Stoker Pit Probe Holder

[Loquitur]

Hi!

I need a new pit probe holder for my Stoker since I found my original one in with the ashes when cleaning them out recently. I was wondering where that bugger went!! Rock's sells them for $5.00 but the shipping is $15.00 so I thought I'd check out what Guru offers. They have a probe tree which looks interesting to me and which would be roughly the same cost as the Stoker holder but I don't know if the Stoker probes would fit. You can see it at www.thebbqguru.com with probe tree in the search box. Wish I knew how to post the link for you - I tried to email it to myself but its not working. So, whaddayathink???

Susan

[Conodo12]

Susan, call the folks at the BBQ Guru and ask for Bob. "BBQ Bob" is his cooking circuit name. He'll get you the answers you need.

[mguerra]

probe

Go to Radio Shack and get a pair of battery clips big enough to clamp on the grill rods. Maybe take a grill with you. They are cheap! The battery clip will have a pair of tangs that are meant to be crimped to a wire. Just bend them down to where they will loosely grip your pit probe. That's one solution.

You can also just lay the pit probe on the grill when doing an indirect cook, I do it all the time.

If you are doing a direct fire cook, you don't want the probe or the wire exposed to direct fire. But, you also don't need a pit probe in this scenario. When doing a direct fire cook, you just want a good hot fire, the exact temp of the fire is not critical. What is important is the finish temp of the food; you SHOULD measure that with your food probe. I never use a pit probe on a hot fire cook, just eyeball a good hot fire and measure the meat.

Here's another observation.

When doing a low and slow cook, (which we have shown is unnecessary), the actual fire temp is not that important. Anything between 200 to 290 is fine for any low and slow. So your dome thermometer is fine for that. Even if the dome temp isn't exactly the same as the grill temp, it doesn't matter. It will be close enough. This is if you are not using a Guru or a Stoker. Of course for one of those units you will use the pit probe since you paid for it and it's real purpose isn't so much to keep the fire at the "right" cooking temp. The real purpose of the Guru or Stoker is to allow you be assured the fire will stay lit and under control while you do something else. Like golf. Or sleep. There's the real reason for a low and slow! So you can do something else. I sort of rambled there. The point is you don't have to clip your probe to the grill.

[Loquitur]

Thanks, Conodo and Doc!!! Got an email from Bob at Guru. He said there will be no problem using the Stoker probes with the Probe Tree. I've been limping along and managing without the Stoker probe holder for a few cooks but I really like the capability of selecting the height of the pit probe which the probe tree offers. A battery clip to hold the pit probe?? What an ingenious thought!!!

Susan