Moving a Stoker question here from another thread.
Stoker question (moved from another thread)
- Thread starter Chris Allingham
- Start date
Luke G Chicago
New member
Ok, so I had a hard time with my stoker this weekend. I started my cook at 200 degrees and after 8 hours I wanted to bump it up to 225 which worked but the temp was not steady.
After 11 hours I was starting to run low on fuel and my meat wasn't heating quick enough for the time I wanted it to be done so I added lit and unlit coals and bumped it up to 250. It got even more erratic and the temp was never steady at 250.
What am I doing wrong? Plus my meat never got hotter than 180 and at 14 and a half hours I pulled it off and let it rest for an hour. It was still very good but why won't my stoker temp stay level and why wouldn't it get hot enough to raise the meat temp to 190?
Thanks Luke
Chris Finney
TVWBB All-Star
This is just a guess given the info you posted.
1) I would say you have air coming in from somewhere besides your Stoker causing the erratic temperatures you were having.
2) It would seem that your pit probe or your meat probe isn't correct. But you didn't say what you were cooking or how big it was.
Have you checked your probes in boiling water to check them? Did you use a different thermometer in the meat to make sure what temp it really was? Your meat probe might have been in a fat vein causing a incorrect reading.
1) I would say you have air coming in from somewhere besides your Stoker causing the erratic temperatures you were having.
2) It would seem that your pit probe or your meat probe isn't correct. But you didn't say what you were cooking or how big it was.
Have you checked your probes in boiling water to check them? Did you use a different thermometer in the meat to make sure what temp it really was? Your meat probe might have been in a fat vein causing a incorrect reading.