Ordered ‘the Stoker’ The Link last week and wanted to try it out cooking a lot of meat for a party we were throwing at the house. Basically the stoker is little box that reads temps from two probes (one for the meat and one for the pit temp) and then controls a blower attached to the air intake. The blower turns on and off to maintain the target fire temp. You can hook up multiple temp probes (both for meat or another pit) to the same box.
You have the option to control the box from your computer via Ethernet cable (or a wireless bridge). Some programmer who apparently works for MS wrote a program that adds more options like charting all the cook data over time. Found here: The Link.
I hooked it up to my big green egg and put about 17lbs of pork shoulder on at 6:30pm. Set the fire temp to 235F and meat temp to 200F. Since I did really trust it yet, I watched the thing till a little after midnight, but it kept the fire temp right at 235F the entire time with swings of only 2 degrees. Woke up the next morning and the meat temp was right at 195F. I was in a hurry, so I took it off and just wrapped it in foil then towels to store for eating later today. If you let it go it reaches the food temp, it is supposed to lower the fire temp down to match the food temp to not over cook. It also has an alarm and can send you a text mssg/email when it is done.
Went on to smoke some chicken wings and then roast a couple of whole chickens, but the thing never hiccupped once. Anyway, just thought I would throw this out there if anyone else was looking at something like this. The down side is that the thing needs a power outlet (I think a battery option is available) and is not waterproof.
You have the option to control the box from your computer via Ethernet cable (or a wireless bridge). Some programmer who apparently works for MS wrote a program that adds more options like charting all the cook data over time. Found here: The Link.
I hooked it up to my big green egg and put about 17lbs of pork shoulder on at 6:30pm. Set the fire temp to 235F and meat temp to 200F. Since I did really trust it yet, I watched the thing till a little after midnight, but it kept the fire temp right at 235F the entire time with swings of only 2 degrees. Woke up the next morning and the meat temp was right at 195F. I was in a hurry, so I took it off and just wrapped it in foil then towels to store for eating later today. If you let it go it reaches the food temp, it is supposed to lower the fire temp down to match the food temp to not over cook. It also has an alarm and can send you a text mssg/email when it is done.
Went on to smoke some chicken wings and then roast a couple of whole chickens, but the thing never hiccupped once. Anyway, just thought I would throw this out there if anyone else was looking at something like this. The down side is that the thing needs a power outlet (I think a battery option is available) and is not waterproof.
