smokers Can someone recommend a good smoker ?

My dad is using that one, only been using it for a few months, but he fires it up every week usually a few times a week. He doesn't do any long 6+ hour cooks.
 
Well I have some lowe's gift cards worth a few hundred and they are so old it's like free money lol, so I will prob get at lowe's and pay like 200 for that so DEAL lol.
 
sinensis said:
as far as set and forget.. almost any smoker can be set and forget, especially if you add a blower and a control system.
 
i started off on a gas grill (the original weber genesis.. that thing is at least as old as i am, no joke) with only one burner on for indirect heat and a woodchip pan above that. it worked, but babysitting it sucked. i was about to mod in a servo valve and control system, but then i realized that was stupid, and i should just buy or make an actual smoker.
there's no such thing as something that grills and smokes well.. unless it's expensive af.
 
then i made a UDS mounted on a shopping cart with a control system. by the time i made it, there were several commercially available control systems for bbq, and i decided that it was nice enough and for a low enough price that DIY controls were no longer appealing. not worth my time to make something of comparable quality. i got one from bbqguru. now several years later, the number of products available has probably tripled. even thermoworks makes one now lol.
 
since you can slap a controller on almost anything, you have to decide on the style of smoker you want.
 
start with choice of fuel:
 
stick burner... more traditional, possibly best flavor if done right. it's the most work though even with a controller. need to maintain coals and feed in wood as needed. there are some attempts at making this a little easier.. look at https://kbq.us/product/kbq-c-60-pit/
since you're talking about feeding the beast, i assume you were working a stick burner of some kind lol.
i'd love to have a nice, insulated, cabinet-style stick burner someday. 
 
charcoal... less work than stick burner, but the taste is not the same. in case it wasn't clear, my UDS burns charcoal (with chunks of wood mixed in for flavor).
a buddy of mine just got the 22" WSM, and i got to use it with him a couple times. it's nice. holds temp decently well without a controller if the weather isn't f'd up, but he plans to add one eventually.
 
pellets... i've never used one, so i won't shit talk it. honestly i'd love to borrow one to try. people love them because they're very easy to use, but word on the street is the smoke flavor is more subtle.
 
once you pick a fuel, then familiarize yourself with the types of designs available and their pros and cons in terms of fuel efficiency, evenness of temperature across the cooking surfaces, food capacity.. do you want a cabinet, offset, ...
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I want to stay with a wood burner I usually just use charcoal as a starter then burn wood adding charcoal as needed .
 
This is my old set up lol
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Man, that thing is pretty slick. The ash cleaning feature is nice. Currently, I just pull the grates and the metal grease plate out of mine and shop-vac the old ashes out (usually every 4-5 cooks). A good time to clean any char that's built up on the plate as well.
 
It's my fave so far even tho I don't need wifi, the other features are killer and it's known to be a solid brand. Maybe I can wait for a sale. 600 = much! 450 = my range.
 
I finally bought a pellet smoker! Pretty much a Traeger rip off. Bighorn 711. 300 bucks at Farm and Fleet, maybe Fleet Farm, IDK. They have two chain stores around here and the names are Farm and Fleet and Fleet Farm. Seriously. It’s retarded.

I bought it last weekend, started putting it together and accidentally passed out in a chair and got eaten alive by mosquitoes in the process.

Anyway, did the burn off today. The temp held pretty good according to the probe that is attached to the pellet box.

All that said, I made a couple smoked chickens on my WSM today while I’ve been dicking off getting this pellet smoker going. I plan on doing something with it next weekend.
 
I finally put a brisket on this thing, hope it turns out.  Gotta pace my self on tippin' back the beverages.  Two of my buddies at work  who always like to play one upmanship with each other also bought some pellet grills.  One bought I think a Pit something from Lowes for $500,  the other went big with a real Traeger for $1499,  :lol:
 
I only spent $300!  And it has a dent at the bottom, haha!  But if it churns out edible food, I'll chalk that up as a win  :cool:  
 
brisket.jpg

 
I don't know if this pic will post.  Been a long time since I posted a pic here,  and been a long day too.  The pellet smoker did fine.  Great smoke ring of the meat, could have been smokier tasting IMO.  Whatever though.  I'm keeping it at this point.
 
If pic does get attached,  not a very good one of the brisket.  It was small, 11 lbs.  but also the spatula is just really big.
 
boutros said:
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brisket.jpg
 
I don't know if this pic will post.  Been a long time since I posted a pic here,  and been a long day too.  The pellet smoker did fine.  Great smoke ring of the meat, could have been smokier tasting IMO.  Whatever though.  I'm keeping it at this point.
 
If pic does get attached,  not a very good one of the brisket.  It was small, 11 lbs.  but also the spatula is just really big.
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It posted fine!
 
It's a joke dude. The huge spatula makes it look like burgers.
 
Now we have that pic 3 times on one page lol.
 
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