Decided to upgrade from Auber to Stoker


 
J

James Jacobson

TVWBB Fan
I definitely admit being a "gadget" kind of person, so I guess I just couldn't stand seeing all the neat things some of you guys do with the Stoker and Stokerlog. I do a lot of overnight smokes and I would like to know how things progressed. I am an ex-Info. Technology worker so I am somewhat of a data and tech-head as well.

So, I decided to upgrade from the Auber and the Maverick to the WiFi Stoker. Ordered it about a week ago, and I can't wait to give it a spin.

Anyone else start with one type of ATC and switch to another? I am curious of what changed and/or (hopefully) improved moving to Stoker?

Thanks,
James
 
Got notice that the Stoker system shipped on Monday 5/7/12. Should have it by Friday.

I will sell the Auber and the Maverick if anyone is interested.
 
My buddy Ed C. who is on this forum went from a Guru to a Stoker. Maybe he'll drop in and give you his thoughts.
 
Got the Stoker today. Someone out here was complaining about slow delivery...I ordered online on May 2nd and got it today, a day earlier than Fedex predicted. I got it hooked up to my wireless network and took it for a practice spin. WOW. I got the 10 CFM fan as recommended for the WSM 22.5" and it obviously has a lot more power than the 6.5 CFM fan I had with the Auber. I also fired up Stokerlog and ran it for a few minutes with my new configuration. This is gonna be AWESOME...

I do want to sell my Auber and hopefully my Maverick as well. The Auber did fine with low-temp (< 275 degrees) smokes on the 22.5". If you have an 18" it will probably do high-temp smokes. I will post something on the trading post.
 
Cool stuff James. Enjoy your new toy (cough cough) I mean smoking tool
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Ok, I did my first smoke with the Stoker this past weekend. I did STL cut ribs because I wasn't ready to do an overnight (and didn't really have time.) My first observations:

* Setting up the fan was a little tricky. I should have set it up before I loaded the charcoal...the charcoal ring got in the way when I was putting the hardware in the vent to hold the adapter. Also, the hardware just BARELY was long enough to stick out of the hole so I could screw on the washer and wing nut. Finally, the adapter didn't fit very tight against the bowl of the WSM so I felt there was some air leakage. Does anyone have the same problem? After I shut down the Stoker the WSM stayed hot/warm for almost another 10 hours, even though everything on the bottom was closed. I'm thinking next smoke I will stuff some aluminum foil around the top of the adapter to seal it better.

* The Stokerlog program is very cool. I got things stabilized and left for a few hours. It was so cool to come back and see the chart of what had happened.

* The stoker was very stable. It got the temp set, and stayed within a degree or two almost the entire 8 hour smoke (I did the ribs at 225.) With the Auber (and, admittedly, a smaller fan) I often observed the temp drop drastically, and the Auber struggle to catch up, then overshoot. That could easily have been that the bigger fan was needed on the WSM 22.

* The Stokerlog tells you when the fan is blowing (and graphs it) so I could see what the device was doing to control the temp without going outside. With the Auber I would see the temp change, and go outside to see what the heck was going on. Far more information available with the Stoker. I didn't monitor food temp so I'm curious to do Pork Butt or Brisket and chart food temp as well.

* I set up Twitter but it wasn't working. I got everything working on my wireless network, but didn't enable remote access. One thing...the documentation doesn't tell what the default password is for making my Stoker's Web server read-only...anyone know? I searched Rock's and also this site. I can't find that info anywhere.

Thanks,
James
 
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