Looking for input on a smoker

[j500ss]

Mine is .188 wall drop from some 'drop' (pole sections we had to cut down).


So, how about your recipes J500? hmmmm? 

Well Dicho, for me personally, it's not so much about the rubs and sauces as it is the woods used      

Plus as most know........LOW and SLOW   

 

JDog

[Rash]

Food grade oil

55

Standard thickness.

The oil is put into 2oz bottles and used to lubricate kitchen equipment.  We empty 1 of them every 3-4 months. 

I have a black one waiting to get cut next but I'm not quite done abusing the blue Guinna pig yet.

Melvin asked a good question.  Make sure it had some sort of food in the barrel.  Some dealers call them pickle barrels.  The thicker ones are DOT grade, and they might have contained something hazardous.  Seems like you can buy a 55 gallon pickle barrel for around $30 bucks from a wholesale dealer.

[EagleDNY]

(Image removed from quote.)

This is what I have, and has enough room for half a dozen racks of baby-backs or at least 4 10lb Boston butt roasts. I've had mine for years, and is needing replaced this summer, but if I remember correctly the whole deal was about $250 at Lowes.

edit: It's made by CharGriller, but there are several compaies out there with similar models, and it it obviously both a smoker and a conventional charcoal grill.

My father bought one of these and it gave long and faithful (and delicious) service for about 10 years.   

[shppr01]

If you are in a bind ,You may want to try this as well !!!!
http://www.grillingcompanion.com/how-to-build-a-smoker-part1/

[spammer]

A $150.00 from Wal-Mart assembled, very thin gage steel.







 I'm looking to upgrade after the third year of service going on four. This is a great smoker to experiment with. There is no restruant in Salt Lake that can lay the smoke to their meat like this smoker can. I'm spoiled and like the taste of smoked meat. You'll crack up laughing after taking your first bite of real smoked meat. I prefer Hickory, Oak, Walnut, Pecan when choosing wood, but it's all a matter of taste, I have people that prefer the fruit trees, apple, cherry and peach. Hickory is my fav.

GL, and lay the smoke to the meat, you really can't go wrong.

I still have problems with Brisket, Go figure. I'm always focused on kicking some Brisket azz.

LOL

Open for suggestions.

[homersipes]

spammer thats just like my grill, had to build an axel as the wheels kept falling off love it thogh cooks great.
havent tried brisket on mine yet, but my dad does on his takes like 12 hours to cook he makes his own sauce and uses mesquite.

[j500ss]

I am thinking the offset firebox style may be a good way to go.   I can run it charcoal, wood, and modify for a low flame gas as well for those long slow and low cooks where a constant smoke is not needed.   Plus it gives me the room I really want to have.  I was ay Cabela's yesterday and while box types are nice with all the programmable controls and such.  4-5 full racks of St Louis style ribs would be a squeeze imo.

Spammer, what about brisket gives you trouble?  I find the 2 biggest thing with it for me is

1.  Hard to find, only for a few weeks in the summer do you see it at all.

2.  It really does take a long time.  Last one I did was 14 hours, but it was good   

[Rash]

I have one of the offsets, and brisket takes a lot of work to cook.  I tried something different last time for a noon football game.  I smoked one from  about 6pm till 1am. I then put it in the oven for another 10 or so hours at around 225.  I put it in one of those disposable aluminum pans and covered it with foil.  The bottom half got kind of water logged with juice, but it was good.  Next time, i'm going to find some sort of tray to keep it off the bottom of the pan.  That was with one of those 15 pound angus monsters.

[Dragon]

I have one of the offsets, and brisket takes a lot of work to cook.  I tried something different last time for a noon football game.  I smoked one from  about 6pm till 1am. I then put it in the oven for another 10 or so hours at around 225.  I put it in one of those disposable aluminum pans and covered it with foil.  The bottom half got kind of water logged with juice, but it was good.  Next time, i'm going to find some sort of tray to keep it off the bottom of the pan.  That was with one of those 15 pound angus monsters.

That's how I do pork butt for pulled pork since I really don't like it full smoked for 10 hours, 6 hours in the smoker then 4 hours in oven, on a rack, at 225.

[Reaper90]

GL, and lay the smoke to the meat, you really can't go wrong.

I still have problems with Brisket, Go figure. I'm always focused on kicking some Brisket azz.

LOL

Open for suggestions.

My suggestion for brisket? Get this book, and follow it as if it were your BBQ bible.... you will achieve brisket enlightenment. 

[EagleDNY]

this thread is making me hungry....

[68Raptor]

I'm still new to smoking myself... Picked up a Masterbuilt 30" electric on sale at Academy a couple of years ago. Wish I had done my research though, it's just about impossible to get a smoke ring in those. I know the smoke ring has nothing to do with taste but it does add a bit to the presentation. The Masterbuilt is excellent at a almost set and forget smoker though, no real worries about temp just need to add some dry or wet chips every 45 minutes or so depending on what your temp is set at. I did find out during the first smoke that a electric thermometer is worth it's weight in gold though since the built in one for the food was off by almost 40 degrees.

This last Christmas my wife picked me up a Brinkmann 40" Smoke'N Pit at Walmart. I've done a couple of simple modifications to it to help with retaining heat, thermostats and the smoke flow. So far it's been excellent for the $150 or so she paid. I've done several racks of St. Louis ribs, 1 brisket (with brunt ends at the finish), a few side dishes and today threw a couple of Johnsonville Hot n Spicy brats in with the Tri-tips I had going. Both turned out great.

I stumbled across http://www.smoking-meat.com/ when I was researching a actual smoker. So far it has been a great resource. The monthly newsletter that is sent out has some great tips in it along with a new recipe. I did purchase his rub and bbq sauce recipes when I first started browsing the site. Since then I found Adkins Texas style seasonings and have been using that almost exclusively as the rub. I still make up Jeff's BBQ sauce for the pulled pork since it really is hard to match that recipe.

My next task is finding a good supply of hickory and pecan locally. Just started looking though.

[68Raptor]

Forgot to add, on smokingmeat.com click on the smf icon at top right. Then goto the top menu for smokers.. Just about every kind there is represented and in the forums themselves there are several threads for just about each smoker itself.

Here the write-up for the one I have... http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/products/brinkmann-smoke-n-pit-pitmaster-deluxe-charcoal-wood-smoker-and-grill at the bottom of the page there is a listing of the threads started about this one.

Tonight's meal



Smoked Tri-tip, Johnsonville Hot n Spicy brat, a green bean and pecan mix and a tomato couscous the Mrs. made

[rpm]

I prefer Hickory, Oak, Walnut, Pecan when choosing wood, but it's all a matter of taste, I have people that prefer the fruit trees, apple, cherry and peach. Hickory is my fav.

GL, and lay the smoke to the meat, you really can't go wrong.

I still have problems with Brisket, Go figure. I'm always focused on kicking some Brisket azz.

LOL

Open for suggestions.

I'm a mesquite fan, but fruit wood does make some fantastic flavor. I use peach from time to time and it makes some kickazz pork butts.

The secret to briskets is cooking "low and slow" with moist smoke. Keep a pan of water inside the smoker.