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Stoker & Brisket Fail - Enjoyed Brisket

WeberWho
WeberWho Posts: 11,008
edited November 2015 in EggHead Forum
My brisket failed before making the checkout line at Sam's Club. The package started leaking everywhere when placing it up on the conveyor belt. I switched it out with the last brisket. A little goofy looking brisket but I couldn't complain too much as it was $2.68lb for choice brisket. Plus I wanted to try out the new to me Stoker I purchased on Ebay. I also picked up the Dexter Russell scalloped knife on Amazon. What better way than a brisket!

The cook itself was awful! I was ready to throw the Stoker across the garage. (Just ask my palm sander last week what happend....It went airborne. The worst palm sander in the world. I probably spent more on sandpaper from the sander ripping it than the value of sander. It gave me the excuse to get a new one. Long time coming.) The Stoker had me thinking the same way. The Stoker would connect perfectly for 45 minutes and than eventually drop it's info and webpage. I'd have to go power it off and manually put back in the IP address. 45 minutes go by again and the same thing. I even cleared the database on the Stoker and reprogrammed everything with the router. Same thing. Would work perfectly for 30 minutes and would lose it's IP address or just stop loading the webpage. Other times I'd still have the IP address correct on the Stoker but wouldn't show up online. I slept maybe 4 hours between midnight and 11am. The rest of the time messing with the Stoker. My Auber Instruments controller looks like gold. I'm going to update the Stoker software and see if that fixes anything. It's bizarre. Works good until it drops everything. Frustrating!!!

The brisket itself was pretty good. Not the best bark or smoke flavor but was happy with it's tenderness. The point was really small. I cut some up to use for chili in the future. The flat was big compared to the point size. Good eats anyways. You win some and you lose some. Lost some sleep but the brisket was a nice treat!
"The pig is an amazing animal. You feed a pig an apple and it makes bacon. Let's see Michael Phelps do that" - Jim Gaffigan

Minnesota
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Comments

  • YEMTrey
    YEMTrey Posts: 6,829
    Brisket looks good from where I'm sitting.
    Steve 
    XL, Mini Max, and a 22" Blackstone in Cincinnati, Ohio

  • I have the same problem with my stoker. Mine will stay connected for a couple of hours but will disconnect. I am not sure of what the problem is.
    Garland, TX

    2 Large, 1 Mini Max, 1 Mini
  • logchief
    logchief Posts: 1,415
    Brisket looks great, remind me not to get a stoker, I have no tech patients anymore at my age.  My old palm sander did the same thing last week, hadn't used it in a long time, guess I know why now.  I had a new one, not sure why I grabbed the old one, that won't happen again, AMF.
    LBGE - I like the hot stuff.  The big dry San Joaquin Valley, Clovis, CA 
  • Hotch
    Hotch Posts: 3,564

    @WeberWho Which Stoker did you buy? White, Wifi 1 or Wifi 2?

    If the Wifi 1, it is picky on the WAP that you use. Cant remember but I think it has an 802.11B radio.


    Large BGE, MiniMAX BGE, 2 Mini BGE's, R&V Fryer, 36" Blackstone Griddle, Camp Chef Dual Burner 40K BTU Stove
    BGE Chiminea
    Prosper, TX
  • WeberWho
    WeberWho Posts: 11,008
    @hotch
    I believe it's the original black wifi Stoker. It works perfectly anywhere between 30-45 minutes. Out of nowhere it goes crazy. The Stoker seems to lose the IP address or other times just the Stoker info site. 

    I'm going to try the Stoker update available on their website and see if that changes anything. I've read that others were having the same issue.

    Could you explain a little more about the radio number? I get lost very easily with computer stuff. Thanks Hotch!
    "The pig is an amazing animal. You feed a pig an apple and it makes bacon. Let's see Michael Phelps do that" - Jim Gaffigan

    Minnesota
  • SciAggie
    SciAggie Posts: 6,481
    That brisket looks great to me.
    Coleman, Texas
    Large BGE & Mini Max for the wok. A few old camp Dutch ovens and a wood fired oven. LSG 24” cabinet offset smoker. There are a few paella pans and a Patagonia cross in the barn. A curing chamber for bacterial transformation of meats...
    "Bourbon slushies. Sure you can cook on the BGE without them, but why would you?"
                                                                                                                          YukonRon
  • Cookbook_Chip
    Cookbook_Chip Posts: 1,299
    edited November 2015
    My stoker II sometimes goes out on wifi, but I blame my router. Regardless if it's online or not, it sits there holding my temp all the day long. So maybe I walk out and check it every couple hours. No biggie.   Nice brisket!
    Lovin' my Large Egg since May 2012 (Richmond, VA) ... and makin' cookbooks at https://FamilyCookbookProject.com
    Stoker II wifi, Thermapen, and a Fork for plating photo purposes
  • 4Runner
    4Runner Posts: 2,948
    Odd. I have experienced the stoker (white), stoker wifi and wifi 2 and none dropped off my network.  I did assign it an IP...not sure if that mattered.  I would definitely update to the latest firmware though.  Good luck.  
    Joe - I'm a reformed gasser-holic aka 4Runner Columbia, SC Wonderful BGE Resource Site: http://www.nakedwhiz.com/ceramicfaq.htm and http://www.nibblemethis.com/  and http://playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com/2006/02/recipes.html
    What am I drinking now?   Woodford....neat
  • Tinyfish
    Tinyfish Posts: 1,755
    Brisket looks good.
  • 4Runner
    4Runner Posts: 2,948
    Oh yea...regardless, brisket does look good.  Nice job.  
    Joe - I'm a reformed gasser-holic aka 4Runner Columbia, SC Wonderful BGE Resource Site: http://www.nakedwhiz.com/ceramicfaq.htm and http://www.nibblemethis.com/  and http://playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com/2006/02/recipes.html
    What am I drinking now?   Woodford....neat
  • DoubleEgger
    DoubleEgger Posts: 17,125
    edited November 2015
    Exact same thing goes on with my Stoker. It's a POS in my opinion. I can disconnect the wifi and seems to work fine. Their customer service is an absolute joke too so don't expect any help from them. 
  • NPHuskerFL
    NPHuskerFL Posts: 17,629
    edited November 2015
    Brisky looks good. As far as the Stoker goes check your Wi-Fi settings at your router etc to make sure that at extended idle it's not going into sleep mode. I had this issue some time ago. Truthfully I don't recall how we corrected it but, it hasn't been an issue in quite some time now ....knock on wood. 
    Edit: make sure Stoker is up to date. And give Rock's BBQ a call as they may have further wisdom they can share. 
    LBGE 2013 & MM 2014
    Die Hard HUSKER & BRONCO FAN
    Flying Low & Slow in "Da Burg" FL
  • Hotch
    Hotch Posts: 3,564
    I have all 3. Once I got the correct Wap for the first wifi  Stoker it is all good now.
    Large BGE, MiniMAX BGE, 2 Mini BGE's, R&V Fryer, 36" Blackstone Griddle, Camp Chef Dual Burner 40K BTU Stove
    BGE Chiminea
    Prosper, TX
  • WeberWho
    WeberWho Posts: 11,008
    YEMTrey said:
    Brisket looks good from where I'm sitting.
    @YEMTrey Thank you!
    "The pig is an amazing animal. You feed a pig an apple and it makes bacon. Let's see Michael Phelps do that" - Jim Gaffigan

    Minnesota
  • WeberWho
    WeberWho Posts: 11,008
    edited November 2015

    Thecoiman said:
    I have the same problem with my stoker. Mine will stay connected for a couple of hours but will disconnect. I am not sure of what the problem is.
    @ThecoimanThanks for pointing that out. Good to know
    "The pig is an amazing animal. You feed a pig an apple and it makes bacon. Let's see Michael Phelps do that" - Jim Gaffigan

    Minnesota
  • WeberWho
    WeberWho Posts: 11,008
    edited November 2015

    logchief said:
    Brisket looks great, remind me not to get a stoker, I have no tech patients anymore at my age.  My old palm sander did the same thing last week, hadn't used it in a long time, guess I know why now.  I had a new one, not sure why I grabbed the old one, that won't happen again, AMF.
    @logchief I maybe don't have the best temper all the time but that sucker had it coming. It just needed to be trashed. I kept putting it back and saying it still works. Not anymore! =) Stoker has been a chore so far. Hopefully I can get something figured out here. 
    "The pig is an amazing animal. You feed a pig an apple and it makes bacon. Let's see Michael Phelps do that" - Jim Gaffigan

    Minnesota
  • bweekes
    bweekes Posts: 725
    Brisket looks killer. Re: the Stoker, and in addition to what others have said, check your router's IP lease time setting. Highly unlikely that this is what's kicking you off after on 45 min, but if the other suggestions above don't help, it's worth checking the lease time settings. 
    Ajax, ON Canada
    (XL BGE, MED BGE, La Caja China #2, and the wife's Napoleon gasser)
  • WeberWho
    WeberWho Posts: 11,008
    edited November 2015
    SciAggie said:
    That brisket looks great to me.
    Thanks! @SciAggie

    I improve each time but still have a long road ahead. Fun trying anyways 
    "The pig is an amazing animal. You feed a pig an apple and it makes bacon. Let's see Michael Phelps do that" - Jim Gaffigan

    Minnesota
  • WeberWho
    WeberWho Posts: 11,008

    My stoker II sometimes goes out on wifi, but I blame my router. Regardless if it's online or not, it sits there holding my temp all the day long. So maybe I walk out and check it every couple hours. No biggie.   Nice brisket!
    @Cookbook_Chip I hope I can get the bug or issue figured out. I can see how it could become a great tool other than just keeping the egg at temp. My $100 old Auber would have given me some good sleep
    "The pig is an amazing animal. You feed a pig an apple and it makes bacon. Let's see Michael Phelps do that" - Jim Gaffigan

    Minnesota
  • WeberWho
    WeberWho Posts: 11,008

    4Runner said:
    Odd. I have experienced the stoker (white), stoker wifi and wifi 2 and none dropped off my network.  I did assign it an IP...not sure if that mattered.  I would definitely update to the latest firmware though.  Good luck.  
    @4Runner Thanks for the input. I'm hoping the update might change something. Fingers crossed! 
    "The pig is an amazing animal. You feed a pig an apple and it makes bacon. Let's see Michael Phelps do that" - Jim Gaffigan

    Minnesota
  • WeberWho
    WeberWho Posts: 11,008

    Tinyfish said:
    Brisket looks good.
    @Tinyfish Thanks!
    "The pig is an amazing animal. You feed a pig an apple and it makes bacon. Let's see Michael Phelps do that" - Jim Gaffigan

    Minnesota
  • WeberWho
    WeberWho Posts: 11,008

    Exact same thing goes on with my Stoker. It's a POS in my opinion. I can disconnect the wifi and seems to work fine. Their customer service is an absolute joke too so don't expect any help from them. 
    @DoubleEgger That's kind of what I read before purchasing. You either love it or hate it. Not much in between 
    "The pig is an amazing animal. You feed a pig an apple and it makes bacon. Let's see Michael Phelps do that" - Jim Gaffigan

    Minnesota
  • WeberWho
    WeberWho Posts: 11,008

    Brisky looks good. As far as the Stoker goes check your Wi-Fi settings at your router etc to make sure that at extended idle it's not going into sleep mode. I had this issue some time ago. Truthfully I don't recall how we corrected it but, it hasn't been an issue in quite some time now ....knock on wood. 
    Edit: make sure Stoker is up to date. And give Rock's BBQ a call as they may have further wisdom they can share. 
    @NPHuskerFL Great advice. Thank you. I'm not quite ready to throw in the white flag yet.
    "The pig is an amazing animal. You feed a pig an apple and it makes bacon. Let's see Michael Phelps do that" - Jim Gaffigan

    Minnesota
  • WeberWho
    WeberWho Posts: 11,008

    Hotch said:
    I have all 3. Once I got the correct Wap for the first wifi  Stoker it is all good now.
    Thanks again for the help @Hotch
    "The pig is an amazing animal. You feed a pig an apple and it makes bacon. Let's see Michael Phelps do that" - Jim Gaffigan

    Minnesota
  • WeberWho
    WeberWho Posts: 11,008
    bweekes said:
    Brisket looks killer. Re: the Stoker, and in addition to what others have said, check your router's IP lease time setting. Highly unlikely that this is what's kicking you off after on 45 min, but if the other suggestions above don't help, it's worth checking the lease time settings. 
    @bweekes Thank you for the tip. I'll have to look into it. Just really kind of bazaar how everything worked so well and all of a sudden the webpage was gone 30+ minutes later. Something is not happy. Hopefully I can get it back on track again
    "The pig is an amazing animal. You feed a pig an apple and it makes bacon. Let's see Michael Phelps do that" - Jim Gaffigan

    Minnesota
  • bgebrent
    bgebrent Posts: 19,636
    @WeberWho?, sorry to see that your cook and set up failed you.  Pretty sure that won't happen again!
    Sandy Springs & Dawsonville Ga
  • Toxarch
    Toxarch Posts: 1,900
    Just send an e-mail to Stoker and they'll get right back to you... in a month or two. Their CS over e-mail sucks.

    I set my router to give the Stoker a permanent reserved IP address. So no matter what, it's the only device that gets that IP and it always gets that IP. Try doing that first.
    Aledo, Texas
    Large BGE
    KJ Jr.

    Exodus 12:9 KJV
    Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.

  • YukonRon
    YukonRon Posts: 16,984
    Low tech here. Use a digiQ 2. Mine has worked every time, with no issues. I lose sleep from time to time, because I mostly do night cooks. The end result is an awesome cook.
    restaurant depot provides great packers at a great cost.
    "Knowledge is Good" - Emil Faber

    XL and MM
    Louisville, Kentucky
  • Hotch
    Hotch Posts: 3,564
    edited November 2015

    Taken from a prior post by @DMW:

    Something else to keep in mind. The Stoker, as well as the BBQ Guru CyberQ are 802.11b only. You might want to get an wireless AP dedicated to the Stoker that isn't competing with and slowing down the rest of your wireless devices. If I ever get one, that's what I will do. Hard wire the AP to your router and only configure the Stoker to connect to it. This will also allow you to place it as close as possible to your Egg/Stoker. Set it up on a dedicated SSID and channel that is different from your other WLAN. Keep in mind with 2.4Ghz WLAN there are only 3 non-overlapping channels (1,6,11). Also, if you have close neighbors that have WLANs on interfering channels with yours that can cause problems.

    Also this may make for good reading:

    http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/comment/1819314/#Comment_1819314

    Like I said before, once I had the correct WAP, set it correctly I had 0 issues with the first Stoker Wifi.

    You could just go commando and not worry about the Wifi. You will need to turn it off in the setup as the Stoker will boot up looking for a Wifi. If not connected it will then switch to NON Wifi mode.

    I now have an 802.11 n/AC WAP (Stand Alone) so If I need to use the Wifi 1 Stoker it is either with a bridge or hard wired.

    I plan to give it to my neighbor once he orders in the probes and blower.



    Large BGE, MiniMAX BGE, 2 Mini BGE's, R&V Fryer, 36" Blackstone Griddle, Camp Chef Dual Burner 40K BTU Stove
    BGE Chiminea
    Prosper, TX
  • WeberWho
    WeberWho Posts: 11,008
    bgebrent said:
    @WeberWho?, sorry to see that your cook and set up failed you.  Pretty sure that won't happen again!
    @bgebrent Thanks! The brisket was good but the bark needed a little more work.  I put in 4 chunks of wood but could have used a couple more for smoke. Nice smoke ring though. Tenderness was the best I've done so far but I've only ever done 5 or so packers. Work in progress. I'm hoping for the best with the Stoker
    "The pig is an amazing animal. You feed a pig an apple and it makes bacon. Let's see Michael Phelps do that" - Jim Gaffigan

    Minnesota