What would you consider as the best outdoor smoker?

[steve williams]

I wonder if the best means of temp control is with the use of Amir's Stoker Log

 

[amirm]

I wonder if the best means of temp control is with the use of Amir's Stoker Log

Let me clarify a bit. "Stoker" (and its competitor Guru) are temperature control devices. They have a probe that goes inside the smoker and measures the temp and the device then uses a small blower to control the amount of air is drawn. If the temp is low, air is sent in which increase the fire. If the temp goes up too high, then it shuts down the air and the temps eventually come back.

Now, for typical slow smoking, the process may go on for 12-16 hours. In other words, overnight. You don't want to stand next to the smoker to make sure it is working. Some people do and set alarms and such . But for the lazy in the rest of us, you can use my stokerlog program with stoker hardware to see how your smoke is progressing from any PC. And have email notifications sent to your phone, etc. to tell you the progress or if the fire has gone out, the food has reached its target temp, etc. There are also cool things like automated temperature settings where you can program four times and temps and stokerlog automatically adjusts the temps for you. If your food reaches temp and you don't want to take it out just then, you can also tell the unit to keep it warm for you. This is useful if the meat is done at 5:00am and you wake up at 8:00am.

Finally, just like a digital camera, you get to see the results of your work. The program graphs the past, letting you know how the smoker performed and what happened to food temp. People use the graphs to ask questions, remember how they did things and in general share their results. You asked about the dampers for example. You can compare different settings this way and see how it works. Here is the UI again:

Here you see the automated timed cooking where the temps for the fire are adjusted by stokerlog. And below it, you see the temp rise in the food probes. It is educational and fun to see how that curve looks. On long smokes, you actually see it dip down in the middle and then eventually rush back up.

 

[steve williams]

So what I am fuzzy on is how your program communicates with Stoker

 

[amirm]

So what I am fuzzy on is how your program communicates with Stoker

Ah. You connect the stoker to an Ethernet cable or use wireless to add it to your home network. Then the PC communicates to it using the same shared network. It is just like adding a new PC to your home.

 

[steve williams]

Amir

That's why you get the big bucks

I noticed on the stoker website besides your stokerlog they also list a stokemaster for the apple. Does the latter do pretty much what yours does Amir

 

[steve williams]

What wifi system does one buy as they list so many different ones

What accessories is everyone using for their ceramic smokers

 

[amirm]

Amir

That's why you get the big bucks

I noticed on the stoker website besides your stokerlog they also list a stokemaster for the apple. Does the latter do pretty much what yours does Amir

I don't have experience with it but the bit of feedback I heard, was not positive. I just looked and it is still so: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/stokemaster/id455961616?mt=8

If you have a PC at home, you can use a virtual desktop/remote PC to see the output on your iOS devices.

 

[amirm]

What wifi system does one buy as they list so many different ones

What accessories is everyone using for their ceramic smokers

The mandatory accessory is the fan adapter for the smoker. So you need to pick the smoker first, and stoker second. I like to have 3 food probes in addition to the main one for the fire. That way, you can have three pieces of meat cooking and know how they are all doing. I have not looked to see what else they offer but this is what I bought originally.

 

[steve williams]

How many probes can be run on your program

 

[amirm]

I don't recall but I think up to 6 or so probes. You will never need that many and haven't gotten any requests for more.

 

[steve williams]

can the stoker accept 6 probes

 

[amirm]

It can accept almost unlimited number of probes. The sockets are just stereo headphone jacks. Something like 5 comes with it. But if you need more, you can just split them off with a Y headphone cable and you are good to go! The system is smart and even accepts new probes on the fly as it is running. The hardware is way ahead of what it needs to do.

Stokerlog currently supports two concurrent smokers as you can also have multiple blowers and fire control probes. They support up to 4 I think but it was too much work for me to handle that many so I limited it to two. People in competition use it that way.

 

[steve williams]

If you split them off with a Y head phone cable can each probe going into the same socket be programmed differently

 

[amirm]

Yes, they go in the same socket. The probes are "smart" and act like a network and each gets automatically assigned a new ID. The bit of down side is that you better not get them wet or they can be damaged. Not a big deal but when you wash the probes, you want to keep the headphone plug side dry.

But again, you won't need it as the base box has enough connections for any home purpose.

 

[Greg_R]

The stoker 'box' has 5 ports which means a blower, fire probe, and 3 meat probes. As mentioned, you can buy expanders (these are nothing special, any 1/4" splitter will work). IMO, one probe in the large chunk of meat and one in the smaller chunk is plenty for monitoring purposes. EDIT: The probes/fans/sensors are Stoker specific but the expanders are just simple cabling.

By the way, don't get caught up on the temperatures. Many people get too excited about small temperature swings and over compensate with damper adjustments. Also, if you don't build the fire correctly these stokers will NOT be able to compensate. You'll also need to remember to turn them off when you open the lid; otherwise the fan will kick on and get the coals too hot.

I have one of the original stokers (non WiFi) and enjoy using it... just don't think that it's going to fix all your BBQ temperature problems.

Again, if you want a very simple 'set and forget' BBQ solution look into Cookshack or Trager (these are more like "smoking ovens"). These will NOT do high temperature grilling, only smoking. The Trager can hit ~450F for saucing ribs, etc. but I prefer much hotter temps for steaks, pizza, and bread.

 

[treitz3]

Perhaps I missed it but what temperature range can the Stoker and Stokerlog handle?

 

[Keith_W]

Link to review

100-450F.

 

[treitz3]

Ahhh. Thank you, Keith. Is Amir's program for the same range or just up to 350 degrees? [from looking at graphs]

 

[Keith_W]

I'm sure Amir's program could handle 1000F if it had to It doesn't have to worry about melting in the fire! The upper limitation of the temperature range is in the material used to construct the probe - it needs to be heat resistant. The lower limitation is probably due to probe sensitivity or the ability to keep the fire going at a low level whilst starved of oxygen.

 

[steve williams]

So get this

I was at my local Costco this afternoon and what are they selling but medium sized BGE for $599. Anyone know what list is