mguerra

sizing When you post, there's that option "Add image to post" When you click on it, one of the options that appears is "Resize" Click on the up and down arrowheads, and all the sizing options appear. Including thumbnails.

good plan Good idea for those not using the gas door, might as well seal it up!

door fit For the draft door to seal properly, 4 things have to be perfect. The door itself has to be dead flat with no warpage at all. The door opening that is embedded into the body of the cooker has to be dead flat and square. The rods on the door have to be exactly lined up with the tubes. The tubes have to be exactly positioned so the door fits exactly flush when the rods are fully inserted in to the tubes. How Dennis manages to pull this off I don't know. My guess is most doors don't seal perfectly, but well enough. If your cooker can maintain the temp you want, with or without a Stoker or Guru; and if your cooker shuts down when you close your vents, then the door fits well enough. I wouldn't fool with those tubes, you'll probably make it worse.

Oregon Scientific Oregon Scientific AW-131 has programmable finishing temp, pretty heat resistant probe wires and excellent transmission range. It is single probe, so you use it for either meat or pit, not both. Of course you can use two. Since buying mine, I no longer use my Maverick. I recommend it highly. It does not have low temp alarms, and I use it with a Stoker and a Guru, which I rely on to control the temps, so I don't need alarms. It does have two talking alarms, "Almost Done" and "It's Done"; and a third beeping alarm for over-temp. Here's a link to the user manual: http://www2.oregonscientific.com/assets ... MANUAL.pdf

source So if you bought a spool of it are you able to supply it?

probe wires A number of the other BBQ forums have suggested wrapping probe wires in foil may actually be worse than no wrap. Depending on the model of thermometer you use, you may not need to worry about this. The trick is to keep direct heat and fire off the probe wires, and not exceed the max temp indicated in the documentation that came with the product.

power supply I have two Stoker power supply units. They are identical. One was just shipped to me Friday. This is the label info: MODEL: A602-05 25 Input 100-240 V AC 0.5A 47-63 Hz Output 5V DC 2.5A This is not a 6 Amp unit. The Stoker fan draws 0.57 Amp, or 570 milliamps. There is no manufacturers name. The outer contact is the negative, the inner contact is the positive.

Got it! I spoke with the BBQ guru folks just now and they are selling me a Guru nozzle/damper assembly for $24. That is cheaper than the Stoker adapter that fits the old KK 1-3/8 in port, $35. I will bolt this to my Stoker fan housing, thus enabling use of the Stoker fan in the Guru sized port! I did not mention WHY I wanted this assembly. If you want to order one to bolt on to your Stoker fan housing, I wouldn't mention that. My guess is that there aren't a lot of people who would do this anyway, so they really shouldn't care. So, this is one solution to the Stoker nozzle/ Guru port size mismatch. I would re-iterate what I said before. It is more versatile to continue making KK ports 1-3/8 inches. I have the 1-3/8 in port and don't need to do the above described mod, I am simply doing it to demonstrate it is possible. Plus I won't have to remove my Guru bulkhead inducer tube when I want to use the Stoker. I will post photos ASAP.

From the manual From the user manual of the Cyber QII: Ramp Offset – When the ramp mode is turned on, the pit will be ramped down to the Food setpoint + the ramp offset when the Food temperature = the Food setpoint. The default value of 30 degrees will work well for most cuts of meat. For instance if your pit setpoint is 275 and your Food setpoint is 180, the pit will be ramped down to 210 (180+30) as your Food temperature climbs to 180. We determined the 30 degrees based on the amount of evaporative heat loss in an average piece of meat. If you make this lower the Food setpoint may never be achieved at the end of the ramp cycle due to the amount of evaporative heat loss. If you make this higher the Food setpoint may be slightly exceeded at the end of the ramp cycle. 10.2.Ramp Offset Screen R M P O F F S T 3 0 D E G The advanced user can adjust the Ramp Offset from 10-60 deg F. The default value is 30 deg F. This offset is used as follows: When the controller is in ramp mode the internal pit setpoint will be ramped down from the pit setpoint to the Food Setpoint + Ramp Offset. For clarification of this feature see the definition of terms section at the end of this manual. So actually Big Poppa you are dead right, you could set the pit temp to 400, with a food temp of say 130, and the Guru WOULD ramp down. It's just that it would take forever for the KK itself to cool down. But because the Guru damper is always open, the fire probably would not go out. Interesting!

very funny Like George Costanza, "I will do the opposite".

ramp down I would think the time it would take to gradually ramp down from 400 to 250 would be a long time. The only way to do this with a Stoker would be to go out there frequently and decrease the set point temp by about ten degrees at a time. If you reduced your set point from 400 to 250, here's what would happen: the fan would stop running altogether til the temp got down. If you have your vents set properly, your fire could go out during this process. The top vent should just barely be cracked. The bottom daisy wheel should be fully closed when using a Stoker , so the only effective bottom vent IS the fan device. If this is a Stoker, it closes completely when the fan is off. Therefore you have no bottom venting at all. The airflow during the extended time the temp is dropping will be zero. And your fire could go out. The Guru may not act this way since the bottom vent stays open when the fan is off. A cracked top vent and an open Guru damper might allow the fire to stay lit. Regarding the ramp down feature on the Guru, it won't ramp from 400 to 250! If I recall, it's got a 30 degree ramp down default, adjustable to maybe 60 degrees max.

example I shut down my KK at 225 degrees 2 hours and 40 minutes ago, all vents closed,it's at 180 degrees now.

stays hot Ramping down from 400 will be a VERY slow process. The enormous ceramic mass of the KK will cool extremely slowly. If you have 2 KK's, fire one up at 400 and the other at something lower, and move the meat when ready. Plus, what is the purpose of the ramp down? You may be able to accomplish your intended purpose another way that is more do-able than trying to cool down the enormous thermal mass of a KK!

photo evidence Photo link: http://gallery.me.com/mpguerra#100189 BTW, how do you post full size photos in the body of your post?

result It came out pretty good. This cut, like the center cut shoulder roast, does not need an extended cook to a high finish temp. This roast is not perfect, but close. It's slightly drier than I would like, as expected. As with the CCSR, I cooked it to a temp a little high. I believe these cuts can be finished around 140, plus or minus. The soy/ worcestershire marinade is superb, melds beautifully with the smoke and the rub.

Bottom Round Roast I did a 7 hr cook of a bottom round roast. First I marinated in soy and worcestershire for 12 hrs, then applied a rub. Cooked it overnight at 225, indirect, til it hit 165 degrees. It's resting now. Then, AFTER the fact I did an internet search on how to cook a bottom round. Pretty much every recipe calls for cooking in liquid. Which I did not do. Later today I'll see how it turned out!

Sold OK, you sold me.

OK Well, I'll try it but it seems grilling is just fast cooking over direct heat, so I don't see how the KK would be any better at that. But I'm having a fantastic time with the low and slows!

The aforementioned F86 pilot and the MIG, not the best quality photo:

Finally I have my Stoker fan and Guru fan here side by side. The Guru nozzle/damper assembly will bolt right on to the Stoker fan assembly. You simply have to drill two holes. So, that is one solution, assuming Guru will sell the nozzle/damper as a separate part. Another solution is for John at Rock's to make an adapter with a 31 mm nozzle, which is the O.D. of the Guru nozzle. The Stoker nozzle is 32 mm O.D. Another solution is for Dennis to just keep making a 1-3/8" port! That, in my opinion is the best. We can then use either product, nobody has to finagle a Guru nozzle to a Stoker fan housing, nor would John have to make a new, smaller sized nozzle adapter. I humbly suggest to you, Dennis, you revert to your original port. I understand the attraction, functionally and aesthetically, to the Guru specific port, but the old port is more versatile. One man's opinion.

howdy Wow, that's a good looking cooker. My current stick is a Lancair Columbia 350 and a Grumman Tiger. Instrument rated non-military pilot. Service on the Stoker is spotty but it's a good product. Service on the Guru products is superb, and it's good too! BTW, if you've seen the MIG in the AF Museum in Dayton, my dad was the F86 jock who accepted the surrender, and had trained guns on him as he taxied up, but there was a ground interlock so he couldn't fire. Good thing for the MIG driver, as it turned out! And for us too, since we got to examine and fly that bird thereafter.

no links Yes, it was the link to the KK forum specifically. But they didn't kick me out, just said don't link to competitors forums. That's fine, I suppose. Primo pays for the forum and they can set their guidelines, it's OK. But I much prefer Dennis' philosophy!

they seem a little paranoid My guess is most Primo buyers would be put off by the price of KK; they shouldn't worry over there that they are going to lose customers. There is a price point for every buyer, and those who really want and can afford a KK are going to get one. Far more people can afford a Primo and they will get them. Dennis has it exactly right in his welcome to this forum, there's a niche for everyone! And I was just trying to do them a favor by recommending our Johnnyboy to make them their covers!

I surf the Primo forums daily, they have a lot of good info. Unlike this forum, they really discourage you from mentioning other forums or other brands of cookers. I linked to a forum page here recommending Johhnyboy covers and got quite a little scolding. It's really refreshing to know we can discuss whatever we want to here. Thanks, Dennis.

oops Oh, Tampa, sorry.