Smokers

Hey guys Im going to buy a smoker in the near future and I’m looking to get some suggestions. I’ve never smoked anything in my life so that’s something to consider lol. Also I’ve got a small family so it doesn’t have to be too big. I was looking into the Traegers but that’s been it so far. I see the three different types are electric, propane, and pellets are there any big advantages that one has over the other? Thanks for any input!

With a thermostat controlled electric heat source you get temperature control. If you forget about it or need to run an errand the temperature holds. I would not give up that feature.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Masterbuilt-Sportsman-Elite-Window-Smoker-with-Value-Kit/2013130.uts?searchPath=%2Fbrowse.cmd%3FcategoryId%3D734095080%26CQ_search%3Dmasterbuilt

Yep, electric is the way to go! Controlling heat is the key.

Electric if you want something that you can almost set it and forget it. Charcoal if you like having a reason to sit outside and babysit it all day while having cocktails. One big plus with the electric, you can get up and put something in at 2am. Go back to sleep and have Easter lunch ready on time.

I love my Brinkmann Electric that I got for Father’s day a couple years ago. I’ve often considered upgrading but for now this fits my needs. Have fun with it and experiment. It’s a really fun thing to get into.

Like you, I had never smoked anything before and purchased an electric Masterbuilt from Cabelas on Cyber Monday this past fall.

So far it has been great. I’ve done a 10 lb turkey, chicken wings, an 8 pound ham, about 25 lbs of venison sticks, and a few other small items.

The set and forget of electric has been great if you don’t have the time and flexibility to babysit. With 2 little kids I at home, I struggle with extra “free” time, so it is nice to start it at 7 am while the house is quiet and then only have to check on the food/temp every couple of hours.

Again, I’m no smoking purist, but for convenience, I would highly recommend electric.

Don Miller wrote:

With a thermostat controlled electric heat source you get temperature control. If you forget about it or need to run an errand the temperature holds. I would not give up that feature.

Electric w/THERMOSTAT!!

I’ve had electric w/o thermostat and gas.
Both worked. Electric was etither to hot or too cold for great smoking. Gas was better but if there was any wind it would change the temp depending.

IF I ever buy another one it will be electric w/thermostat.

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I’ve used all kinds of smokers and my go-to smoker is the Pit Barrel. It is a charcoal fueled smoker, you can either hang meat from the provided hooks or cook on the grate. Add wood for wood flavor. Very easy to use, superb results. It cooks at a higher temp so it cuts down cook times, but it does not sacrifice moisture or flavor. Virtually no learning curve, they have great instructional videos on their website and there are many 3rd party videos out there with videos online for PBC cooks. Stev Raichlen of Project Smoke has some great cook videos online on the PBC. It also pulls double duty as a grill if you bring it camping or on a trip. No electronic components, no moving parts, just solid steel construction. Made by in the USA, owned by a US military vet. Delivered to your door for $299. Only things I don’t use it for would be smoking salmon/trout (which is best done at a lower temp, but it is good at cedar plank salmon) or for smoking venison ring/summer sausage, both of which I either do in an electric/gas smoker or a simple plywood box so I can do longer cooks at much lower temps. Ribs, chicken, brisket, ham, pork shoulder, full turkeys, venison tenderloin… my wife even smokes cookies on a pizza stone on it after dinner is done cooking.

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Put the Pit Barrel on your list, its charcoal fueled. Extremely easy to use, consistent, very good results. Priced very reasonably. No moving parts or electronics to break or malfunction, just solid steel construction. I’ve had nothing but great results on all of my cooks with it. I also use gas and electric smokers and this one is my top choice for anything but salmon/trout or venison sausage which should be smoked at a lower temp. It does great with cedar plank salmon, but it’s not a traditional smoker in that it cooks at a higher temp for shorter cook times with no sacrifice to moisture in your meat. It can do double duty as a grill with the lid left off, if you want to bring it camping or on a trip. They also have great customer support if you have any questions on cooking anything they are quick to reply to a phone call or email. Made in the USA by military vet, what’s not to like?

I’m a big fan of front load smokers, much easier to rotate racks. You guys with electric have insulated models? I had an electric that would not keep temps in the winter and was useless but it wasn’t insulated. It also struggled to get the smoke going. I pretty much only use it for fish at this point.

I do 90% of my smoking on propane with a cast iron wood chip pan, and a pellet tray for consistent smoke between pan reloads. Not quite as ‘set and forget’ as thermostat on electric but pretty darn close. Outside temps/wind doesn’t change much. And if you need to run higher temps for whatever reason you certainly can with ease.

One more vote for electric, you just can’t beat the simplicity. I wish I had the time to sit outside and drink a beer while I was smoking, but just don’t have that kind of time. I have a Masterbuilt digital electric and love it. Turn it on, get it to the desired temp and pop the meat in. Check on it every now and then to add chips. It’s that simple.

I’ve been looking at the electric pellet smokers for about a month now. I’m looking at the Cabelas Pellet Smoker and the Green Mountain Grill Daniel Boone. Leaning more towards the Green Mountain.

got a Bradley which is awesome with the auto loader. extremely easy to use

I also have a bradley, 6 years now and still love it. The newer ones are better constructed, but mine still works well. The pucks can get a a little expensive if you do not buy in bulk when they go on sale.

Thanks for the info guys, I have an 11 month old who keeps me pretty busy so electric might be the way to go for me. Any suggestions on models or just make sure it has a thermostat?

I’ve got a CookShack Smokette SM-25. Completely stainless steel inside and out, and also the racks. It’s electric with a thermostat. Its very easy to use. Plug it in, put your meat in, a small chunk of your preferred wood, and let it do the work. The stainless steel racks come out spotless after a quick run through the dishwasher. Everybody has their preferences as to what they like. I like consistency in cooking great tasting food, ease of use and quick and easy clean-up.

I’ve got a Green Mountain and it’s awesome. Barely even use our regular grill anymore.

Electric all the way for this guy. I had a masterbuilt that I wore out. I now have a smokin-it, which I really like. Wan’t to go to a cookshack, but couldn’t justify the cost. The smokin-it is very similar to the cookshack, but significantly lower cost.

If you plan to smoke in all seasons, make sure whatever you get is insulated and has a tight fit.

All these replies and barely anyone recommending a pellet smoker?

I bought a RecTec a few months ago and it’s an absolute beast. Burns wood pellets so you get great woodburning flavor and smoke. Unbelievable Temp control from 180 – 450 degrees, never seen it waver more than 5 degrees from the setting since I bought it.

Absolutely a set it and forget it type setup. The build quality on the Rec Tec is worlds better than Traeger, and not that much more expensive(when you compare similar models).

RecTec also has unbelievable customer service, the owners give you their personal cell phone numbers(on a business card) when you buy one and you can literally call them day or night, weekend, holiday, whenever should anything go wrong. Read some of their reviews, they are fantastic.

Checking out those Rec Tec grills and they look sweet Phil! do you have the RT 300 or the 680?

I seem to be an odd ball (Quiet down in the peanut gallery!)

I prefer the vertical gas smoker. Mine is a GOSM (Great Outdoors Smokey Mountain) 3605 Big Block with a cool spring handle door latch. Big enough to smoke whole racks of ribs side by side and 4 high, or 4 whole packer briskets, 8 whole chickens, well any way you get the idea there. I hang 6, 3 pound tubes of summer sausage but could fairly easily triple that amount.

I see so many smokers are made with the magnet catch or some sort of a flip over catch. I do not care for either of those. The pellet and electric smokers do not get as rich of a smoke flavor as a stick burner imo. The propane is close to a stick burner with a whole lot easier way to control the temp but still get the great flavor of the smoke.

In the pics you will find Summer sausage, meat sticks, the makings of pastrami and ABT’s (atomic buffalo turds)

Humm, looks like I need to do a big cabinet clean-up once again.

edit, sorry the pic of ABT’s were from my older much smaller smoker from the same manufacture.

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crappie55369 wrote:

Checking out those Rec Tec grills and they look sweet Phil! do you have the RT 300 or the 680?

I have the 680, I was really close to getting the 300 but wanted just a bit more space. I’m glad I went with the bigger model, I can fit about 100 small chicken wings on there at a time and I’ve done some big batches of jerky.

The 300 is supposed to be a bit more efficient on pellets though, and if you’re only doing 1-2 pork butts or like 2-3 racks of ribs at a time I’m sure it’s great. Not to mention it folds up and you can travel with it, which would be awesome.

I don’t have experience with other smokers though, I’m sure all of them are capable of making some delicious food :).

I have a cheap masterbuilt propane smoker that I received as a birthday gift a few years ago. ive used it about 5 or 6 times and in all honesty its made some pretty solid smoked meats. Ive been interested in getting an electric smoker for the convenience of it. The issue with the propane is that the temperature regulation is challenging – it fluctuates quite a bit so I have to keep a close eye on it and adjust the damper and vent. The plus that ive found with propane is that its way easier to obtain proper temperatures in cold weather. Electric smokers can struggle to reach high enough temperatures in the wintertime. Something to consider when living in MN

when you can figure out a stickburner to run for 6-8 hours at a time without you touching it, you’ll giggle at your former self who used to thing electric was the only way to go.

i’m in the market for a new smoker but i’ll only use charcoal. i’m looking at a backwoods vertical or a hastybake.

if i’m looking at a pellet pooper its going to be a green mountain or a louisiana grill.

Once you get bitten by the smoking bug you’ll find out that one smoker isn’t enough. Each smoker type and style shines in its own way. I’ve got three, an electric, a gas and a pellet. I like the results of the gas the best and the electric is the easiest.