Educate me on smokers

All this talk of smoking meats has me salivating. 

How hard is it? How expensive to get into it? What things do you need?

Im not willing to spend a fortune and I’m not willing to tend to it all day; but if there is an option for something to be put in in the morning and taken out at night, that’d be pretty cool. 

Well apparently owning a pellet smoker makes one a “yuppy” but my Traeger has been pretty rock solid and nearly stupid easy to use.

The fact that it was built nearby made me feel a little better as well.

For the most part, the process for prep is the same no matter what type you use.  Generally you marinade or brine the meat, dry it off and rub your choice of spices on it and set it on the smoker for X time.  Some cuts need to be seared first, but generally you can smoke it for several hours first before searing it off at the end.

With pellet smokers like the Traeger, you dial up the temp desired, let it preheat a bit, put the meat on and walk away.  You can get wireless temp sensors, but generally you can use the established formulas to determine a rough time to check on it/finish it off.

i will say that if you want to do fish, veggies or cheese, that you’ll want a cold smoker solution of some sort.  Generally a tube that pulls smoke from the main portion into a side cabinet where the smoke flavor can be imparted without the temp to melt or ruin it.

The types of wood makes a difference in flavor along with a bunch of other variables.  So you can go down the rabbit hole pretty quickly.

You're really not going to find much easier than a pellet smoker, be it a Traeger or clone. They're almost idiot proof, and like Ron Popeil says, set it and forget it.  

There are gas powered smokers with Bluetooth and buttons, I've never known anyone that's owned one to give an opinion on them, but from handling them in stores I wouldn't bother. 

If you just want to impart a smoke flavor, and finish on the grill or in the oven, or do some cold smoking, I will recommend the Big Chief and Little Chief electric smokers. Plug it in, throw some wood chips in the pan, they last about an hour, and you're good. Even with the optional insulated blanket, they won't get above 160F. Not hot enough to render fat, but great for steaks, chicken breasts, and just adding a smoke flavor. With practice, you can crack the door and get down around 100 for cold smoking as well. 

Somewhere between stick burner and pellet smoker lives the Kamado. Not exactly cheap, but they're berkeleying amazing and extremely versatile. Smoking, grilling, pizza oven, tandoori, they're the Swiss army knife of barbeque. 

Regardless of the smoker you get, you want a good leave in thermometer. I LOVE my maverick wireless because it has 2 probes one for meat one for the grill grate, and a fantastic range. Wireless is nice because you don't have to stay glued to it, set your temp alarms and put the receiver in your pocket. 

I also have a few knockoff digital leave in thermometers, and they work fine, just make sure you test them in boiling water before your first use. Much cheaper than the maverick, and work just as well. 

I have this. It does a outstanding job. Smoking is a all day project with it. Check on it hourly at least, add coals as needed to keep the temps where they are supposed to be. It makes some wonderful food. I have a love/hate relationship with it. 

I also have one of these. It is also outstanding. I can load 30# of meat in it early in the morning, add wood to the smoke box, program it with my phone, and walk away. 2-3 hours in I come back, wrap the butts in foil and walk away again. I can check temps just by glancing at my phone. Some time later in the day, I'll get an alert on my phone that it is done and has dropped to keep warm mode. There is no difference in the flavor of the meat between the two. I love this thing without reservation and use it often. 

I have this Masterbuilt 30" electric smoker. It's apparently "digital", by which I think they mean the temperature has a digital gauge. I've used it 3-4 times, still getting the hang of it, but I like it so far. It's mostly set-and-forget, but it uses wood chips instead of pellets, so you have to add them fairly often early in the process because they burn up. So, every 30 minutes or so.  It has an internal temperature probe so you can check on the doneness of your meat. This model often goes on sale around Black Friday, that's when my wife picked mine up last year for me as a Christmas gift. It's usually around $120 on sale.

We've been smoking for maybe 10 years now and started with this:

We have a Brinkman but it looks exactly the same. If you're interested in smoking it's an inexpensive way to get in and the bottom comes off to use as a charcoal grill. You can use charcoal, wood or a combination of the two. Depending on what you're smoking you may have to refill the box at about 4 hours. I put a small amount in the box and smoke/grill salmon on the top rack without the water bowl in about an hour. A bacon explosion takes about 4 hours but I usually let it go 5-6. You can also remove the bowl and smoke butcher bacon (same method and time as the salmon) instead of cooking it in the frying pan. You've never had bacon that good. It's a great beginner smoker. I still have mine but my son also has a smoker with a side mounted fire box something like this:

He likes it but doesn't love it. It's better for some meats than others and requires more attention be paid to it while cooking to prevent the meat from drying out.

I bought him this one last year:

It's a weber and about 3-4 times the cost of the bullet type we both started with. It's also a lot better built and as he says, much more consistent. This is the one he likes most and uses all the time. It's a hobby for him and he's very good at it. it's not out of the ordinary for him to fire it up on Saturday morning and do a Brisket, a pork shoulder roast and a chicken for the week.

You can smoke on a weber grill, or as Alton Brown does it, in a cardboard box.

The budget will be whatever you decide it to be.  A few of my friends have built some monster "feed-a-whole-army" smokers, and I have had just as much success with an 18" weber grill I found on the curb.

So try some stuff, find what works for you.  Good news is you get to eat your project when you are done.  

In reply to Tom_Spangler :

Soak your wood chips in water. They will last longer. 

That or get a smoke box. It limits the O2 and keeps the wood from burning as quickly.

Mine looks like this. 1/4 full is about 2 hours. 1/2 full is about 4 hours, and so on. Anything more than 4 hours of heavy smoke makes the meat bitter. 

As others have said a Traeger or electric smoker is the easy button, and will make delicious smoked meals. A great way to start. I would go with the traeger because it can do more than just smoke. Another option for multiple tasks is a green egg. It has a lot of capabilities, and a competition/food truck guy I know uses them exclusively.

But who around here stops at easy. Last year a friend and I modified an old air compressor tank into a smoker.  Because we wanted to do more than just smoke meat I designed it with the fire box in the main cavity instead of a side box affair like most smokers. With an assortment of sliding panels and chimneys we can hot smoke, cold smoke, or grill directly over the fire. We use a BBQ Guru to control temperature. It makes amazing smoked anything, but it is not a set it and come back 6 hours later device.

Toyman01 said:

In reply to Tom_Spangler :

Soak your wood chips in water. They will last longer. 

That or get a smoke box. It limits the O2 and keeps the wood from burning as quickly.

Mine looks like this. 1/4 full is about 2 hours. 1/2 full is about 4 hours, and so on. Anything more than 4 hours of heavy smoke makes the meat bitter. 

Soaking wood chips in water is not my favorite method - makes it too easy to get that burnt/heavy smoke flavor you are referencing due to incomplete combustion and creosote creation.  Wood chips are cheap, use plenty and make sure the smoke is clear or a light haze.  Smoky BBQ as shown in movies is not the ideal way to roll.

Toyman01 said:

I have this. It does a outstanding job. Smoking is a all day project with it. Check on it hourly at least, add coals as needed to keep the temps where they are supposed to be. It makes some wonderful food. I have a love/hate relationship with it. 

I also have one of these. It is also outstanding. I can load 30# of meat in it early in the morning, add wood to the smoke box, program it with my phone, and walk away. 2-3 hours in I come back, wrap the butts in foil and walk away again. I can check temps just by glancing at my phone. Some time later in the day, I'll get an alert on my phone that it is done and has dropped to keep warm mode. There is no difference in the flavor of the meat between the two. I love this thing without reservation and use it often. 

That looks like a yoder in design. If it’s anything like theirs it will make fantastic food with minimal prep and cleanup.  I am a hard core traeger guy but a Yoder is what I really want 

I have a Acorn kamodo type smoker I bought at Lowes. Think off brand little green egg. Makes wonderful stuff, but takes attention throughout the day. Wireless thermometer makes it easy to keep an eye on things without having to be right there. 

The best BBQ I’ve ever had was prepared by my buddy Mike Hill (RIP) on the red $75 home depot electric smoker. He did the extra step of brining in a cooler, but basically threw some chips in the bottom, set it on low (in the middle of the driveway just in case anything caught fire,) hop on the boat for 8-10 hours, and dinner was ready when he got home.

I’ve still been meaning to try it. But he swore by the electric, as there was no berkeleying around with temps & crap.

I built one out of a 55 gallon drum that I got for free.  The grate and the lid came from a Weber grill that my neighbor was getting rid of.  I got a damper from Amazon to control the temperature, and it works like a champ.  

Keep in mind what i do will make you a social outcast among many, i am ok with myself since it's no worse than what everyone else does to pizza and bagels.  I have an electric Brinkman that my wife got me to see if I'd like it.  I've had it about eight years now and it's pretty much idiot-proof.  Soak the chips and set them in the bottom, fill the tray with water, set the meat in and plug it in.  The only complaint I have is in the middle of winter it takes forever so sometimes on larger pieces of meat like whole turkeys or pork butts i smoke a few hours to get the flavor and then toss the meat in a crock pot on low for the rest of the day.  I know it's wrong but the results are pretty good.    

If I had the time I would buy a wood fired one with a side box, I might buy one as they are not super expensive. 

I have a Masterbuilt propane. Its super easy to use and pretty hands off. If you do a brisket or ribs, you need to pull them about an hour before finished and wrap them in butcher paper or aluminum foil, otherwise its set and forget. 

I cook everything from whole briskets to chicken, fish, vegetables, etc. I bought mine at Home Depot when they had a special, I believe I paid $250. 

This is mine:

It leaves a perfect smoke ring too:

I'll chime in as I've owned four smokers:  a Brinkman barrel in the charcoal version, a Brinkman Barrel in the electric version, a pellet smoker, and a massive Texas side-box smoker.

The big Texas side-box was seriously the finest meat I have ever smoked.  That was possibly due to the proliferation of free Mesquite wood all over town and I could build a true fire in the box with all Mesquite.  I did have to do a modification.  The heat and smoke tend to enter the smoke box and rise right away which means uneven temperatures and smoke concentration across the box.  I riveted an aluminum flap over the hole between the fire and smoke boxes to direct the flow and after careful adjustment (and installing a second thermometer on the left side) I was able to get even smoke and temp.  The big downside to this type of smoker is the constant attention.  Adding wood, monitoring temps, adjusting the air holes, etc.  But good GOD the meat was amazing.

The Brinkman barrel models I have are both dirt simple.  The electric, you plug it in, add foil packets of chips every once in a while, and wait.  Steady temps, easy as pie.  I was afraid the charcoal version would require more work but it doesn't.  You light it and walk away the same as the electric.  The air control they have engineered makes nice steady temps for 6-8 hours.  The length of time it maintains temperature is more dictated by the amount of charcoal you use.

The pellet/puck smoker I have is the ultimate in set it and forget it, but it also makes the least-palatable food of the bunch IMO.

I have also tried the chips in a propane grill with mixed results.

If I were buying a smoker today, I would get another charcoal or electric barrel in a heartbeat.  Big capacity, great smoke, easy operation.  My only gripe is that removing levels below the top requires a lot of heat loss, but careful planning eliminates that.  Put the big meat on the bottom since you know it will take the longest.

The last thing I smoked was on Easter Sunday.  I fired up the charcoal and put a small Turkey on the bottom rack.  A few hours later I added the top rack with a leg of lamb and a pork loin.  3pm it was all done at the same time and we ate.  All of it.  Friggin brilliant.  Not quite as good as the Briskets I would smoke in the side-box Texas smoker, but so much less work.

Oh... sidenote:

If you get a smoker with a chimney, find yourself a cheap used bundt pan.  Put it on top of the chimney so that the smoke goes up the hole in the middle.  Cover with a stainless bowl that is slightly smaller diameter.  As the smoke condenses, it collects in the bottom of the bundt pan.

Home-made liquid smoke.

https://www.amazon.com/Char-Griller-16620-Kamado-Charcoal-Barbecue/dp/B00GJEPTJS

I have that. When people ask about smokers, I recommend it to Everyone. It's not green egg quality, but it's 1/4 the price. I can get 5 hours plus without touching the air controls. For another hundred bucks you can get a temperature controlled fan and never touch the vents. 

My first smoker was a side box like the one toyman showed. I had to stay at the grill for 12 hours adjusting that thing. Never again. 

I have a Pit Barrel Cooker.  It's a little different than a regular smoker because you fill it with charcoal, hang the meat off hooks, and walk away.  It's 95% of the taste with 5% of the work compared to my old smoker that needed babysitting.  Ive used it for briskets,pork shoulders, ribs, sausages, chickens, and turkeys (those blew my in-laws mind because they thought the only way to cook a turkey is to put it in a bag).  I've turned a few people on to these.  You don't really control the temp. You set the vent to your elevation and that's it.  

So since I see a lot of the same complaints in this thread, I've decided to address a few. This post is specifically about side fired stick burners.

If you want to make it as set it and forget it as possible there are a few steps that need to be taken. First and foremost, buy the right smoker. Too many are for sale these days, especially at big box stores, that are thinner and lighter than propane grills. This is a huge berkeleying problem!

You want the thickest, heaviest metal you can find. It will take longer to heat up but will stabilize itself better and hold heat longer. If you can afford to, jump straight to a reverse flow smoker. .

What this picture doesn't show that is important is that the chimney should go the whole way down to the grilling grate for best smoke/heat coverage. 

If you can't afford that, you need to make some of the modifications that Curtis mentioned. 

Mods: 

Flow plates: a plate, even a cookie sheet, that attaches inside the cook chamber where the opening to the fire box is that goes most of the way across the cook chamber. Why? This passes the heat under everything that is coming instead of just straight up and across. It makes the cooking chamber more oven like.

Move the exhaust if you can, as close to the fire box as you can. After putting in the fire plate, this will then bring the heat and smoke back across everything on your grate, allowing for motor even heating.

An insulated blanket works wonders if you have a cheap flimsy cooking chamber as well. 

Gaskets. Aluminum foil works, fireplace gasket is better and fairly cheap. EVERYWHERE you see smoke leaking out, put gasket material. You want to keep as much air in as possible.

Better thermometers. Probably the most important. Most barrel smokers have a stubby thermometer in the lid. Useless garbage. You're not cooking against the lid, you're cooking on the grate. Get a thermometer for the grate. Something like my dual probe maverick, or even a cheap digital that specifically sits in the middle of the grate. 

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After that, do some dry runs. Put all your thermometers across the cooking surface, and do a full 6-8 hour cook with no food. The goal here is to find what settings work to get within about 10 degrees side to side across the cooking area. You will have to make some adjustments. It's much better to learn when you're not relying on the fire to cook your dinner or for a party. Keep track of how much wood, how often, what adjustments you make as the day goes on. 

Think of a smoker like a welder. They're all a little different and they all like slightly different settings even for the same material. Much like a welder, once you learn what works with your specific smoker, you can just set it up and go. Sure, you can pull a welder out of a box, plug it in, and do what you saw someone else do and maybe even stick metal together, but you won't be making picture perfect solid welds without practice and machine adjustments. 

With time, modifications to the smoker and the person in charge of it, you'll get to where your stick burner is almost as fool proof and leave alone as a pellet smoker. I'll acknowledge I have put a literal ton of pork through mine to get to the point with it that I am, but for just doing a couple of butts, I'm 8 hours from start to finish, add wood 4 times, and it comes out prefect every time. From mid April to late November I don't really even need to look at it anymore.

Which brings up what should be rule number 1. 

 IF YOU'RE LOOKING, YOU'RE NOT COOKING

unless you're adding or removing meat, leave that lid SHUT. It takes a lot of time to stabilize the temps again after you making a giant hole and let the heat out. Like 20-30 minutes every time you open it, that can stretch cooks into eternity. Even further than the stall/temp plateaus will stretch. Save basting and mop sauces for grilling. 

If you like, I can cover dealing with stalls and the science behind them, as well as working through them. 

I've been wanting to imbed a link from the movie Water World (smokers were the bad guys) ever since I read the title of this thread.

Had to settle for describing my failed plan since I still can't imbed videos.