What smoker should I get?

Alabamacoastie said:
Sorry brother... I still haven't bought one yet.

My friend from church was going to teach me to smoke, but he and his wife literally got covid 19.

So, I figure I can wait until after they heal up.

I've been doing some shopping for them and leaving it on their porch.
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Do some cooking for them... Between us and the interwebs, you can cook most anything. Trial is the best teacher...
 
For ribs or brisket I prefer the Pit Barrel Cooker
https://pitbarrelcooker.com/

A Weber Smokey Mountain with a PitIQ controller is my go-to for pork butts however.

My next endeavor will either be a RecTec or a ceramic.
 
Decided to get a smoker to get my fix without having to eat out. Pit Boss Pro pellet smoker inbound. It's fair to say I'm a little excited.
 
OK, i want a smo0ker too. I did a search and found this thread. Most of them are made in China which makes me sad. To get a US made one i don't think there is a reasonable priced one that i can find. I want to spend around $700 or less. I want a pellet grill, prefer a wifi hookup and granular temperature control.
 
Variable said:
OK, i want a smo0ker too. I did a search and found this thread. Most of them are made in China which makes me sad. To get a US made one i don't think there is a reasonable priced one that i can find. I want to spend around $700 or less. I want a pellet grill, prefer a wifi hookup and granular temperature control.
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I don't know of any US made pellet grills anywhere near that price. I still don't have a pellet grill but have a Primo XL ceramic. All the Primo grills are made in USA and their standard grill starts around $899 with shelves and cradle. If you want to build a table it's around $700 for the grill by itself. I have a butt smoking on mine now for my daughters birthday.
 
Timfoilhat said:
Decided to get a smoker to get my fix without having to eat out. Pit Boss Pro pellet smoker inbound. It's fair to say I'm a little excited.
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My smoker arrived from China (sigh). I just put it together in the garage and now I need to move it around to the back of the house so I can do the initial burn to kill off all the stray Wuhan virus they sent along in the box for free.
 
I'm going to speak heresy, I say you get an electric smoker. Hear me out.

I've been using a Weber Smokey Mountain for years. It's great, but:
1.) I'm going to move soon, and likely have to go to an apartment where charcoal/propane is a no no.
2.) It's a pain to add more coals to the bottom of a WSM, if you're planning on cooking 16+ hours.
3.) It's a pain to control the heat just right, 10+ hours in. I often finish in the oven, so I can control the heat better.
4.) For butts, I don't think you want to smoke it more than 6 hours. Cook it low and slow longer, yes, actual smoke, no. Otherwise, smoke can taint the meat a bit. So, if you are only smoking for a small portion of the time you are cooking the meat, why does the type of smoker matter? It doesn't.
5.) Electric smokers can control temp better, and add smoke just as well. Yeah, without charcoal, you don't get a smoke ring. But that doesn't actually do anything to the flavor of the meat, and you can still get a smoke ring with a electric smoker, apparently, by throwing a few pieces of charcoal in with the smoke box.

For those reasons, I would go with the Smokin' Tex.

https://www.smokintex.com/
 
Timfoilhat said:
My smoker arrived from China (sigh). I just put it together in the garage and now I need to move it around to the back of the house so I can do the initial burn to kill off all the stray Wuhan virus they sent along in the box for free.
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Yumm that Wuhan fla'vah! I have been poking around the internets for the last two days and i am sad to say I may have to buy a Chinese one too. May just get a Traeger but i am also looking at Rec Tec? It is partially US made but it is slightly more. Closer to a grand.
 
15909288625393428677879022882565.jpg mmm. Ribs. Maiden voyage smoking today. Got started at 0500 so I'm looking at results testing by lunchtime. Gonna be a beautiful day.
 
Timfoilhat said:
View attachment 218292 mmm. Ribs. Maiden voyage smoking today. Got started at 0500 so I'm looking at results testing by lunchtime. Gonna be a beautiful day.
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I want one that big. The pit boss barrel smoker I bought last year was a good deal cause it was stupid cheap. But it’s a pita to get a bunch of stuff in.
 
Well, i bought this thing. I went to Home Depot to get a Traeger but all they had were two of the smaller ones. We went over to Academy and found this behemoth. We used it Saturday and it did a good job. This whole waiting all day to eat thing is going to take awhile to get used to. I'm going to cook some beef jerkey on it today. This thing holds 31 lbs of pellets. It is very large. The ribs came out really good, perfectly cooked over about 6 hours. Chicken was good. Brisket we did was from food lion and was tough as shoe leather. My wife read the instructions and it says Brisket should cook 10-12 hours. I think ill throw it in the pressure cooker.

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Variable said:
Well, i bought this thing. I went to Home Depot to get a Traeger but all they had were two of the smaller ones. We went over to Academy and found this behemoth. We used it Saturday and it did a good job. This whole waiting all day to eat thing is going to take awhile to get used to. I'm going to cook some beef jerkey on it today. This thing holds 31 lbs of pellets. It is very large. The ribs came out really good, perfectly cooked over about 6 hours. Chicken was good. Brisket we did was from food lion and was tough as shoe leather. My wife read the instructions and it says Brisket should cook 10-12 hours. I think ill throw it in the pressure cooker.

View attachment 218599
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Depending on size brisket is usually at least a 12 hour cook. Sometimes more. I usually put mine on the night before I am going to eat it. You can wrap in foil, put in a cooler and cover with towels to keep nice and warm for several hours after cooking if it is done a little early.
 
Timfoilhat said:
View attachment 218292 mmm. Ribs. Maiden voyage smoking today. Got started at 0500 so I'm looking at results testing by lunchtime. Gonna be a beautiful day.
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My ribs turned out to be perfectly cooked after 7 hours at 250. I had a nice pink smoke ring on the thicker pieces of meat, and the thinner spots were solid pink. Tenderness was good. Easy to pull apart, but would barely stay on the bone just enough to make eating from the bone possible. The disappointment set in with my choice of rub. I bought some stuff at Costco that was salt based, and the meat is way over-salted. We ended up picking the bark off one of the racks and shredding the meat just to get something edible out of it.
Clean up was easy, but a little involved. My smoker lives outside, under a cover but exposed to humidity. I took all the pellets out and stored them in a food grade 5 gallon bucket with a screw on lid so the humidity doesn't ruin them. Maybe that was overkill.
 
Timfoilhat said:
My ribs turned out to be perfectly cooked after 7 hours at 250. I had a nice pink smoke ring on the thicker pieces of meat, and the thinner spots were solid pink. Tenderness was good. Easy to pull apart, but would barely stay on the bone just enough to make eating from the bone possible. The disappointment set in with my choice of rub. I bought some stuff at Costco that was salt based, and the meat is way over-salted. We ended up picking the bark off one of the racks and shredding the meat just to get something edible out of it.
Clean up was easy, but a little involved. My smoker lives outside, under a cover but exposed to humidity. I took all the pellets out and stored them in a food grade 5 gallon bucket with a screw on lid so the humidity doesn't ruin them. Maybe that was overkill.
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i’ve had my pellet grill since last Fall and leave the pellets in all the time. No issues so far.
 
CZfool68 said:
Under my deck and with a cover on it. So outside of a windy driving rain none should hit it.
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Mine's under plastic sheeting with the Pit Boss cover over it, but in the rain. Prior to the plastic I found the cover leaks. Probably prudent for me to keep the hopper empty, but good to know humidity isn't killing pellets overnight.
 
Timfoilhat said:
Mine's under plastic sheeting with the Pit Boss cover over it, but in the rain. Prior to the plastic I found the cover leaks. Probably prudent for me to keep the hopper empty, but good to know humidity isn't killing pellets overnight.
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Didn’t kill them all winter In mine. Keep it dry and I would think they’d be fine as long as it doesn’t sit dormant for too long. I use the heck out of my grills so it has been ok for me.
 
CZfool68 said:
Must be my brother from another mother. I’ve got 2 at home and 1 at the cabin. Now I’m on the waiting list for a new Santa Maria grill.
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What Santa Maria grill are you getting? I've been eyeing those to add to my growing outdoor kitchen.
 
Carolinatlc said:
What Santa Maria grill are you getting? I've been eyeing those to add to my growing outdoor kitchen.
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I am on the list for the small one the BBQ Pit Boys have coming out. Heck I might grab 2 if the pricing comes out where they said it would. I’d like a massive one, but don’t really need that much space. Maybe later for the cabin.
 
CZfool68 said:
I am on the list for the small one the BBQ Pit Boys have coming out. Heck I might grab 2 if the pricing comes out where they said it would. I’d like a massive one, but don’t really need that much space. Maybe later for the cabin.
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Awesome, I hadn't seen that one. I went ahead and got on the list as well.
 
@CZfool68 One is a mini max the other is a large. There are a lot of ways to have duel cooking zones. The egg it's self are affordable but the add on's become an addiction unto themselves :(
 
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