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I'm looking to get a smoker and I'm not sure what to get because everybody on the internet has different opinions. I'd like something with temperature control so I can be lazy, basically.  I've read about electric, gas, charcoal and still not sure what to go with. I already have an outdoor grill so I'm kind of looking for something smaller and separate just for things like pulled pork, brisket, ribs and maybe chicken. Anybody have any recommendations?
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Apr 25, 2017 15:53
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I drive a BBW posted:I'm a fan of electric pellet smokers like the Green Mountain Grill or Traeger. Make sure there's pellets in the hopper and go do something else all day. blk! I was hoping you'd post since you talked about this poo poo all the time on mumble. I've been looking at the GMG, that sounds pretty awesome. Do you have to do many mods to get it to be pretty much hassle free? I'm fine buying a thermometer but is there anything else needed or are they pretty good to go out of the box?
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Apr 25, 2017 19:05
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BeastOfExmoor posted:Frankly, they're essentially all capable of making great BBQ. Going from easiest to hardest to manage I'd say Digital Electric (Masterbuilt), Pellet (Traeger, etc.), Propane, Big Green Egg/Kamado, PBC/Weber Smokey Mountain, offset smoker. I'm sure I'm missing something. Thanks all for the advice folks. There's so much conflicting info and differing opinions so it was hard to decide. I ended up going with a propane gas smoker. I already have a propane grill so I didn't want/need a huge monster all in one sort of thing, something smaller and simple. It's not as set and forget as I was initially hoping for but I think it will give me good results I'll be happy with and still pretty minimal fuss.
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Apr 27, 2017 20:32
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Assembled my smoker last night! Still need to season it and then smoke some stuff this weekend. 
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May 3, 2017 13:23
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Indolent Bastard posted:The OP is a little lacking. What is the general consensus on what smoker to buy as a newbie. Or what details do you need from me before you can make an appropriate suggestion? I just got mine this week and have yet to use it, but I'll walk you through my considerations. First, I read a shitload of articles on amazingribs.com as that guy had a lot of info on the different types, which he likes, differences, etc. Lots of info there to help you figure out what you want and what's important to you. Me, I wanted something simple that I could walk away from for hours at a time but was still pretty cheap and easy to use since I'm new to this. I chose a gas smoker as supposedly the flavor is better vs. electric (but some say not as good as charcoal, or at least different) and because of the simplicity and cost. I would figure out if you want pellet, gas, electric, or charcoal first then look into different models of that type. They all have their pros and cons and everybody in this thread will probably give you reasons to pick one type over another so it's a lot of personal preference. They all work so you can't really choose wrong. I read a shitload of reviews on the one that I eventually bought and my only surprise was how massive the drat thing was when it got here. In the end I'll probably have spent about $3-400 in my setup, so it's nothing special.
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May 4, 2017 16:56
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Fog Tripper posted:Pork shoulder has been in since 7AM.  I got one that was about 7-8 lbs and now I'm seeing that it's heating up very slowly. I'm not even to the stall yet after 7 hours at 230ish. 
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May 7, 2017 19:08
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Larrymer posted:
Should have gotten up earlier, I expected like 10-12 hours but this isn't going to be done until like 10pm.
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May 7, 2017 22:31
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Fog Tripper posted:Today must be national stall day. Mine still hasn't gotten above 170 yet. 167 currently, foiled it and cranked up the heat.  At least the mac and cheese was good. And the beer, better.
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May 8, 2017 00:38
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I cranked the heat to around 300F and foiled it, then pulled it out at 195F because . I wasn't going to bed without eating that meat. It was decent. The BBQ sauce recipe I made was not great (Carolina mustard sauce) so I'll have to keep trying other kinds. Had a pretty strong ham flavor which I guess is common with gas smokers but I didn't think it would be this strong. Now wondering if I should have went electric.  Next time at least I'll start it the night before, because 16 hours wasn't enough even with cranked temps for the last few hours.
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May 8, 2017 13:44
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Vulture Culture posted:Which part of the shoulder did you get? The picnic is what hams are made from and it does tend to, for obvious reasons, taste a lot like ham. Believe it was a Boston butt/shoulder. I don't really know the intricacies of the names but it seems like there are about 1000 names for the same thing. Will try some ribs and see how that goes. Hopefully it isn't that strong next time.
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May 8, 2017 14:07
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BeastOfExmoor posted:Most hams are from the rear legs and most "picnic roasts" are from the front shoulder. I would assume a lot of the flavor we associate with ham comes from the cure and some of the ingredients added to it. Interesting that a gas smoker would impart a significantly different flavor. I'd never heard that. Leftovers today didn't have this flavor. I have a feeling it was because I didn't let the meat rest at all after pulling it out of the smoker. I mean, it was 11pm and I was hungry and wanted something to show for my all day monitoring of meats. Next time I'm going to do it the night before and set the alarm for when it gets too hot (when the water evaporates completely and the temp spikes) and do it properly. Still, I'll try some ribs this weekend maybe and see how that goes.
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May 8, 2017 22:50
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EngineerJoe posted:Holy poo poo, that's supposed to be competitive? Yeah I saw that and thought "I can't afford one BGE."
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May 17, 2017 01:44
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Doing two racks of spare ribs today. Currently brining that poo poo, then I'll dry rub and then it'll go in for 5-6 hours at ~225. 
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May 20, 2017 17:04
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Larrymer posted:Doing two racks of spare ribs today.  I did them for 6 hours, they could have used a little more but they were still good. Also next time I'll just get St. Louis or baby backs instead of spares, they were a little fatty.  Also it's hard to tell from that picture the scale. A half rack took up my entire plate.  I made a mess and my wife got a little scared since I probably looked like a wolf eating a deer. Will have to try that 2-2-1 method next time, I just added more water and kept it around 225, then tried to crank it at the end after adding sauce. Suburban Dad fucked around with this message at 11:50 on May 21, 2017 |
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May 21, 2017 11:46
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BeastOfExmoor posted:You know St. Louis is just full spares cut down, right? Yep, my problem with the ones I had is that the tips were pretty much inedible on the piece I had. Very fatty and I just threw most of it away. Wife's on the other hand, were just fine.
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May 21, 2017 16:45
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Been looking at making brisket myself soon. I've been using amazingribs.com as my guide but the have been wondering if the rest of you folks inject yours with anything? He suggests just broth to keep it moist but I wonder if that's normal or a competition thing.
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Jun 4, 2017 13:05
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Would eat that meat. How was it? Lessons learned?
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Jun 5, 2017 02:51
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Any tips to cooking a flat brisket? I'm having trouble finding a whole brisket so I'll bother with that some other time. Plan is mostly the same as I've done for pulled pork. Find some rub recipe, cook it at 225F until temp is around 203F and pull it to set for a couple hours. ?
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Jun 14, 2017 20:54
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toplitzin posted:see my post a page or two back. plan on more time than you think (a 5lb took 15hrs@225 no crutch) I thought you did a full one, I was even following along for that.  Thanks.
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Jun 15, 2017 02:05
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Larrymer posted:Any tips to cooking a flat brisket? I'm having trouble finding a whole brisket so I'll bother with that some other time. Wouldn't you loving know it, I go to another costco and found this monster. Guess I'm doing a full 14 pounder for only about 3 people.  Brisket all week.  Since imgur is being a poo poo, just imagine a whole brisket.
Suburban Dad fucked around with this message at 13:15 on Jun 16, 2017 |
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Jun 16, 2017 02:06
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I saw one of those giant egg knock offs at costco for $500 yesterday. I thought at first the handle was locked or something but no, the top is just that goddamn heavy. Holy poo poo. Seemed fairly nice for the price.
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Jun 16, 2017 13:38
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I just take measurements randomly and throw them into excel to graph it myself.
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Jun 17, 2017 17:20
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See you in like 20 hours you big bitch!
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Jun 17, 2017 22:53
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^I'm sure the meat was pretty drat expensive.  Not ruined I'm sure but that's unfortunate. Just as a data point for anybody considering propane. I got about 37-38 hours of smoking out of a propane tank. First one I've used and luckily yesterday I got a spare refilled.
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Jun 18, 2017 14:55
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Oh you betcha. I saw 185ish when I woke up and figured that wasn't right so I moved the probe around. Sitting at 169 as we speak and it hasn't really moved since I woke up 4 hours ago. Also, I had a dream where I woke up and my brisket was 220 degrees.
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Jun 18, 2017 15:58
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Larrymer posted:See you in like 20 hours you big bitch! And finished.  I was too busy being in a meat coma last night to post. Holy poo poo it was so good. All I want to eat forever is the bark from this brisket. The smoke ring was fairly thin, but it was there. I was being cautious and didn't want to overdo it. Total smoke time was about 25 hours w/ a few hours with mesquite chunks and then rested it for 1 hour since it took longer to cook than I expected. I got it to 199 @ 225-250. I decided not to inject, just salted for ~24hrs and then rubbed it right before throwing it on the smoker and kept the water topped up. Imgur is being dumb again, maybe this one will come up eventually. It was moist enough that it was falling apart when I was trying to cut it.  According to everything I ever read on the internet, my smoke times are way longer than most. It doesn't make sense since I tested my probes in boiling water and they were within 1-2 degrees and I use the same temp inside as most guides (225-250). Guess I just have to factor that in for all my future cooks and leave that door closed forever. Suburban Dad fucked around with this message at 12:47 on Jun 19, 2017 |
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Jun 19, 2017 12:39
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The only ones I've tried are from amazingribs.com. I did the Texas mop sauce for brisket and it was good and I would recommend it. I thought it was going to be bad while making it but it worked out really well for beef. It's thin but has chunks of onions and peppers in it and has a lot of flavor that complemented brisket well IMO. I also did the Carolina mustard based sauce which I did not like. Too much mustard/vinegar and not enough sweetness to balance it. Mixed with an off the shelf bbq sauce made it alright.
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Jun 26, 2017 16:34
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I bought this one, which is out of stock so that may not be much help. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GE77QT0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 No real complaints except it somehow loses signal with the main unit when it's literally 10 feet from my smoker, yet is just fine in the kitchen, upstairs in my bedroom, etc. My probes were 1 and 2 degrees off in boiling water, which is good enough for me. I just made a note of that mentally (and with a marker on the unit ) and all is well. Also you can set an alarm ceiling (if it goes above 250 or whatever you set, it'll beep at you) but I don't think it will alarm on temps that are too low. That's a minor flaw but would be useful for those without great temp control or when you run out of propane (me).
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Jul 12, 2017 02:14
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bewbies posted:Is there a thread approved basic brisket technique? Follow the amazingribs.com guide on it. I did the rub and the mop sauce and it was amazing. http://amazingribs.com/recipes/beef/texas_brisket.html
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Jul 13, 2017 14:59
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Jamsta posted:Expect to be disappointed on your first try(s). First one I ever did was amazing, best brisket I've ever had.
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Jul 13, 2017 16:10
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Annath posted:I've had an 8lb bone in pork butt on the smoker for almost 9 hours now. The smoker temp has been hovering between about 217 and 240 throughout the day. Always start earlier than you think you should. You can always rest the meat when you take it out for probably up to 4-6 hours and it'll stay warm. First smoke I did I put it in at 7AM and it came out at 11pm. Missed dinner by a good bit. For whatever reason it's closer to 2 hrs/lb of meat for most stuff I've done.
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Jul 15, 2017 03:06
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How well does the door seal? I added some weatherstripping to mine to get a better seal and keep in heat, but I have a different smoker.
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Jul 19, 2017 21:38
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12 hours in and pork shoulder is rocking steady at 162. Only a 6.X pounder, my smoker just seems to take it's time on the stall.
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Jul 22, 2017 18:08
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Phil Moscowitz posted:Uh oh...how long has it been at 162ish and how hot are you cooking at? Didn't watch it overnight (started 1AM, 5PM here currently so 16 hours now...) obviously but I was running around 225 (+-10 probably). I cranked the heat to around 270 and it got through the stall, 197 at this point. Should be good for dinner soon. All have my smokes have taken forever and my probes are accurate in a boiling water pot, so who knows.
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Jul 22, 2017 22:06
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atothesquiz posted:How close is your pit probe to the meat? I put it on the same rack as the meat, within a couple inches of it. The thermometer on the door gives a different temp by quite a bit but was told those aren't accurate. I ended up cranking the heat to 250-275 and powered through the stall. Pulled it around 6pm after 17 hours.
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Jul 24, 2017 19:39
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RisqueBarber posted:It also takes me about 5 hours for a 6 lb pork shoulder. What temp are you smoking at? That seems WAY too fast.
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Jul 31, 2017 15:44
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RisqueBarber posted:I think so too but I'm just following the directions You have yet to mention what temperature you're cooking at. Are you using a probe for the oven temp?
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Aug 2, 2017 16:39
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Moey posted:Sounds like a horrible device If there's no temp control then what are you even doing? Like anything, it could be rigged up to have more adjustments to make it a little better. That seems like a bad design flaw for cooking...anything. And their disclaimer of "welp, you get what you get! Sorry all these recipes won't be really apply to you!" answer is pretty lovely. On most charcoal ones you can adjust temp but metering air in the smoker I believe (mine is propane easy mode with a dial) and leave the exhaust full open. Number of bricks and when they're burning also plays a part I'm sure as I've seen some different arrangements of them in a line vs. a pile, etc. Somebody else should have better advice. Suburban Dad fucked around with this message at 13:59 on Aug 3, 2017 |
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Aug 3, 2017 13:56
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I've not rested pulled pork and it always turns out decent and juicy. Letting it cool enough to pull makes sense from a "don't burn yourself" perspective, though. I rested brisket for a little bit (~1 hour, took longer than I thought to cook so I shortened this up, and it was still amazing), though.
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Aug 4, 2017 14:00
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lifts cats over head posted:Some gasket tape and a door upgrade did wonders for my WSM's consistency. This stuff was easy to apply around the rim and the edge of the door. I bought this overpriced stuff for my smoker and have a fair amount (probably half of it) left over. I'd send it to an interested goon for shipping costs. PM me.
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Aug 18, 2017 22:13
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