No Topic Thread

jacksonbrown

If I built myself one I'll definitely make a second for you but I don't see it happening soon :(
From personal experience, it very hard to keep the quality up and the price down on this gear unless your dealing with serious quantities. With niches like this there is some seriously cool shit we could be doing but the market just isn't there to pay for it.

GD50

@punkin .I hope you had your hand on it and was having a thoughtie. A PID controller on your barbie. These days anything is possible and only limited by your imagination but surely your imagination is running a bit wild. Still its your barbie so keep us informed and i might suck eggs later. Mind you some pictures i have seen of stuff coming from your barbie are pretty impressive and serious. Cant send email - Hows my 5" in glass parts price going. GD

punkin

Well it's not like i'm the first one to think about it, they are out there on the market, just a little pricey for me.

Smartfire BBQ Controller

Choosing the WiFi Stoker II Kit for your Barbecue

pitmasterIQ IQ130 Automatic Barbecue Controller

It's just a very long day doing a 12-16 hr cook, but after popping my pulled pork cherry i'm now convinced it's worth it. If i could do the first 6 hours while i was asleep it would suit me even better and mean i could serve lunches here for family and friends. I just don't want to spend $400 to get what i want.

I'll get to your pricing over the weekend mate, i have a note here on my desk to remind me :)

Kapea

Maybe you have an old toy you don't play with anymore that you could trade in for a new toy?

Kapea

Just watched an amazing ISS flyover. It appeared NW right on time and flew almost directly overhead. And then a spectacular irridium flare! Too cool for school!!

FloridaCracker

I have a Rock's BBQ Stoker and it works great but is pricey. I bought mine about 7 years ago and it was about $300 US. Used it for competitions and it works flawlessly. Nice because I can run if from anywhere that I have a phone signal.

punkin

Good stuff FC, love to pick your brains.

I read somewhere in one of the reviews that only one of the competitors actually had a flap to close off air when the fan was not operating.
I know some of the aussie guys who have made their own pids for kettles and UDS's have found a need to add a flap for closure.
I know my kettle seals well enough to go out fairly quickly, but my stick burning offset does not. Both however seem to need complete closed bottom vent at times to prevent runaway. I'm thinking it will be a fairly easy task to make a small metal trapdoor hinged on the inside of the vent though that will allow airflow up and stop airflow when the fan is off?

Also i am concerned, especially with the stick burners heat and the vertical nature of the kettle's inlet, about heat or small coals getting to the fan and so i am planning to run an extension hose between the fan and the inlet.

If you were looking at the options now, which do you think you would choose? Knowing that i have to smokers, but the chances of using them together are not really worth budgeting for even though it sounds attractive.

punkin

Drinking Horns @ Grimfrost

Kapea

Something I picked up along the way...

Handblown mazer by glass artist Edward T Schmid

FloridaCracker

Punkin, the Stoker I have has a built in flap that closes once the fan is off thus keeping any air from getting to the fire when not needed. It is a very lightweight flap, probably aluminum, that the fan pushes open and then it drops when the fan is off.

punkin

Thanks mate, can you give an opinion on if you were buying today, and in a home setting, which one you would choose? Stoker or Auberin or BBQ Guru etc?

Do you think it's worth the wifi or bluetooth alarms for overnights to double or triple the pricing or do you think you would just use a BBQ mounted PID and trust it after a couple of cooks? Maybe the chinese kit here?

punkin

One of the guys on the brew forum just opened my eyes to a very simple workaround. He said the PIDs have audible alarm circuits but he's never used his as he uses his remote maverick for alarms.

I'd never even thought of that, i have a Maverick with bluetooth.

Looks like the chinese one for me, hope it has a flap or i can easily rig one. Just have to figure out which adaptor plate.

FloridaCracker

Unless you absolutely need the wifi then I wouldn't spend the coin. I was using it for competitions when I couldn't leave anything to chance. An alarm would wake me up if the temp spiked or died or varied by 5 degrees. Nice for competition but not really needed once you learn your rig.

punkin

Found out it has a flap but also found the top headings where it has a bunch more kits as well as the one that has dual pids for sous vide that would work well for the smoker. Back to square one.

BBQ Smoker Grill Power Draft Automatic Temperature Controller For Charcoal and Wood Burning, Dual Probe, Programmable 4 Temp.Stages, PID output

jacksonbrown

Do these ramp the speed or just turn the fan on and off?
If you vary the speed and add a 'set and forget' ball valve like your smoker you shouldn't need a flap.
I'm tempted to hack a parrot with a computer fan on PWM.
I think it would be a lot smoother and more consistent than chugging away with on/off control. You may as well just plug a fan into something like an STC-1000.

punkin

The bottom ones and the 'seniors' ramp the speed. I need the flap to smother the fire or it will run away.

jacksonbrown

Restrict the inlet using the ball valve I mentioned just enough to kill the fire and prevent run away, then pull the handle off it and forget about it.
Then you can size the computer fan to force enough air through it to get it roaring.
It should run for hours with the fan humming along at 1/2 speed.
That's how I'd approach it anyway. Great in theory :-?

FloridaCracker

Mine gives a puff of air long enough to keep the fire consistent. My smoker is a gravity feed with a 2" ball valve and "in theory" once the ball valve is set perfectly it should keep the temp consistent. The problem is that any tiny movement of the valve takes a while for the temp to change. Breezes and wind also can affect the temp. I don't use the Stoker to bring it up to temp because it can create a forge effect and really shorten the life of my firebox.

punkin

Got a new toy today. Sold my 10+ year old Sunbeam Food Saver to a mate and upgraded to a semi commercial vac sealer.

By hell it's a damn beauty. Has pulse function so i can now marinade in bags, has a perspex sealing lid t aid in spotting that stuff. The monster weighs 8 kilos (18lbs) and is dead set a beast.

jacksonbrown

You got 10+ years out of a Sunbeam, wow.
I just upgraded from one to a LaVa last year.
Not so good on wet stuff but it certainly does suck!

Kapea

@jacksonbrown said: You got 10+ years out of a Sunbeam, wow.
I just upgraded from one to a LaVa last year.
Not so good on wet stuff but it certainly does suck!

This one's been going for 50+ years...

bbok

I need to stop coming here. For a free site it costs me waaaay too much money. Vacmaster pro which model?

punkin

Vacmaster Pro 305

I got it from here.

punkin

@jacksonbrown said: You got 10+ years out of a Sunbeam, wow.
I just upgraded from one to a LaVa last year.
Not so good on wet stuff but it certainly does suck!

Yeah heavy use too for the last few years. I bought it for fishing trips, a couple trips a year at 2 weeks a time plus meat at home. Since i've been brewing it gets heavy use on hops and now we're getting whole pigs and sheep and stuff and doing all the chacuterie it gets used a couple times a week at least.

The Lava ones look good but out of my price range and the main reason i went for top of the home/bottom of the commercial was the pulse function.

crozdog

@punkin, re your smoker flap (that somehow sounds wrong) can't you fabricate a vertical flap on either the fan inlet to the smoker or an outlet vent?

I'm thinking on a vertical plane so that when the fan is on, the flap opens, but when it is off, gravity kicks in and closes it.

punkin

Yes mate, some of them come with that and if it doesn't thats what i'll do.

jacksonbrown

Make one up like a truck exhaust. How cool would that be :-bd

crozdog

@jacksonbrown - LIKE!

LiHa

Hi all, newby here. I am dreaming of setting up a craft Gin distillery. Great thing is that I have finally taken a leap into the general direction. Now where do I begin.... I would buy GNS and then redistil. So have applied for all the licences. Now I wonder what potstil to buy and who is going to install it and teach me.... The last two I can resolve but advise on what you wouls buy if you were in my shoes would be nice. Say we start with the Dragon 380l potstill ...

Unsensibel

@LiHa welcome!

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