Temperature control on a stick burner?

[oldbill]

My concern with a stoker or Guru set-up on a stick burner is that you are closing your intake damper and allowing the machine to take over. Unlike charcoal burning pits like a WSM or an Egg an offset needs constant airflow and without it you're asking for trouble, namely creosote and fluctuating temps.. You can choke way down on a charcoal cooker and with just a few chunks of wood you can get all the smoke that you need with a long steady controlled burn but if you choke down on a stick burner you will end up with smoldering wood and that generates bitter tasting creosote. A Guru will be cutting on and off based on the pit's temp and there will be periods of time with less than adequate air flow followed by temp spikes while it's running. It's just much easier to control temps in an offset with a small, hot fire and open dampers. Remember that with a stick burning offset, you are forcing heat and smoke to go sideways before it gets to go up as it wants to whereas a charcoal burner is normally a type of vertical smoker and the heat and smoke gets to rise as it naturally wants to do from the start. It's all about steady airflow with a stick burner.

[BaggerBill]

What about using a controller on a RF that is burning charcoal instead of sticks? Does anyone do that and if so how well does it work?

[oldbill]

Originally Posted by BaggerBill

What about using a controller on a RF that is burning charcoal instead of sticks? Does anyone do that and if so how well does it work?

There have been guys here that have experimented with charcoal baskets and the minion in their offsets and have had some success. My own experience with it is that with or without the minion, charcoal tends to ignite too quickly and you can end up with too much heat in a hurry! Again the issue with a stick burner is that it requires constant air flow for the heat and smoke to travel sideways. If you constrict airflow to keep charcoal from igniting too quickly you'll end up with smoldering wood chunks and smoke hanging out in the cooking chamber instead of exiting as it should, not to mention the fact that the heat generated from an oxygen deprived charcoal fire is not nearly as great as a well breathing wood fire. Again, there are some guys who have successfully used charcoal in their offsets but it seems to be a whole lot easier to me to just use wood and feed the fire with a stick when necessary with open dampers and no Gurus or Stokers.

[Andrew]

no they really wont work unless you have syncro's to moderate the dampers on the firebox and stack.

after using mine alot, i just got good at knowing where to put the fire, the amount of wood, and the dampers. times went from adding/checking every 30-45, to over an hour. good enough for me, i like to baby sit anyways.

[thunter]

With stick burners, the Pitmaster is the BBQ Guru.

[DownHomeQue]

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

[tx_hellraiser]

what do you mean by split?

[RX2006JE]

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.

[DownHomeQue]

Originally Posted by tx_hellraiser

what do you mean by split?

split equals a piece of a log about 4-6 inches in diameter and about 12-20 inches long.. depending on the size of the FB

[DownHomeQue]

Splits some need to be split into splits.. lol here is a visual reference for ya!

[wrenfro12]

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?

[RX2006JE]

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.

[TuscaloosaQ]

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

[NorthernMN]

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?

[luke duke]

Originally Posted by NorthernMN

For those of you that can get these to work well how far open do you place the damper on the controller?

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.

Originally Posted by NorthernMN

Also is there a preferred unit bbq guru vs the stokers?

They both have their pros and cons.