Review of Rock's BBQ Stoker System

As noted in my last video I posted, I recently purchased a Stoker for my BBQ. The stoker is made and sold by Rock's BBQ .

The stoker is an electronic wonder that controls a small fan that covers the damper vent air intake on your smoker. In my case it attaches to the firebox on my off-set barbeque. The system can handle multiple sensors but at this point, I only have two. One for the cooking chamber and the other for the food. You program target temperatures and the system monitors and controls the air being fed into the heat chamber. When the temp drops below your target, the fan turns on. When it goes above, the fan shuts off. The really cool thing is, you can control all of this from your laptop inside of your warm house. For me, during real long cooks (like the one posted below) this means I get to sleep! I used a free program called Smokerlog. The link is available from Rock's BBQ's site.

Prior to the cook below I ran two dry runs. I loaded up the firebox and set a target temp. It ran like a dream and I felt very comfortable using it.

If there is any negative criticism I would say it's the instruction manual that came with the system. It's pretty strait forward hooking everything up, but there is no instructions on how to do it. I just like to know 100% that I'm doing it right. Another thing. I'm not some techno wiz and it seems like the instructions were written for people that are. A lot of computer lingo is used and it was all Greek to me.

One tip. If you are planning on buying one of these systems and wish to use your computer/laptop to run and monitor it. Along with your order from Rock's find and buy a wireless game controller also known as a wireless bridge. Trust me, the Stoker is much easier to operate using your computer and Stokerlog to set the temps than using the buttons on the system to set the temps.

All that being said. I HIGHLY recommend buying the Stoker System.