Ribs de maximus

[Gunslinger]

Originally posted by Toad
Sounds like you may end up with a grill and a smoker. Many of us do, as the two techniques are different and it's much easier to get the right tool to do each one.

You can do both with some but it's always a compromise.

I don't think you can go wrong with that Brinkmann water smoker I mentioned before. It's cheap and you can easily smoke enough food for a dozen people on it.

Then you can get a good sized grill for not much money and be all set.

Let me know if I can help.  Good luck!

just stay away from the brinkman el cheapo.  That's what I use but it requires several mods to work properly and it is a pain if you ask me.  That's what I have and (like I said earlier) convereted it to propane using the stand for my turkey fryer.  

personally I've had my eye on these two:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=1978617
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=3342513

[Toad]

Guns,

I'm sorry you had trouble with the ECB.

It's all I used for about 5 years, with excellent results I might add.

The only real negative is, because of the relatively small size of the fire pan, it DOES take more "tending" than other models. I guess I would check it about twice an hour during smoking. There is a "knack" to it to keep the temperature steady. The more you use it, the more experienced you get, the easier it is.

I'd have to say that once I got the hang of it, it was as easy as the big smoker I have now with results just as good if not a bit better.

The newer ones at $60 or so have almost all the mods incorporated in pretty well designed fashion.

So, for Ghost, over there in "what is a smoker"-land, I think shipping him a Brinkmann would be an excellent, inexpensive way to get in the game.

Just my .02.

[Gunslinger]

Originally posted by Toad
Guns,

I'm sorry you had trouble with the ECB.

It's all I used for about 5 years, with excellent results I might add.

The only real negative is, because of the relatively small size of the fire pan, it DOES take more "tending" than other models. I guess I would check it about twice an hour during smoking. There is a "knack" to it to keep the temperature steady. The more you use it, the more experienced you get, the easier it is.

I'd have to say that once I got the hang of it, it was as easy as the big smoker I have now with results just as good if not a bit better.

The newer ones at $60 or so have almost all the mods incorporated in pretty well designed fashion.

So, for Ghost, over there in "what is a smoker"-land, I think shipping him a Brinkmann would be an excellent, inexpensive way to get in the game.

Just my .02.

that's true,  If he has this support forum to draw apon it wouldnt be so bad.  I baught mine on a wim and just started cooking.  The biggest problem I have is maintaining temp control with it.  The coals would either be too hot or burn out.  Without the vents it just makes it a little harder.  

On the flip side it's a little harder to cook properly using the propane mod that I did on it.  I found out (the hard way) that setting a smoker tin were I did was not allowing enough heat to get to the water pan and it showed in the cooking.  I solved that by burrying the legs of the ECB a little more.

Problem two was then finding a good way to get it to smoke.  I solved this by putting the chips in tin can almost directly in the flame.  I solved my flare up problem by using a spray bottle wich by chance actually helps create more smoke and moist air.

Personally If I was just starting out I'd go with the $60 varient.  With time and supply costs it's close to the same as far as mods go.  

EIther way it's a good little smoker and you can do alot to personalize it to your cooking needs.  In addition it DOES have enough room for 3 (and quite possibly 4) racks of decent sized ribs.  There's very few better feelings than having everyone at the party tell you "these are the best ribs I've EVER had!"