Off we go!

[Keith Angilly]

My stoker arrived today.

It is cool and windy tonight here in New England, but the new toy must be played with!

So,

I bought the basic plus one and the wsm adapter:

Here is the blower attached to the wsm:

And the set-up. I had to put pretty close to the house and the stoker is inside the window, out of the elements. The rain should be stopping soon. It was pretty light anyway.

I am smoking a basic butt. I'll throw up some pics of that in a while.

The smoker is holding it on 225 +/- a bit despite the wind. I have the top vent at about 25% (maybe a bit less). Very impressed so far!

K

 

[Keith Angilly]

Here is the butt. I got it from BJ's and it's almost 10 lbs:

And with a mustard and rub applied:

The rub is roughly a cup each of salt and brown sugar, 1/2 cup of paprika, 2T of chili powder, 3T of black pepper and then some celery salt, dried ginger and coleman's dry mustard, to taste. I am pretty nonchalant about rubs. I kind of just throw em' together.

The wsm has been going for couple hours now. The temps have been fluctuating +/- 5 degrees or so. Very consistent. Just to make it interesting, this is the first time I am using lump, as well. The lump is the cowboy stuff from lowes, and so far it seems to be doing well. With all this wind, I don't dare open the pit. Pit is 220.3 and the meat is 82.3.

The kid is in bed, and I am drinking a manhattan and watching the Sox. Life's good!

I do wish it was warmer out...I feel a bit disconnected from the process. Usually I sit out on the deck and take in the smells.
K

 

[Keith Angilly]

222.6 / 108.3

It's time to hit the rack...hopefully when I get up, the pit will still be humming.

K

 

[Amir]

Nice going. Save us some leftovers!

 

[Keith Angilly]

So, it is almost 6:30 the next morning and the pit is at 222.3 and the butt is at 145.6. I sprayed the butt with a cider/bourbon/cider vinegar and vegetable oil mix and checked the fuel. There was still plenty of fuel left, which surprised me. The stoker is even better than I would have imagined! Thanks to all of you that contribute here.

Thanks Amir...I downloaded stoker log and will getting a wireless bridge and seeing if I can get it set-up. More fun! This thing is really something!

My first question is do you guys use the "fan off for 5 min." even for quick bastes? I did notice it spike a bit and the temp is jumping up and down more even after the quick check inside. I'm not real worried, just curious.

K

 

[Keith Angilly]

Last hour, I tapped the legs and set the stoker for 250 and sprayed it up. It's now 8 am and I sprayed it again. Pit 250.2 / Butt 148.5

It dropped 10 degrees very quickly about 20 minutes ago. I guess it was a wind gust or something. I tapped the legs again and it recovered just fine. What a difference over messing with vents and water.

 

[Keith Angilly]

It turns out that the drop was probably a fuel issue. The pit dropped to 225 and stayed there with blower running continuously. So, in the future, I probably would just reload in the morning automatically. The butt looks great. It's a very deep garnet color. Sprayed it up again at 9 am. Pit recovered to 248.6. Butt is at 151.8.

 

[Pat McCreight]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Keith Angilly:
My first question is do you guys use the "fan off for 5 min." even for quick bastes? I did notice it spike a bit and the temp is jumping up and down more even after the quick check inside. I'm not real worried, just curious. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I don't turn the fan off for real quick checks, but if the lid will be off for more than a minute or so, I do. The WSM can get a fire going pretty quickly with the lid off and the blower going. Sometimes I just turn the unit off and that works as well, but you need to listen and make sure the blower cycles off when turned on as it should.

 

[Mark Nejako]

Looking good Keith....I was wondering how many hours did your burn last before you had to reload?

 

[Keith Angilly]

A quick peek:

The temp got away from me a bit. The temp ran up to 290 and now it is down to 274.8. I used the "fan off for 5 min" feature, although probably a bit late. No biggie, though. Live and learn.

 

[Keith Angilly]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Mark Nejako:
Looking good Keith....I was wondering how many hours did your burn last before you had to reload? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hi Mark,

I hit with a blow torch at 7 pm and it was up to temp (225) by 8 pm. I reloaded at about 8:30 am so I guess about 12 hours although I think I should have just reloaded at 6 am (10 hours). I filled the ring to overflowing with the lump. I would guess the Kingsford would last longer, but I was just trying the lump for the heck (edit: apparently h-e-double hockey sticks is a bad word here

) of it. I will say it smells much cleaner than the briquettes. I guess the jury is out as to whether that matters or not. To each his own, I guess. I would use it again.

 

[Keith Angilly]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Pat McCreight:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Keith Angilly:
My first question is do you guys use the "fan off for 5 min." even for quick bastes? I did notice it spike a bit and the temp is jumping up and down more even after the quick check inside. I'm not real worried, just curious. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>


I don't turn the fan off for real quick checks, but if the lid will be off for more than a minute or so, I do. The WSM can get a fire going pretty quickly with the lid off and the blower going. Sometimes I just turn the unit off and that works as well, but you need to listen and make sure the blower cycles off when turned on as it should. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks Pat...that was kind of my line of thinking. I thought I read somewhere that there is a feature in stoker log that does it automatically, but I could be wrong.

 

[Larry D.]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Keith Angilly:
I thought I read somewhere that there is a feature in stoker log that does it automatically, but I could be wrong. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

With StokerLog, you can just turn off the Stoker when you need to remove the lid. StokerLog will automatically reconnect once you turn the Stoker back on.

 

[Keith Angilly]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Larry D.:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Keith Angilly:
I thought I read somewhere that there is a feature in stoker log that does it automatically, but I could be wrong. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

With StokerLog, you can just turn off the Stoker when you need to remove the lid. StokerLog will automatically reconnect once you turn the Stoker back on. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ah, thanks Larry.

I am going out to get a wireless bridge later today. I am no computer whiz, but there is also no rush, so I'll muddle through somehow. I still can't believe how well this thing works. Stoker log will make a nice frosting on the cake!

 

[Steve Cutchen]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">The kid is in bed, and I am drinking a manhattan and watching the Sox. Life's good! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Didn't take you for a Chicago baseball fan....

 

[Keith Angilly]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Steve Cutchen:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">The kid is in bed, and I am drinking a manhattan and watching the Sox. Life's good! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Didn't take you for a Chicago baseball fan....

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ah, my East Coast bias comes shining through! No, I am a chowderhead, for sure. I don't refer to myself as a "yankee" for fear of being associated with a certain team from New York. They have sullied the good name of "yankee"!

 

[Keith Angilly]

Here's the final product:

And dinner:

And a little closer:

I'll post a few more thoughts later.

 

[Keith Angilly]

So, to finish up, the stoker experience was fantastic! For the last few hours of the cook, I was using the "blower off for 5 minutes" whenever I opened the pit and it was pegged on 250 plus or minus a few degrees all afternoon, despite it being fairly breezy out. The lump (cowboy) presented no problems at all and I was surprised how little ash was leftover. The pulled pork was very good and I am looking forward to a great season of cooking. Thanks again to all the people who post here, the information has been invaluable. Next I'll be trying to get the stoker log set up. I've got to cook a brisket for she-who-must-be-obeyed's birthday, and with the stoker running the pit, I am sure it will come out fine!

Thanks again,
Keith