Smokers

[Boz330]

I would like a suggestion on a reasonably priced smoker ($500-). I bought a Masterbuilt 30" from Cabela's after using a borrowed one to smoke some deer summer sausage. It worked maybe a dozen times before the digital unit went south. I bought a new digital unit and it worked once before it went south. I can't express this too much "DO NOT BUY A MASTERBUILT ANYTHING", unless you just feel like putting a match to a couple $100 bills.
The other Cabela's smokers that feed the hockey puck type wood get a lot of bad reviews for not maintaining heat. Just looking for something that works when I need it to. I know the higher the price the better the quality but an LP will do the job but you have to watch it. I want, hit the button and forget till I get ready to eat. I can do it manually but then that ties up a night and a day.
A pig pulling for a party but for a small party that is way too much work.


Bob

[44man]

I have a Masterbuilt that works fine except for cold smoke with fish or bacon. Turn heat down and the wood does not get hot. I can not cold smoke with it. It is only good to cook and smoke.

[jcren]

Have you tried the new vertical barrel type charcoal? They are made to only allow enough air in for the coals to burn very slowly at a given temp. They recommend leaving it alone after it is loaded to prevent flare-ups.
pitbarrelcooker.com

[DerekP Houston]

shrug I gave up on all those fancy pits, mine is cinder blocks and mortar works like a champ. I've known some guys that swear by Masterbuilt....but I've tasted their bbq and it's nothing to write home about. Most of the tech guys in the office love automating stuff like this.

[sawinredneck]

I bought a Brinkmann Trailmaster LE, $300 at HD, and after many modifications it's working pretty well. I think my next one will be a Green Mountain pellet smoker with the wifi option, you can catch them on sale for around $700 at Walton's, which is local to me.
My dad has the Masterbuilt propane and pit temps swing all over the place! A buddy has a Masterbuilt electric and really likes it, not sure what mods he's done, but he's been using it three years now.
If you want to cold smoke get an AMNPS unit, just put pellets in it and they slowly burn adding flavor without heat. A lot of guys use them with pellet smokers for added smoke flavor.
Also check out the smoking meat forums, really nice people that will eagerly give you information overload lol!

[Bob in St. Louis]

I know more about smoking than I do about reloading, so FINALLY... a thread I might be able to help "pay it back" for all the information I've sucked from this site about reloading. haha

But... asking "what kind of smoker should I get" is like asking "what kind of gun should I buy".
So before I start naming names, I've got some questions first.

#1 How many folks will you be cooking for? You and the wife? A family of eight? Large groups of friends for parties?
#2 How much space are you willing to consume? Footprint size?
#3 What kinds of foods will you be cooking? Meaning, will you be smoking pork tenderloin for 90 minutes, or will you be doing 15 hour briskets?
#4 Are you a "set it and forget it" guy? (ie: you want an oven?) or do you want to tinker with vents, adding fuel, and monitoring temps based on ambient temps and winds?

[DLCTEX]

My Masterbilt 30" digital has been great for more than a year now. Sorry your's didn't last.

[buckwheatpaul]

Ive got a Bradley basic and it works great! Holds temp well except during the coldest day....when Mrs. buckwheatpaul bought it for me I was converting from wood smoker and I do like the Bradley.....

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

30 years ago, I bought a New Braunfels Smoker without the side fire box. It looks exactly like the one below in the photo, but without the side firebox. It's made of pretty thick steel, at least 3/16" thick. I've replaced the fire/coal grates twice, I've replaced the inner heat shields once. I'm still using the original porcelain coated food grates. My smoker sits outside, all the time, winter and summer. I do brush the snow off of it in the winter and use it. The New Braunfels Smoker company was bought out by charbroil about 20 years and I guess they closed up the shop? Charbroil has made similar smokers, but are JUNK.

My recommendation is to watch craigslist for one like this, probably can pick it up for less than $100, then and buy some new grates and clean it up, and you'll be ready to go.


photo not mine, image borrowed from Google images.

[dragon813gt]

I have the cheap Brinkman "Bullet". I was concerned about it being electric at first. Now I wouldn't have it any other way. Plug it in, feed it wood every 60-90 minutes and that's it. Big enough to smoke a turkey but if you need a high volume you want something else. I do control it w/ a PID but I already had one for my lead pot. In reality it works just fine w/out it. Temps get a little higher than you want but the end product is still delicious.

[TexasGrunt]

I love my Rec Tec smoker/grill.

[Hogtamer]

Boz, you or a buddy has the cutting and welding skills to make a redneck brinkman like I did 30 yrs ago...find an old watwr pressure tank, 30 or 50 gal. Cut out the concave bottom. Inverted and sitting on 3 legs that you will weld on to the inside bottom and that is your coal pan. Cut the top 1/4 of the tank off now and cut 3" vertical slits about every 4" around the circumference of both pieces. For the top section bend the sections out slightly, for the base bend them in slightly (a pipe wrench will do this) so the top fits snugly down on the base. Weld a handle on the top section to lift. So you've got the base on 3 legs with the inverted bottom sitting atop that for coals. Now weld 2 sets of 3 L shaped brackets on the inside like the legs. The lower set hold your water pan with an expanded metal rack cut to fit rack on top of that, and the upper set holds another rack. Now cut a door the height of the top of the coal pan and weld it back using 2 hinges and a barrel bolt opposite the hinges so it will close. That way you can add coals for as long as you like. Then a hole appropriate for whatever thermometer you use in the dome lid. Paint the whole thing with high heat black. Would send pic but son is using it today in fact.

Da Bomb: half fill your water pan (I use a big SS bowl with apple cider. Put an seasoned venison ham on the lower rack and a boston butt on the upper rack. The butt bastes the lean venison while they cook for however long it takes. Or you can use it as a grill with no water pan and just the upper rack.

You can't rust it out or burn it out. Forgot to mention, cut a couple of small holes in bottom so it will draw and some ash will fall out. Yep, been about 30 yrs since I did this, replaced water pan a couple of time and on only 2nd set of racks. If it has a rubber or plastic coating on the inside may need to burn that out first... and yes, it's heavy.

[jonp]

Friend of mine built one from an old fridge. When I was driving around id stop and grab him prunings from orchards. Apple, orange, grapefruit, peach, cherry etc. Worked great. One year he smoked my thanksgiving turkey and it was all my girlfriend and I could do to not stop and dive in before getting home

[rockrat]

Don't know how much they are nowadays, but bought a "Cookshack" small smoker about 17 years ago, not a bit of trouble with it ever.

[TXGunNut]

I'm on my second Masterbuilt, first one blew off the table when a storm came thru and it didn't land well. Second landed a bit better but now I use bungee cords to keep it on the table. I also keep a cover on it when not in use. I've had some awesome results, last night I left some "country style" ribs in there a bit too long so that's on me.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

I use my Weber Kettle grill for everyday type cooking. With the coals on one side and the meat on the other, you can go several hours between charcoal/wood chunk top ups. Even with heavy use/abuse (I make my own lump charcoal in mine) they are good for 10+ years out in the weather. Not bad for a hundred bucks, give or take.

[54bore]

I had a Masterbuilt 30" as well, it worked great for about a year and the heating element went out, mine happened to be an older model that required a whole new cabinet, i read a MOUNTAIN of bad reviews when i was looking for a replacement element, customer service seemed to get the worst complaints so I didn't even bother contacting them, i hauled it to garbage dump. I bought a nice well built looking Propane smoker but have yet to use it (can't remember the brand?) i made up my mind to go propane due to bad dealings with heating elements in more than one of the electric units

[Lloyd Smale]

heres mine. Its a brinkman charcoal smoker that I put an gas burner in to burn chips and a smoke box made from sheet aluminum that has two electric burners in it to control temp. It can be used as a cold smoker or a hot smoker. Ive had a couple store bought smokers. One gas and one electric. Id steer clear of the gas models as there pretty tough to get temps down below 200 degrees. Fine for smoking a turkey or a pork butt but when doing things like jerky, summer sausage, snack sticks ect. you need to be able to get down to about 120 to start with. My electric one would do that.

[cheese1566]

LG900 Lousiana Pellet Grill

i finally broke down and spent the money and have never looked back. It does everything I need, from slow smoke to high heat for wood fired pizzas and open wood flame for char broiling. Fill the hopper with the wood blend you want, turn it on, warm it up, set your temp, monitor it in the shade with a blue tooth heat probe to my iPhone-lawn chair-beer cooler.

I had almost every every style of weber charcoal/gas grill. I even made my own mini-weber smoky mountain version as well. I still have it, but use it for camping. Still have a NG Weber for grilling when I am lazy, but that's just for grilling or rotissiere stuff.

[Rick N Bama]

I have a Masterbuilt that works fine except for cold smoke with fish or bacon. Turn heat down and the wood does not get hot. I can not cold smoke with it. It is only good to cook and smoke.

MB makes a cold smoker attachment. I can't say for myself how good it works, but I have read some good reviews.

https://www.amazon.com/Masterbuilt-2...ker+attachment