jdbower

And perhaps just as importantly, does it fit in the 19.5" upper grill?

The goal of having the holes on the bottom is to direct the smoke back into the fire where more volatiles can burn off. This smooths out the flavor of the smoke and produces a different effect than letting it leak out the top seal.

Re: Stoker pearls

Also check how you're lighting the fire. If you're using a torch or chimney you may not want to light as much. If you're using the propane burner you may want to turn it off after you get to 150-175 or so, otherwise you'll overshoot and need to wait for the temps to drop down again. Finally, make sure you've got the fan installed correctly, there should be a flap that drops down when it stops blowing. If you look into the fan when it's off you should be able to see the flap and how it works.

A little further research found this model at Jameco which is the same power supply that Rock ships out.

You can try stopping by Radio Shack, they've got a variety of plugs that you can try out to find the right style and they should have a 2A 5V power supply for you. Note that the Stoker is labeled as 2A@5V but the included power supply is overrated and supports 6A@5V. DJ, the reason for the EEPROM is because the Stoker has a bus mechanism that's pretty much infinitely expandable. You can plug the fan in anywhere and use as many fans as you like, so they need to be able to be properly identified by the system before they can be recognized and addressed.

A decent idea, DJ, but I think the Stoker is a 5V system while the Guru is a 12V system so you'd need a voltage conversion for it to work properly. The Stoker uses a 1/4" plug for both fans and probes, but has a proprietary EEPROM embedded in the connector to let the Stoker know that it's a fan and to give it a serial number.

I never have an issue with slow ramp downs - just pop it into the 19.5" at 500F and then transfer to the 23" at a lower temp. You just need to get a second one to get things working properly

Congrats! If they're moving it by hand I'd recommend emptying it out first to make it lighter. You can also remove the lid (both making it lighter and less top heavy). Finally, the crate materials may not be the strongest stuff out there (although Dennis' crates are pretty darn sturdy!) so I'd probably double up on the siderails, if you don't have 2x4s handy use a pair of the side supports on either side for a little more strength. And wrap them in a moving blanket of some sort to protect the tiles - one of our members learned that lesson.

Looks nice! Remember there aren't many stresses that go on other than vibration and worst case if the fan falls out and the fire may die (assuming you've got the top mostly closed) - if it's a snug fit you may be ready for a test run even without the muffler tape. Just keep an eye on the StokerLog graph and if the fan stays on with the fire dying off you may need to check on it. Of course, for an overnight cook a little security may be a good thing

As a temporary fix, I'd probably go to Home Despot or an autobody shop with the fan in hand and see if I could get a short length of metal pipe that fits inside the opening. I'd check plumbing, they should have copper pipe there but I'd probably go for the iron stuff they use for gas lines (seems like it should stand up to heat better). Car exhaust pipe may be even better since it'll be thinner. Depending on how good of a fit it is you may also want to try some muffler tape to keep it in place. This should be a serviceable cheap, temporary fix until Dennis gets back to you.

By the way, for the "fan stuck on" error condition I'd probably recommend the work around - just turn the unit on and off again and it usually clears. Rock's too small for the amount of business he does and it could be quite some time for a replacement. I'm also not convinced that it's actually a hardware issue; Kaytat is now has two priorities - fixing a StokerLog disconnect issue and fixing the fan bug (as per the 27 July post here) so hopefully a firmware update will get things running. My observations: 1. The fan stuck on only happens once in a blue moon for me. It seems to be related to having the Stoker powered on when I apply power, so now I just turn the Stoker off when I'm done and I don't turn it on until after the power strip has been on for a few seconds. 2. When you power on the Stoker make sure a fan is connected. The typical startup process should be that the fans all go on, then they all go off, then they follow the pit probe (usually they'll go on again, but I set my pit probes to 10F before I shut down since I've got two fans). If the fans don't go off for a few seconds you'll want to reboot the Stoker and try again. I usually keep a fairly close eye on things until I'm up to temperature just to make sure nothing funny's going on. As another tip, I've noticed that if my pit probe is touching the grate instead of the little probe holder it reads a much lower temperature so I end up with too hot a fire. This happens when the probe falls out of the holder, when I forget to close the firebox access door after adding smoke wood (only takes once to remember for the next time ), and when I'm using the Stoker for temps above the rated value. For this latter part, I just stick the probe itself through, not the Teflon coated wire that's the weak link. I've had no problems getting to 500-600F with this technique, but I also have a spare pit probe so there's less risk for me.

That's exactly the case here. I did my "naked" corn with chicken, IIRC, at about 300 or so and cooked it a bit longer.

You shouldn't need to worry about Port Forwarding for most home networks, that's only useful if you want to access the Stoker from the Internet (for example, if you have a smartphone with a browser you can access the web page from it remotely or you can check in on the status of a cook from your laptop at a coffee shop). I'd recommend downloading StokerLog here. It shows you a nice graph of the Stoker status and if you don't see the temperature rise fairly quickly or don't stabilize at the right temperature you may want to check the fan - but personally I've never had any issues. You can also see the little flapper in action by letting the fan cycle on and off while it's in your hand (obviously if you're not wearing glasses you could get dust in your eye, have to warn people about these things when there are lawyers about! ). I use a program on my BlackBerry called RDM+ which lets me see my Windows desktop without needing to worry about port forwarding - it lets me use StokerLog remotely which is much cooler than just the HTTP interface I always leave the lower damper fully closed when I use the Stoker. The upper damper I leave open quite a bit when I'm first starting the fire, but then I close it all the way and open it a crack once things get close to temperature. Hope this helps!

I experimented a while back with some corn four different ways: 1. Pull back the husk beforehand, wash, remove silk, put husk back. 2. Remove the external silk but keep the husk intact. 3. Do nothing (my "control" corn) 4. Foil wrapped (essentially steamed) I had the grill up to about 500F (direct heat, under my pizza) and put them in for about 25 minutes, IIRC. Corn #1 won out with a bit more of a smokey flavor (no flavoring smoke, just the lump flavor) and ease of eating afterwords. Of course, this was the most work beforehand as well, but it pays off in the end. If you like the buttery flavor try brushing it with some melted butter before cooking, but I like sprinkling a little salt and cayenne pepper on just before eating. Since they're in the husk they didn't really need to be turned but if you're buttering them beforehand it may help. I've also cooked them naked, with the husk and silk removed. It's a very different flavor and texture, but I think I like cooking them with the husk on a bit better.

It's 6mm

Re: nd the inside diameter is... 1.13"

And the height including the clip (not depressed) is 1.4".

Re: conversion Slightly off topic, but coleslaw is a decent side however it's highly underrated as a condiment. I like a nice spicy slaw on my chicken sandwiches as well!

Thermodynamics are fun! Have you noticed any irregular burning in the basket? If for whatever reason the basket tends to burn unevenly finding the reason for that and fixing it may help. Also make sure the grill is heatsoaked first, letting it burn for a bit at high temps helps to even out the radiant heat from the walls. Another option is to try to move the deflector around to see if that helps. I'd imagine that back would make the most sense, but it also may depend on whether you've got standard front airflow or side airflow from the Guru. You can also try a second deflector on the lower grill at the rear to act as a baffle of sorts. Finally, where are you cooking the pizzas? It seems a lot of people cook them on the upper grill in the dome. I've been using the main grill and haven't noticed any hotspots but I'm using a 19.5" and my pizza stone size far exceeds my pizza size so that may contribute. I also only use the pizza stone itself for heat deflection, I don't bother with a secondary one since the temperatures are so high.

Nah, he's just married and bought the KK without consulting the wife. Any husband who's made a large purchase knows what it's like being a man who's been hit.

Also found here but I decided to repost on the forums for posterity. Cherry-pineapple sweet ribs with Zin-sational glaze From Chris Lilly, Big Bob Gibson BBQ Makes: 4-6 servings; prep time: 20 minutes; cook time: 4 hours INGREDIENTS • 2 slabs St Louis cut spareribs Dry rub • 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar • 2 tablespoons paprika • 1 tablespoon garlic salt • 1 1/2 teaspoons onion salt • 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder • 3/4 teaspoon black pepper • 1/2 teaspoon red pepper • 1/4 teaspoon oregano • 1/4 teaspoon cumin Liquid seasoning • 1/2 cup pineapple juice • 1/2 cup black cherry juice • 1 tablespoon reserved dry rub mix • 1 1/2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar • 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic Zin-sational Glaze • 1 cup Red Zinfandel wine • 1 cup black cherry juice • 1/2 cup Rainier cherries • 1/2 cup blackberries • 1/2 cup granulated sugar • 1/2 jalapeno pepper, veins removed and seeded • 1 1/2 cup Big Bob Gibson Championship Red Sauce (substitute favorite BBQ sauce) DIRECTIONS Remove the membrane from the back of the rib. Combine rub and mix well. Reserve one tablespoon of rub for liquid seasoning mixture. Generously apply rub onto the front and back sides of ribs. Gently pat to ensure that rub will adhere. Preheat charcoal cooker to 250 degrees F. Place ribs meat-side up on grate and cook over indirect heat for 2 1/2 hours. Remove ribs from the cooker. Place each rib meat-side down on its own doubled aluminum foil square. Foil should be large enough to completely wrap rib. Mix the liquid seasoning. Pour 1/2 cup of the liquid over each rib. At the same time, tightly wrap and seal each rib with aluminum foil. Place back in cooker for 1 hour 15 minutes. While the ribs are cooking, pour the red wine and the black cherry juice into a saute pan and simmer over medium heat. Reduce the mixture to 1/2 cup (about 15-20 minutes). Add the cherries, blackberries, sugar, and jalapeno pepper to the mixture and simmer for an additional 5 minutes. Remove the fruit from the mixture, add the barbecue sauce and stir well. Remove ribs from cooker, unwrap, and discard foil. Brush the Zin-sational glaze on both sides of ribs. Place ribs in cooker for 15 minutes, or until sauce caramelizes. Edited to fix a typo and add a link to Chris' Book

Well, if you're happy with the grout color I'd probably leave it as is. If it does pop out over the winter you know how to fix it, since it's cosmetic anyway there should be no damage done if it needs to wait for next spring. My biggest concern with the JB Weld is that it may come up as a gloss black instead of matte, maybe if the grout pops out you can also try mixing in some powder (graphite?) to even out the texture and just apply it to the top surface rather than digging out the old stuff?

Some of it depends on the flavor you're going after as well. In Jersey often the best pizza wasn't the stuff right out of the oven, but the pie that's been sitting on the counter aging to perfection for who knows how long and then popped back into a piping hot oven for a few minutes. Sometimes I'd order a pie the day before I wanted it and keep it in the fridge so I could reheat it one slice at a time on my little oven pizza stone. Obviously some toppings work better with this than others, but real NJ pizza is great with just cheese