Stoker - Bringing the pit to temp

[James Harvey]

Hi All,

I've had a Stoker Black Box for well over a year. It was recently upgraded with the Wifi firmware through Rock's since the online download didn't work. The Wifi works great now.

My recent issue is overshooting temps. I generally try to start with as little lit as possible but I use a chimney and trying to start 3 or 4 pieces is tough. I've read about people using a torch to start a few coals but I've also read about the potential for flavour issues. I think this would be negligable but wondered how you all start your lit.

Any thoughts?

 

[Joe K]

James,
I'll list in steps how I go about.
1. I clean all the ash from the smoker and reload with used and new charcoal.
2. Light the charcoal with either a torch or Weber fire starters.
3. When I'm sure the charcoals have started I'll load the smoker with my food.
4. Start the Stoker with a target pit temperature 25° to 50° lower.
5. As the temps overshoot I'll keep increasing the target temp until I reach my goal.

Here's a graph of one of my cooks;

 

[Ryan N.]

I light 9-10 using a weber chimney with a 6" metal ducting pipe inside to keep those coals a bit closer together you can find them at any home improvement store for a couple of bucks. As to over shooting,I had the same frustrating problem. How do you have your top vent set? I have found that if I had mine closed to much that temps would bounce up and down by 10-15 degrees of target. By opening top vent about 3/4 open it usaully comes right up to temp and holds within 5 deg. Try tinkering with top vent a little till you find what works for you. Good luck.

 

[Amir]

I have seen that many times. The solution to it is easy. Instead of programming the target temp as you do now, drop it by 10 or 20 degrees. So if you need 270, set it to 250. Let it get there and if it overshoots, it is still fine. Once there, set it to the target you want.

I plan to automate this in stokerlog at some point but for now, this is the way I handle it.