First attempt with a smoker

[jasonrann]

My advice would be to get one that can accommodate at least a couple of racks of baby back ribs. Some here love smoking everything. I don't like to smoke chicken except for thighs which are amazing smoked with cherry or apple wood. I have tried to smoke turkey only to realize I much prefer traditionally prepared turkey. I don't think smoke enhances the flavor of beef - I prefer a charred steak or burger. But ribs and pork butt oh my oh my. Sorry hogs but you were born to have your ribs and shoulders slow smoked. I prefer ribs because they taste great and "only" take 4 hours or so. A butt/shoulder takes 1/2 day and even then you really are never sure when it will be ready to eat. So start cheap but make sure you can fit ribs in there...

Totally agree with your comments about ribs and pork butt. My favorite is to smoke baby back ribs. I have a large Weber grill that I use as a smoker. I put a small amount of coals on the back half of the grill along with wood chips and the ribs lay on the front. Just enough room for two slabs which is perfect. My ribs usually take 3 to 3 1/2 hours. If I am doing pork butt, I get up early in the morning and smoke it for 3 hours and then move it to the crock pot for the remainder of the day. Delicious.

 

[Tenacious E]

Totally agree with your comments about ribs and pork butt. My favorite is to smoke baby back ribs. I have a large Weber grill that I use as a smoker. I put a small amount of coals on the back half of the grill along with wood chips and the ribs lay on the front. Just enough room for two slabs which is perfect. My ribs usually take 3 to 3 1/2 hours. If I am doing pork butt, I get up early in the morning and smoke it for 3 hours and then move it to the crock pot for the remainder of the day. Delicious.

Sounds tasty but wouldn't the bark you achieved would be ruined in the crock pot? I suppose it's all good once its on a bun...

 

[noleit]

Go light on the smoke on your first attempt until you get used to it.Next to being under cooked the worst entries I judge in competition have an acrid taste from too much smoke.

 

[jasonrann]

Sounds tasty but wouldn't the bark you achieved would be ruined in the crock pot? I suppose it's all good once its on a bun...

The bark actually holds up alright. I like the finish in the crock pot because it doesn't dry out. You retain the bark and all of the smoke flavor and that baby just falls apart.

 

[Herkster5]

Belem (or anyone)...let's say I wanted to get a smoker, and a pellet smoker was not on the table. Choices are:

1. Electric smoker

2. Gas smoker

3. Buying a temperature regulator fan accessory to maintain temp on my Weber kettle

4. None of the above, just continue to smoke manually on a Weber kettle like a caveman poor

Been going around and around on this in my head for some time, well back to LR days.

Weber Smokey Mountain.

 

[Tenacious E]

The bark actually holds up alright. I like the finish in the crock pot because it doesn't dry out. You retain the bark and all of the smoke flavor and that baby just falls apart.

This actually might be the answer to my woeful brisket attempts.

 

[jasonrann]

This actually might be the answer to my woeful brisket attempts.

I have never tried brisket, it's a whole different ball game. My younger brother has several times and it turned out like shoe leather every time.

When my father in law does brisket, he does three hours on the smoker to get a good bark on it. The smoker also has a water pan to help maintain the moisture level. The remaining time is spent in the oven, on a cookie sheet, covered in foil at 225 degrees until it's fork tender. Works like a charm.

 

[BelemNole]

 

[HIWB]

View embedded media

This guy know what he’s doing.
Water pan, spritz, butcher paper, and go by feel, not temperature. Brisket is the hardest to cook, but fantastic if you get it right. Don’t forget to separate the point and do burnt ends.

 

[SoDakHawk]

Weber Smokey Mountain.

2nd vote for the WSM.

 

[Nole Lou]

2nd vote for the WSM.

So, here's where I'm at on the WSM. I've thought about it a lot.

So, I have two grills already, a Weber premium kettle, and a PK Grill. I grill every weekend, but I only smoke something about 4-5 times a year. I'd like to take that up to more like 10-15 times a year, but it's never going to be my main outdoor cooking.

I have made excellent pork butt and ribs on both. But the thing that keeps me from doing it more often is the babysitting. I've never been able to just get it locked in and have it not deviate for 10 hours or something. It might hold for 2-3 hours or more, but I still have to check it every 30 minutes or so, because if it drops or surges and I'm not catching it, I'm f--ed. I could never let it just run overnight and trust I've got it.

So, I'm really wanting to have something with some automation to it. While from everything I read, the WSM is a great machine, ultimately I'm still going to have to deal with the babysitting, because it will be a long time before I go to sleep with $100+ of meat on there and say "see you in eight hours".

Even though I know it is better designed for smoking in every way, when I think about that babysitting factor, I always come around to "save yourself the $200-300" and just keep doing what you're doing.

Now, probably the ideal scenario for me is a WSM plus a temperature control to manage the heat. But we're getting into $400+ investment now, and I might as well be looking into pellet grills at that point.

So, I just don't think I want to become a big time pitmaster, I just want ribs more often than I have them.

I've been noodling around this for the better part of a year. I'm dealing with some footprint issues too, as I'm in a townhouse, and already have two grills on my deck, so there's some logistical issues around it.

A compact electric smoker that I can just pop the meat in and let it do its job is probably where I should be landing as Belem said.

 

[Tenacious E]

So, here's where I'm at on the WSM. I've thought about it a lot.

So, I have two grills already, a Weber premium kettle, and a PK Grill. I grill every weekend, but I only smoke something about 4-5 times a year. I'd like to take that up to more like 10-15 times a year, but it's never going to be my main outdoor cooking.

I have made excellent pork butt and ribs on both. But the thing that keeps me from doing it more often is the babysitting. I've never been able to just get it locked in and have it not deviate for 10 hours or something. It might hold for 2-3 hours or more, but I still have to check it every 30 minutes or so, because if it drops or surges and I'm not catching it, I'm f--ed. I could never let it just run overnight and trust I've got it.

So, I'm really wanting to have something with some automation to it. While from everything I read, the WSM is a great machine, ultimately I'm still going to have to deal with the babysitting, because it will be a long time before I go to sleep with $100+ of meat on there and say "see you in eight hours".

Even though I know it is better designed for smoking in every way, when I think about that babysitting factor, I always come around to "save yourself the $200-300" and just keep doing what you're doing.

Now, probably the ideal scenario for me is a WSM plus a temperature control to manage the heat. But we're getting into $400+ investment now, and I might as well be looking into pellet grills at that point.

So, I just don't think I want to become a big time pitmaster, I just want ribs more often than I have them.

I've been noodling around this for the better part of a year. I'm dealing with some footprint issues too, as I'm in a townhouse, and already have two grills on my deck, so there's some logistical issues around it.

A compact electric smoker that I can just pop the meat in and let it do its job is probably where I should be landing as Belem said.

Probably a good idea but you should only need about 3 to 3.5 hours of babysitting time with ribs. Pork butt I totally get wanting to set it and forget it. Big green egg is outside of the price range you're looking at but once you get locked in at a low temp with the right air flow, it will maintain the temp for at least 8 hours. You could always get a wifi meat/grill surface probe that will alert you if you get of out of temp range and you can come back and adjust as needed.

 

[SoDakHawk]

When I smoke on my WSM, I have it dialed in to the point where I can put the meat on for an overnight smoke and go to bed, no problem. I do have temp probes in with alarms set just in case but I rarely have an issue.

If you want to be sure you can get a BBQ Guru and lock in your temp control.

You cannot replicate the smoke flavor of a stick burner or charcoal burner in a pellet grill. I've had them all, it's just not the same.

 

[SoDakHawk]

ThermPro TP-08 is the thermometer I have. Cost about $40 and works great. I set the receiver next to my bed and sleep tight.

 

[BelemNole]

When I smoke on my WSM, I have it dialed in to the point where I can put the meat on for an overnight smoke and go to bed, no problem. I do have temp probes in with alarms set just in case but I rarely have an issue.

If you want to be sure you can get a BBQ Guru and lock in your temp control.

You cannot replicate the smoke flavor of a stick burner or charcoal burner in a pellet grill. I've had them all, it's just not the same.

Yes and no. It depends on the pellets you burn and if you add additional smoke to the box using something like an A-MAZE-N-TUBE. I could oversmoke my meat if I really tried and I certainly can tell which wood I was using.

 

[Tenacious E]

ThermPro TP-08 is the thermometer I have. Cost about $40 and works great. I set the receiver next to my bed and sleep tight.

Well god dammit I want to smoke some ribs now but it's the middle of the workweek and it's going to snow.

 

[Nole Lou]

When I smoke on my WSM, I have it dialed in to the point where I can put the meat on for an overnight smoke and go to bed, no problem. I do have temp probes in with alarms set just in case but I rarely have an issue.

If you want to be sure you can get a BBQ Guru and lock in your temp control.

You cannot replicate the smoke flavor of a stick burner or charcoal burner in a pellet grill. I've had them all, it's just not the same.

Yeah, and I hear people tell me the same thing about even smoking on a Weber Kettle or a kamado which I have done, I guess I just know my limitations, I'm just not that good at it, and unlikely to get good enough at it given my relative infrequency of doing it.

But one of my options is to get BBQ Guru for my Weber kettle. I'd have to drill a hole in it, but that might be the best, most affordable approach and wouldn't take up any more footprint. I probably shouldn't, but I do have a visceral resistance to moving off charcoal.

 

[SoDakHawk]

Yeah, and I hear people tell me the same thing about even smoking on a Weber Kettle or a kamado which I have done, I guess I just know my limitations, I'm just not that good at it, and unlikely to get good enough at it given my relative infrequency of doing it.

But one of my options is to get BBQ Guru for my Weber kettle. I'd have to drill a hole in it, but that might be the best, most affordable approach and wouldn't take up any more footprint. I probably shouldn't, but I do have a visceral resistance to moving off charcoal.

Just get a WSM. Only debate we should be having is which size. Hurry before the PBC crew comes in here and converts you.

 

[m.stoops2013]

Big Green Egg or Primo Oval only way to go!

 

[Herkster5]

So, here's where I'm at on the WSM. I've thought about it a lot.

So, I have two grills already, a Weber premium kettle, and a PK Grill. I grill every weekend, but I only smoke something about 4-5 times a year. I'd like to take that up to more like 10-15 times a year, but it's never going to be my main outdoor cooking.

I have made excellent pork butt and ribs on both. But the thing that keeps me from doing it more often is the babysitting. I've never been able to just get it locked in and have it not deviate for 10 hours or something. It might hold for 2-3 hours or more, but I still have to check it every 30 minutes or so, because if it drops or surges and I'm not catching it, I'm f--ed. I could never let it just run overnight and trust I've got it.

If you set it up right, even the 18.5" WSM will run, without question, for 12 hours at a constant temp (unless it is 5 degrees out with wind). Snake method or minion method.
Ribs stupid easy. Butts on one load of charcoal, no adding coals or wood, just let er buck.
Mine loves 275-300 degrees and I just run it there and crank out some damn fine Q