Stoker in competitions


 
MH Brown

MH Brown

TVWBB Fan
I know there are quite a few folks using Stokers in competition including myself.

I'm trying to determine my best setup which will probably come with loads of trial and error.

Overall, I'm really happy with the Stoker and how it performs.

I'm running into issues however and want to get some feedback. I searched this forum and it seems that there are mixed feelings on how to setup the WSM.

I'm using the following:
18.5" WSM
Stoker updated to the latest firmware
10cfm fan & WSM adapter
Pit probe
Kingsford blue w/minion method
Waterpan foiled and filled with water only.

My biggest issue seems to be a permanent temp spike after about 8 hours in addition to a large amount of fuel usage.

This past weekend I competed and after about 8.5 hours my temp spiked upwards to 300°F. I knocked back my lid vent which helped a bit but then I got heavy creosote buildup which flaked onto the food. Needless to say this affected the look and taste and ultimately my scores.

Not wanting to blame the tool, I'd like to see if folks have some suggestions on what I can change.
 
Mike, did you save any of the graphs that you can post?

One note about stoker: if the fire cannot be revived quickly, it can easily create an overshoot by pumping too much air. The reverse can also happen with the fire dying. I usually watch it working and if it appears to be getting to this stage, I manually override the temp manually as to avoid what is about to come.

Toward the end of your cook you may be running out of fuel, causing lethargic response to additional air followed by the overshoot above. Seeing the fan activity can tell us if this could be the cause.

Longer term I hope to include this kind of proactive temperature control to stokerlog.
 
Amir I didn't have Stokerlog running unfortunately. I had some trouble getting the old Linksys router working and didn't have time to deal with it.

I will be doing some testing in the next few weeks hopefully with the Stokerlog running. It was great to have the stoker at the comp because I got some sleep so I can't complain too much.
 
Got it. Why not set the alarm so that you can catch it earlier? At least then you can shut off the stoker should it go too much over target.
 
Get rid of the water in your pan, I'd say that your spike at 8 hours might be due to the water evaporating and you therefore losing that thermal mass.

There's no need for a heat sink if you have mechanically controlled combustion.
 
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There's no need for a heat sink if you have mechanically controlled combustion. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I think having something to retain the heat would ultimately help (though I would agree that water in the pan may not be the answer) reduce the amount of combustion needed to keep the temp up. This would then reduce the fuel usage and create a more steady flow. At least that's how my brain wants to think about it.

The added combustion seems to be a separate problem altogether as it's creating large amounts of creosote inside my lids which is ending up on my food.
 
I believe Dave From Denver has your answer. Water in your pan evaporating is the likely culprit for your temperature spikes. If you like to run with water, you need to be sure to replenish it throughout the process.

Alternative options are to run a foiled dry pan, run a foiled dry pan with a clay pot or a foiled dry pan with sand. The clay pot and sand will give you heat sinks that will remain very stable and require no in cook maintenance.
 
You might also consider switching to the 5 cfm fan which is the recommended size for an 18.5" WSM. The 10 cfm might be contributing to the temp overshoot, since it's blows more air than the WSM needs.

I have the WSM w/ the 5 cfm fan and it works fine. I also only use a foiled pan (no water).

joe
 
I'm going to toss my very, limited time with the stoker in here. I only have one cook under my belt with it and they were ribs.

Notes on the cook:
I was very, very impressed with the recovery times of the WSM. I would open the lid do my thing and then watch the temps come right back up with Zero overshoot. I was amazed that I got zero overshoot.

I even changed the temp from 250 to 275 in the middle of the cook. It was amazing better then my oven at holding temp.

One thing I did do was get the temp to -10 before I opened the lid. The lid detect wasn't working for some reason.

Thoughts on your problem
1. I think the water has lots to do with your problems. Water can only get to 212 thus it takes more fuel then a dry pan to get temps above that. When you overshoot is there water in your pan?

2. I also wonder if the 10CFM fan could be hurting. I have the 5CFM fan and had zero issues with it keeping up at 275. It got into a nice rhythm and just kept puffing away.

Again, take these ideas with a grain of salt I'm very, very new with the Stoker.
 
That was a question I had. The IQ 110 uses a variable speed 15 cfm fan. Are the fans sold with the Stoker a variable speed up to 10 cfm?
 
The stoker fans are not variable, they are binary. On or Off.

The stoker software puffs them when it's working.

That's way having the right fan size is helpful so the "puffs" aren't too big.
 
So I fired up the smoker and Stoker this weekend.

The cook was relatively short. I did not get the Stoker log setup so I have no data. That's coming on the next smoke.

Here's how it went:

- 18.5" WSM w/Eyelets as the only hardware mod
- Water pan foiled on the inside
- Clay pot base foiled and inserted into empty / dry / foiled water pan
- Single fist sized chunk of applewood that was relatively long ~10" laid along the diameter of the charcoal ring ****This swayed the results heavily in my opinion****
- Kingsford blue filled the rest of the area in the charcoal ring and covered the wood.
- Lit 20 pieces of Kingsford blue in the chimney and placed them in the middle of the charcoal ring right on top.
- closed everything up except for about 1/8" of the top vent open

A few things I noticed:
- Without the water in the pan the Stoker brought the WSM up to temp quickly
- Temps were very steady for about 4 hours as it was when I used water
- Temps evened out much quicker with very little overshoot even after 8 hours without the water in the pan.

Overall, I'm sold on not using water just for the simple science that you all have whacked me upside the head with. I was sold on it before I had the Stoker but the pot bases broke...grrrr

I think the next key to this puzzle is figuring out when and how much lit vs. unlit coals to add.

That huge chuck of wood burnt just like charcoal but when it was gone, the Stoker struggled. By then I was almost done.

Can you guys give some hints on when I should be adding fresh coals and if I should add just lit vs. unlit and how much?

I'm not looking for exact numbers as it's up to me to figure out what works for my setup but I'd like to know where to start.

Thanks!
 
If you're using a Stoker, the top vent should be full open. If the Stoker was struggling to keep the heat up, it was probably having a hard time getting enough air into the WSM with the vent almost closed.

I've gone 12 hours or more before adding any charcoal, after starting with just a half-dozen coals lit (and the ring otherwise full).

joe
 
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