# Stoker vs Guru



## calebstringer (Feb 16, 2011)

Whats everybody's recommendation? Here's what I want to use it for.  I'm building a stumps clone right now.  So I will be hooking the fan up to the ball valve which controls my air intake/ fire.  I LOVE the fact that the stoker can connect to my interwebs for easy temp monitoring. I don't need a multi pit monitor right now.  But I definitely would like 1-2 pit temp probes, with 2+ meat probes.

That's my requirements....so whats your thoughts?

TIA

Caleb


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## SmokinAl (Feb 17, 2011)

To my knowledge there are not a lot of folks on here that use temp controllers, a lot of old school bbq guys here. I don't know about the stoker, but I heard a lot of good things about the guru. I would look at both & see which one fits your requirements the best. Good luck & let us know what you decide.


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## ol' smokey (Feb 17, 2011)

I'm assuming that you have a home network right now. The Stoker can connect to your network either directly or wirelessley. I have my home wired with access points that are near to where I do most of my cooking. I have used the Stoker on the UDS and the Big Steel Keg. Works great on both of them. Witch ever you end up getting I think you'll be very pleased with your purchase.

Joe


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## calebstringer (Feb 17, 2011)

Thanks for the responses   I like tending to the fire and doing it the old school as well. My interest into the stoker/guru is for speeding up the initial warm up, and for being able to keep stable temps if I have to be gone for an hour or two during a big smoke

Does the guru support net connectivity?


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## calebstringer (Feb 17, 2011)

well, I took the plunge and ordered the stoker....

:-)


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## SmokinAl (Feb 17, 2011)

Good luck, let us know how it works out for you.


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## calebstringer (Feb 22, 2011)

thanks! will do!

only negative so far is theyre saying 2-3 week delivery.... :-(


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## tyotrain (Feb 22, 2011)

I have a brand new Guru and have not even used it yet.. To tell ya the truth my WSM holds temp. so well i don't even think i will need it.. Maybe for them long low and slow nights when i have a pork butt in and want some sleep other than that don't' see me using it.. I will say that the guru is well built and the customer service is great..


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## calebstringer (Feb 23, 2011)

my whole reason for buying it, is for the large gravity feed smoker im building....cooking chamber of ~30x42x30 or so


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## SmokinAl (Feb 24, 2011)

How about showing us some pics of your smoker build. It sounds interesting.


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## tom37 (Feb 24, 2011)

I would love to hear which system you choose and how well it works. I am in the plannng stages of a clone myself and would love to have a temp control on it, just not sure which one would be better.

I would love to see what ya got planned. Stumps are awesome rigs.


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## calebstringer (Feb 24, 2011)

These two are pics of the frame work.  I used 1" square tubing for it.  going to skin the inside, sandwich insulation in, and skin the outside.  Its going to have 5 removable shelves and a 5" exhaust.  I hope to get the firebox built, and at least some of the skinning done this weekend.  i will post more pics when I do.

Here is the design im going off of for the firebox/charcoal chute:







Let me know what ya think!


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## tom37 (Feb 24, 2011)

The chute pic is exactly what I am planning. Mine will be about 4' wide with double doors and 4" tall. My plan is to work out the numbers so that I can use a full sheet 4x10 or 5x10 for the outside skin.

I am also planning to reinforce the chute area of the side wall so I can bolt the chute to the cabinet.

Looking at the pic, I am wondering if it will cause a hot side because of the length. I think I am going to plan my long like in the pic and if needed I can unbolt it and cut holes in the side and reinstall.

Here is a shot of what I am planning. With high hopes and a long summer I may have a chance. Its a rough drawing but its close.


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## calebstringer (Feb 25, 2011)

ha! ive seen that pic before, even printed it out for ideas! :-)

My only comment on your plan, is to include insulation around your fire box and ash box.  Mine will be fully enclosed for that, and should be alot more fuel efficient as it wont lose as much heat.  However, i do think it looks really cool to have the whole charcoal chute outside.  lol


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## calebstringer (Feb 26, 2011)

So, today we got the ash box, and fire box welded up.  Also got the charcoal grate made, and installed.  Heres the updated pics:


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## calebstringer (Feb 26, 2011)

steel hasnt arrived yet for the skinning.  hopefully early this week. However, I plan on getting the charcoal chute wrapped up and installed on tuesday.  I will post more pics then.


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## tom37 (Feb 26, 2011)

Nice work, what do ya got hooked to the other end of that mig gun I see sitting there?

I tell ya what, this freaking hudler who ever is really getting under my last nerve. For the last 3 nights I have responded to post, lengthly ones at that, and WOOF now there gone. 

caleb, I responded last night and now I can't even remember what I posted but I did. I even came back to it last night and looked it over again for spelling and it was here. Now its gone. Anyways, great work.

Oh I remember now. I do plan to skin the chute area of mine just not sure what I want. And how I want it. I need to be able to remove the chute so I dont want to trap it too bad. 

OK here is the big moment, lets see if this will post or not.


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## calebstringer (Mar 4, 2011)

ok, sorry for the delay in updates...been working long hours and havent had much comp time.  But heres the progress:

to answer about the MIG:







and this little beauty for slicing steel:


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## calebstringer (Mar 4, 2011)

and the whole reason I started this thread:













Weld on bullet hinges:







Door seal:


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## SmokinAl (Mar 5, 2011)

Very interesting design, been following this from the beginning.


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## calebstringer (Mar 5, 2011)

heres todays updates:


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## tom37 (Mar 5, 2011)

All right, just so ya know, for two reasons you are earning the YOU SUCK award!!!!!!!  LOL    The welder is #1 thats an awesome machine. And #2 is that you are way ahead of me on the build. 

It looks freakin awesome, I love it.

I called the metal supply the other day for prices on another job and about choked out when I got a quote on a sheet of 14 ga.  More or less its 100 bucks for a 4x8 sheet. So it looks like I am gonna end up spending around 250 to 300 for the steel I need for my build. Plus or minus of course. 

Then I have the insulation and the cost of bending for my skins. So I bet I jump up over 500, and thats without the stoker. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Keep up the great work. And thanks for sharing.


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## calebstringer (Mar 5, 2011)

lol! fyi, the welder isnt mine.  neither is the plasma cutter.  Its at my dads work, and since he's the main maintenance guy, we get to go in there and do our own projects.  I think I have about 600 in the steel so far..... more than I was expecting, but thats partly due to the fact that instead of 14/16ga steel for the walls, my dad ordered 1/8 plate.  So this sucka is heavy!!!!  Also, Ive been able to use a few odds and ends from his shop (such as the insulation) because they supply steel mills with different equipment, so they have alot of high temp stuff around.  So far, per dad's boss, its costing me some smoked duck, goose, and pulled pork.  LOL!!!  Fair trade in my opinion!!!


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## calebstringer (Mar 5, 2011)

last pic from today.  was leaving for dinner and didnt get to upload it first.  lol

should be more tomorrow.  HOPEFULLY have it wrapped up by Tuesday....have about 50lbs of pork/brisket/chicken to smoke for sunday


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## tom37 (Mar 6, 2011)

Thats still awesome to be able to have access to such a cool shop. The insulation is a fantastic score. Looking good, your in the home stretch.


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## calebstringer (Mar 6, 2011)

todays updates:

got all the skin on except for an access hatch were putting in, and the front face.  got the top, 3 sides, interior, and bottom skin finished.  Heres the show!

























thats the access hatch we're putting in the rear panel.  That way if I ever need to do anything to the charcoal chute/firebox, I can easily do it w/o having to cut the thing up.


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## tom37 (Mar 6, 2011)

Looks fantastic!!!!! 

When's the smoke gonna roll?

BTW..... I got nothing done at all this weekend on my rig. 5 weeks to go, Hope I make it.


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## calebstringer (Mar 8, 2011)

ive got more pics to update...too beat to upload them.  got the doors hung and sealed.  hope to wrap it up and get the latches, shelves, ball valve, and exhaust in tomorrow.  That will get it useable for the party im hosting this weekend.  after that, it will be back in the shop for hours of finish welding/grinding on the outside to get it ready for a coat of color.  Im actually going to put truck bedliner on it.  helps hide some of my flaws.  lol!


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## tom37 (Mar 8, 2011)

I think it looks great man. 

A while back I was reading a clone thread over on the prairie site where the guy used staniless for the skins. Then he polished it to a mirror finish, OMG that was cool looking when he was finished. Tons of work tho.

Your gonna have to keep us up to date on the maiden voyage this weekend.


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## calebstringer (Mar 12, 2011)




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## calebstringer (Mar 12, 2011)




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## calebstringer (Mar 12, 2011)

first smoke!

ran great! ran it up to 365 but shut it down cuz i started to  blow some spot welds on my exterior panel.  lol!

anyways, ill get more pics today when she's fired up for cooking! ive got 30lbs of pork shoulder, 25lbs of brisket, 20 lbs of chicken, and about 10 lbs of baked beans to cook for tomorrow.  yum!


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## tom37 (Mar 12, 2011)

You run it much higher then that and its gonna be like cooking in a microwave. LOL

Nice work, can't wait to see it all polished up and shining like a diamond.


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## andrew82 (Mar 19, 2011)

Man that's a serious piece of equipment!


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## calebstringer (Mar 20, 2011)

Tom37 said:


> You run it much higher then that and its gonna be like cooking in a microwave. LOL
> 
> Nice work, can't wait to see it all polished up and shining like a diamond.


lol tru.  The reason I did that was I love doing smoked pizza.  so if I can get it to 350-400, thats perfect!  Ive got more pics from last weekends initial cook.  Ill post them up here in a few minutes


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## calebstringer (Mar 20, 2011)

Here she is with the racks and stoker installed:



















and here is the chicken quarters, briskey, and pork shoulder


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## calebstringer (Mar 20, 2011)

everything turned out very well.  It fed 80+ people, and had rave reviews.  A couple of negatives though.  One, I didn't get a shot of the baked beans before they were devoured.  Another, I overslept, and so I didn't give it the attention it needed, meaning It was tougher than i had wanted... that was definitely my bad....

Fortunately, it wasn't bad enough to ruin it.  I didn't have any complaints on the food.  So far, I love the smoker.  I love the stoker too.  Definitely worth the money if you are smoking anything for more than just yourself....

Here's a question that brings this thread back around....after a few minutes of being logged into the stoker on my network, it loses communication.  Now, it does this via hard wire, wireless, indoor, outside, and separate computers.  Ive tried ruling out everything possible.  Windows firewall included.  I end up having to manually go into the stoker and make it re-acquire an IP from my router.  Again, just a temp fix. 

Also, I cant get stoker-log software to work at all.  it just crashes.  and it does it on two different computers, one running win7, one vista.  Any help?


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## SmokinAl (Mar 21, 2011)

Can't help you with the software, but I gotta tell you that everything you cooked looked very good. I can see why you got rave reviews. Congrats!


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## shogun (Jul 14, 2011)

you have to run "stokerlog" as administrator or it will crash.  Go in to properties of it and select to run as admin and it should work.
 


calebstringer said:


> everything turned out very well.  It fed 80+ people, and had rave reviews.  A couple of negatives though.  One, I didn't get a shot of the baked beans before they were devoured.  Another, I overslept, and so I didn't give it the attention it needed, meaning It was tougher than i had wanted... that was definitely my bad....
> 
> Fortunately, it wasn't bad enough to ruin it.  I didn't have any complaints on the food.  So far, I love the smoker.  I love the stoker too.  Definitely worth the money if you are smoking anything for more than just yourself....
> 
> ...


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## keymaster (Jul 14, 2011)

That monster is going to last a couple lifetimes, Nice work mister!!! I just have a primogrill and a Bradley smoker so I use a Auber PID on the bradley and a BBQ Guru on the primo on low and slow cooks. I like them both a lot.


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## calebstringer (Feb 16, 2011)

Whats everybody's recommendation? Here's what I want to use it for.  I'm building a stumps clone right now.  So I will be hooking the fan up to the ball valve which controls my air intake/ fire.  I LOVE the fact that the stoker can connect to my interwebs for easy temp monitoring. I don't need a multi pit monitor right now.  But I definitely would like 1-2 pit temp probes, with 2+ meat probes.

That's my requirements....so whats your thoughts?

TIA

Caleb


----------



## SmokinAl (Feb 17, 2011)

To my knowledge there are not a lot of folks on here that use temp controllers, a lot of old school bbq guys here. I don't know about the stoker, but I heard a lot of good things about the guru. I would look at both & see which one fits your requirements the best. Good luck & let us know what you decide.


----------



## ol' smokey (Feb 17, 2011)

I'm assuming that you have a home network right now. The Stoker can connect to your network either directly or wirelessley. I have my home wired with access points that are near to where I do most of my cooking. I have used the Stoker on the UDS and the Big Steel Keg. Works great on both of them. Witch ever you end up getting I think you'll be very pleased with your purchase.

Joe


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## calebstringer (Feb 17, 2011)

Thanks for the responses   I like tending to the fire and doing it the old school as well. My interest into the stoker/guru is for speeding up the initial warm up, and for being able to keep stable temps if I have to be gone for an hour or two during a big smoke

Does the guru support net connectivity?


----------



## calebstringer (Feb 17, 2011)

well, I took the plunge and ordered the stoker....

:-)


----------



## SmokinAl (Feb 17, 2011)

Good luck, let us know how it works out for you.


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## calebstringer (Feb 22, 2011)

thanks! will do!

only negative so far is theyre saying 2-3 week delivery.... :-(


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## tyotrain (Feb 22, 2011)

I have a brand new Guru and have not even used it yet.. To tell ya the truth my WSM holds temp. so well i don't even think i will need it.. Maybe for them long low and slow nights when i have a pork butt in and want some sleep other than that don't' see me using it.. I will say that the guru is well built and the customer service is great..


----------



## calebstringer (Feb 23, 2011)

my whole reason for buying it, is for the large gravity feed smoker im building....cooking chamber of ~30x42x30 or so


----------



## SmokinAl (Feb 24, 2011)

How about showing us some pics of your smoker build. It sounds interesting.


----------



## tom37 (Feb 24, 2011)

I would love to hear which system you choose and how well it works. I am in the plannng stages of a clone myself and would love to have a temp control on it, just not sure which one would be better.

I would love to see what ya got planned. Stumps are awesome rigs.


----------



## calebstringer (Feb 24, 2011)

These two are pics of the frame work.  I used 1" square tubing for it.  going to skin the inside, sandwich insulation in, and skin the outside.  Its going to have 5 removable shelves and a 5" exhaust.  I hope to get the firebox built, and at least some of the skinning done this weekend.  i will post more pics when I do.

Here is the design im going off of for the firebox/charcoal chute:







Let me know what ya think!


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## tom37 (Feb 24, 2011)

The chute pic is exactly what I am planning. Mine will be about 4' wide with double doors and 4" tall. My plan is to work out the numbers so that I can use a full sheet 4x10 or 5x10 for the outside skin.

I am also planning to reinforce the chute area of the side wall so I can bolt the chute to the cabinet.

Looking at the pic, I am wondering if it will cause a hot side because of the length. I think I am going to plan my long like in the pic and if needed I can unbolt it and cut holes in the side and reinstall.

Here is a shot of what I am planning. With high hopes and a long summer I may have a chance. Its a rough drawing but its close.


----------



## calebstringer (Feb 25, 2011)

ha! ive seen that pic before, even printed it out for ideas! :-)

My only comment on your plan, is to include insulation around your fire box and ash box.  Mine will be fully enclosed for that, and should be alot more fuel efficient as it wont lose as much heat.  However, i do think it looks really cool to have the whole charcoal chute outside.  lol


----------



## calebstringer (Feb 26, 2011)

So, today we got the ash box, and fire box welded up.  Also got the charcoal grate made, and installed.  Heres the updated pics:


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## calebstringer (Feb 26, 2011)

steel hasnt arrived yet for the skinning.  hopefully early this week. However, I plan on getting the charcoal chute wrapped up and installed on tuesday.  I will post more pics then.


----------



## tom37 (Feb 26, 2011)

Nice work, what do ya got hooked to the other end of that mig gun I see sitting there?

I tell ya what, this freaking hudler who ever is really getting under my last nerve. For the last 3 nights I have responded to post, lengthly ones at that, and WOOF now there gone. 

caleb, I responded last night and now I can't even remember what I posted but I did. I even came back to it last night and looked it over again for spelling and it was here. Now its gone. Anyways, great work.

Oh I remember now. I do plan to skin the chute area of mine just not sure what I want. And how I want it. I need to be able to remove the chute so I dont want to trap it too bad. 

OK here is the big moment, lets see if this will post or not.


----------



## calebstringer (Mar 4, 2011)

ok, sorry for the delay in updates...been working long hours and havent had much comp time.  But heres the progress:

to answer about the MIG:







and this little beauty for slicing steel:


----------



## calebstringer (Mar 4, 2011)

and the whole reason I started this thread:













Weld on bullet hinges:







Door seal:


----------



## SmokinAl (Mar 5, 2011)

Very interesting design, been following this from the beginning.


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