than the communication skills of the maker, the Stoker is a great product. We started off with a bad start (but after exchanging the unit and fans a three times it was okay), I obviously made some of the most popular videos about the subject and but John has never once made amends or thanked me for my support. But, I don't need personal support if the product is good. I call them Like I see them.

In any case the unit is great - although for low and slowers on big units you may need to seal up your firebox real well. I don't do that of course as the unit I use with the 25CFM blower is used to reach those real good hot and fast numbers I use like 270- 340 sometimes or 400 for clod. I do seal for Jerky though and the Stoker is crucial them for keeping those small little fires in a big unit.

Pluses are when John says he gives you 25CFM he means it. In competitor's stuff the FAN may be 25CFM but the outlet may slow it to the extent its less. Of course if you use a little egg or something its no big deal with those 5 and 10CFM blowers.

The only disappointment engineering wise is that I think the 25cfm taxes the unit as far as it can go. I found this to be the case when I, per advertisement and product lit, attached standard stereo extention cords run through the old Funkotorium Trailer so I could keep my Stoker unit safe inside the commissarry. As far as the sensors they worked well through the extention cords. But when the fan was plugged in it would not work at all... prob too much resistance. I bet John would be able to figure it out but the unit was so INDESPENSIBLE (I've used it for maybe 3500 hours) I dared not send it back.

About my crack about John. John is obviously an engineer of sorts. This means his primary duty is to be that much brighter than anyone else. Thats the power he tapped into in order to complete his vision. He does this well. Customer service is a crap shoot. I have heard good stories and bad but the usually are focused around just communication. He always fixes what he is asked so he cannot be faulted with that, but at times communication is a problem.

In 2008 I wrote him an email, my choice of communication, about ordering three more stokers but 2 WITHOUT the fan. My purpose was to use them with my Trailer's on board computer to be able to monitor the temp and cool down of just about anything. I was going to order a mess of probes. Can you imagine being able to actually show the HD I got my meat from an internal of 190 to 70 in under two hours and from 70 to 40 in such and such time. This would all be shown on a grid which could even be printed out. Proper cool down is an obsession of mine and people screw this up all the time. I have seen 300 pounds of pork shoulder go straight from the smoker into sealed plastic and thrown directly into a freezer and be pulled out with a high bac count. I think the Stoker would be GREAT for this and wanted to dedicate a unit just for recording holding temps.

There was NEVER any response for an additional sale (and I write his service, admin, and sales emails) so I thought if the guy can't get back for sales then service THIS time might be worse.

I am very glad to see that he is still making the product and hope he continues to do so. I had a partner that was really upset with him at one time (by the way, never take in a partner) and said some things (not really bad just sort of questioning) the Stoker on BBQ NEWS which is where we heard about it (problem at that time was it took forever for us to get it and there was no answer to our calls for two weeks as to where it was) and the nutjobs that ran THE BBQ NEWS didn't help any by deleting the posts. It was like a swarm of bees, really. LOL

This is why, incidentally THIS forum is better. If you are a advertiser in the BBQ NEWS print or web media, then when someone starts a thread complaining or asking about a vendor who advertises there, they erase all negative comments. As a result, don't look to BBQ NEWS for anything but GLOWING reviews when you are about to spend your hard earned dollars.

This forum doesn't let that get started so you get good reliable info. BBQ News responded we don't let anyone complain about anyone - to which I showed them negative commentary of Wal Mart, Sams, and copies of deleted threads about people asking about Austin National Smokers (and we all know what happened to them). Sad, I know.

Welcome to Star Trek meets BBQ...

Stoker Questions

This seems to be the most informative forum on the Stoker. Looking for some help... Since RocksBBQ has not answered the phone (busy all the time) and has not answered my emails I'm hoping maybe you guys may have some insight. I currently have a couple of BBQ Gurus, a Competitor and a DigiQ with 2 10CFM fans. I love theme but, truth be told I'm a geek BBQ'er and really like the remote possibilities of a couple of smokers, a Stoker and a iPhone.
I'd like to think the BBQ GURU CyberQ would give me what I need because I really like those guys but they are a generation away from real wireless with web based control, and quite frankly Stokers lack of response when I'm trying to spend money with the doesn't give ma a great feeling about product support. But...I'm still looking at them and posts like these have me thinking again.

- Is there a fan adapter for a Backwood's Smoker (Party model) and is there one for a Stumps?
- Did you have to use any additional equipment (USB to Wifi bridge) to make your Stoker wireless?
- If I bought the Dual system with and additional pit probe and meat probe I would be good for 3 pits. Of course I would need 3 fans and 3 fan adapters. Any thing else?
- Concerning fan sizes. Will a 5 CFM handle a Medium Big Green Egg? What about a Large BGE? Would a 5 CFM handle a Backwoods Party or would I need to go to a 10 CFM?
- By some strange twist of luck are BBQ Guru fans adaptable to the Stoker?

Any help here is appreciated!
Thanks in advance
T-Que

Cost?

I have an BGE and 2 kids under 7... like all I hear about "The Stoker"...how much did it set you back? looking to ask for a Christmas gift.:-D

i have a stoker love it and yes john is not the best when it comes to selling his stuff and trying to get ahold of lol im lucky i drive to the shop and bug him but the stoker is a great unit and the new probes do look cool skysaw pm me

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.

SkySaw said:

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...

Click to expand...

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,

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/PopdaddysBBQ#p/u/59/iVYTVn69vQs

Before the Stoker
http://www.youtube.com/user/PopdaddysBBQ#p/u/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.

View attachment 33438
Here the AMD is connected to the AMD and routed back to the firebox.
View 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.
View 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.

Hmmm I got those pics coming up

barbefunkoramaque said:

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.

Click to expand...

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,