First Stoker cook, a couple of questions


 

LarryR

TVWBB Diamond Member
OK, so I've unpacked my Stoker and as with most software the documentation is a bit lacking. I have a few questions that I'm sure you Stoker pros will be able to help me out with:

1)The temp. probes have a clear sleeve of plastic around where "cord" of the probe enters the metal probe, do I leave this on? Will it melt?

2) When installing my blower I open the vent 100% thread the bolt/washer thing through one of the holes and do not block off the other remaining two holes in that vent? The other two vents remain closed 100% during my cooks.

3) How do I build my fire? From what I gather from other posts I fill my charcoal ring and place 8 - 10 lit near the vent where the blower is installed.

4) Heat sink. From what I've read here there is no need to use a heat sink, only an empty water pan lined with foil to catch drippings. But then I read something on Rock's site where he was using a clay saucer with the Stoker? So heat sink or no heat sink? I have a 12" and 14" clay saucer.

5) With the exception of associating the probes with the blower (which I'm still not sure I understand) I can control the Stoker from Stokerlog.

6) I know Ed C.'s DigiQ II came with the ramp feature turned on, and it gave him some fits with his first smoke. I don't believe the stoker has a ramp feature to worry about, does it?

7) Pit probe, do you typically mount under the top grate away from the meat to avoid drippings?

I think that's pretty much it for now. I'm going to go connect her to my network now and download Stokerlog and Ken's program and start playing with them in prep for tomorrow. Any other tips that you feel will help with my first cook would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your input.
 
OK, I've got the Stoker connected to my home network and I've figured out Stoker's web interface, pretty straight forward. Next I loaded Stokerlog, dorked around with it a bit and then adjusted my target temps, pressed "UPDATE STOKER" and the Status delivers back "Can't write to stoker." Weird, I'm using the correct IP address as when I hit "F5" it's refreshing data from Stoker. Not sure if this is due to the fact that I'm just dorking around with this, I don't have my blower connected, only the probes.

Also, it appears that my probes are 3.1 degrees off with the pit probe being higher. At the moment they're both sitting next to each other and they should be reading the exact same temp. Any thoughts?

Cool stuff so far, can't wait to do my smoke tomorrow. Night all!
 
Larry,

So many questions, so little time.

The first thing you should do with your stoker is calibrate the probes. Leave the silicone sleeves on, it only came on the control/fire probe with mine. When you calibrate the probes, use boiling water, and put only half the probe in the water. If you submerge the connection, it ruins the probe. Calibration instructions are in the manual. For the exact temp that water boils in your area, search the post, there is a web site that can tell you. It's 212 at sea level 210 here at 950' above so if you're close to either one, guess at it.

On the interface communication problem... Open IE and type in the Stoker IP address in the IE address. just use the IP address 192.168.1.101 or whatever it is. Change something and see if that will update, the try StokerLog again.

Blower association. As the temperature of your cooking area nears your desired temperate, the fan slows down and when it arrives, it stops. The stoker needs to know which probe is controlling the blower. I think it's given the name "control" from the factory. Unplug the rest and you'll know. Make sure you associate the blower with your control probe and not the food probe. Remember, the Stoker can handle multiple blowers and probes even though you have only one blower and control probe. Mount this control probe close to( >= 1" ) , but not touching your meat.

I would make your stoker address static you'll always be sure what it is.

Make sure all other air sources on your cooker are blocked, closed, and sealed. The only air that should get to the fire should be from the blower fan. That'll stop wild temperature fluctuations. Keep you lid on at all times except to add/remove/baste/etc your meat.

Start the fire in your normal method, small fire for low and slow. The foil, water, or Terra Cotta acts as a heat shield and a drip pan. It's a personal preference kind of thing. Since the stoker is controlling the temp and no the mass of water, there is no need for the water....

Communication problems?? You shouldn't have any problems once established. If your game device has a power saving feature, turn it off. If you're still having problems updating to the stoker, bring it inside with one probe and plug it directly and see if the problem goes away. If it does, you'll know where the problem lies.

That should give you some smoked food for thought.....
 
Ken, thanks for your help here.

Unfortunately my manual does not contain any reference to calibrating your probes. I checked the 2.0 manual on-line and it's the same manual I received with my Stoker. Does anyone have a link to information on how to calibrate? I thought I read these came factory calibrated, but when I look at the Stoker status sheet that came with my Stoker it clearly shows that the two probes are off by 3.9 degrees when printed(from each other).

Interface communication problem; I was using the correct IP, it worked and then it wouldn't work, same IP . . . when I was experiencing this problem my Stoker was hard wired to my router.

I think I follow you on the association of the blower with the food probe/sensor. That's done on the Stoker Status Page, correct?

I've made the Stoker status static and added it's MAC address to my "allowed" MACS. I can very easily look-up the IP from my DHCP Table when connected but figured it would be one less step I'd have to do if I made her static.

So I don't need to place the lit near my blower so it will "creep" across the ring? I usually just start with a coffee can MM, that will work just fine?

I found the answers to number 5 and 6.

Another question, can I use a cross over cable with my Stoker? I don't know why not.

Lastly, in the back of my manual there's a FAQ section. What's odd is there's only on question listed, I have to admit I chuckled a bit here. There are so many great FAQ's here on this site, why hasn't Stoker picked up a few of these and put them in the back of his manual? Also, there's it seems like the info. contained here (and I'm sure there are other sites like this that discuss the Stoker) has great potential for a knowledgebase system for his website, why not leverage it? Just wondering . . . I'm off to try and figure out how to calibrate this damn thing without any instructions grrrrrrrrrr
 
As Ken mentioned, keep the plastic sleeve on. It is a silicone "strain relief" for the probe.

As you mentioned, I would keep the grill temp probe a little bit away from the food, but I keep it in an area above the heat shield and not in an area directly above the fire.

"Ramp Mode" - the Stoker "out of the box" does not have ramp mode, but Amir's application adds that capability (although most people don't use this and you'll be watching this cook so closely, you won't need it).

By the number of questions you have asked, it sounds like you are jumping into the deep end. Here is my recommendation for your first cook...

1. Don't worry about calibrations for your first cook. Even if the temperature probes are off by 3 degrees, it will be "close enough" and more accurate than any cook you have done to date (you can dial those in later).

2. Ribs are a great first cook as you will only use the blower and the grill temp probe (don't have to worry about the meat temp probe this time).

3. Setup and monitor your first cook via the Stoker web page. Get your first cook under your belt, understand how it works and then add Amir and Ken's applications. A lot of us are really lucky as we used the Stoker "out of the box" for a while and then were introduced to Amir's application as he developed it. The first version had a lot less functionaltiy and evolved over time.

4. By not focusing on Amir and Ken's applications, you can focus on getting the probes in place, getting the fire started, getting the blower in place and adjusting the vents where they need to be.

If you do decide to hook up everything at once and have questions, please post your questions here and we'll all help you get through it!

BTW, with calibrating the probes, you measure the probe in boiling water and enter an "offset" calibration in the stoker menus. I recall that people suggest getting the water into a roaring boil, only put the tip of the probe in water and make sure that you put it in the water in the center of the pan without touching the pan itself. Oh, hard-core people look up what water boils at for their elevation. Sea-level is at 212 F.

Have fun!
(BTW, where in CA are you located?)
 
Thanks A., My middle name should be "deep end." I hate to say this but I'm a glutton for punishment so I'm probably going to bite off the whole thing at once (even getting this thing working on my Treo if possible). I do understand your point though in terms of starting with the basics, getting my arms around how it works and then going from there. With this said, I apprecite your offer to assist even though I'm not taking your advice . . . not many people would do this . . . against their advice.

So there's an offset somewhere in the series of stoker menus? I have the ET-73 and she's dead nutz on so I can calibrate to that using boiling water.

I'm located in the Central Valley, Fresno. Used to be up by you in San Mateo but left in 2001 . . . just before the bottom fell out of the .bombs. I'm often back there for business and it's odd driving around some of the old offices I used to visit and seeing them still empty . . . it's not as bad as right after I left though. The .bomb era was a fun time, we spent VC money like crazy back then, there were never so many "paper" millionaires as back then huh, had to love those stock options? Those were the days. I managed the Silicon Valley territory for a embedded Linux company, very cool technology but way before it's time, company ended up being parted out with the main portion going to Motorola.
 
Page 20 in the "Ver .5 Software" manual has how to set the probe calibration. It is the "Cal" menu item. The very last page of my manual had the calibration numbers written there. While I have never done this, it seems like you measure how far off it is from boiling and enter that "offset" number to 32. I believe you access the "Cal" menu on the Stoker (directly on the unit) by Main Temp, Temp Control, "Sensor Name you are adjusting", Cal. Remember to "Commit" after you set it.

BTW, I would jump into the deep end too! What are you using for rub and smoking process?
 
I'll download .5 manual and go from there.

Change in plans; I'm having issues with my wireless gaming adapter and rather than dorking with that and hearing all night from the SO, "is it done yet, when are we going to eat, you said they'd be done by 7 p.m, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." I'm going to calibrate my pit probe and get these ribs on. Then rather than screwing with the wireless gaming adapter I have an old Linksys WRT54GC compact wireless router laying around that I'm pretty sure I can setup to run as a bridge and connect to my stoker. Anyone have experience in turning your WRT54GC into a bridge? Looks like there's lots of good info on the web to do this so I shouldn't have any problems.

I'm doing two racks of St. Louis Style Spares with the BRITU rub. I'll sauce one with Sweet Baby Rays mixed with Honey and leave the other dry. It's just the SO and I tonight so it's a good little cook to test things out on prior to Super Bowl smoke.

And away we go!
 
I can use a crossover cable on this baby, right? Maybe I'll set and old laptop outside by the smoker, run stokerlog and use remote desktop from inside the house until I can get this WRT54GC working as a bridge, which I think is going to be a little tougher than I thought. This way I can monitor my entire smoke.
 
I'm 1:20 min into my first stoker cook and everything is working well. I started my cook totally manual.

Looks like turning the WRT54GC into a bridge isn't going to work. So, I set it up to work as a router and plugged the Stoker into one of the ports and took a laptop out to the backyard and plugged it into another port and we're running a little network in the back yard. I'm able to connect to the Stoker directly from IE using the IP address assigned by the router, however when I try to connect via Stokerlog using the same IP address it says it cannot connect to the stoker, what give? Any ideas? I'm going to get this little setup working hard wired and then disconnect the cable and take that laptop inside and let it log wirelessly . . . if I can get Stokerlog to connect. Also, I have the wireless card disabled at this point. Any ideas?

EDIT: Update - The status is still reading, "Can't Open Stoker web interface (and then the date/time). However, it retrieved the the sensor name and temp settings and current temp from the Stoker. Any ideas/thoughts? She appears to be logging so maybe it's nothing.

BTW, it's a beautiful day for a smoke here, sunny and I'm smoking in the backyard with shorts, a tank top and flipfops on drinking a cold one . . . does it get any better than this? Oh, and I'm not dorking around with vents either!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by LarryR:


So there's an offset somewhere in the series of stoker menus? I have the ET-73 and she's dead nutz on so I can calibrate to that using boiling water.
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

According to the Rocks Barbecue site, you can contact them to get the calibration number for any probe they have manufactured. So if you don't know the correct number to enter, ask them. Now, if you've entered the factory calibration number and the probe is still off,that's another matter. I don't know if there is a cook-book way to calculate a new calibration number yourself, but you could always experiment by increasing or decreasing the number you've input, then recheck the probe, until you've got it as accurate as you want (or at least have both probes reading the same).

And, with the new 2.0 software, there is no need to "commit" after changing settings. It automatically saves the changes you make.
 
Larry (great name by the way). I'll have to give them a call on Monday as the food probe seems to be off.

At my altitude and baro. pressure water boils at 211.779. The pit probe registered at 212.2 and the food probe 209.1. pits close enough for me, however I'd like to calibrate the food probe. I'll give them a call on Monday.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">BTW, it's a beautiful day for a smoke here, sunny and I'm smoking in the backyard with shorts, a tank top and flipfops on drinking a cold one . . . does it get any better than this? Oh, and I'm not dorking around with vents either! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>


It's not quite as beautiful here, but its warm and I'm in shorts with five racks on.
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Bob, I think you're getting the rain we had all last week. Tomorrow's going to turn wet again so I'm enjoying it while I can. This has been one of the wettest winters I can remember here in the Vally.

Stoker is doing great! I lost connectivity between my laptop and the stoker for a minute but other than that we're doing great! Very cool stuff, I'm glad I purchased the Stoker.
 
Yeah, its been rainy all week down in the OC. Today was a pretty nice day, its just turning a bit cloudy. Supposed to open up on us later tonight and tomorrow.

Oh well I will have my ribs to keep me warm
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Here is my cook so far. The kids social schedule is too busy this weekend. My only choice to smoke was to cook them this afternoon and reheat tomorrow. I know I could monitor them remotely via my smartphone, but I can't flip them or foil, or spritz them from 20 miles away. SO in this case I am stuck.


Good deal on the Stoker. Did you think to set the Subnet mask on the stoker. I didn't do it when I first got mine and would get disconnects pretty regularly.
 
Nope, didn't think to set the Subnet mask either. I'll have to do that.

I just took my lid off to baste and turn my ribs, put the lid back on and I'm jumped to 275!!! Do you just wait for her to return down to the target temp? Crap, I knew things were going to good.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I just took my lid off to baste and turn my ribs, put the lid back on and I'm jumped to 275!!! Do you just wait for her to return down to the target temp? Crap, I knew things were going to good. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>


When the Stokerlog is working, Amir has a setting for auto lid detect. This will effectivly set the temp to 32° for 5 minutes so that the blower doesn't kick into overdrive.

If you are not using the Stokerlog then set the temp down yourself. Then reset it when you are done with what you are doing.

Here is my cook so far.. I love the stability I get with the Stoker.
 
Somethings not right, since I took the lid off to baste my temps haven't settled back in . . . and my graph looks nothing like yours. How do I export the file mid cook?
 
Larry,
To save the graph mid cook, just right-click on it and "Save Image As" Then change it to a .png format.

How bad is it? Are your temp all over the place? Or just running High? If its running high, what does the blower graph look like? Is the blower on and off? or off and the temps still to high?

If you can post the graph.
 

 

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