I would very much like to get a smoker. I've been using my gas grill with a wood chip box, but i think it's very inefficient. What would you folks recommend? What are the pro's and con's of the different types and/or brands?

1/3/2010 2:14:40 PM

i would primarily use it to smoke things like pork shoulders, turkeys, and sometimes things like ribs and whatnot.

and don't come in here with any of that "make a smoker using a flower pot" mess.

1/3/2010 2:17:43 PM

gas is the most efficient

1/3/2010 2:30:50 PM

Only smoker I've ever actually seen simply used burning wood.

I think that's the best idea...probably best flavor at least.

1/3/2010 2:42:30 PM

My buddy's dad had a charcoal one, my brother recently bought a gas one, my buddy's dad went out and bought a gas one. I like the gas one.

1/3/2010 2:55:49 PM

So wait...are you trying to smoke meat or cook it?

1/3/2010 2:58:01 PM

slow cook it via smoking? what's your question?

1/3/2010 3:00:14 PM

none of this cold smoking shit.

i want to make pork bbq.

1/3/2010 3:01:14 PM

There is no question here sir. You should go charcoal and only charcoal. Nothing replaces the flavor from briquettes. Only drawback is that you have to stoke the fire constantly, but the rewarding flavor is sooooo worth it IMO.

1/3/2010 3:04:21 PM

seriously? what about flavor from wood?

i'm envisioning smoking my pork shoulders for at least 8 or 9 hours... keeping charcoal going during that time would be very labor intensive.

1/3/2010 3:12:18 PM

Quote :

"none of this cold smoking shit. "

You say that like it's a bad thing.

1/3/2010 3:36:14 PM

not saying it is, but i'm clearly not going for that type of thing.

1/3/2010 3:38:12 PM

Clearly.

1/3/2010 3:38:58 PM

I enjoy my offset firebox smoker, and primarily use wood but may use some wood charcoal to help get the fire started.

1/3/2010 6:07:08 PM

big green egg

1/3/2010 6:34:12 PM

The gas smoker will be more consistent and give you the same final product -> Delicious slow-cooked meat with a smokey flavor.

1/3/2010 7:18:02 PM

how about "side-loading" vs "stacked" models?

1/3/2010 7:40:20 PM

I just used my smoky mountain weber to long-smoke two racks of ribs and a brisket over a course of 10 hours in 15 degree (F) weather.... turned out fantastic

1/3/2010 7:42:58 PM

my girl just bought me a stacked smoker for xmas. smoked a turkey breast on it the other night.

I personally would never go with gas and it's not too labor intensive. Only stocking wood/charcoal about once an hour. I found that Home depot has Hickory and Mesquite wood chunks which are significantly larger than the chips and worked quite nicely.


Now that Barbeques Galore is closed is there anywhere else in the triangle that has a variety of wood used for smokers? I remember they had multiple types of wood chips and chunk wood there.

1/3/2010 8:03:10 PM

I have also been searching for wood chunks

1/3/2010 8:15:37 PM

walmart sells wood chunks.

1/3/2010 8:18:26 PM

i have a weber smokey mtn (charcoal fyi) and I enjoy using it, but i've considered getting a cheaper propane smoker as well for convenience. the WSM doesn't require a lot of work once you get the fire going, but it takes more time to load the charcoal, get the first batch of charcoal going, reload charcoal after 4-6 hrs if needed, clean up / dispose of charcoal, etc. i think i would use a propane smoker more if i had one

For smoke wood, I haven't found any place near to get good smoke wood. my recommendation is to order apple and cherry wood on ebay, i got a big box of apple wood for like $25 which was a lot more reasonable than bbq galores was.

"Taste the meat, not the heat"

1/4/2010 9:09:24 AM

charcoal and wood impart the best flavors, gas is pretty good if you want a 'clean' meat (less smokey flavors) dunno about electric...

1/4/2010 9:28:17 AM

1/4/2010 11:26:59 AM

get a charcoal smoker and throw in some wood chips after the charcoal gets going, then add coal and wood as needed

1/4/2010 12:41:58 PM

I have one of those side smoker grills, i just start a charcoal fiire then throw hardwood logs into the side whenever it gets lite.

1/4/2010 4:52:19 PM

I've had a big gas grill for a few years but decided i wanted a smoker to compliment my arsenal. I got the Brinkmann water smoker from Lowes for about $40. I've smoked everything from sausage, turkey, baby back ribs, beef ribs, tenderloin, chicken quarters etc.

PROS:
-easy to use when you get the hang of it and doesn't take much space.
-retains heat fairly well when temp is 60 degrees or above.
-Plenty of space for multiple items.
-easily converts to a traditional grill when charcoal pan is placed at the top. inexpensive

CONS:
-temp gauge is worthless (only says warm, ideal, & hot),
-trap door for coal and water refills is small. You have to use a funnel to add water because of this.
-easy to burn your fingers on the outside door latch
- poor air circulation in bottom coal pan. holes can be drilled at the bottom to help but this isn't ideal if you have a wood deck.
-loses heat very easily in cold weather & tending charcoal can be a pain not to mention messy

PM me for any other info regarding this one

[Edited on January 6, 2010 at 11:12 AM. Reason : .]

1/6/2010 11:10:03 AM

what's the advantage of having a smoker with water and one without it?

1/6/2010 12:55:37 PM

a friend of mine wrote some software to monitor the temperature of his bbq smoker /nerdstuff

1/6/2010 3:29:58 PM

Quote :

"what's the advantage of having a smoker with water and one without it?"

My brother's gas one has a pan at the bottom you put liquid in and/or wood chips with the burner beneath it. I'm guessing the steam does something and usually wet wood smokes more than dry wood.

1/6/2010 3:54:23 PM

http://thewolfweb.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=579111&page=1#13365799


Pot smoker is the best way to go Mine has turned out great each time

1/6/2010 3:55:20 PM

Quote :

"what's the advantage of having a smoker with water and one without it?"

The steam keeps your meat moist and not overly "smokey". the waterpan also catches the fat and drippings so it doesn't spill onto the coals. you can pour beer, apple juice, or water into the pan. With the water pan directly over the coals it ensures that your meat is not exposed to direct heat which is essential to the concept of "low and slow" (as it relates to BBQ)

[Edited on January 6, 2010 at 4:25 PM. Reason : .]

1/6/2010 4:24:21 PM

Wood or charcoal only. Gas and electric smokers are for communists.


Build yourself an Ugly Drum Smoker. Load it once with charcoal, and let it do it's thing for 10+ hours. I love the hell out of mine.

http://www.thesmokering.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13224

1/6/2010 5:29:20 PM

^^ the water also stabilizes the temperature of the smoker. for example if you open the door for a minute, the radiant heat from the water will help the smoker maintain temperature instead of dropping quickly. i've read that some people just use sand instead of water.

1/6/2010 8:10:37 PM

Quote :

"Gas and electric smokers are for communists."

I disagree. Hank Hill is the least communist person ever.

1/6/2010 9:05:32 PM

I would go with the Weber Bullet. I use mine all the time and it works great.

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/

It really is one of the best on the market. I got mine from the amazon warehouse deals store.

If you listen to Alton Brown you cannot properly smoke with gas. As when gas burns it releases water vapor, which will pull the smoke out of the air.

Why the Weber vs the Brinkmann? Every review I read said to go with the Weber. The Brinkmann's are made much cheaper. Cheaper = heat loss.

In terms of wood. You do not want to use wood chips. You can buy wood chunks online. I prefer apple and cherry. I buy my wood chunks from Do It Best. They are hardware stores located in other hardware stores. Just google it.

Also, I use Kingsford Competition Charcoal for smoking from Home Depot. It is about the same price, but has some wood in the charcoal that makes great smoke.

1/11/2010 2:18:50 AM

I've had a Weber Smokey Mountain for the last 2 years. Highly recommend it. Also highly recommend you spend some time on the Virtual Weber Bullet website linked above. Has a wealth of information/recipes to get you started. Also introduces you to the correct methods.

There is no question that you should be looking to buy a smoker that runs on charcoal (or wood, but that's not as practical). If you use the minion method for lighting your charcoal, you can cook a couple of pork butts with no need to add more charcoal (if you throw 4 butts on there, you might need to add more charcoal in hour 14 or so...last time I cooked 4, it took 22 hours).

With the minion method, you load the weber up with charcoal, light 6-10 brickets in a charcoal chimney (you'll want one if you don't have one) and place the burning brickets on the stack of unlit brickets when ready. To get the smokey flavor you add the wood of your choice to the burning charcoal. This is only important early on (as the meat heats up, it won't retain the smoke...hence the red ring when you cut it open after cooking).

The Weber has a water pan in it which does catch the drippings, but is there for temperature control. If it gets to hot, you can add cold water to the pan.

Setup is a good bit of work, but once you get it going, the Weber will hold temparture for a very long time. I generally set it up before bed, go to sleep, and wake up the next morning with it holding the same temperature.

You will want to buy a smoker thermometer. I have the Maverick ET73 which I can recommend. Allows you to keep track of the meat temp and the smoker temp while indoors. Will also sound an alarm if the smoker gets to hot/cold or if the meat is done (you set the temp parameters).

I've cooked Mr. Brown's recipe many times...this will give you an idea of what you are in for...

http://virtualweberbullet.com/pork2.html

Some pics from my last BBQ...







[Edited on January 11, 2010 at 5:32 PM. Reason : edit]

1/11/2010 5:31:25 PM

Propane

1/11/2010 5:42:35 PM