Posted: 6/25/2012 3:53:51 PM EDT
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I'm in the market for a smoker and am looking for some advice / pros / cons. Not necessarily looking for recommendations on a specific model just yet, but advice on electric versus charcoal versus gas. I have gas and charcoal grills - medium size Webers. I'm also unlikely to spend big bucks (>$500). Primary use will be for meats, though I've seen some stuff on smoked veggies that look good.
As far as meats go, I eat beef, fish, fowl, and pork. I have a medium sized freezer; purchased a quarter of grass fed beef earlier this year; and am awaiting delivery of half a local pastured pig and a local grass fed lamb. Appreciate any advice you have to offer. |
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I have two charcoal smokers but can't even fake being an expert. One is a vertical smoker, kind of like a small garbage can. The other is a regular charcoal grill with an offset firebox. I really don't know what the advantages and disadvantages of the two are. The vertical one doesn't get used now that I have the other one. The main thing with charcoal is keeping an eye on the temp and messing with the charcoal. If you want to set it and mostly forget it, go gas or electric. If you want to be involved with it through most of the process you wont mind charcoal.
The one I've found is letting my charcoal burn until it stops giving off smoke and then put it in the smoker. Ive actually coated meat with creosote by not doing that which makes the meet difficult to salvage, impossible if it is something like ribs. Once the surface temp of the meet gets around 115-120 degrees it is sealed up and wont allow any more smoke to penetrate. For this reason I don't worry about starting out real hot and usually take the meat straight from the fridge to the smoker. Youtube has a few videos on using regular charcoal grills as smokers in case you were not aware. |
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Quoted:
I'm in the market for a smoker and am looking for some advice / pros / cons. Not necessarily looking for recommendations on a specific model just yet, but advice on electric versus charcoal versus gas. I have gas and charcoal grills - medium size Webers. I'm also unlikely to spend big bucks (>$500). Primary use will be for meats, though I've seen some stuff on smoked veggies that look good. As far as meats go, I eat beef, fish, fowl, and pork. I have a medium sized freezer; purchased a quarter of grass fed beef earlier this year; and am awaiting delivery of half a local pastured pig and a local grass fed lamb. Appreciate any advice you have to offer. Ive got a convenient smoker in a Traeger. I mostly do salmon on it, but it works really well for that. I havent tried smoking beef or other meat yet. Its very easy to use and keeps the temp consistent, which is what ive heard is the most integral part for smoking meat. |
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I'm in the market for a smoker and am looking for some advice / pros / cons. Not necessarily looking for recommendations on a specific model just yet, but advice on electric versus charcoal versus gas. I have gas and charcoal grills - medium size Webers. I'm also unlikely to spend big bucks (>$500). Primary use will be for meats, though I've seen some stuff on smoked veggies that look good. As far as meats go, I eat beef, fish, fowl, and pork. I have a medium sized freezer; purchased a quarter of grass fed beef earlier this year; and am awaiting delivery of half a local pastured pig and a local grass fed lamb. Appreciate any advice you have to offer. Ive got a convenient smoker in a Traeger. I mostly do salmon on it, but it works really well for that. I havent tried smoking beef or other meat yet. Its very easy to use and keeps the temp consistent, which is what ive heard is the most integral part for smoking meat. I have the big Texas style Traeger because we have people over all the time. The small Traeger is perfect for most people. I've only had mine full a couple times and it took over 40 lbs of brisket to do it. I wouldn't buy any other brand of smoker than a Traeger. Make sure if you get one that it comes with the digital thermometer. You'll never regret buying a Traeger. |
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How do you smoke salmon? I was going to do that over the weekend but saw it involved a good bit of prep time so I just grilled it. I am definately wanting to smoke up a pound or two of it. Its not that bad. When I get home I'll send you my recipe over IM. |
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Perfect example of why this is my favorite sub forum on this board. 25 minutes - lots of responses. I tried the cooking forum earlier today - didn't even know that there was a cooking forum - no responses yet. Thanks guys. Let me know if youve got any specific questions about that brand, im sure others could answer, but I did a ton a research and my father in law knows all the little tricks with them as well... |
Just to help you out. You can do this with brisket.
I set the Traeger on a timer and it starts smoking in the wee hrs of the morning. I do pork and chicken a lot too. I'm not a fish guy, so smith will have to help you with that. kabobs are out of this world on this thing. I even use it to cook eggs and bacon.  It's made the paleo/primal diet a ton easier to stick with.
ETA: That was the meat for a friends, daughter's graduation. I don't usually eat 45 lbs of meat by myself. 
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Just to help you out. You can do this with brisket. http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af4/neoathkeeper/donebrisket001.jpg I set the Traeger on a timer and it starts smoking in the wee hrs of the morning. I do pork and chicken a lot too. I'm not a fish guy, so smith will have to help you with that. kabobs are out of this world on this thing. I even use it to cook eggs and bacon. It's made the paleo/primal diet a ton easier to stick with.
ETA: That was the meat for a friends, daughter's graduation. I don't usually eat 45 lbs of meat by myself. Very nice. Ive done a pork shoulder before and chicken (wasnt a huge fan as I like a little char on my grilled chicken), but the pork was money and this smoker makes the best burgers Ive ever had! My FIL does pork chops and turkeys on his as well. ETA: Heres the shoulders I did. They turned out really good for my first try. 
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Perfect example of why this is my favorite sub forum on this board. 25 minutes - lots of responses. I tried the cooking forum earlier today - didn't even know that there was a cooking forum - no responses yet. Thanks guys. Let me know if youve got any specific questions about that brand, im sure others could answer, but I did a ton a research and my father in law knows all the little tricks with them as well... Cursory review says that I'll be in for about $800 for a smoker w/ stack and temperature control. ouch i am a buy once, cry once guy though |
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Perfect example of why this is my favorite sub forum on this board. 25 minutes - lots of responses. I tried the cooking forum earlier today - didn't even know that there was a cooking forum - no responses yet. Thanks guys. Let me know if youve got any specific questions about that brand, im sure others could answer, but I did a ton a research and my father in law knows all the little tricks with them as well... Cursory review says that I'll be in for about $800 for a smoker w/ stack and temperature control. ouch i am a buy once, cry once guy though They have a no questions asked warranty program. I've had the igniter go out twice, both times my fault for letting it run out of pellets, and they said it didn't matter. They took care of it. |
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Perfect example of why this is my favorite sub forum on this board. 25 minutes - lots of responses. I tried the cooking forum earlier today - didn't even know that there was a cooking forum - no responses yet. Thanks guys. Let me know if youve got any specific questions about that brand, im sure others could answer, but I did a ton a research and my father in law knows all the little tricks with them as well... Cursory review says that I'll be in for about $800 for a smoker w/ stack and temperature control. ouch i am a buy once, cry once guy though You can sometimes find them used for cheaper than that. |