Need help picking out my first meat smoker

[Huskerguy]

Haven't really been much of a BBQer over the years but love smoked meat - brisket, turkey, chicken, ribs, loin, etc. Wife pretty much keeps me out of the kitchen the last 46 years!

Started reading and getting some ideas on smokers - electric (set and forget, lose some flavor), charcoal (expensive and have to keep tending it, but great flavor from drippings), pellets (expensive), wood chips (constant watching), barrels, front load, top load, offset, hard to load, hard to clean, flimsy, warp quickly, only smokes/doesn't cook, monitor with your cell phone, some now made in china and not as good as they once were, overpriced for what they do, etc, etc. There is more but that is about what I am finding.

I am not interested in spending a truck load of money but want something fairly easy to use, clean and operate that smokes and cooks well, best bang for the buck. Working into this retirement thing and expect to have more time to do this right. A little baby sitting isn't a problem if I get the results to go with it.

Whatcha got guys and gals? Once I get this figured out, I will look for rubs and sauces when I get this figured out! Thanks in advance. Links welcome!

 

[Old Arkansawyer]

I suggest a wood burner, heavy metal, can be a commercial made or
some local manufacture using 1/4 inch pipe, these hold the heat
better and will not rust out in your life time.
If you are half way handy and have the space you can build a brick
pit in the back yard, these actually work the best. I have a brick
pit and small metal wood burner witch will double as a grill. Yes my
choice will take a little more tending but that is part of the enjoyable
experience of smoking meats. I have been smoking meats for 45
years and have built several smokers out of oil field pipe, sold them
and built another.
As you already know the electric and gas fired smokers do not impart
the smoke flavor.
The guy that was LBJ's BBQer said to cook a brisket start the fire and
have a beer, check your fire every 30 minutes and have another beer.
do this for 12 to 14 hours or however long you could last. Good luck.

 

[JayCeeNC]

I use a Pit Barrel Cooker and love it.

 

[29aholic]

I have a vertical offset wood smoker that is good, but if I was going to do it all over I would get a pellet smoker. Wal-mart has a big Pit Boss pellet smoker for about $479.99

 

[Whitwabit]

I have an off set smoker and a Large Webber Kettle Grill, a small Weber portable grill , but the best one I have for smoking is my XL Big Green Egg ..

Smoked ribs on it today from noon till 6:30 and they were fall off the bone Texas style short ribs .. Sweet with a bit of a bite .. Temp stayed between 200 and 215 for 4 hours till I ramped it up to 350-400 to finish the glaze on the ribs .. makes them come out with a bright shinny effect ..

Will be BBQing a brisket which will take 14 hours or more and a pellet stove or one of the Green Egg style cookers are the best ones to use for a long cook like BBQing a whole Packard brisket ..!!

The pellet stove being the cheaper of the two .. but has a much shorter life then the Egg ..

 

[targetchief]

I have a Masterbuilt 30in electric. Great results in 3 plus years. $150 to $175 depending on what sale you can find.

 

[47knuckle]

I've worn out two barrel style charcoal/wood chip smokers in the last 20 years. Turkey. brisket, ribs, beef roasts, etc. Recently bought a Green Mountain pellet smoker (smallest of the three sizes they make). $305 delivered to my door. I love it. Watch one of their videos. The perfect smoker for a lazy, retired old man.
No more charcoal and chips for me.

 

[wingriderz]

I have a Masterbuilt 30in electric. Great results in 3 plus years. $150 to $175 depending on what sale you can find.

Got one too have a 29 pound turkey in it as I type about 3.5 years. I did have to replace the front door hinges . The door fell off when I had turkey in it at thanksgiving time.

 

[ditrina]

I have a vertical offset wood smoker that is good, but if I was going to do it all over I would get a pellet smoker. Wal-mart has a big Pit Boss pellet smoker for about $479.99

Why YES!! I did!! Lowes puts them on sale for $449.00 and your military discount if you have it and $400.00 + tax

Lowes $14.96 a bag

Just cranking up takes about 6 minutes , to reach 190/200

Gotta love BRISKET!!

RIBS?? perfect!!

 

[DeathGrip]

That's some good BBQ sauce right there Sal.

 

[29aholic]

That's the one Sal. I have used horizontal and vertical offsets most of my life with great results, but I find I am getting too old to mess with them. I am going to wait until the end of the season and see if I can get a EOS closeout deal on one of those.

 

[75Vette]

Just bought a Pit Boss 820 a couple of months ago. I can't say enough about it. Like Ditrina said, ready to go in 5-6 minutes. THICK smoke. And it's like cooking in your oven. Set the temp and walk away. I got sick of having to babysit my Acorn grill and pretty much shut down my whole day to make sure the grill acted right. And I can throw a steak or burgers on it too. Couldn't do that with he Acorn. I'm a happy griller.

 

[Old TexMex]

Why YES!! I did!! Lowes puts them on sale for $449.00 and your military discount if you have it and $400.00 + tax

Lowes $14.96 a bag

Just cranking up takes about 6 minutes , to reach 190/200

Gotta love BRISKET!!

RIBS?? perfect!!

NOW I know whatcha did with the money

 

[zeke]

I am not an exspurt smoker, but got into it last year with Oklahoma joes highlander reverse flow. The stick burners are more effort, but like the flavor. Brats/sausages in 1 hour, boneless country style pork ribs in 2 hours, baby backs in 5-6 hours and chicken pieces in 2-3 hours. Yes it does take some tending, but sorting brass keeps me occupied. Un modified, it holds low temps very well.

Definitely not the more expensive set up, but could not justify $$$ until realized whether would like it.

Use Dave's devils spit sauce on the country styles, and jamacin jerk on the baby backs.

 

[ditrina]

NOW I know whatcha did with the money

 

[Glashaus]

I use a Pit Barrel Cooker and love it.

This right here, the Pit Barrel is awesome, it really does a great job, I recommend them 100%